GraPara! - Vol. 14 Ch. 135 - Sex Scenes

[SS-2010]

You are pretty on point! Now unfortunately it's the JP Bros with the more heavily weighted opinions here as they're ones following and supporting the story for 3 years+ and they have taken their stance in both the comments section and wallets. The story IS good, execution in some parts was a bit forced you could say, but I personally would have loved to get another two or three volumes, to see where the story could properly end instead of whatever condensed version we'll be ending with in just one more chapter. The other funny thing is that not even all the NTR bros were happy with what went down so even the NTR itself was mid at best in its execution I heard.

The reason there are so many isekai works is that most isekai manga authors understand what their readers want, so they keep producing more series in the genre, and people keep buying them. Meanwhile, after the author of Grapara fulfilled her NTR promise involving Sakura in an interview, readers who had followed the series all the way to Chapter 135 had already come to terms with it and were warning Airi not to do anything stupid with the remaining characters.

But Katsura Airi seems to understand none of that

The result is that the same kind of backlash and hatred we saw after Chapter 129 has happened all over again, along with the disappointing sales performance of Volume 13.

Part of the reason is that it's a clearly fantasy setting! So the author enjoys greater freedom to craft the narrative however they please without concerning legal or social repercussions because the story is explicitly fictional.

Conversely, manga that have been banned or penalized for depicting illegal acts are invariably set in contemporary Japanese society!

The reason is because their content risks encouraging some readers to emulate those actions in the real world such as committing rape without facing punishment and continuing to live happily afterward.

Those scenarios are what Japanese society finds unacceptable.

Grapara's setting is the contemporary Japanese society as well, so it's risky.

Please be reminded again that only printed version can be punished.

If you wrote a bad story but have only digital version, you'll just receive the backlash.

However, as we all know, revenue from online readership is very low. The major income comes from print version. Otherwise, doujin creators wouldn't make the physical copies to sell at Comiket if online earnings were sufficient, right?

Manga artist's major earning is from the volume sales.

Therefore, those who buy collected manga volumes (tankōbon) determine the fate of those manga series.

 

[Des0]

also if sales were already low before volume 12 then the axe didn't come because of chapter 129

The deciding factor behind Grapara getting canceled may have been the pre-order numbers for Volume 13, which opened while Chapter 129 was being published, rather than the sales of Volume 12.

 

[Wyrm666]

God everyone sucks in this manga. And now Fumi is going the trash tier route, over a fucking pen of all things, just so the author can force an ending with Sakura. This deserved an axe.

Hey at least it isn't "if you don't fuck me your husband will be fired but don't ask him anything about it or else he will be sad" levels of retarded...

 

[Apollo_Ibis]

The deciding factor behind Grapara getting canceled may have been the pre-order numbers for Volume 13, which opened while Chapter 129 was being published, rather than the sales of Volume 12.

in the end no one can say for sure when or why it got the axe. But you could atleast expect an author to have enough pride to bring it to a decent end even if it got axed. And If preorders were that bad then maybe, just maybe it's because they didn't like where the story was heading. And who would buy something they didn't like?

and as mentioned before, it's not just one part of her audience that didn't like what she wrote. Even a part of her main audience wasn't happy with the development

 

[Wyrm666]

It made the conversation easier to understand. But still I'm standing by this being an admit of defeat in trying to keep Sakura in check.

WEll, duh.. It's basically: "just watch and be happy for her or else..." I thought blonde was a friend of cuccboi but apparently she isn't.

 

[Wyrm666]

You got all the way to the end of the story, and you STILL trust this hack of an author?

Nobody trusts the author but having the last chapter be ruled by hentai logic would move the perception of KA from a bad writer to someone with mental issues and would make all those at the publisher look very bad.
Not betting that it won't happen though...

 

[slyss]

The major income comes from print version. Otherwise, doujin creators wouldn't make the physical copies to sell at Comiket if online earnings were sufficient, right?

You know, out of all the comments you've made in this thread, this has to be one of the funniest one.

Most doujinshi artists do NOT make any profit at Comiket. In fact, most end up losing money.

It's been well known for decades that most doujin circles make little to no profit from Comiket itself, with surveys consistently finding that roughly two-thirds operate at a loss and older research showing even worse results.

The reason people go to Comiket, aside from the fact that IT'S COMIKET, is that it's an incredibly effective way to get your work in front of a massive audience and build a following, as the event itself is as much about exposure, community, and showing your work as it is about actually making money. And because anything they get from sales, even if they're operating at a loss, can be kept outside of tax brackets, which means it can work as tax-free income for specific circumstances.

