Ki ni Natteru Hito ga Otoko ja Nakatta - Ch. 172 - Catalyst

[SrNevik]

I swear, people constantly ask that romances don't end when the couple gets together, and then they complain that the story didn't end when the couple got together.

Anyway, I love this. Aya and Mitsuki have kind of established a haven of positivity around them but this is still modern Japan and people are pretty casually homophobic. I'm curious if Aki will be influenced by the kids at school, if he'll pretend to agree with them to have an easier time, or if he'll get ostracized for standing up for his sister. No matter which way it goes, the girls will find out since they spend a fair amount of time together. I'm also curious how his brother will react.

Some are upset because they expect issues to be handled in clean arcs, introduced and resolved within a tight span, when this series prefers to let things develop slowly while life keeps moving for the characters. That's a different kind of storytelling. The issue doesn't vanish just because the chapter isn't looking directly at it, it's still sitting there, still shaping how characters act and relate to each other.

I haven't run into this complaint much in other literary genres; what Sumiko is doing is very normal and not a thing to be confused about otherwise. But in manga I see it constantly. Maybe it's a pacing expectation shaped by the format itself or something else. Maybe it's the times, I don't know.

The biggest thing is that some seem to struggle enjoying a chapter unless it's explicitly (and obviously) focused on whatever issue got introduced earlier, even though every chapter is quietly building the plot together anyway. They struggle to see or don't understand how each of these smaller chapters are building to the whole. They're treating side development, atmosphere, and character breathing room as filler instead of recognizing these as important elements of the story. The story is ongoing. It's not done. Issues will be resolved.

Also, I understand not enjoying things but the repeated angst and anger feels very overdramatic after a point. It could be the most relaxed chapter and the types of comments will feel so absurd and over the top. I wonder if people are only typing that way or they genuinely read these chapters with all the anger and anxiety these comments suggest. They're 4 pages and clearly Sumiko is having fun with it. The storytelling style has been the same for a long time so repeatedly saying the same thing each chapter feels odd to me.

Also those kids suck and I'm interested in what her sibling's reaction will be and how that'll be handled. How would Mitsuki and Aya react to hearing about this?

 

[luigiymario2]

Dumb kids!

 

[Genis2002]

The world is healing, I hope I don't see any yaoi of children, that's disgusting.

 

[SrNevik]

Go fuck yourself, kids.

Yeah, the casualness is especially hurtful even if they're young and might not fully understand things yet.

 

[madmax103]

seeing people getting triggered by fictional kids is so funny

 

[flowsthead]

Some are upset because they expect issues to be handled in clean arcs, introduced and resolved within a tight span, when this series prefers to let things develop slowly while life keeps moving for the characters. That's a different kind of storytelling. The issue doesn't vanish just because the chapter isn't looking directly at it, it's still sitting there, still shaping how characters act and relate to each other.

I haven't run into this complaint much in other literary genres; what Sumiko is doing is very normal and not a thing to be confused about otherwise. But in manga I see it constantly. Maybe it's a pacing expectation shaped by the format itself or something else. Maybe it's the times, I don't know.

The biggest thing is that some seem to struggle enjoying a chapter unless it's explicitly (and obviously) focused on whatever issue got introduced earlier, even though every chapter is quietly building the plot together anyway. They struggle to see or don't understand how each of these smaller chapters are building to the whole. They're treating side development, atmosphere, and character breathing room as filler instead of recognizing these as important elements of the story. The story is ongoing. It's not done. Issues will be resolved.

Also, I understand not enjoying things but the repeated angst and anger feels very overdramatic after a point. It could be the most relaxed chapter and the types of comments will feel so absurd and over the top. I wonder if people are only typing that way or they genuinely read these chapters with all the anger and anxiety these comments suggest. They're 4 pages and clearly Sumiko is having fun with it. The storytelling style has been the same for a long time so repeatedly saying the same thing each chapter feels odd to me.

Also those kids suck and I'm interested in what her sibling's reaction will be and how that'll be handled. How would Mitsuki and Aya react to hearing about this?

