Alcohol and Ogre-girls - Ch. 45

[MangaDex]

 

[PredatorDuck]

Unexpectedly heavy implications from this chapter.

Anyway, when Hinata and Aju are spying on them from the shop it's obviously a Don Quijote (Donki) parody. A fantastic store for everything you could ever need (and more). The real theme song sounds like this, with the part that is parodied in the manga at 0:46 into the video:

 

[Nekoloss]

Thanks for the chapter
Man, now i'm curious, can't wait for next chapter

 

[Tds-PdV]

To Hinata, watching a movie about bartenders is probably like us watching one of those episodes of gourmet travel shows.


Also, jealous Hinata is precious.

 

[Roodypatooti]

They just went out to brag about their girlfriends to each other.

 

[deathpigeon]

aju and hinata getting jealous at the two of them excitedly chatting when it's actually about them was so cute.

 

[SrNevik]

Two bartenders talking about their lovers. How nice. Gossiping about their GFs. Let's see what this story is about and how Hinata handles the accusations from her sis. Can't wait.

 

[zanonyn]

I'm glad the author found a way to twist the somewhat stereotypical "friendly date SO gets jealous about" here and rather then dwell on shallow lack of trust and romantic aspects, show that the real uncomfortable thing is that the whole situation really hasn't been a normal one for a regular human to end up in. And Hinata herself may have lost sight of that too, or thought that she could cast the weight of history off of her. But can she really? I like that a good 7 volumes in it could honestly go either way.

Unexpectedly heavy implications from this chapter.

All along we've had hints that old history has a real role here. The modern times and civilities have sanded off a lot of the edges from the monsters of history, humanity has gotten strong. But there really were monsters, and it's been apparent some of the dark old world has carried on. Naori has only been slowly getting immersed in it, and that Hinata isn't just a somewhat weird girl with a few weird attributes. It's been pretty well done.

 

[recklessribbon]

Thanks for the translation!

 

[isoycrazy]

Things are getting interesting.

 

[LilithRaven]

So….i just wander we are at chapter 45 and there is nothing we know how they think of each other romantically :/ i’m just damn scared that the author will just pull some stupid ending eith just IMPLIED they are some how TOGETHER but 0 romance and i HATE that type of Yuri the most, because it’s like so many old yuri mangas that just don’t go any were in the Romance yet they HEAVY imply something Gay going on

i hate how BL/yaoi and any shoujo story get’s their romance clear as day only Yuri/GL get’s stories were we pussy foot with the relationship

 

[LocalHaz]

So….i just wander we are at chapter 45 and there is nothing we know how they think of each other romantically :/ i’m just damn scared that the author will just pull some stupid ending eith just IMPLIED they are some how TOGETHER but 0 romance and i HATE that type of Yuri the most, because it’s like so many old yuri mangas that just don’t go any were in the Romance yet they HEAVY imply something Gay going on

i hate how BL/yaoi and any shoujo story get’s their romance clear as day only Yuri/GL get’s stories were we pussy foot with the relationship

I mean it seems to be quite obvious that hinata likes Naori and pretty likely Naori likes her back so even if they dont date till the end of the series (which seems unlikely, they will probably start dating in the next 10 chaps) its pretty much nearly confirmed they like each other. (Also some of this is guessing but take a look at the first few chapters and tell me this manga is trying to vague the lesbians)

 

[himi-cat]

They just went out to brag about their girlfriends to each other.

Which is all it was ever going to be - Aju was never worried about Tsukasa, and Hinata was never genuinely worried about Naori getting involved with Tsukasa, they're both worried (in different ways) about their humans being hurt.

... show that the real uncomfortable thing is that the whole situation really hasn't been a normal one for a regular human to end up in. And Hinata herself may have lost sight of that too, or thought that she could cast the weight of history off of her. But can she really? I like that a good 7 volumes in it could honestly go either way.

This is a good point - Hinata lost sight of that a long time ago, because Naori is so . . . chill, I guess? For all that she seems like she's anxious and can sometimes seem like she struggles with being distracted by possible futures, Naori is fundamentally someone who lives in the moment. For her, everything else basically disappears once she starts mixing a drink for someone she cares about, and everything outside that is either focused on organising for that moment, or kind of wandering in a daze (probably a little unfair, but only a little). Falling in with (and in love with) Hinata kind of filled in those dazed moments, because basically every moment with Hinata is a moment where she's focused on mixing a drink for the person she cares about, or preparing for that.

Which means Hinata has only ever really dealt with the Naori that's in the moment: focused, caring, thoughtful and generous, and (critically) buouyed by the strength that comes from that kind of focused state. She's pretty much never seen Naori being like a "normal" human, so I think she's got a rather skewed view of Naori's capacity to cope with all this heavy Ogre stuff. Naori has been able to step up, even when it's not specifically affecting Hinata - when she was with Mikage in the woods, or with Isuzu, for example. But even though she pulled things off, and quite convincingly, she's still been right on the edge - at the limits of what she could handle, and needing to find new strength to get through. She'll go right up to that edge and push past without even noticing for Hinata's sake, but eventually there'll be a time when there's no new strength left to find, even to protect Hinata, and Naori will just keep going until she's poured every part of herself into the fight and there'll be nothing left . . . and it's not at all clear whether Hinata understands that.

