HM I WONDER WHY SHE'S HOLDING AN L IN THE CHAPTER COVER? I WONDER WHY, IN THIS MANGA WITH FOUR SIDE CHARACTERS WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO BE GAY, LESBIAN, BI, AND TRANS, IS SHE HOLDING AN L. MAYBE SHE FUCKING LOST SOMETHING REALLY BAD SO SHE'S JUST HOLDING THAT L? WHO KNOWS
yeah honestly the author has no fucking subtlety. i just wish they didn't do these recaps and those covers with the literal letters of LGBT in them. show us in the story who is what, don't fucking outright tell us like that. hell, I'd even forgot from last volume where they literally had the characters standing on/sitting next to their letters on the fucking back cover, and i'd thought nakamichi was the bi one. but then in this chapter i was shown oh yeah the author likes to fucking put these people with their letters BEFORE IT'S REVEALED THEY ARE THAT
not only that but the ending segment recap really fucking puts focus on if they're LGBT and what letter they are, which sort of pisses me off. I really wish whoever made those would see them as characters first, and LGBT characters second. you don't have to put a "gay" next to Seiji (i forgot his name tbh i might be wrong) for us to know he's gay, his defining character moment is being gay for his best friend. like fuck, the story would be decent without that
But I also want to criticize the fact that we're ONLY NOW GOING TO NAKAMICHI. THE LAST FEW CHAPTERS MADE US HATE HER! She went from"oh i'm just teaching you makeup tips! if you dont do what i say i won't teach you makeup teehee" which was, to be honest, fine, to "i will literally show the world a picture of you crossdressing and naked." At that point how the fuck are we supposed to have sympathy for her? Why would we care about her backstory until she's come to redeem herself? Hell, I'm a fan of Mahou Shoujo Site, a series that has a REALLY bad tendency of keeping along fucked up characters, but even THAT series knows when and how to present characters backstories better than this particular instance.
God, this has a lot of flaws, despite showing a decent amount of promise in the first volume. What I liked in the first volume was the subtle hints that Gin was trans but didn't know what being trans meant, and what I thought would be the eventual buildup to Gin realizing this fact, accompanied by companions in the LGBT community who would help Gin discover what Gin really is. But instead of being supportive companions in anyway they're detrimental to Gin's health now. I think Seiji is at least going to stop being a fucking creep for now that he warded off his "Dark Lust" but holy shit that was the one character who should have talked to and been honest with Gin even if Gin didn't want to hear it, he's his fucking best friend.
God, I'm ranting. I'm really disappointed by a lot of this because I was looking forward to it for a month or so. Whatever. First Volume was a 7-8/10. This Volume was a 4/10 at best. The author's "extra notes" at the end of each almost knock both down a number if you include them. I'll keep up reading this manga, hoping it gets better and honestly not having much better to do on this site.