Digital sales have become so, but so important, that it's quite common for big artists to not even bother with physical tankobon outside of limited stocks, because whatever you can earn from them, you can make in literally minutes through DLsite and FANZA.

And the same general disconnect exists in the mainstream manga industry. A series can have relatively pathetic Oricon/Shoseki numbers and still perform well through digital sales, and other forms of revenue, unless we're talking about the big boys with vast physical distribution networks.

None of this should come as a surprise, because the digitalization of content has been happening across the entire entertainment industry globally for years now.

 

[Apollo_Ibis]

i think @BegoneThoth made a good point with their first comment. Maybe we are getting too heated about it and things could still turn out fine.

it's just that I don't trust her to give me the ending that I want, I'm just here to wait and see how bad it's going to be for Shinobu. So the best i can hope for him is that he's going to find promising actresses and elevate them with his abilities as a director. but i don't believe that Fumi will be by his side to see that happen. She's going to leave him behind because she'll get bigger roles offered. Same will happen to the new girls he discovers. They will all eventually leave him behind and he will have to look for the next one.

 

[Wyrm666]

And still you read every chapter.

Yes, we are watching a disaster unfold and having fun commenting on it. Nobody, I hope, is actually angry.

It's just surreal watching someone consistently shooting themselves in the foot and turning what could've been a memorable risqué manga into a shit show for no discernable reason.

My theory is that the work was poised to be a naughty romcom with some NTR elements but with a nice feel good ending, but KA decided that "nah, this is not me, I want to end this with my own brand of retarded drama" because otherwise "I wouldn't be true to myself."

 

[Wyrm666]

This chapter is diabolical with that cliffhanger ngl, the more I think about it the more I'm shocked. Really would've preferred your cliffhanger prediction but not even a sign of MC's crossing paths even, which sucks.

There is no way that KA will ever pen anything for Kodansha. There is simply no way. Even if the last chapter was a double feature with all the plotlines being cleverly closed with endings that made sense and would leave the readers happy with the writing, if not with the story, KA is already tainted as an unreliable author.

And most would simply say that such a good ending was to cope with the backlash rather than honest writing.

Nah, I can only see her sticking to Hentai publishers and doujins from this point forward.

 

[Wyrm666]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but Riho Iida has automatically risen above Sakura Katsuragi as the least abhorrent Katsura Airi female character in my personal opinion, as filthy as Iida became throughout Karami Zakari she never spiraled out of control through lies and misunderstandings, she was a honest slut in original doujin and went with it, Kousei as the protagonist was never lied to by Iida in any event.

Oh the irony of Iida becoming a liar in the Manga remake version for sole purpose of protecting her relationship with Kousei.

Now there's real chances Sakura in this series finishes her run as being rewarded with greatness and career advancements for every mistake she made and every misunderstanding she perpetuated. At this point I'm really hoping Shinobu ends up alone if Airi really is determined to burn all bridges with Fumi out of spite, anything but taking Sakura back.

First of all, let's all give it up for the HERO who provides color commentary in a well known site. Most of the times I click on certain works just in case there's a Goukenimaru comment. I salute you, good Sir.

Second: facts.

 

[SS-2010]

in the end no one can say for sure when or why it got the axe. But you could atleast expect an author to have enough pride to bring it to a decent end even if it got axed. And If preorders were that bad then maybe, just maybe it's because they didn't like where the story was heading. And who would buy something they didn't like?

and as mentioned before, it's not just one part of her audience that didn't like what she wrote. Even a part of her main audience wasn't happy with the development

Agree because the manga artist's income really comes from the volume sales. Many manga artists even make their work available online for free.

For example, Deliheal Yondara Moto Doukyuusei ga Kita, that I mentioned before.

This is a highly entertaining erotic romcom. Even if there was a charge to read it (the cost would be just as cheap as $0.50 per chapter, the same as Grapara), it's worth to pay but the author offers it for free as s/he isn't relying on this revenue. The online platform just serves as a showroom for selling its tankobon.

The result is a quality work that has garnered excellent reviews and strong word-of-mouth buzz leading to record-breaking pre-order numbers for the first volume. The author has also confirmed that the collected edition will be uncensored and include bonus content and etc. Wow.

This example clearly shows that, for manga creators, the primary source of income is the volume sales, not online readership.

Airi Katsura (sensei) is definitely mentally ill, so she has set herself up as an enemy to the readers. So sad.

Free reading (until October 14, 2026. JP time) : https://yanmaga.jp/comics/デリヘル呼んだら元同級生が来た/

 

[Wyrm666]

GraPara! anime will be solid for 2 seasons at least

That won't happen. Anime is usually done to boost the manga sales. There is no manga to be sold and everyone will know the ending. Unless of course, they do Grapara! The Hentai.

