https://tieba.baidu.com/p/5527259350?lp=home_thread_pb&mo_device=1&pn=0& here is the cover

Volume 5 ranked on Oricon at #21.
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2018-01-31/japanese-comic-ranking-january-22-28/.127187

Oh boy! its happening at last! how will things go? perfect? or everything will go south? cant wait!

ahh nothing really happened in this chapter

Enjoyable but not much to say really, I guess... I'll wait for the next chapter.

Nothing really happened this month, the real thing starts the next one and the wait is painful, but at last, the play is finally here.
I do wonder if Sayaka's words are meant to be foreshadowing or merely a wish on her part that Touko will end up realising regardless. And she's right, even if the play goes wrong, Touko will learn something from it. Yuu on the other side is nervous and hopes it will be fine. Will the play do well or badly?

last edited at Feb 1, 2018 6:00PM

I've come to love the interactions between Yui and Saeki. They often offer a lot of interesting insight on what's going on with Nanami from two very different and privileged points of view.
Plus I tend to like it when "rivals" aren't at each other's throars.

AHHHHHHH EXCITEMENT.

Even though it was a tease and I thought it was starting. Archivally reading, I think it is good pacing so I'll endure the torturous wait.

But I love how far we've come, that for the first time it's possible to entertain the possibility Touko will be okay with failure or being less than perfect. Sayaka continues to earn my respect.

...and here we go

OK, I don't know who's more nervous--me or the actors. Actually, although this really was a bit of a tease--we didn't really need two "day-of-the-play" buildup chapters--for me this one totally dispelled the impression that . . . that bad thing might happen. You know, with the trains, and the "no destination" and all. That one.

I think we're good on that score.

Man I've been checking so many times over the last few days for the new chapter. Now back to waiting another month...

I guess my question being was Yuu telling her she isn't alone what she needed to hear at that moment or not.

Damn what a cliffhanger!

pleaselettheplaygoalright, pleaselettheplaygoalright, pleaselettheplaygoalright, pleaselettheplaygoalright, ....

I want a happy end to this without dragging out the drama excessively! (or perhaps I just get far too impatient with these things).

Saeki is a worthy suitor/rival indeed. Yuu should share Touko with her, since Yuu's obviously falling for Touko. And a threesome on her birthday, so she won't think about her dead sister.

My thoughts on this episode is that it is a nice build up to the play with a nice focus on the two suitors for Touko. But two introductions as well, the return of Touko's parents and the new character of Nara sensei.

The father I see as another character in need of healing/redemption from the past or (hopefully not) someone to find Yuu and Nanami kissing to provoke more typical yuri drama.

Is Nara sensei pointing to a new path post the festival, maybe this not the only time this play is performed?

Maybe I am reading two much into this, but in the past Nakatani sensei does not introduce characters for no reason.

why nakatani keeps doing this i get that the build up is important but come on
now i have to wait another month to get to the good part

last edited at Feb 2, 2018 12:06AM

Saeki is a worthy suitor/rival indeed...

Just no.

I guess my question being was Yuu telling her she isn't alone what she needed to hear at that moment or not.

I think Nanami's slow response was out of her being nervous with no major implications

The father I see as another character in need of healing/redemption from the past

Agreed with the first part, I don't think the issue to him is actually that Nanami is doing the play, but because he doesn't want to remember or think about what happened.

last edited at Feb 2, 2018 1:39AM

OK, I don't know who's more nervous--me or the actors. Actually, although this really was a bit of a tease--we didn't really need two "day-of-the-play" buildup chapters--for me this one totally dispelled the impression that . . . that bad thing might happen. You know, with the trains, and the "no destination" and all. That one.

I think we're good on that score.

I always felt people were misreading that and overreacting. I never thought it was about suicide, but just the aimless malaise of someone who doesn't know who they want to be or what they want to do with their life.

Man I've been checking so many times over the last few days for the new chapter. Now back to waiting another month...

I guess my question being was Yuu telling her she isn't alone what she needed to hear at that moment or not.

Well, I suspect that's a kiss happening in panel 4 of page 17. I don't see why you would cut her face out of the frame like that if you weren't implying that something lip related is going on off-panel, and Touko looks pretty stunned in the last panel.

Saeki is a worthy suitor/rival indeed...

Just no.

I guess my question being was Yuu telling her she isn't alone what she needed to hear at that moment or not.

I think Nanami's slow response was out of her being nervous with no major implications

The father I see as another character in need of healing/redemption from the past

Agreed with the first part, I don't think the issue to him is actually that Nanami is doing the play, but because he doesn't want to remember or think about what happened.

I get the sense that he is actually worried about Nanami following her sister's footsteps. "She didn't need to, though" makes me think he's also worried that she doesn't have an identity of her own.

last edited at Feb 2, 2018 5:21AM

I've come to love the interactions between Yui and Saeki. They often offer a lot of interesting insight on what's going on with Nanami from two very different and privileged points of view.
Plus I tend to like it when "rivals" aren't at each other's throars.

I can't really even see them as rivals, personally. They just both love Touko (who is, which bears repeating again and again, stupendously, inhumanly lucky to have not one but two extraordinary women love her this much), and both are content with just loving her. Rivalry implies that both would aim for the same goal, such as Touko's reciprocation, but they really don't have anything to fight over, so it's more of a bond than a rivalry (even though rivalry itself is a form of personal bond, too).