That second paragraph is pretty key for me as well (great comment for all of it but that part in particular). I've noticed this a lot for manga, but I do think there is a general media literacy problem where people think the plot moving forward in a straightforward way is "good writing". Manga makes this worse because readers react on a chapter by chapter basis and it's difficult to remember things that happened 5 to 10 chapters ago, let alone 50, so if arcs aren't resolved immediately then they kind of lose track of the story. I do think this applies in other media as well, but it's most obviously prevalent for manga because of short chapters and weekly to monthly updates. Yes, this manga is particularly short at 4 pages, but even a 15 to 20 page normal manga chapter is pretty short compared to the amount of text in a typical novel chapter or the amount happening an episode of a 40 minute TV drama.

The media literacy problem is also compounded by feeling like everything needs an immediate response, so there is little patience for something to develop across many chapter, and little charity towards authors that don't develop things immediately. I do think some long running manga/manhwa develop an audience that is patient, but it doesn't happen immediately (Kubera comes to mind as a very patiently told manhwa with a readership that is happy to be patient). This manga became such a viral hit that developing that patient audience at this point is just never going to happen.

 

[WolfenLady]

Damn, emotional damage everywhere 😭😭. My yuri is still (??) blue and now homophobia hurt baby bro. Everything I'm reading is making me cry

 

[punpunpun]

Pick a story arc. Y'all wanna tackle this out of nowhere homophobia stuff, fine, but wrap up the storyline you've been dragging for months first, then get to it.

please, any sense of pacing has completely gone out the window

 

[punpunpun]

Maybe it's a pacing expectation shaped by the format itself or something else.

well, yeah, when you get 4 pages a week, it pays to be focused. this story was very focused at first. now it clearly wants to branch out. which is fine, but now it's branching in too many directions and it's damaging its ability to maintain tone week-to-week. you can call that realistic but at the end of the day it's a work of fiction and stories tend to follow conventions for good reason. tales with big casts, expansive settings, and a wide variety of moods aren't typically read 4 pages at a time.

 

[ScherryNights]

Heteronormativity strikes again, I see.

Time to gay everything up.

 

[Avonc4d0]

I get that the pacing is reflective of how issues irl can be dragged out and left to bake while life moves on but it really does make this manga really hard to keep up with week by week, the 4 pages don't help matters at all either

 

[Tammygammy]

If this turn to yaoi side more than yuri and the chapter when mitsuki and oosawa talks ain't coming anytime soon then this have to be put on hold for me he/she just add 4 useless pages that had nothing to do with the plot of both main character and it's just keep dragging the talk like if you draw or just think about it gonna kill you pointless chapter ngl.

 

[Tammygammy]

If this turn to yaoi side more than yuri and the chapter when mitsuki and oosawa talks ain't coming anytime soon then this have to be put on hold for me he/she just add 4 useless pages that had nothing to do with the plot of both main character and it's just keep dragging the talk like if you draw or just think about it gonna kill you pointless chapter ngl.

I mean Aya

 

[pik3rob]

Yuri fans when the series actually goes into the ins and outs of their relationship post-confession, including the conflicts that could rise from it, instead of just having girls kiss in wholesome ways for 23 volumes:

People dont seem to have this issue with series that do that like How Do We Relationship. Its just an issue with this one because its not doing it well.

 

[DMBLaan99]

I don't dislike this plot point in manga, but I feel like there are a couple other drama points that should be resolved first before introducing this one.

 

[mug3n]

The people complaining about every decision the author has made since the end of high school (and sometimes earlier) aren't accomplishing anything other than making me not want to read the comments for this series.

This arc is just some drama and they are still crying like babies. People only wants to read the most vanilla and uneventful story with a happy ending. They must think mayo is ultra spicy or something.

 

[Brun_Ursus]

Great, another subplot that's going nowhere

I give up, it's time to drop it

And it's not because of the "slow" pacing or because I don't like that the characters have real problems, it's that there's a complete lack of narrative cohesion

That's it

 

[bnha95]

The people complaining about every decision the author has made since the end of high school (and sometimes earlier) aren't accomplishing anything other than making me not want to read the comments for this series.

But u gotta admit they have a point. Focus on one arc and finish it, don’t drag it out too much, and certainly don’t bring more problems when u haven’t even finished the main one.

 

[flowsthead]

But u gotta admit they have a point. Focus on one arc and finish it, don’t drag it out too much, and certainly don’t bring more problems when u haven’t even finished the main one.

No they don't have a point. It's a difference of opinion, not fact. Focusing on just one arc is one way to write things, it's not the only way or the best way. It's not good or bad writing, it's just different styles of writing.

 

[TanyaTheEvil]

I really like how the manga change directions and it makes for a good reading. Thanks for the chapter and translation