All I wanted was a Takayanagi happy ending...

This was kinda disappointing, the story entirely I mean. The only good thing about the ending is that it didn't try to destroy a Yuri ending completely. But as you can read in the Afterword, the story was centered on a "Rebuilding family" rather then "girls love" incest or no incest.

I dunno, the story felt like a sugar-driven car salesman: He offers a awesome deal before showing us the actual price.
Chapter 1, possibly Ch2 and others, left a impression of a Yuri tale of incest before switching to a unrequited side couple that ended sour and a screen time deprived side character couple, and finally the only Yuri in the end was the side characters.

Neat story, but man, way to waste my time. I was fine with the slice of life vibes until the end because God knows how many of those I've watched or read.

Conclusion: Interesting story stays interesting at the cost of Yuri, which was possible without incest, and a change of behaviour at the end by a character we never cared about until then not to mention it felt like the yandre bit in the last few chappies was a trait pulled straight out its own a$$, a ability that many slice of lifes use to get interest/reactions/money/emotions/etc.

Final Verdict: 6.8 of 10. Great story pulled too much out of its rear end to get to where it wanted, destroying almost all the yuri in the end. Author's afterword clearly says nothing about yuri, so there you go.

^^^^^^^this :3 nice revew .....now i know that it doesn't worth the time :/.....or more i don't wanna get depressed

All I wanted was a Takayanagi happy ending...

I feel you man, I feel you. :_:

If there's a friend zone and a food zone.... is there such thing as family zone?
Mikage's been family-zoned.

i love it...

I liked this, I kinda see it as a relationship that holds a significance that surpasses just physical love. They were both wrecked by the death of their mom, and subsequent shattering of their family and both had to, at different times, become each others strength. Tomoe supporting Mikage growing up, and Mikage saving Tomoe from being trapped in the past. And they both ended up eloping and living together. (on one bed, doing only family-friendly things, obviously)

It is, admittedly, over-dramatic and choppy in some places, case in point Kujou's Slamjam, which could definitely use a bit more work. Right now i kinda see it as Kujou being a coward, scared of losing and scared of believing in love before she even tried, who tried to close it up and leave the whole issue as a scar on Tomoe rather than risking herself by trying for anything bigger.

Also while I'm here, for those who appreciated this kinda story, go read Ebisu and Hotei, It's like a more solid, less yandere-incest version of this.

That felt like it ended way too early and didn't deal enough with their individual problems. It didn't even touch on why the mother died and how their family splintered over that and kept whatever issues between Mikage and her father that made Tomoe so strongly oppose her going to his workshop alone as nearly complete subtext. Then the ending didn't actually DO anything. We don't know if Tomoe got into the college she was aiming for, we don't know how things will develop between her and Mikage, we don't know what Mikage intends to do in the future, we also don't know what has or hasn't changed with their father after all that occurred. At the very least we should have gotten either a more in-depth ending or a timeskip ending to show where they ended up in a year or two. Also after the little issue between Mikage and her friend whose name is too long for me to remember at the moment (Tanagaya something or other...) her friend more or less just disappears from the story and is only even mentioned a couple times after that.

Another thing that kinda rather bugged me in the end too is that Tomoe didn't feel the same about Mikage as Mikage did about her and, especially after the issues with Kujou, what is implied in the ending really makes very little sense at all. Tomoe was having a break down from the fact that she felt the two people she most valued in her life betrayed her because of their actions (more or less both of them sort of forcing their feelings on her the way they both went about it really) then she just sort of gets reprimanded for it by being told she's forcing her own values on others so she just sort of gives in or something. That's just awful.

It really feels like there's maybe half the story there should be. The backstory should actually be fleshed out some more , their problems should be actually dealt with, and the ending shouldn't be so ambiguous and nonsensical. For a story claiming to be about rebuilding a family, there sure was little rebuilding going on. Dealing with their backstory and problems would be an important part of that. As would Tomoe not magically seeming to do a complete 180º on her views about Mikage and Kujou's feelings for her and their subsequent actions over those feelings.

This story is all over the place. The author had a good setup to start with and she destroyed it completely with what felt like a rushed ending. She sums it up in the afterword : she just lost interest along the way.

last edited at Apr 24, 2015 10:05AM

I just read this whole and wow... this is the kind of drama that's missing in current stories.

About the ending, I like it. Mikage and Tomoe might not be a couple yet but at least they are both moving forward with their lives while supporting each other.

This story is all over the place. The author had a good setup to start with and she destroyed it completely with what felt like a rushed ending. She sums it up in the afterword : she just lost interest along the way.

I agree. While I was reading this I constantly felt like I could barely tell what was going on, or that I was missing something. Not because any of the events or plot points were hard to comprehend, but I just couldn't see through to the author's intention. Whatever mutual understanding the sister's had of their relationship with each other was unclear to me from beginning to end.

last edited at Jul 17, 2017 4:42AM

Okay this is from what I understand about this manga, Mikage gradually developed feelings for Tomoe, and wanted to take their relationship as lovers instead of sisters. Tomoe on the other hand, is generally still hung up in the past, and wanted to somehow preserve the image of their family, even if its only with just Mikage, that is why Mikage accused Tomoe of imposing her ideology on her, and is protecting Mikage to indirectly protect herself.

As for the relationships:

Takayanagi and Mikage: Takayanagi is in love with Mikage, and Mikage will eventually know. Takayanagi's love may be unrequited but Mikage realized that Takayanagi is precious to her, that prompt her to sought advice from her father regarding her situation with Takayanagi.

