Imasara desu ga, Osananajimi wo Suki ni Natte Shimaimashita - Ch. 28 - As The Short Journey Ends (First Half)

[ToiletGeist]

What I’m saying is people are (justifiably) frustrated because not only did they rug pull us with a VIOLENT tone shift, they also put a full stop on story progress for 3 real life months just to full up a character who was hardly more than a Friend A during a moment when the story should start speeding up.

Calling it a pacing issue isn’t a buzzword, it’s a valid critique. Pacing is paramount to a good story. A good story told poorly is a poor story.

Oh no!
Anyway…

 

[Mangamoz]

I'll be honest, I have not actually seen any of the latest chaps for a while.

I just skip to the comments to see if this arc is over already.

I'll marathon it all when it ends, to get it over with quick without giving myself a headache seeing this in drip feed format.

 

[KeyaBladeA]

WHY

 

[Zaerox]

Wasting all that art on such a dogshit story
People wouldn't even bother with that story if it wasn't for the art

 

[favine]

Wasting all that art on such a dogshit story
People wouldn't even bother with that story if it wasn't for the art

True. picked up this story based on the artist alone.

 

[mgRdr]

3 real life months

That is really short for the amount of information we've got on one of the main heroines of whom we knew basically nothing prior to these 3 months, and also her place in the story, and it might as well turn out that she is the true protagonist, and Hikari was merely a decoy.
Also real life months are irrelevant. The way I read this manga is as follows: I see a new chapter notification in MangaDex, I read the chapter, I participate in these fine discussions - and then I move on and do something else, like read another manga or do IRL stuff or whatever. Until a new chapter comes in two weeks, which as of recently contains a lot of new content to discuss, speculate about and reflect on. That's how I read the first 20 chapters (expect the speculating and discussing part, because there was no reason to), and that's how I read the following 8.

when the story should start speeding up.

If the story had followed up on chapter 21 without these 7 chapters of context on Yami, most of us would've been of much different opinion on the events and its participants. Even still, we do not know why Yami considers or considered Hikari her "best friend", and more importantly, why did she and Yuu break up, which may further change our opinions on the past and following events.

Calling it a pacing issue isn’t a buzzword, it’s a valid critique.

Well I am trying and failing to get people to explain what do they mean by "pacing", and what exactly is the issue with pacing in this manga. Like, assuming that we have the fully completed manga on our hands and we have the ability to read it in one go, and some arcs take tad too long, or they skip too much stuff instead and go for the conclusion prematurely - is that pacing? Or is it when we read the manga as the chapters come out, and we feel like they are not coming quickly enough - is that pacing? Those are two different kinds of "pacing", and I think the latter one is a non-issue, and is not a quality of the manga itself.
@noleafclover75 refused to engage with me further, maybe you would? Because so far, it seems to me "pacing" has been used as a "gotcha" criticism the way people use "show don't tell" like it means something by itself and does not require any further elaboration.

 

[MasterPannya]

Was Yami wearing the same swimsuit she used while fucking Yuu with the earlier chapter when the girls where having their party?

Damn.

 

[imperionero17]

Yami senpai best girl

 

[Dingo777]

That is really short for the amount of information we've got on one of the main heroines of whom we knew basically nothing prior to these 3 months, and also her place in the story, and it might as well turn out that she is the true protagonist, and Hikari was merely a decoy.
Also real life months are irrelevant. The way I read this manga is as follows: I see a new chapter notification in MangaDex, I read the chapter, I participate in these fine discussions - and then I move on and do something else, like read another manga or do IRL stuff or whatever. Until a new chapter comes in two weeks, which as of recently contains a lot of new content to discuss, speculate about and reflect on. That's how I read the first 20 chapters (expect the speculating and discussing part, because there was no reason to), and that's how I read the following 8.

If the story had followed up on chapter 21 without these 7 chapters of context on Yami, most of us would've been of much different opinion on the events and its participants. Even still, we do not know why Yami considers or considered Hikari her "best friend", and more importantly, why did she and Yuu break up, which may further change our opinions on the past and following events.

