Nanashi no Asterism

[Lock]

This manga was pretty taxing and heavy to read, oof, but still had some good moments at least.

 

[aiyikes]

disappointed the brother and the boy didn't get together

 

[SirPlasterbrain]

Manga was axed, a real shame. Lemme get this out of the way, the main three girls are like dogshit. The dynamics are just stupid. The only reason I rated this a 9 is because of Subaru, and the subplot surrounding him. It just has so much that could work, it could be amazing. The artstyle is also really adorable. I recommend it entirely because of Subaru.

 

[Mikhail]

i wanted a sic/brocon ending, but i suppose status quo has to happen

 

[BlackGeneral]

I think I never felt more unfulfilled.

 

[Kiriha]

Too bad this got axed. It's one of those rare manga that focusing less on the yuri/yaoi shit. Yes the characters were an idiot and they made a lot of stupid decisions but that what made this interesting for me. They were still a kid facing something that isn't normal by society standard. Unfortunately, not being a generic yuri manga is also the reason it not being popular enough and that invited the inevitable axe. This could be good if only the author has the time to properly tie all loose end.

 

[Quelandoris]

Cute little yuri manga that actually acknowledges that its characters are LGBT, instead of letting its characters exist in some nebulous zone of girl-love without it being an issue. The characters actually struggle with their sexuality and being othered as a result of it in a way that is realistic and immediately relatable. That said, yeah it got cut way too soon and it shows. Kotooka is the only one who gets a character arc and its fairly good but ended without the denouement that was likely to be a three-way confession further into the series. Its also hard to avoid that the arc for our three main girls drags hard in the middle chapters. Speaking of drag, Subaru carries those middle chapters like a fucking champ, but ultimately is left with his character arc up in the air at its most exciting moment. Beats poor Nadeshiko, whose character arc never got to even start.

I'd say this is still worth reading because watching Kotooka grapple with simultaneous self-loathing over being a lesbian and scorn over her friends being too lesbian (Nadeshiko) and not lesbian enough (Tsukasa) is genuinely fascinating and at least some parts of it will be familiar to anyone whose ever been in the closet. I would say that BUT it is a slog to get to the actual worthwhile parts of her character, which are scattered piecemeal throughout the whole thing.

 

[Tsukinotaku]

It's so annoying that it ended like that. It was starting to get even more interesting, especially with Asakura starting to have doubts.

And this gave us no conclusion, Shiratiti is still pitiful as hell..

 

[bootyboomer]

bruh,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Morgan_911]

That's a cursed end. It's hilarious how the three girls + others made bad decisions and how most characters were creepy weird and utter shit. Asakura, the prince girl and Tsukasa were normal atleast, (in my case). It's annoying how Tsukasa had to give up on her love.

 

[Jetsetlemming]

I loved this. Got the feeling from other comments that people had very unrealistic expectations for a bunch of 13 year old queer kids who aren't even at thinking about first kisses yet, lol. For what is here, for what distance they cover, this is beautiful and very satisfying. I love the open ended ending and updated character profiles at the end as seeds for personal imagination of what happens next.

 

[umijiins]

im really kinda upset at the ending, i loved the story

 

[Avonc4d0]

If anyone asks me why I hate the love triangle trope with a burning passion, I'm just gonna link em this manga without saying anything.

 

[Andigo]

I wanted to like this, but by the end you'll at least feel how insulting it is. If you recognize it the myth, it's disgusting.

It's easy to miss, but the story is truly about and supporting a prejudiced belief used to marginalize same-sex attraction (within Japan in particular): It directly brought up, showed a bi girl accepting, never slightly disputed, and had an extra affirming the idea that most children who feel same-sex attaction will grow out of it. This is an insidious simplification at best. Especially in a more conformist country like Japan, there is heavy social pressure to repress queerness. What does that then say about the quality of people who don't grow out of it? That they're immature? Deviating from a path? Worldwide the belief is used to justify conversion therapy and contributes to the marginalization of queer adults.

The horror of this series is that, for its target audience, it's anti-yuri about a transient queer phase, with no confirmed queer adults. The flash-forward extra on the flipside of the cover is an enthusiastic discussion about marriage (implicitly heterosexual currently), with one girl confirmed to have a boyfriend. Including that pointed extra, the problem isn't subtle. Could the any of them see herself as lesbian or bi? Maybe. But it was apparently important to emphasize happy heteronormality.

From first scene to last middle school scene, the characters believe and suddenly accept "if you want to stay friends, stay closeted, don't put it into words and trouble your crush, ever, and things will go very wrong if you even get close to openly confessing". It worked, they're friends years later. The assertive cinnamon roll who was the only one without the full picture also came to this conclusion but it would be harder to believe if she wasn't fooled. Her crush supposedly noticed, then never thought about it again. There was no endgame. The whole tension, the whole plot, was that repression hurts, let's feel bad about repression a dozen times each, and the resolution is that you'll get used to repressing and solve everything! It's alright, 3/3 former crushes confirmed!

I can't imagine the author's emotions at the time, but the result was something akin to bigoted propaganda. That gets a zero score from me.

Even in downer endings, there's often an acceptance of one's queerness along the way. Not here, not in the whole saga. I'm angry about this, it didn't sneak up on me so much as I held onto the delusion that somehow the story would stop being repetitive and dismissive. I need brain bleach after this one. That extra spoiling the rest of the volume was fair warning for the sludge. I hated it enough to word vomit this, I guess.

The twin brother had the most character development. He went from a twisted place to a sweet one, though the whole thing was unrelated to the main plot and the secondary conflict evaporated. Eh, read a proper crossdressing or gender nonconforming or trans manga. Love Me For Who I Am has dark parts and a good lesbian subplot.

We're an era past this manga's release, and Japan has high albeit apathetic queer acceptance, and increasingly visible representation and politics, so I'd like to believe this manga is an antique.

 

[PeepWave]

Nothingburger ending where nothing gets resolved + the bonus pages at the beginning of chapter 19 explain in a timeskip that one of the main characters ends up getting a boyfriend which feels like a HUGE spit in the face

all and all, a complete waste of time with the worlds most unsatisfying payoffs, despite a promising beginning. Dont bother, especially if youre primarily reading for the Yuri