 

[box2024]

At this point, I honestly don't know what Katsura Airi is trying to accomplish, other than forcing in NTR to satisfy her own desires. She already fulfilled the NTR promise in the story with Sakura, so there was no need to force this kind of plot onto Fumi as well.

If you look at the comments from Japanese readers on MangaPoke after Chapter 129, almost everyone seems to have the same opinion: "Don't put Fumi and Shinobu through this kind of plot again."

If Airi wants to indulge in NTR, she could have continued doing it with Sakura, which readers have already learned to let slide. Or she could even put it into her doujin work instead. I genuinely don't understand why she still felt the need to force Fumi into an NTR role, especially when the series is literally ending in the next chapter.

I don't even know why she would do this when she had already fulfilled the promise she made. In a way, you could say that Airi has crossed the line with those readers as well.

Anyway, I wish her good luck at Comiket.

As a final note, let's talk a little about Hiromitsu Takeda. He is the author of the manga Maken-Ki! as well as many NTR doujin works. Earlier in his career, he also wrote some vanilla harem works. Nowadays, he understands that he can no longer write in that style, but what he did wasn't force himself to continue and then shove NTR into the story like Airi does. Instead, he had other artists help continue the original harem doujin plots he had created.

If Airi knows that she can't function as a writer without putting NTR into her work, then what she should have done wasn't what we saw in Chapter 135 and destroy her own series. She could have stepped back into more of an advisory role and let Nishikida Keishi become the primary writer. But instead, she stubbornly chose to keep doing it herself.

That's the difference between these two NTR-obsessed writers.

P.S. This is the title of the collaborative doujin work by Hiromitsu Takeda and Syunichi that I was referring to: Cross My Heart ~ Tsundere Fuuki Iin to Kinpatsu Bishoujo Ryuugakusei.

Funny thing is about maken-ki it was his editor that kept the netorare out lol.

 

[Des0]

Funny thing is about maken-ki it was his editor that kept the netorare out lol.

This is exactly what an editor should be doing, rather than making the same mistake twice within such a short period of time. Honestly, 50% of the mess Grapara has become lately is because of the uselessness of the editor working with Katsura Airi.

 

[box2024]

This is exactly what an editor should be doing, rather than making the same mistake twice within such a short period of time. Honestly, 50% of the mess Grapara has become lately is because of the uselessness of the editor working with Katsura Airi.

I don't think what fumi is doing is a netorare the more frustration at shionbu boiling over with sakura's shadow still hanging over him at some point he has to move on and fumi is right there waiting.

 

[Des0]

I don't think what fumi is doing is a netorare the more frustration at shionbu boiling over with sakura's shadow still hanging over him at some point he has to move on and fumi is right there waiting.

The problem isn't NTR, but the way Airi wrote the story to make this happen. If Fumi were acting like her usual self, she would have asked Shinobu about the pen already. Airi deliberately forced Fumi not to do that because otherwise, the stupid events in Chapter 135 wouldn't have happened.

 

[Apollo_Ibis]

The problem isn't NTR, but the way Airi wrote the story to make this happen. If Fumi were acting like her usual self, she would have asked Shinobu about the pen already. Airi deliberately forced Fumi not to do that because otherwise, the stupid events in Chapter 135 wouldn't have happened.

Exactly. Whenever she needs her characters to do something stupid, she completely removes their intelligence and turns them into idiots

 

[box2024]

The problem isn't NTR, but the way Airi wrote the story to make this happen. If Fumi were acting like her usual self, she would have asked Shinobu about the pen already. Airi deliberately forced Fumi not to do that because otherwise, the stupid events in Chapter 135 wouldn't have happened.

It's simple netorare logic yes but there isn't enough time left to ntr fumi nor is the set up there. It seem fumi's brain was shut off the force shionbu into a descion about her the next chapter we will see that most likely ethire there relationship comes to an end and shionbu ends up alone or he accepts her confession and gets over sakura.

 

[Cross-21-]

The problem isn't NTR, but the way Airi wrote the story to make this happen. If Fumi were acting like her usual self, she would have asked Shinobu about the pen already. Airi deliberately forced Fumi not to do that because otherwise, the stupid events in Chapter 135 wouldn't have happened.

You know what i don't get, and this will highlight how bad of a writer she is, what the hell are the characters doing during all those time skips in the last few ch!? You telling me Shinobu and Fumi didn't spend any time together for a month while being a new couple? Talking, going on dates, hanging out, having fun?
Like what the hell, she just sat in her room alone for a month like an NPC and was thinking about a freaking pen?