Well I am trying and failing to get people to explain what do they mean by "pacing", and what exactly is the issue with pacing in this manga. Like, assuming that we have the fully completed manga on our hands and we have the ability to read it in one go, and some arcs take tad too long, or they skip too much stuff instead and go for the conclusion prematurely - is that pacing? Or is it when we read the manga as the chapters come out, and we feel like they are not coming quickly enough - is that pacing? Those are two different kinds of "pacing", and I think the latter one is a non-issue, and is not a quality of the manga itself.
@noleafclover75 refused to engage with me further, maybe you would? Because so far, it seems to me "pacing" has been used as a "gotcha" criticism the way people use "show don't tell" like it means something by itself and does not require any further elaboration.

If Yami was going to be so paramount to the story, she should have had more importance beforehand. She didn’t even get particularly more screen time than any of Hikari’s other friends. The issue isn’t that Yami is important to the plot, it’s that rather than dole out information piece by piece, we’re getting essentially an info dump of “this is why the minor character is actually important”, which feels cheap and undeserved.

The 7 chapters have had maybe 2 chapters worth of plot important details, the author even posted at one point that the mangaka wanted to draw more scenes of them together being lovey dovey so they added more.

I hate to use a vulgar comparison but it’s essentially literary blue balling, not even edging.

An apt comparison would be if say, you had a story of a hero going to slay an evil Wizard, the narrative focuses entirely on the Hero and theres a random villager who kinda shows up for some scenes to help sometimes. And then book ends when the hero confronts the wizard but PLOT TWIST the villager betrays the hero out of nowhere and prepares to stabs them in the back. Also the Villager fucked the Hero’s wife. Then book 2 picks up 10 years ago and tells the sidekicks life story. All narrative tension is just fucking gone. You can build back different tension, by the time we get to it the betrayal doesn’t even matter. What should have been a powerful scene just kind of dies because all momentum is lost. That’s the pacing issue.

It’ll likely be an issue when read in one go, but it’s especially an issue when read in real time, which is the format the author CHOSE to publish in, so it should be taken into account.

 

[mug3n]

If Yami was going to be so paramount to the story, she should have had more importance beforehand. She didn’t even get particularly more screen time than any of Hikari’s other friends. The issue isn’t that Yami is important to the plot, it’s that rather than dole out information piece by piece, we’re getting essentially an info dump of “this is why the minor character is actually important”, which feels cheap and undeserved.

That's my problem with this manga, the shift was too sudden and the hints weren't there. On the other hand, if you are going for shock value, which is what the writer is apparently about in previous works, this is the only way to do it with so little time.

There is also the discussion about if shocking the audience is good or not or how would you do it, in my opinion it has been undercooked. These kind of shocks work in the long run and when you know well the people in it, but Yami wasn't a character until the shock.

I'm liking her more and more as time passes, but her developement should have been done previously. Maybe stablish the bases of her character when things were just fluff and go deeper into her when the revelation came. It's like we are starting from the middle of the story and going backwards or something, it feels clunky.

 

[Highorse]

Cover changed, MC changed, giga Childhood friend bait (lol)

Lowkey kinda don't mind yami, but also idk about being baited

 

[Rafalga]

STILL. FUCKING. SEETHING.

You guys are something else. Anyway, i think flashbacks are about to be over or we will see somw more about how she met with Hikari soon.

 

[88man]

What's the age gap between them? From what I understand at present Hikari timeline they are halfway through highschool in 2nd year. When Ayami and MMC met she was already in her first(?) year of highschool and he was in 3rd year in junior high just before HS entrance exams. And from what I understand Ayami didn't repeat year after all. So Ayami is now a 3rd year in HS or 2nd? And why would she be in 2nd year now all of a sudden?

 

[HYBRID_BEING]

Man, i don't know what author is cooking, and whether this will leave a bad taste afterwards...
But i'm staying for the full course.

 

[Alzu]

If Yami was going to be so paramount to the story, she should have had more importance beforehand. She didn’t even get particularly more screen time than any of Hikari’s other friends. The issue isn’t that Yami is important to the plot, it’s that rather than dole out information piece by piece, we’re getting essentially an info dump of “this is why the minor character is actually important”, which feels cheap and undeserved.