All along we've had hints that old history has a real role here. The modern times and civilities have sanded off a lot of the edges from the monsters of history, humanity has gotten strong. But there really were monsters, and it's been apparent some of the dark old world has carried on. Naori has only been slowly getting immersed in it, and that Hinata isn't just a somewhat weird girl with a few weird attributes. It's been pretty well done.

Yeah. It's always been clear that this story didn't have that kind of deep backstory planning when it started, but it's been retconned in pretty well, and the development since it got serialized long-term has been handled well. And there's always been a sense of reality to the monsters and the supernatural parts of the setting, which made it easy to slip in the heavier backstory elements - the depth (and weirdness) of Japanese mythology gives this kind of story lots of room to move . . .

 

[wlftchtr82]

I have a feeling we're gonna get into some pretty gory and tragic stuff. Should I make some popcorn for the next one or should I buy some tissues? Maybe both.

Oh and, I am still super curious about the fourth lord. I don't want it to be something like the lineage went extinct, but also having a twist that it was Naori's family (mom or grandmother's maiden name) wouldn't be fun...

 

[himi-cat]

So….i just wander we are at chapter 45 and there is nothing we know how they think of each other romantically :/ i’m just damn scared that the author will just pull some stupid ending eith just IMPLIED they are some how TOGETHER but 0 romance and i HATE that type of Yuri the most, because it’s like so many old yuri mangas that just don’t go any were in the Romance yet they HEAVY imply something Gay going on

Hinata is absolutely not only in love with Naori, but totally aware of her feelings, and (in between all the other shit that's going on) working on making sure that Naori understands how she feels.

Naori is still figuring things out, but she's clearly in love with Hinata even though she's not in a position where she can articulate that properly to herself.

People around them can see how they are with each other - Aju just now, for example, but also Naori's friends in earlier chapters. Most of the ogres see them as an ogre/bartender pair, and I feel like that blinds them somewhat to the romantic aspects of their relationship (Mikage has no idea, for example), but the people who aren't blinded by that (e.g. Mokuren) are totally aware of what's going on, and actively using it agaisnt both of them.

They're not going around holding hands lewdly or constantly saying they love each other, but there's no way the romance isn't real, and I really don't see any way the author could leave it as a vague implication or something. They're basically a couple now, just about everyone around them recognises that, and they're well on the way to recognising it themselves - the author would have to step quite a long way back in order to end things in the kind of state you're worried about.

 

[himi-cat]

Oh and, I am still super curious about the fourth lord. I don't want it to be something like the lineage went extinct, but also having a twist that it was Naori's family (mom or grandmother's maiden name) wouldn't be fun...

Yeah, that would be annoying - a cop out, and lazy storytelling.

I don't think it's likely, though. I get the feeling that part of the point of Naori as a character is that she's really just a human - there's nothing about her that's supernatural in any way. All her strength comes from how much she cares about people, how much she, specifically, cares, and how much of herself she's willing to put into that care. The drinks she mixes aren't delicious because of some weird magic, they're delicious because she puts her heart and soul into crafting them for the people she cares about; the strength that Hinata takes from them is strength that comes from the care and love that goes into them.

But it's definitely interesting comparing how the four clans have fared with the way that the Ibuki clan has fared - I have a sense that the human clans have been stagnating, unable to follow the progress of the rest of the human world because they've been too caught up in their past glories, while the Ibuki clan has been growing and changing with the world around them. I'm half expecting at some point to find that the ogres are actually the ones with all the real power, despite the curse and their reliance on humans to be able to access their magical powers . . .

 

[Boltage45]

So….i just wander we are at chapter 45 and there is nothing we know how they think of each other romantically :/ i’m just damn scared that the author will just pull some stupid ending eith just IMPLIED they are some how TOGETHER but 0 romance and i HATE that type of Yuri the most, because it’s like so many old yuri mangas that just don’t go any were in the Romance yet they HEAVY imply something Gay going on

i hate how BL/yaoi and any shoujo story get’s their romance clear as day only Yuri/GL get’s stories were we pussy foot with the relationship

Some of you people are a bit crazy. You see the GL tag and all you can think about is ROMANCE ROMANCE ROMANCE. This story is clearly more than just romance, it has action, it has mystery, it has a lot of info about alcohol, it has a lot of info about Japanese mythology... Also, there is CLEARLY romance here too. Hinata and Naori have feelings for each other, the story simply hasn't gotten to that yet. Let the author cook.

 

[WolfenLady]

Aju went for a low blow. Insinuating that Hinata isn't serious about Naori and that her playing house with her was just irresponsible and hurtful to those who don't really have a word to say in how the story will end was savage.

A wake up call I'm sure Hinata didn't see coming, from Aju no less. I love it when the plot is so thick your hands just keep on sinking into it (that doesn't sound like I'm talking about boobs, right 🤔)

 

[vixawi1793]

thanks for the TL!

is aju referring to hinata and naori's quest to find the legendary drink? hinata has been dead set on undoing her ogreness, much to her family's dismay, so i wonder if that's the issue here now.

 

[ErikTheRed]

They can be such good friends if they let themselves be.