https://medium.com/@peter91916/the-...e-yuri-genre-and-its-discovering-e41eadb95654
One comment above was quoted, guess who
One comment above was quoted, guess who
Adachi to Shimamura
- Thread starter MangaDex
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This was a ridiculously long read, and I honestly only skimmed most of it. I agree with some parts and disagree with others. The big thing that I agree with is that fiction is fiction and does not have to accurately represent the real world or real world relationships. The point is to make the reader think or have fun, not to simulate reality exactly.
My major criticism is that the author ignores almost entirely that many of the narrative choices that underpin the genre have been done historically with the intention to minimize homosexual relationships. These choices weren't even often the author's intention but something forced by editors and publishers to "make it sell".
As an easy example, the reason for the extremely common Yuri trope of "we can't put a label on our relationship" is because using labels like "girlfriends", "lovers" (between women), or even "lesbian" is something frowned on in Asian society.
It's fine to like the Yuri genre the way it is. I know a few people who like how vague a lot of Yuri is and how many series don't feature sexual interest (arousal/lust), mostly because they are ace.
But the criticism of 'Yuri bait' in those cases can feel valid because of the history of the industry and Asian society pushing against the true desires behind the genre. Frankly, I think it's time to trash the genre descriptor 'Yuri' altogether and move towards a world where we call the series with romantic/sexual interaction "Girls' Love" and the ones without that just "Slice of Life with female protagonists".
To return to the topic of this series briefly, I'll say that it is not Yuri bait, not even in terms of sexual interest. I'll spoil a bit in the text after this if people are curious.
Shimamura asks Adachi if she's sexually interested in her Volume 11 Chapter 4 of the Light Novel. Adachi manages to respond that she is ("Shimamura... sexy."). Shimamura says that she's okay with having sex with Adachi but that she's never really thought about it before now. Adachi manages to tell her that it's fine and that she will wait for Shimamura to want her too. Shimamura apologizes for being slow, and Adachi begs her off, saying it's fine and that she's not slow. Shimamura summarizes the conversation as "Adachee-chee hornee-nee", which renders Adachi practically catatonic.
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honestly I don't understand why this is so highly rated. I tried reading the novel but I the author's writing style turned me off, so I tried reading the manga, and after 5 years of following the manga, I can say with confidence that the series fucking suck to me, especially since I don't relate to or like any of the character.
It seems like the author tries to develop deep character with complicated personality and problems, but all of that just feel flat and utterly nonsense/whimsical/dumb to me.
(I've read many things over the years, and I can say with confidence that there are many novels/manga better than this. Hell, even the CN manhua/novels are better than this, which say a lot tbh.)
anw, for any new readers who skim the comments to check the story before reading it, my advice to you is: if you don't like/relate to the two MCs within the first 5 chapters, this probably won't be your thing and it's best to skip it.
It seems like the author tries to develop deep character with complicated personality and problems, but all of that just feel flat and utterly nonsense/whimsical/dumb to me.
(I've read many things over the years, and I can say with confidence that there are many novels/manga better than this. Hell, even the CN manhua/novels are better than this, which say a lot tbh.)
anw, for any new readers who skim the comments to check the story before reading it, my advice to you is: if you don't like/relate to the two MCs within the first 5 chapters, this probably won't be your thing and it's best to skip it.
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That point just released in the volume that came out today in Japan and it hasn’t been translated yet
Dex-chan lover
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I hate these kinda things, I want a romance manga about the actual relationship. not the awful awkward period before hand. a nice slice of life romance where they are a couple and do couple things. but they never are.
Yeaaah... This ain't gonna work out. Shimamura is totally not getting it. I mean at least she's trying to understand Adachi, but stepping into a relationship half-heartedly like that never works. Adachi has her own problems, but at least she wears everything she thinks on her sleeves.
You’re asking for a lot. There’s a ton of manga out there that already do this, how do you as a writer make it different. Blud seems to think being an author is that easy.
Nah, I like this way more. First the relationship before and now we will get the relationship after confessing
Dex-chan lover
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nah, the "will they, won't they" equivocation is the absolute worst trope in romance manga.
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i personally think this one has great art. However, i’m still struggling trying to understand shimamura characteristic, is she the kind of person who doesn’t want a romantic relationship with someone? I genuinely can’t understand what was in her mind throughout the whole manga series.
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Man, it's really amazing how the number of volumes and story progression match between the light novel and the manga adaptation. You can imagine just how much was left out of the manga, considering how it's more common for there to be something like 3 manga volumes per 1 light novel volume.
...or, from another point of view, one can see all of that light novel content as unnecessary extras, since the manga adaptation hit most of the important beats without feeling too watered-down.
Personally, I dropped off somewhere in the middle of volume 9, where there's a big, contiguous chunk dedicated just to the side characters. I kinda just got tired of it and left it for later, but ended up not returning to it for years.
Now, I feel like reading it from the start, but in Japanese, so I'm gonna order the 15 light novel set from Amazon.co.jp.
Slight tangent, but importing Japanese books is expensive. To reduce the shipping cost as much as possible, you really gotta order at least 20 books at a time to get it to around a third of the total cost.
To make it simple to understand what I mean, here's how much it costs to order a single book. 80% spent on shipping is basically wallet rape.
Compared to ordering the whole set of 15 books in bulk, which brings it down to 40%.