Have people never heard of Limited POV before? The first arc is entirely in Hikari's Point of view. We are not privy to everyone thoughts but Hikari during those chapters. Which is I believe the entire point, because much like Hikari, we're blind to what's happening in the background and with other characters until the reveal. There were hints, the web novel makes that much clearer, but like Hikari, we assume them to be romance flags instead of other possibilities, because again, we were seeing them in Hikari's point of view. Only to realize there's more going on that we initially thought. This second arc is also limited to Yami's, and if we ever get Yuu's POV, which I almost fear, will be also exclusive to his thoughts.

The 7 chapters have had maybe 2 chapters worth of plot important details, the author even posted at one point that the mangaka wanted to draw more scenes of them together being lovey dovey so they added more.

Sort of disingenuous since these chapters serve as a building block to Yami and Yuu's relationship and how they got in a shouting matching with one another in chapter 21, before kissing one another.

 

[Insev]

If he ends up just being a MacGuffin, I will be really sad.

We really need a Yuu arc.

 

[Insev]

we, as the audience, are shown that he is

IMO we were shown what hikari is imagining.

 

[happypurple]

He's used goods now, can't get married

 

[ShaiKhulud]

I understand people really didn't like their fluffy romcom being....not a fluffy romcom out of nowhere, but this story definitely deserves a higher rating, but alas surprise genre change is rough.

I think the score is exactly where it needs to be (considering that the fluffy bit was overrated too if I'm being honest). While yes, Yom is a brilliant artist, angsty teenager story with seggs is hardly original or even interesting genre in general, especially in manga. And it's not like it is written in some brilliant or unconventional way like Onani Master, it's just boring and more or less predictable of you've read a few similar novellas about teenage love.

If this manga started with the flashback I would've been a solid 6.5 with rapid bump to 7.5 after the surprise change of tone to fluffy romcom. But alas author is not very good at commited storytelling in both worlds.

 

[mgRdr]

she should have had more importance beforehand

Why? Why can't she get her spotlight now? Was chapter 21 not enough for readers to understand that she is an important character?

She didn’t even get particularly more screen time than any of Hikari’s other friends.

She got two chapters basically dedicated to her, one is a glimpse of her personality, and one is of her backstory. The other two friends got nothing.

we’re getting essentially an info dump of “this is why the minor character is actually important”

She's getting an "info dump" because she is not a minor character. She's getting the "info dump" just as Hikari had her own "info dump" during the first 21 chapters because she's the main character, or one of the main characters at least.

The 7 chapters have had maybe 2 chapters worth of plot important details

Chapter 22 - her circumstances and how she met Yuu
Chapter 23 - their second meeting, and how she tried to corrupt him
Chapter 24 - their attempt to have sex, her opening up to him and them bonding
Chapter 25 - Yami actually falling in love with Yuu, him reciprocating, them proceeding to have sex and entering a relationship
Chapter 26 - ok, this one arguably does not have anything tangible
Chapter 27 - Yami taking proactive steps to resolve her family situation
Chapter 28 - in the same bin as chapter 26 I guess
Unless you consider anything that does not involve Hikari as unimportant, which I am starting to believe may be the case, there are at least 5 chapters of content and important plot details.

and theres a random villager who kinda shows up for some scenes to help sometimes

I see this comparison as disingenuous. A "hero" and a "villager" have intrinsic difference in power levels and power dynamic, you wouldn't expect a "villager" to do things a "hero" would. Hikari and Yami are classmates, basically on the same "power" level, equally capable of getting romantically involved with a boy their age, except Hikari is a sheltered girl who mostly lives in her own dream world, romantically at least, meanwhile Yami has seen some shit, and thus has more qualification to be a "hero" of this story.

All narrative tension is just fucking gone.

Why? The last seven chapters did not make me care any less about what's gonna happen next, it's just that now there are more questions I want to see answered.

by the time we get to it the betrayal doesn’t even matter

Because the second volume establishes that the hero is a fool on a pointless quest, and the "evil wizard" is actually doing something much more important, and the hero is way out of his depth and is about to ruin everything.

but it’s especially an issue when read in real time

Why? Why do you bring up 3 months like you're anxiously sitting and waiting for this manga to move on with the plot for their whole duration?