Kare to Kanojo no Sentaku - Vol. 5 Ch. 26

[MangaDex]

 

[Omgsofie]

Thank you for the TL :3

 

[lostdrewid]

very grateful for the translation. sad to know we only have two chapters left, but it's been a good run and I think it's headed for a satisfactory conclusion. guess we'll find out soon!

 

[Dredcor]

Honestly, glad they're not getting together.
They're better as friends.

 

[Ichaivalrose]

Such a phenomenal chapter I love them so much. Sad it's ending but I think it's wrapped up super well

 

[Hikineet]

Thanks for the chapter.

 

[Omega_Keiichi]

Thanks for the chapter!

I am so mixed on how I feel about them not getting together... Like hell yeah the bonds of friendship are so good! I'm glad their sex doesn't reduce their friendship... But at the same time, I would love for them to have fallen for each other BEFORE the sex change and it be the catalyst that made them realize their feelings. It's bittersweet, and that is a sign of FANTASTIC writing...

I won't say no to a "what if" chapter though.

 

[LadyTyche]

I like the story, and how the characters are turning out, but that dialogue on page 12 was cringy af and aimed at the reader.

 

[kyrex]

Maybe it's just because it's taken so long to get here (thank you for all your hard work, Sappho Scans!) but this feels like a weird sudden turn to take the story after two dozen previous chapters that were incredibly heavy on the romantic tension and feelings. All that for, "haha whoops guess I don't feel anything."

 

[Funky_Cosmonaut]

Honestly, my biggest worry in this series (aside from the fear that they'd handle the subject matter poorly) was that the author would feel forced to pair the two together. The whole point was that as much as Haruka changed, they really haven't. It's Kazuma who had to change if they wanted to find that spark their friendship had.

I think tossing out that friendship and making it a romance, just because Haruka's gender flipped... I don't know, it feels like an easy way out. It feels like he's dating his bro, now that it's socially acceptable. It's much harder for Kazuma to hold onto his original feeling when going through an emotional upheaval.

I also kind of take issue with that fact that Haruka's transition was the result of some unwanted magical disease, than anything realistic. But I think it worked out in the long run, showing how she felt wrong in her body and like she had to perform female now that she's been forced this way. It was a round about way of talking about it, but we got there.

All in all, pretty good ride so far. Two chapters left, and I hope we stick the landing.

 

[scragglyisback]

Tbh this manga is fire, the emotions and feelings it dumps on you are amazing

 

[Primalmoon]

Honestly, my biggest worry in this series (aside from the fear that they'd handle the subject matter poorly) was that the author would feel forced to pair the two together. The whole point was that as much as Haruka changed, they really haven't. It's Kazuma who had to change if they wanted to find that spark their friendship had.

I think tossing out that friendship and making it a romance, just because Haruka's gender flipped... I don't know, it feels like an easy way out. It feels like he's dating his bro, now that it's socially acceptable. It's much harder for Kazuma to hold onto his original feeling when going through an emotional upheaval.

I also kind of take issue with that fact that Haruka's transition was the result of some unwanted magical disease, than anything realistic. But I think it worked out in the long run, showing how she felt wrong in her body and like she had to perform female now that she's been forced this way. It was a round about way of talking about it, but we got there.

All in all, pretty good ride so far. Two chapters left, and I hope we stick the landing.

While it's nice that it seems like they're not going to be forced together, it's disappointing that it is seeming like the solution to it all is "Haruka abandons all the friends she just made and moves away, now there is no problem."

That isn't Haruka and Tachibana figure out how to still be friendly without it being romantic, it is Haruka exiling herself so that there definitely is no romance and only long-distance-friendship. Kind of the same garbage that Haruka's ex did to her by breaking her heart and leaving so that Haruka would be forced to get off her butt.

If all that ends up being the case, that means the whole payoff of this story was just to roughly return to the status quo of before the story even began?

 

[Vivafif]

Hot take but the tag 'romance' should be removed from this manga now that there's an in-universe confirmation they won't end up together

 

[red105th]

Hot take but the tag 'romance' should be removed from this manga now that there's an in-universe confirmation they won't end up together

The romance is still there, just not with those two

 

[Vivafif]

The romance is still there, just not with those two

There's also romance in Naruto but I don't see the tag in there 🤔

 

[Huichelaar]

There's also romance in Naruto but I don't see the tag in there 🤔

Someone should add the tag there.

