Scarlet128 posted:

This なれる is potential. This is a rhetorical question which actually implies "Sempai is the only person I can fall in love with." 誰が好き on its own is ambiguous ("who likes" vs "who does someone like"), but in this case it means "who do I like".

Ok, you convinced me with that. I am aware なれる is a potential form, but I didn't considered it from angle of rhetorical question. I was thinking of it like "someone else falling for me (in the future)" rather than "what is the potential for someone else falling for me (in general)". One of main issues with japanese is that there is a lot of ways you can interpret sentence depending on context and some structures can have few vastly different meanings, so recognizing which one is correct, can be very tricky.

Nya-chan posted:

I agree that "いやだ" is typically a interjection in Japanese, meaning "No way!', "I don't want that!". A clear rejection of what was said just before. It's a sentence in itself.

True except, it can also work as a end of the sentence and previous one didn't have a definite ending, so it could just as easily be part of it.

I just edited my comment since I skipped my friend's translation and implications of Yuu's line fully. Please read it if you can. Now , i dont know if the iyada could be included in another sentences as one, but in this one it is clearly a different sentence and the subject is Yuu being able to fall in love with someone else other than Touko rather than someone else falling for her.
That line aside, i would like to discuss the other points in my original post.

last edited at Mar 3, 2019 12:48PM

RUN FORREST! RUUUUUUUUUN

Scarlet128 posted:

I just edited my comment since I skipped my friend's translation and implications of Yuu's line fully. Please read it if you can.

Don't worry I saw edit. I almost missed it though.

I'll do a dumb questiom...
Yuu said: "I want to love"
Oh right, yeah, love your parents, family, to everyone...yeah, love them... she's loving them...but if she's referring to a Couple's love, don't generalize that love is only that...that annoyed me...

If she meant there's only one kind of love, that would indeed be an over-generalization. And stupid to boot, which Yuu is not.

But of course the context tells us that she doesn't mean that, and that she can only be speaking of romantic love.

• She can't say, "I want to be in love," because she already is in love.

• She can't say, "I want to be loved," because she already is loved.

• She could say, "I want to be allowed to love the person who loves me," but that's just unnecessarily clunky and on-the-nose writing because anyone who has been reading the whole series knows exactly what she means--she wants to be in a reciprocal romantic relationship.

EDIT: And anyone who is parsing the minutia of the translations to evaluate the "genuineness" of Yuu's love simply isn't seeing the forest for the trees.

Yuu starts out believing that she doesn't know what love is and that she can't fall in love with anybody, so of course she examines developments in terms of her own feelings.

Then she is explicitly interdicted from falling in love with Touko--so far from "clinging to the belief that she is in love with Touko," the entire series is set up so that for most of the story she is absolutely required to be in denial that she's in love with Touko.

EDIT2: And I’ll add a point that has been made a number of times before: in many manga, characters will say various things in public that readers know to be false or misleading, (such as “I don’t have feelings for that person”), then their silent thoughts give us direct access to the truth. In this story, however, it’s often the case that the characters are either trying to convince themselves of something (Yuu does this often) or they are thinking things that are incorrect or distorted (Touko’s idea that “love = shackles”). So readers still have to try to infer the truth from those thoughts.

last edited at Mar 3, 2019 1:31PM

Kyaaaaa~

I'M NOT READY FOR AN ENDING

OH MY GOD! BRACE YOURSELVES! HERE WE GO!

Thinking about the implications of that line, and after reading last chapter, I wonder if Yuu is really in love with Touko or just deluded herself into thinking she is because, on her own words, she could only love Touko (chapter 10), probably because only Touko showed romantic interest in her and she had already rejected her male friend. Not just that, but also due to Yuu's strong desire to fall in love with anyone (that then became "I wish my heart would love Touko").

