Miss Sunflower has a rotary phone. When is this story suppose to take place?

Currently. The Sunflower bookery is famous for being an old-fashioned place.

I'm not sure a rotary phone would even still work on modern networks

Can confirm—rotary phones work just fine on current landline networks.

Really. I actually would have bet they wouldn't work. That's three times in as many days my intuition has failed me. I guess I should stop trust my gut. The force is not with me. Lol

At least in the US, landline networks and cell networks are entirely different things, and landlines work the way they always have (although I understand that in some places there are now ways to forward landline calls to your cell).

One of our 5 house phones on the landline was a rotary (for ironic-retro decorative purposes) for a long time until somebody dropped it and broke it.

Miss Sunflower is not being ironic-retro, though.

I'm so mad with the father, the mother in law and of course the mom... But specially her mother in law, I bet they were living in her house too making things even more awkward.
She choose wrong of course, but back then, when she was in the verge of desperation and loneliness... She really didn't have anyone to rely on, huh? not her useless husband and of course not that old woman.

Like I'm so mad imagining just how things would be back then I can't even be happy with what happened after right now, it's gonna take time.

Also they're really going to brush off the fact that she's a vampire, huh?

last edited at Aug 24, 2022 10:22AM

This is one series that can make me go from crying tears of sadness to tears of joy at the drop of a dime. The first half was quite a rough read a lot of it hit close to home... But damnit seeing Matsuri go from sad and moping at the bus stop to seeing her and flipping her happy switch and seeing Miss Sunflower light up the way she did makes you basically forget the whole first half of this chapter. It's quite a shame this series is getting close to ending I'm gonna feel lost not having this one.

Also people that were upset they were apart for basically this entire volume will be happy that author said they want that to change in volume 13 lol.

It's quite a shame this series is getting close to ending I'm gonna feel lost not having this one.

Well, yes, but when you remember that we had almost a full year between chapters and it looked like the series might never be picked up again, lately this has been like a dream come true.

But I'll certainly miss it too.

In retrospect you can barely comprehend that people almost gave up on scanlating this, but I guess earlier volumes were even more slice-of-life-ish and not necessarily as good at retaining attention. I wonder whether anyone's got plans to pick up more of random older unfinished projects? I'd assume there's a bunch floating about ...

Anyway; great reunion, and even better that vol.13 promises less distance between Matsuri and Ms Sunflower. That's what we're here for after all!

Argh, got misty eyed here. They are/were all a bunch of awkward people hm, so munch heartache and loneliness could have beem avoided. But sunch is life, complicated and chaotic. I do wonder if theyr father is of the spectrum in a degree, we see now why the mother has a hard time making conections and dealing with her emotions even with her own kids but he stays kinda of a mistery to me.
Oh and what amazing faces did Matsury make in this one! Have to grab some to my collection later~

last edited at Aug 24, 2022 10:54AM

This part to me seemed a little odd? Like, I feel the mother got away a bit too easy here. A mother abandoning their kids for a decade with no warning, and there was only a little yelling and then forgiveness

This series is really cute and wholesome, and my immediate thought is maybe its too wholesome and sweet to talk about these serious issues, but it handled death and grief quite well.

This part to me seemed a little odd? Like, I feel the mother got away a bit too easy here. A mother abandoning their kids for a decade with no warning, and there was only a little yelling and then forgiveness

This series is really cute and wholesome, and my immediate thought is maybe its too wholesome and sweet to talk about these serious issues, but it handled death and grief quite well.

But this series never has been about transgression and justice--Kaoru basically saying "Don't try to get us caught up in your shit" and Miss Sunflower saying, "Please come back . . . as a customer" was some top-tier shade-throwing. If she comes back at all, I expect it will be after a rapprochement with the dad.

This part to me seemed a little odd? Like, I feel the mother got away a bit too easy here. A mother abandoning their kids for a decade with no warning, and there was only a little yelling and then forgiveness

This series is really cute and wholesome, and my immediate thought is maybe its too wholesome and sweet to talk about these serious issues, but it handled death and grief quite well.