Kujou and Tomoe: Kujou is in love with Tomoe, I think Tomoe unknowingly developed feelings for Kujou, this is just my opinion, since Kujou had been so nice to her and she somehow fits Tomoe's image of security. The problem is Kujou's way of thinking about love and her twisted way of expressing her feelings for Tomoe.

Tomoe and their father: Tomoe hates their father after their mother died, because he became irresponsible and was too wrapped up with his art, that he neglected taking care of his daughters. There was also an implied incident that he did to Mikage which was not clearly discussed in the manga, either it could be an abuse or traumatic event for Mikage. Tomoe absolutely hasn't forgiven her father about that.

Mikage and their father: Mikage has forgiven their father about what happened in the past, or just plainly don't care about it anymore. She always says that his art is beautiful that's why she still visits him. I think due to whatever happened 2 years ago when Mikage was 13 years old or even years before that, that created an agreement between Tomoe and Mikage, that Mikage will not go alone to visit their father, maybe the incident started when their father called Mikage as "Kaede" their mother's name, since she resembles her mother, It could be that their father forced Mikage to pose as nude before? But didn't exactly raped Mikage, since Mikage's first kiss was with Takayanagi. But I think that their father wanted to have an incestuous relationship with Mikage, based on the way he looks at Mikage with those eyes, but was controlling himself, he also said that Mikage lets him remembers the feelings that he used to have, and he also said that he looks like Tomoe before puberty, that they are alike, he seems to be implying that he can be good enough substitute for Tomoe, to which Mikage replied that they don't resemble each other, and he's not the one she needs in her life. He also speaks his mind loudly about being jealous towards Tomoe, maybe because Mikage chose Tomoe instead of him.

Tomoe and Mikage: Now the relationship between Tomoe and Mikage, if you will look back one of the reason why Tomoe can't accept Mikage's feeling was because Tomoe still can't accept change, and still clings to her image of family, she also confessed to Natsuo that she doesn't understand "love" since she haven't been in love before and that if ever she understands love, she's afraid that things can never go back the way it was before, so she refused to acknowledge her feelings for Mikage, even if it clearly shows that she's also having the same feelings for Mikage, being flustered and concious around Mikage.

I honestly think that there's a progression between Tomoe and Mikage's relationship, the vacation after Tomoe's graduation seems like a "honey moon" for them, in the final chapter you can see the dynamics between them, and there's no more tension like before, just serene conversation, so I think Tomoe already accepted Mikage's love, and were already a couple. I think the blooming algae symbolizes their relationship.

It was a cool ride! Thanks for the translation.

Oof. I feel like this story tried too hard to be edgy and just wound up muddy by the end. I didn't dislike it, but it had issues, will read it again eventually to see if my feeble mind can sort through it better.

Edit: After reading through the comments, it's sort of relieving to see some other people felt the same way, haha.

last edited at Jun 14, 2018 12:39AM

What the... I know it is a happy ending but I still feel depressed. I think it’s like the story was forced to the happy ending in one chapter and each personal problem didn’t fully be solved.(or the author just didn’t show that to us due to a limit of pages)
Well, good art with the good start story and concept but the development to the ending is (for me) not good. 5/10

last edited at Oct 8, 2018 12:16AM

I wanna kill this author.

Woah it hurt my heart every chapter damn it was good but I wanted to see them become one thou

First 5 chapters: strong and coherent, if twisted. I was anticipating marking this as a Favorite.

Volume 2: wtf??? wandered all over the place. Kujou's betrayal, Tomoe physically assaulting her father for no clear reason, unclear resolutions...

One of the more atmospheric reads on the site, I think. There's a real sense of unease throughout. The uneven sense of time and place definitely lends itself to some worthwhile effect. It's so hard to put into more words than that, and I won't bother trying.

The series was effectively "canceled" in chapter 7 when Tsubomi collapsed. I do wonder whether some of the complaints about disjointedness or unexpected developments could be lent to that...but chapter 1 stands out as telling an almost entirely different story than the rest. Very odd. Meanwhile, the betrayal especially felt like middle-school level fanfiction in an otherwise solid effort. Something did have to happen in a way, to push onee-chan to her eventual destination, but that was just too edgy and ridiculous.

There's a whole bunch of interesting subtext to this, that show off much better skills and nuance than perhaps the climaxes do. Tomoe's early ascent to adolescence (and the horror that causes them both). Mikage's fear of crowds signifying her inner feelings of abandonment. Mikage's disregard for her body stemming from early abuse. Their codependent relationship. I can't help but imagine Ogawa Maiko was studying up on what bad family dynamics look like, and what they lead to. There are a lot of quality crumbs here, but they don't ever feel explored to their fullest.

The best scene was definitely the aftermath of Takayanagi's confession. That "Something's not right" line hit me so hard, and how it relates to this chapter, their relationship, the previous chapters, and that other relationship...really nice storytelling. Of course, this is then abandoned in favour of that silly twist, but what can you do? Takayanagi best girl. That's all.

One of the more atmospheric reads on the site, I think. There's a real sense of unease throughout. The uneven sense of time and place definitely lends itself to some worthwhile effect. It's so hard to put into more words than that, and I won't bother trying.

Yeah, from reading the comments on this forum most people seem to hate this comic, but like you I also loved the "unease" atmosphere through out it, didn't strike me before now when I read your comment about family dynamics and child abuse but rereading it with that in mind it's a pretty interesting story, even though it wasn't that good, it's a shame there isn't more yuri that explores these themes more in depth.

A general statement though, it's nice to mix it up sometimes, like the great movies such as "There will be Blood", "A serious Man" or "No Country for Old Men" they leave you with more questions than you had going into it.

last edited at Dec 30, 2021 5:06PM