Even in chapter 39, Yuu's angst, loneliness and sadness seem to be much more about having lost her opportunity to fulfill her big dream of falling in love (since chapter 35, she thinks she never really fell in love and may never will) rather than having being rejected by the person she claims to love. Her hopes seem to be more about fulfilling said dream again, rather than meeting Touko. Even when she is thinking about Akari forgetting her senpai and getting with Doujima, she was probably thinking about herself and how Akari could move on but she cant because she could only love Touko (a reference to said line in chapter 10?) Correct me if I am wrong, please, but between Touko, Yuu and Sayaka, Yuu's love is the one that feels the less genuine. Like she is clinging to the belief she is in love with Touko because she yearns for love (love anyone at all, not just Touko). Previous chapters seem to point that Yuu's love is real (with her helping Touko change and so on) and not just a delusion but I am not really sure.

Thoughts?

The translation aspect left aside, storywise I think this is definitely inaccurate.
Let's say truly "anyone" would be fine to show her what love is, then why not the guy that confessed to her? The requirements are the same as with Touko (being loved by that person), heck, it suits her impression from Shoujo manga far better to fall in love with a boy. If she was that desperate for it, she certainly could have at least tried to date him for a while and attempt to fall in love. Yet she didn't want to do that. She never even considered taking him up on that, because she didn't want to do that to him.

Then why is it different with Touko? Does Yuu just not value Touko's feelings, to use her like that? I don't think so. It's clear to me at least that this is a pretext, an excuse to herself, so that she can justify her actions. In chapter 10 she might not have realized her love yet, but she instinctually knew that Touko was the closest person to that dream of hers. Not because she was unconditionally in love with her (mostly because there were conditions), but because Touko is someone that she could grow to love.

I think the fact that Yuu was in denial about her feelings for so long and only came out with them when she was about to burst from how painful it was is more proof than we will ever need to acknowledge her feelings as genuine. The way she now retreated into the aromantic position in chapter 39 is very similar to the sports festival (ironically the other time she had a serious talk with Maki). Back then she denied her growing feelings out of guilt and fear.... Now she denies them out of pain and regret. The fact that she tried to take Akari's example as a way to move on, but then denying that she needs to move on, because her feelings might not even have been real... isn't that exactly why we know that they were? Escapsim after heartbreak.

Let's try not jump to conclusions on the series ending in ch 40.
They always announcement beforehand if a series is ending.
I think there maybe more to tell in the story after Yuu & Touko patch things up.

I don't want this manga to end. I want it to go on forever. Hahaha.

Let's try not jump to conclusions on the series ending in ch 40.
They always announcement beforehand if a series is ending.
I think there maybe more to tell in the story after Yuu & Touko patch things up.

Yeah, I believe there's 1 more volume after this. Based on foreshadowing, it's probably going to be about their family.

Wasn't it confirmed that the manga was at 80% around chapter 34 or 36? So it might go up to around 45 chapters.
I don't think anyone here claimed the next chapter would be the last anyway.

last edited at Mar 3, 2019 2:16PM

Ekolai posted:

I don't want this manga to end. I want it to go on forever. Hahaha.

I think some months back in the thread we discussed possible scenarios after the main characters get together ... It was hilarious but I'm too lazy to find them

Ahh so many things I wanna say ... but I am lazy. All I'll say is that I loved the chapter, the Kyoto trip arc was great (if that counts 37, 38 and 39, or maybe the whole volume). My favorite chapter of this volume still has to be 38, though. I am a bit disappointed that this one wasn't able to be better than 38 (at least for me) considering it's the last of vol. 7 but it was great regardless. Run Yuu run! I have no doubts next chapter will show the moment everyone has been waiting for, too bad it's 2 months away... i am praying the yuri gods that Nakatani and Kusunoki will make it a great chapter :3

For real, will be finally see Yuu crying next chapter during the so waited reunion?Touko and Sayaka already did in the so called suffering arc, I'd love to see an emotional Yuu too :3

last edited at Mar 3, 2019 2:33PM

GO YUU RUN GO FIND YOUR GF!!

last edited at Mar 3, 2019 2:59PM

RUN FOR YOUR GF YUU! GOGO LOL

So, next chapter, Yuu is hit by the car, right?..

I have waited SO LONG for this. One more chapter till the confession... Probably. Unless the author decides to mess things up.