Technically, buying the same amount of books but of the bigger format is relatively "cheaper" in terms of shipping, at 32%. This is just 15 copies of the same 1399 yen book. The bigger format goes for around 1400 yen compared to the small format, at around 700 yen.
Anyway, it is what it is, for us physical book collectors. I started a few months back, but already bought 104 books and spent almost a thousand euros across three bulk purchases. My bookshelf still feels empty, though.
Also, just look at how much better the bigger books look. Except for Silent Witch, which has a boring spine even though the illustrations are wonderful... Sad.
...or, from another point of view, one can see all of that light novel content as unnecessary extras, since the manga adaptation hit most of the important beats without feeling too watered-down.
Personally, I dropped off somewhere in the middle of volume 9, where there's a big, contiguous chunk dedicated just to the side characters. I kinda just got tired of it and left it for later, but ended up not returning to it for years.
Now, I feel like reading it from the start, but in Japanese, so I'm gonna order the 15 light novel set from Amazon.co.jp.
Slight tangent, but importing Japanese books is expensive. To reduce the shipping cost as much as possible, you really gotta order at least 20 books at a time to get it to around a third of the total cost.
To make it simple to understand what I mean, here's how much it costs to order a single book. 80% spent on shipping is basically wallet rape.
Compared to ordering the whole set of 15 books in bulk, which brings it down to 40%.
Technically, buying the same amount of books but of the bigger format is relatively "cheaper" in terms of shipping, at 32%. This is just 15 copies of the same 1399 yen book. The bigger format goes for around 1400 yen compared to the small format, at around 700 yen.
Anyway, it is what it is, for us physical book collectors. I started a few months back, but already bought 104 books and spent almost a thousand euros across three bulk purchases. My bookshelf still feels empty, though.
Also, just look at how much better the bigger books look. Except for Silent Witch, which has a boring spine even though the illustrations are wonderful... Sad.
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- Jan 19, 2024
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Probably the worst yuri ive ever read lmao Adachi is the coolest, but Shimamura is just a piece of trash
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- Jan 22, 2025
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Eh Linda bad , it's like a one sided love Romance manga , the blonde don't even like our black haired girl
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oh god oh geez reading this was like slowly watching a train derail then catch on fire-
like at first i was rooting for them!! but it slowly became more and more obvious that adachi was REALLY attached to shimamura, and shimamura was... barely feeling anything around her tbh.
the breaking point for me was that call. like holy shit. adachi has some PROBLEMS, and shimamura is no better. like damn girl, i get that adachi was crashing out, but to just say "lol okay" and hang up?? at that point i was just staring at my screen in horror. to give an accurate description of reading this, imagine this sequence of emojis:
😄->🙂->😕->😦->😰
AND THEN THEY JUST?? BRUSHED IT OFF. yes, i know that they probably will talk about it eventually, but holy shit that needs to be SOON.
because now they're dating. and shimamura once again, doesn't give a shit. from how i see it, having only read this manga, there's literally no way this relationship is gonna be healthy. sure, they can work through their issues and figure it out, but like. they aren't communicating at ALL right now, and i am concerned
the breaking point for me was that call. like holy shit. adachi has some PROBLEMS, and shimamura is no better. like damn girl, i get that adachi was crashing out, but to just say "lol okay" and hang up?? at that point i was just staring at my screen in horror. to give an accurate description of reading this, imagine this sequence of emojis:
😄->🙂->😕->😦->😰
AND THEN THEY JUST?? BRUSHED IT OFF. yes, i know that they probably will talk about it eventually, but holy shit that needs to be SOON.
because now they're dating. and shimamura once again, doesn't give a shit. from how i see it, having only read this manga, there's literally no way this relationship is gonna be healthy. sure, they can work through their issues and figure it out, but like. they aren't communicating at ALL right now, and i am concerned
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Group Leader
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- Jul 5, 2023
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oh god oh geez reading this was like slowly watching a train derail then catch on fire-
like at first i was rooting for them!! but it slowly became more and more obvious that adachi was REALLY attached to shimamura, and shimamura was... barely feeling anything around her tbh.
the breaking point for me was that call. like holy shit. adachi has some PROBLEMS, and shimamura is no better. like damn girl, i get that adachi was crashing out, but to just say "lol okay" and hang up?? at that point i was just staring at my screen in horror. to give an accurate description of reading this, imagine this sequence of emojis:
😄->🙂->😕->😦->😰
AND THEN THEY JUST?? BRUSHED IT OFF. yes, i know that they probably will talk about it eventually, but holy shit that needs to be SOON.
because now they're dating. and shimamura once again, doesn't give a shit. from how i see it, having only read this manga, there's literally no way this relationship is gonna be healthy. sure, they can work through their issues and figure it out, but like. they aren't communicating at ALL right now, and i am concerned
This is a really, really slow burn type of story. Stuff can get put aside and be resolved only volumes later.
It all makes its own kind of sense in-universe, but people tend to compare how they themselves would act in the real world and be annoyed how it doesn't match with both of our unique protagonists. Though I've seen quite a few people relate to either of them.
The best way to read this type of story is to not reference real life, and only keep track of the internal consistency of the story, because it's kind of building it's own universe, instead of trying to tell a real life story.
I mean, we got aliens and the multiverse in it. It's not exactly true to real life. And all the characters aren't quite "normal" as we would expect in our daily encounters.
Edit: And yes, I'm basing my opinion more on the light novel than the manga. The manga has the general story fairly well represented but it misses a lot of the nuance and perspectives displayed by their internal monologues.