I feel like it would be very out of character for Himawari-san to hold a grudge as she is now, and like her brother said himself, he definitely would have been significantly more harsh had Himawari-san not handled it the way she did.

Tbh, as someone who grew up with horrible parents, I tend to be more sensitive or particular with stories that write about “bad” parents, and I feel like their mom isn’t a bad mom. She was lacking a lot, but it didn’t mean she didn’t try for their children. I don’t fault her for the things she didn’t know how to handle or do with such a broken way of life before she had kids. And since she said her ex had tried to communicate with books after that conversation with her in law, it clearly shows that she tried to fix things before ultimately leaving bc no one had properly communicated with her on what she should do or how to fix it. Her in law probably scolded her but didn’t help her understand, expecting she would just know as if the mom was raised in any normal way to understand her.

I feel just as bad for their mom as her kids bc she did love them and they made her happy, but the thought of her incompleteness could negatively affect or hurt them caused her to leave bc she was unable to fix these things. Is she entirely blameless, no, I do think she should have tried to reach out to them in some sort of way after time passed to show that she hasn’t forgotten about them, but that’s not entirely on her either. If the father was able to send her something, he knew where she was and could also told their kids where she was or tried to explain the situation. Kaoru could have also explained to his sister about the real reason why their mother left as well before once he saw she was blaming herself. I don’t think the story has said at any point that Miss Sunflower or Kaoru has ever reached out to their mom or asked their father about her after she left either. All in all, this family had severe communication issues whether they were together or apart.

last edited at Aug 24, 2022 11:23AM by

It really hurts me to see that, she was trying, she didn't know how but she tried but her in law convinced her that she would do more harm than good staying like she is... Ah but the father? nah that's fine, he's just awkward that's all! it really irritates me.

It really hurts me to see that, she was trying, she didn't know how but she tried but her in law convinced her that she would do more harm than good staying like she is... Ah but the father? nah that's fine, he's just awkward that's all! it really irritates me.

The main difference is that he's still there. He's never been portrayed as a great, or even good, dad; he just didn't abandon them.

I have to admit that the mom's attempt at storyboarding her explanation was pretty funny.

Of course, what Kaoru regrets the most is not having an "Onii-chan I wuv you UwU" moe kind of sister.
This whole thing was a roller-coaster of emotions. At least it's good to know the family is somewhat at peace with each other, now.
And of course, Matsuri passed her test and now she and Ms Sunflower can take their time enjoying their company
"She's a girl I know" SMH, guess she didn't want her mom to know she's now a mother-in-law, given her trauma with hers.

Miss Sunflower and Matsuri's reunion was so sweet ;_;

I've been so far with this manga and yet I still have no idea what this manga is about...

This part to me seemed a little odd? Like, I feel the mother got away a bit too easy here. A mother abandoning their kids for a decade with no warning, and there was only a little yelling and then forgiveness

This series is really cute and wholesome, and my immediate thought is maybe its too wholesome and sweet to talk about these serious issues, but it handled death and grief quite well.

But this series never has been about transgression and justice--Kaoru basically saying "Don't try to get us caught up in your shit" and Miss Sunflower saying, "Please come back . . . as a customer" was some top-tier shade-throwing. If she comes back at all, I expect it will be after a rapprochement with the dad.

But Kaoru did realize he was part of the problem in the first place because he didn't stand up for his mom when he should. And we can't forget their father never did much parenting either yet he has gotten largely scot free in all this.

Also, the way I understood the "as a customer" is that she shouldn't come sneaking around like she did this time, but come up front.