So, next chapter, Yuu is hit by the car, right?..

then she turns into a zombie idol!.... wait wrong show

For real, will be finally see Yuu crying next chapter during the so waited reunion?Touko and Sayaka already did in the so called suffering arc, I'd love to see an emotional Yuu too :3

This would be thematically amazing, because it would be a callback to what Natsuki said before. Yuu has never cried about anything in the story and apparently not even when she should have in the past either (like losing in the Softball matches). Thanks to being not emotionally invested enough in things she just does out of obligation or to help someone.
So if Yuu cries (for good or bad) because of her current situation with Touko, that would visually show that she has emotionally matured and truly invested herself in this beyond logic and denial.

When being able to cry is not a sign of cliche weakness, but of growth... I like it!

Lights Cigar
Things change. They always do, it’s one of the things of nature. Most people are afraid of change, but if you look at it as something you can always count on, then it can be a comfort.
That's exactly what Yuu have realized.

Those are bad for you. The only change you will see is lung cancer.
Joking aside, that is actually what Touko realized over the course of this story. Interesting to attribute the same thing to Yuu now.

I have waited SO LONG for this. One more chapter till the confession... Probably. Unless the author decides to mess things up.

Confession? I'm fairly certain we had those in both directions already. This is the make up/reaffirmation stage, no?

Hit by Truck-kun incoming.

So, next chapter, Yuu is hit by the car, right?..

then she turns into a zombie idol!.... wait wrong show

That was the original plan. Now Yuu gets together with Maki, we flip the Het tag, and Nanami-sempai realizes with her older sister dead, it's up to her to provide grandchildren, so she marries an older man she meets at an omiyai .

All was well.

PS Yuu jinxed it by telling Maki he didn't have to worry about that.

last edited at Mar 3, 2019 3:23PM

For real, will be finally see Yuu crying next chapter during the so waited reunion?Touko and Sayaka already did in the so called suffering arc, I'd love to see an emotional Yuu too :3

This would be thematically amazing, because it would be a callback to what Natsuki said before. Yuu has never cried about anything in the story and apparently not even when she should have in the past either (like losing in the Softball matches). Thanks to being not emotionally invested enough in things she just does out of obligation or to help someone.
So if Yuu cries (for good or bad) because of her current situation with Touko, that would visually show that she has emotionally matured and truly invested herself in this beyond logic and denial.

I really thought it would happen in this chapter, mainly in the scene when Yuu broke down and accepted she is really in pain, it surprised me a bit it did not happen. I guess Nakatani is waiting to make it an epic moment... I hope...

I have waited SO LONG for this. One more chapter till the confession... Probably. Unless the author decides to mess things up.

Confession? I'm fairly certain we had those in both directions already. This is the make up/reaffirmation stage, no?

Actually Nakatani said in an interview that Yuu's confession in chapter 34 was incomplete in a way, because she covered her eyes. And Nakatani said she made her cover her eyes because saying I love you while looking at Touko's eyes would give the impression everything between them has been said and done... so I agree with the other user, in a way, both will confess to each other again, looking at each others to the eyes, wanting to form a healthy relationship, Touko still needs to "confess" by telling Yuu she loves Yuu for Yuu and the latter needs to openly confess again, this time without feeling her love for Touko is a bad thing... so yeah, make up and double confession again!

Excited for the finale!

Confession? I'm fairly certain we had those in both directions already. This is the make up/reaffirmation stage, no?

Actually Nakatani said in an interview that Yuu's confession in chapter 34 was incomplete in a way, because she covered her eyes. And Nakatani said she made her cover her eyes because saying I love you while looking at Touko's eyes would give the impression everything between them has been said and done... so I agree with the other user, in a way, both will confess to each other again, looking at each others to the eyes, wanting to form a healthy relationship, Touko still needs to "confess" by telling Yuu she loves Yuu for Yuu and the latter needs to openly confess again, this time without feeling her love for Touko is a bad thing... so yeah, make up and double confession again!

Ehh... I see the symbolism of not being able to look her into the eyes, but Touko clearly expressed already that she loves Yuu for who she is rather than just being someone who stays with her despite never being able to love her.

As I said, sounds more like a reaffirmation to me.