On the topic of the next chapter, I have a strong suspicion that it will jump directly to the aftermath of the play. I don't see any narrative point of writing out a story-with-a-story unless it goes completely off the rails and turns out to be more about the actors than about their (doubly fictional) characters. Skipping the play to only reiterate the key events and to deal with the aftermath would be a nice piece of elliptic storytelling that I am sure Nakatani would be able to write perfectly.

I've come to love the interactions between Yui and Saeki. They often offer a lot of interesting insight on what's going on with Nanami from two very different and privileged points of view.
Plus I tend to like it when "rivals" aren't at each other's throars.

I can't really even see them as rivals, personally. They just both love Touko (who is, which bears repeating again and again, stupendously, inhumanly lucky to have not one but two extraordinary women love her this much), and both are content with just loving her. Rivalry implies that both would aim for the same goal, such as Touko's reciprocation, but they really don't have anything to fight over, so it's more of a bond than a rivalry (even though rivalry itself is a form of personal bond, too).

On the topic of the next chapter, I have a strong suspicion that it will jump directly to the aftermath of the play. I don't see any narrative point of writing out a story-with-a-story unless it goes completely off the rails and turns out to be more about the actors than about their (doubly fictional) characters. Skipping the play to only reiterate the key events and to deal with the aftermath would be a nice piece of elliptic storytelling that I am sure Nakatani would be able to write perfectly.

Eeeeh, I'm pretty sure Saeki has been holding out hope that if she stayed by her side, Touko might eventually reciprocate her feelings. She might suspect she's already lost, but I doubt she doesn't have any hopes. And Yuu DEFINITELY wants Touko to keep loving her. Her hand-wringing when the talk of confession was going on a few chapters ago said a lot about what she wants out of their relationship. It isn't an accident that the author worked in a side drama about a tragic confession story right before the play.

Also, the fact that we've seen so much of the plot of the play beforehand implies that it might go off the rails. I'm expecting Yuu to do something beautifully foolish during their pivotal scene.

Eeeeh, I'm pretty sure Saeki has been holding out hope that if she stayed by her side, Touko might eventually reciprocate her feelings. She might suspect she's already lost, but I doubt she doesn't have any hopes. And Yuu DEFINITELY wants Touko to keep loving her. Her hand-wringing when the talk of confession was going on a few chapters ago said a lot about what she wants out of their relationship. It isn't an accident that the author worked in a side drama about a tragic confession story right before the play.

I might have phrased that awkwardly... Of course both Sayaka and Yuu want Touko to reciprocate, but they are not actively doing anything towards that goal, because Touko is averse to any expression of love towards her, and because of that, neither can (or wants to) do anything to sabotage the other's chances. They just let events unravel as they happen, ready to metaphorically catch their beloved if she falls.

I always felt people were misreading that and overreacting. I never thought it was about suicide, but just the aimless malaise of someone who doesn't know who they want to be or what they want to do with their life.

This so much, I can't believe there were people speculating that Touko could try to kill herself or even consider doing it. And the whole train thing or those weird moments with Touko in chapter 23, I see them as a symbolism of her mental state and insecurities,not as symbolisms of a possible bad end. If anything, there are some hints (not so subtle now) that things will be fine.

Well, I suspect that's a kiss happening in panel 4 of page 17. I don't see why you would cut her face out of the frame like that if you weren't implying that something lip related is going on off-panel, and Touko looks pretty stunned in the last panel.

I don't think they kissed, I think that Nakatani was trying to put emphasis on Yuu's hands in the first panel. It would be also out of character for Yuu to do that, in a moment like that and possibly in front of other people around there.

and both are content with just loving her. Rivalry implies that both would aim for the same goal, such as Touko's reciprocation

I think it's inevitable that Yuu will deal with the feelings she has been repressing for a long time after the play is over, same with Sayaka.

Her hand-wringing when the talk of confession was going on a few chapters ago said a lot about what she wants out of their relationship.

Are you refering to chapter 24? Can't really remember anything like this recently.

last edited at Feb 2, 2018 7:50AM

We've said all along that Nakatani does an exceptional job of keeping a pretty wide range of potential narrative outcomes open, all of which would be consistent with past plot and character development. I don't think anybody really thought that a tragic end to this story was the most likely one, but, especially around the beginning of chapter 23, there were significant hints that it might be on the table. But the most recent chapters seem to be a decided turn away from anything like that.

Remember when there was some speculation that Sayaka might turn to the dark side when she discovered the depth of Yuu and Touko's relationship? Instead, she's turned out to be maybe the most stand-up bestie in all of yuri manga (the recent ones I can think of, anyway). Even at the time I really didn't think she would go that way, but it wouldn't have been totally out of the question for Sayaka's snippiness toward kouhai Yuu and her slight possessiveness about Touko to take a darker turn.

Stories heading toward closure always choose one outcome over all the possible others, but that doesn't mean those doors were never there to be opened in the first place.

(PS: As always, I really appreciate the thoughtful and reasonable responses on this board when a new chapter comes out.)

last edited at Feb 2, 2018 7:54AM