It's been funny seeing the people online being in denial about this pairing after the latest episode "Noo! Mari isn't Lara's true love, it's familial affection! They're just gal pals!"
Adawal
Sep 7, 2026 9:31PM
WOOOOOOO AWOOOOOOOOOOO AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
FluffyCow
Sep 7, 2026 10:19PM
^^I imagine you know that's how it goes. You could have Yuri or Yaoi where the pair gets married and has sex, which results in them having 5 kids, 30 years progress with grand kids, they retire and grow old together, and some will still say they seem like nice friends
last edited at Sep 7, 2026 10:24PM
juanelric
Sep 7, 2026 11:07PM
^As long as we don't get another Bandai Boomer situation I don't care what the haters say
I'm still mad about them trying to de-canonize SuleMio and the haters saying the actual staff's opinion doesn't matter.
FluffyCow
Sep 7, 2026 11:18PM
^Yeah the fact that the Gwitch director said they're married and people still go well before that the Bandai producer that didn't actually work on the show said..., and it drives me insane lmao
girlswhokiss
Sep 8, 2026 4:32AM
Sucks how this kind of work tends to attract some unpleasant people, including many yuri fans who are way too quick to deny there being anything between the girls because it's not romantic in the way they want it to be, so they end up doing almost the same thing as the homophobic fans. I wish they'd read Urasekai Picnic and use that as motivation to learn about non-conventional but still deep queer relationships.
It's specially upsetting for Sayonara Lara because love is exactly what the story wants to explore, the protagonist is a girl who strays from her family's (conservative) principles and from the start it's shown that the conventional doesn't work for her and she's always drawn to what's considered forbidden... and yet people were like, "she's definitely going to end with that boy!" or calling it "yuribait" (a concept that doesn't exist but that's a whole other discussion) and it's just so sad to see people not try to think about just what's the intent behind all those scenes, the colors used, the framing, why a certain character shows up when Lara thinks of certain things, the themes themselves! So all the stuff that's part of art... and only accept that it is indeed a yuri story when it's explicitly told in a way they deem acceptable.
It's kind of disappointing and I wish we lived in an era we didn't need something to be necessarily romantic, following very specific criteria that won't work for everyone, for people to consider their relationship real and not just "friends". ; _;
Anyway I love the height gap here :3 average height and slightly short is awesome too
PineconeJuice
Sep 8, 2026 6:22AM
The easiest thing to do is to try to reverse it on those people. Ask them what they would think if one of them were a guy. It always ends in Olympic-level mental gymnastics.
FluffyCow
Sep 8, 2026 10:14AM
^^Yeah the fact that I keep seeing the occasional yuri fan trying to argue that the Kamiina Botan anime is bait makes me incredibly angry. Those people trying to argue that are objectively wrong for a list of reasons...and yeah...it's so frustrating.
Getting back on the topic of Lara though, yeah the narrative really explores various expectations of love for Lara, what she expects her love to be, what her family expects from her, and so on. Yet it feels like some people miss that entirely. I'm curious though how the story will stick the landing, and I'm looking forward to the coming episodes.
1111_0000
Sep 8, 2026 12:06PM
The average yuri fans reactions to the episodes as they released is just a sign that if Revolutionary Girl Utena aired today, it would not be as unanimously praised as a story about queer love. Juri and Shiori would be problematic, Anthy would be unironically vilified. I bring it up because I think SayoLara is exploring its themes in a very similar way. It's building up the premise, deconstructing it, and then "revolutionizing" it. But also, people are so goddamn pessimistic, Lara and Mari have been framed like a romantic coming of age story since the moment they met. That hot chocolate scene in episode 2 was the sweetest thing I'd ever seen, literally straight out of a slice-of-life romance. And all the moments that followed it. Girl literally turns to look at Mari when she asks Gon-chan if she'll find true love. Episode 3 was the cherry on top. Episode 10 was a bomb on top.
I feel so happy I get to witness this in my lifetime. Lara and Mari are so sweet, and they are very lovable characters. And the height gap... fuck yes.
last edited at Sep 8, 2026 12:07PM
Adawal
Sep 8, 2026 9:35PM
I AM NO LONGER CAPABLE OF LONG SPEECH BEYOND EXPRESSIONS OF HAPPINESS AND GAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY
deltahalo241 Sep 7, 2026 8:47PM
It's been funny seeing the people online being in denial about this pairing after the latest episode "Noo! Mari isn't Lara's true love, it's familial affection! They're just gal pals!"