 

[browniesan]

This was nice to read. Thanks for the TLs

 

[notcishet]

While it's nice that it seems like they're not going to be forced together, it's disappointing that it is seeming like the solution to it all is "Haruka abandons all the friends she just made and moves away, now there is no problem."

That isn't Haruka and Tachibana figure out how to still be friendly without it being romantic, it is Haruka exiling herself so that there definitely is no romance and only long-distance-friendship. Kind of the same garbage that Haruka's ex did to her by breaking her heart and leaving so that Haruka would be forced to get off her butt.

If all that ends up being the case, that means the whole payoff of this story was just to roughly return to the status quo of before the story even began?

Not trying to be sarcastic, but how can you be exiled to your home town?

Other than that I agree with what you've said.

 

[Primalmoon]

Not trying to be sarcastic, but how can you be exiled to your home town?

Other than that I agree with what you've said.

tl;dr Not sure if there's a language barrier here or if the concept is somehow unique to the U.S., but your "hometown" isn't necessarily where you live right now, it's where you grew up. Haruka was living in Tokyo in Kazuma's place, so it makes sense to be "exiled" back to her hometown i.e. where her mom lives.

Longer:
If people grow up and move away from their parents' house, the place where your parents' house was is your "hometown". There's generally an understanding that people are comfortable in their hometowns as they're familiar with everything in it, there are chances that their former teachers are still at the same school, and that a lot of things can be explained about someone based on their hometown (i.e. you get a lot of your accent from your parents, but also a lot of it from the people you grew up with in your hometown).
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/hometown

If someone asks you "where do you live?" vs "where did you grow up?", they might get the same answer if you've never moved around, but the answer to the second one is usually your hometown.

The exact understanding of what someone's hometown is gets a bit murky if your family moved around a lot when you were a kid, or if there is literally no one of your family left in your "hometown", or if you moved away a really long time ago, or if you really hated the place for some reason, or if your parents were divorced with shared custody so you regularly swapped houses... So the answer is sometimes based on vibes, and sometimes you have no hometown, and sometimes you might have multiple hometowns...

But as long as you have a concept of a hometown, it makes sense to get exiled there. It's retreating from wherever you are and moving back in with your parent(s) / moving back to some place that's more comfortable for you.

So in this story, Haruka is currently living in Tokyo in Kazuma's place. Haruka's hometown would be where her mom lives / where Haruka and Kazuma first met each other as kids and were growing up there (until Haruka's illness happened).

 

[SUSmaster274329]

I can't understand this development, not because there is no romance and that's what I wanted, but it just feels as if something is missing. It feels like all this build up only lead back to the beginning, if they stayed friends but decided to help each other out and not be long distance right there then I would've been fine with it.

Thanks for the chapter!

I am so mixed on how I feel about them not getting together... Like hell yeah the bonds of friendship are so good! I'm glad their sex doesn't reduce their friendship... But at the same time, I would love for them to have fallen for each other BEFORE the sex change and it be the catalyst that made them realize their feelings. It's bittersweet, and that is a sign of FANTASTIC writing...

I won't say no to a "what if" chapter though.

I disagree, feeling bittersweet doesn't have to mean the writing is fantastic, as I would say the writing here is generally good and okay in some instances.

However it took a massive detour into confusion when they end up as they were right before their meeting. They developed their feelings for multiple chapters with so many hints and tropes signalling where the relationship was going. Only to go a completely different way with no prior hints and build up.

My problem is that if romance between the two wasn't the intention of the story then there should have been more subversion from tropes that are normal stories like it, and at the very least the romance that the two main characters have with other people should've been in the forefront and how they help each other and rebuild their relationship after so long in conjunction with it.

Friendship and romance are inherently not that different, the only way to distinguish them is by the feelings of the individuals in the relationship, which means the internal monologue needs to reflect it and not conform to the ordinary tropes of genderswap romance. However feelings around romance are inherently confusing, which is why having the thing the characters contemplate so much be their relationship has to be managed differently as to not be to similar to romantic feeling. If they were falling in love then their relationship and thoughts should have progressed as they did in up until this chapter with the romance coming thereafter or there would need to be more focus on some other emotion like betrayal from FMC for distancing herself, or for MMC not becoming like who he looked up to, or maybe they both feel they disappointed the other with how they changed and how they looked up to each other and believe they failed to do so in their separate opinions.

The internal conflict does not reflect where their relationships where headed, if it did this would have seemed inevitable and less "bittersweet", however I feel it was more unexpected and then disappointing. Of course it could've been unexpected and end up great if learning of their feelings gave their previous interactions and feelings a new perspective, however that was not the case.

6/10