Honestly, if either Kaoru or Himawari herself were to play the blaming game with the mom, they would be pretty hypocritical themselves, since they never blamed the dad who didn't do much for them either. In fact, for what little we saw of their childhood, the mom at least made an effort to engage with the kids, while the father was always busy doing his own shit.

last edited at Aug 24, 2022 1:21PM

It really hurts me to see that, she was trying, she didn't know how but she tried but her in law convinced her that she would do more harm than good staying like she is... Ah but the father? nah that's fine, he's just awkward that's all! it really irritates me.

The main difference is that he's still there. He's never been portrayed as a great, or even good, dad; he just didn't abandon them.

He didn't leave but wasn't a father either. We're clearly told they were raised by their grandmother after their mom left.

At the end of the day, their family was a mess in general, so blaming everything on the mom wouldn't make any sense. I think even Kaoru realized this when he had his little flashback.

Volume 13 got released a few days ago, and with that we will bid adieu to our favorite series.
Damn this chapter was so epic. It had everything.

Blastaar posted:

It really hurts me to see that, she was trying, she didn't know how but she tried but her in law convinced her that she would do more harm than good staying like she is... Ah but the father? nah that's fine, he's just awkward that's all! it really irritates me.

The main difference is that he's still there. He's never been portrayed as a great, or even good, dad; he just didn't abandon them.

I have to admit that the mom's attempt at storyboarding her explanation was pretty funny.

So brave that he didn't leave his own house (or most likely his parent's house because that's more common), from what I get, she was made to feel like an invader... Kaoru blames himself for not standing up for his mother, but the one who should've tried was the father, instead he just went with it without putting any resistance.

She had a big hole inside her, but the little moments with the children was filling it up, but idk how it was twisted into "stealing from them" that's just so messed up.

Now is too late to be a mother, after all they're all grown up and independent

I've been so far with this manga and yet I still have no idea what this manga is about...

That reading books is gay and we all should do it more

Blastaar posted:

It really hurts me to see that, she was trying, she didn't know how but she tried but her in law convinced her that she would do more harm than good staying like she is... Ah but the father? nah that's fine, he's just awkward that's all! it really irritates me.

The main difference is that he's still there. He's never been portrayed as a great, or even good, dad; he just didn't abandon them.

I have to admit that the mom's attempt at storyboarding her explanation was pretty funny.

So brave that he didn't leave his own house (or most likely his parent's house because that's more common), from what I get, she was made to feel like an invader... Kaoru blames himself for not standing up for his mother, but the one who should've tried was the father, instead he just went with it without putting any resistance.

She had a big hole inside her, but the little moments with the children was filling it up, but idk how it was twisted into "stealing from them" that's just so messed up.

Now is too late to be a mother, after all they're all grown up and independent

As your last sentence suggests, the "should haves" of this situation aren't really relevant anymore--it was a messed-up trio of adults who did very poorly by each other but especially by the children, although apparently they did just well enough that the kids turned out to be competent adults and wonderful, albeit damaged in some ways, people.

(Or put another way, the adults didn't mess up enough to prevent the kids from becoming competent, etc.)

My impression is that the father gets some sort of vague slack cut because, after all, he's the father. "Clearly" not his job to raise the kids. It's kinda like of course Himawari took over running the household - not her older brother.

It's not like yelling at Mom would bring their childhoods back.

Might make them feel better, venting, but that's all it could accomplish.

So, where will Matsuri go to college? Will she be able to keep visiting Sunflower?

last edited at Aug 24, 2022 2:05PM

I have to admit that the mom's attempt at storyboarding her explanation was pretty funny.

That was great. Both just the simple fact that she was doing it, and the way it played on our assumption that the flashback thing was just using a manga narrative convention and then it turns out no, she was totally showing those images.

It's not like yelling at Mom would bring their childhoods back.

Might make them feel better, venting, but that's all it could accomplish.

So, where will Matsuri go to college? Will she be able to keep visiting Sunflower?

I could swear she said at some moment that she was going to a a college affiliated to her current school, but i might be thinking about chapter 73 were she said that wishes to be a teacher at her current school in the future.

last edited at Aug 24, 2022 4:03PM