Adawal Sep 7, 2026 9:31PM
WOOOOOOO AWOOOOOOOOOOO AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
FluffyCow Sep 7, 2026 10:19PM
^^I imagine you know that's how it goes. You could have Yuri or Yaoi where the pair gets married and has sex, which results in them having 5 kids, 30 years progress with grand kids, they retire and grow old together, and some will still say they seem like nice friends
last edited at Sep 7, 2026 10:24PM
juanelric Sep 7, 2026 11:07PM
^As long as we don't get another Bandai Boomer situation I don't care what the haters say
I'm still mad about them trying to de-canonize SuleMio and the haters saying the actual staff's opinion doesn't matter.
FluffyCow Sep 7, 2026 11:18PM
^Yeah the fact that the Gwitch director said they're married and people still go well before that the Bandai producer that didn't actually work on the show said..., and it drives me insane lmao
girlswhokiss Sep 8, 2026 4:32AM
Sucks how this kind of work tends to attract some unpleasant people, including many yuri fans who are way too quick to deny there being anything between the girls because it's not romantic in the way they want it to be, so they end up doing almost the same thing as the homophobic fans. I wish they'd read Urasekai Picnic and use that as motivation to learn about non-conventional but still deep queer relationships.
It's specially upsetting for Sayonara Lara because love is exactly what the story wants to explore, the protagonist is a girl who strays from her family's (conservative) principles and from the start it's shown that the conventional doesn't work for her and she's always drawn to what's considered forbidden... and yet people were like, "she's definitely going to end with that boy!" or calling it "yuribait" (a concept that doesn't exist but that's a whole other discussion) and it's just so sad to see people not try to think about just what's the intent behind all those scenes, the colors used, the framing, why a certain character shows up when Lara thinks of certain things, the themes themselves! So all the stuff that's part of art... and only accept that it is indeed a yuri story when it's explicitly told in a way they deem acceptable.
It's kind of disappointing and I wish we lived in an era we didn't need something to be necessarily romantic, following very specific criteria that won't work for everyone, for people to consider their relationship real and not just "friends". ; _;
Anyway I love the height gap here :3 average height and slightly short is awesome too
PineconeJuice Sep 8, 2026 6:22AM
The easiest thing to do is to try to reverse it on those people. Ask them what they would think if one of them were a guy. It always ends in Olympic-level mental gymnastics.
FluffyCow Sep 8, 2026 10:14AM
^^Yeah the fact that I keep seeing the occasional yuri fan trying to argue that the Kamiina Botan anime is bait makes me incredibly angry. Those people trying to argue that are objectively wrong for a list of reasons...and yeah...it's so frustrating.
Getting back on the topic of Lara though, yeah the narrative really explores various expectations of love for Lara, what she expects her love to be, what her family expects from her, and so on. Yet it feels like some people miss that entirely. I'm curious though how the story will stick the landing, and I'm looking forward to the coming episodes.
1111_0000 Sep 8, 2026 12:06PM
The average yuri fans reactions to the episodes as they released is just a sign that if Revolutionary Girl Utena aired today, it would not be as unanimously praised as a story about queer love. Juri and Shiori would be problematic, Anthy would be unironically vilified. I bring it up because I think SayoLara is exploring its themes in a very similar way. It's building up the premise, deconstructing it, and then "revolutionizing" it. But also, people are so goddamn pessimistic, Lara and Mari have been framed like a romantic coming of age story since the moment they met. That hot chocolate scene in episode 2 was the sweetest thing I'd ever seen, literally straight out of a slice-of-life romance. And all the moments that followed it. Girl literally turns to look at Mari when she asks Gon-chan if she'll find true love. Episode 3 was the cherry on top. Episode 10 was a bomb on top.
I feel so happy I get to witness this in my lifetime. Lara and Mari are so sweet, and they are very lovable characters. And the height gap... fuck yes.
last edited at Sep 8, 2026 12:07PM
Adawal Sep 8, 2026 9:35PM
I AM NO LONGER CAPABLE OF LONG SPEECH BEYOND EXPRESSIONS OF HAPPINESS AND GAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY