Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru - Ch. 101

[SlankDombus]

I'm so glad author spent some time showing us how everyone is crazy about Marin's cosplay, because it clearly wasn't clear enough from the previous, Ike, four chapters. /sarcasm
Yeah, this time even Haniel's creator was involved and this might be instrumental to for the next development in the series, possibly leading to a rift between a Marin who is becoming a celebrity and a Gojou who doesn't believe he's worthy of being next to her.
It's just...I don't 100 pages of random guys gushing over a cosplay. Two chapters including this kne would have been mire than enough.

I do think this is a big part of the issue too. Having so many chapters back to back of people drooling all over themselves and saying shit like "princess" over and over is honestly a really weird vibe to me. I do understand that that's how these sorts of things go in real life, but it also creeps me out in real life too. So it's like, it's totally fine that's in in there because it's a necessary beat but just having so much of it has kind of given the manga a psychological horror slant to it and I very much doubt that that was intentional. So it's kind of like...I think it's a bit harder for me personally to get excited about this as a huge win for our characters when I just find it so offputting and weird. There's definitely a tinge of "okay, I GET IT" to the whole thing.

 

[zeinzki]

Gojou status - Post Nut Clarity

 

[VeryGood]

I dont get why people are disliking the chapters, Its always been like this Gojo and his art and Marin and her feelings for him. I aint saying he doesnt have feeling for her, but the romance bit of the manga has always been on Marin's side.
Honestly I totally get it, I want romance progress too, but I guess ppl get frustrated bc it takes way too long for the series to progress with it being monthly

 

[Deoxyribo9]

Guess the reason I seem to enjoy this manga more than the average is at least partly because I don't view it as romcom at all lol. Wonder if it's similar with 2.5D seduction...

They're both series that started off with the big draw being cosplay ecchi rom com. But 2.5 Dimensional Seduction was able to pivot off of that more easily as it began to expand the reoccuring cast but also not let things get away from themselves. Probably the key difference is that Okumura and Lilysa are perfect and fine with the current status quo. They're not that interested in the more horny sexual aspects despite their love of ecchi manga. And when the romance drama arrives it feels like you're making progress. Okumura's main issue has always been trust in real women because of his backstory, and that's one that can be resolved over time. And you know when an arc isn't going to focus on that at all so you can put those feelings to the side.

Spoiler: latest official chapter release for 2.5 D Seduction spoilers

Like hell yeah I'm hyped for the four heavenly queens collab. They can spend the next six months on comiket and I'm here for it. Let me see Lilysa fight the Chinese Cosplayer for the next gen Heavenly Queens. At least there's a sense of activeness versus passive reaction.

The issue here is that its key that with the romance between Gojou and Marin, but unlike Okumura and Lilysa, there's no sense of security at all. Its a transactional relationship that is something a lot more than that deep down. Drama is formed because of the unequal expectations. They are both incredibly horny for each other and there's a clear and obvious lust component involved too. We basically reach the peak self loathing of Gojou, and investment of this current arc is in the pay off that Gojou and Marin advance their relationship. Because of how they're written. they don't have the luxury of stalling at the status quo. They've progressed beyond the point of no return. And its frustrating that every chapter its not resolved because all its doing is just saying the same thing over and over again.

Will the arc end on a confession? Will it end with a longer drawn out drama? Cause Gojou's underlying issues of insecurity not only need to be addressed, but confronted. They cannot work together in the same capacity. Not anymore with her current fame level. But every chapter that focuses on comments and praise for Haniel and not her designer is just piling on more Gojou suffering. I just want the boy to be happy, but he's on track to be full on suffering for half a year irl now.

 

[J_the_Man]

That is not why, lmao? They both realized what this ordeal entails- they wanted to make cosplay for each other and wear it exclusively. But now that is being jeopardized by every male lusting after her, going batshit insane (86 panels of random men falling for her) making Gojou realize that her wish is being fullfilled now (start of manga)- she can go off into the big world of cosplay but where will he end up? All alone? She will have to wear other peoples cosplay if she goes contract.
He realized what he created was perfect being worn by her, her being so perfect with the cosplay that EVERYONE wants a part of her and that would be what she always wanted going by how she was stuck there for so long, leaving Gojou alone on the sideline just watching and waiting (shadowing his feelings of her going to a place far away) and neglecting the meetup time with her friends.
He isn't sure what will happen now. He possibly is agonizing over if this might be the last cosplay he needs to make for her (with her wish being granted finally). How she will, again, live and meet with thousand other people that are bubbly and better fitting for her than he is (big part of the start into later on in manga when the friends warm up to him).

He can only wait and see as to what she will do. She has to make the next steps. She knows, too (last chapter or second to last, speech bubble placement when she finally remembered that Gojou existed and was at event with her).

Thanks for the summary. It is kinda hard to keep up with the monthly schedule and remember things.

 

[Itsa_Bout]

Gojo you are king wake the fuck up

 

[guatafat]

Okay author, I get it, the cosplay is good. Can we move on?

 

[AnotherDuck]

People always say "show don't tell" but god forbid an author actually does that.

People say that because they're just repeating an advice they've heard. It's too situational to be good advice. I've seen it several time on "bad advice to authors" lists.

But in general, you want to show things that are important, like character traits, actions, reactions, emotions, and things like that, while you want to tell things that have already been told or shown, or things that don't gain anything (generally immersion) from showing.

However, it's not what's happening here, and not what people are complaining about.

Edit: Not even saying anything specific about this series, and the strike gang still thinks this is an attack on their beloved series? Geesh, so pathetic.

 

[Keetonman]

I'd be surprised if those comments about the anime "not getting it" is not self-referential. The anime was paced like a typical romcom which this story IS NOT. Romance and Comedy being present does not automatically make it a "romcom"

I'd also like to add. Even if the author DID switch gears at some point, that's their choice. Nobody owes you shit. If you don't like the direction this manga went, stop coming back every single upload to whine about it not being how you, the main character apparently, wanted it to be.

 

[ARealCoolGuy]

Wait, so more than half of this chapter was just a chat between some other random mangaka who probably has no influence on the story, and his editor?... Not even THE mangaka we actually wanted to hear from?... okay?

Feels like a bit of a nothing chapter when we were waiting for it. I'm sure it's fine if you're reading this all at once, but on release this feels like a annoyance...

 

[Grrmen]

I liked this chapter a lot. I think the emotions of the characters here validated our MCs and their efforts. New characters also make the world seem bigger, and give us a sense of how the viral movement works. I enjoyed it a lot more than the last few chapters because I can feel something happen, the passage of time, and a real payout happening. It's not a chapter centered around our MCs, but it's a necessary chapter to help setup the next arc. As someone said, this is a chapter you really appreciate when rereading/binging maybe not at a monthly release pace especially since Gojo has been in the backseat/dumps for a long time now.

 

[RealistMysteryMan]

Thank you very much for the chapter, can't wait to see what happens next!!!

 

[MalevolentBacon]

I'm laughing at every single person in the comments here complaining about progress.

My favorite one is:

This should be a romcom, not a drama about cosplays or whatever it might be. Problem is in 100 chapters there is almost 0 romance, negative comedy and plenty of nonsensical drama.

Because this is exactly what's wrong with all the people making the complaint. Craaaazy how the story, which has been about making and using cosplays, is covering topics relevant to making and using cosplays. "waaah, the series doesn't appeal specifically to me, they should change the entire story so that it's generic and appeals to me better"

This has always been how the Manga has been. Nothing has changed from how the manga moves its story and characters. If you do not like that, drop the series. It's not like you are doing the author any favors reading it here anyway, you don't need to keep reading it.

 

[BobBob]

YOOOOOOOOOOOOO MY BOY IS ACKNOWLEDGED HE DID ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

And feels like shit because emotions are hard. Hope things work out between Gojo and Marin soon.

 

[MalevolentBacon]

Oh, but in a good note, solid chapter. Important for setup. I think part of the issue is that manga readers seem to forget about dramatic irony quite frequently. The characters do not all have the same omnipotent view of the story as we do. None of them know each others thoughts, or conversations they aren't apart of.

Of course we know Marin realized her feelings ages ago, but she's been stalling herself usually to steel her nerves.

But Gojo doesn't know, and has never viewed himself as worthy. He used to be okay with that, too. Just being close was good enough. But now it's not, and he feels like he just elevated her beyond his reach. It's not even about the cosplay.

But we see in this chapter that the cosplay itself is gaining some level of attention, and it's likely that they will come as a pair deal. This resolves the current problem, and pushes the pair closer than before, fulfills Marin goal, and let's gojo work as Marin exclusive costume designer, which fulfills his new wish too.

I think the 'well done' from the author isn't about Marin, but the cosplay itself, so it's directed at gojo. Also "I created her, you want me to bow to my own creation?" before being clearly mentally consumed by it clearly mirrors gojo currently.

 

[LordScat]

I thought they gonna address this conflict now, oh well i hope this arc can resolve quickly

 

[prankishmanx21]

I know the complaining is an eyesore but it's so crazy to me that anyone can scoff and act like the release schedule isn't an issue and that people just don't appreciate how good the manga is. Like man, the release schedule sucks. I get that there's nothing we can do about it so the bitching seems stupid but it's just frustrating. I don't think this arc is bad but even just thinking about how we're 101 chapters in, what all those 101 chapters have entailed, how much tends to happen in each chapter, and we're now on a schedule for ~12 chapters a year is like holy fuuuuuck that blows. Idk. It's a great manga, I'm not going to be like the others and claim nothing's happening or that there's no progress or whatever, but this IV drip of chapters is brutal.

Like I've said in several other comments, switch to reading the tankoban volumes when they release instead of reading the chapters when they release.

 

[Zaeryss]

Something I want to point out to all the people talking about how Gojo is taking the aftermath of the circle shoot. Look back at Chapter 61, all of it, then specifically Chapter 62 pages 10-12, moreso the expression he has on his face in the last panel of Chapter 62. He knows that he wants to support Marin no matter what. He also knows that he loves her, he just can't see himself standing by her side. As a support from afar, yes, but not by her side. This is referenced in Chapter 99 page 13. In Chapter 63 this is push out of the way by the classmates bringing him in, but once again in Chapter 78 page 21 the idea of him being there just as a support is reinforced.

Then at the end of Chapter 86 he finds an obsession: Haniel, and we find a hint of the source of that in the next chapter on page 18. Haniel reminds him of Marin, but he still can't admit it. We see him want this to be so good that he's even hyped himself to fight for his dreams in Chapter 93. We get a mirror of the message "It's finished. I'm going to sleep." from first costume made for Marin that initially connected them. Something Marin loved and wanted and Gojo made for her, but this time it is something her loves and wants and it is made for him.

We see from Marin's discussion with Gramps in Chapter 94 that other people see that Marin is good for Gojo because he can't love himself or what he does because of his perfectionism. We also have to remember his trauma which has been somewhat assuaged by Marin in the first arc and in the Rei-sama arc, but isn't fully dealt with.

In Chapter 99 things come to a head when he realizes he's in love with Marin. He knows it, but he also sees how he asked her to make other people fall in love with her, and that he doesn't just want to support her. He wants to be by her side. Then the moment that really connects what Gojo and Marin are each feeling: Chapter 100 page 20. There is now an ocean physically and mentally between them on how long this can go on. To him he is one of the crowd of humans that are lower than worms in love with Haniel who is Marin. In Chapter 96 page 20 it alludes to this: It isn't just love at first sight. It's a consuming, aching, terrible love that leads to obsession.

Chapter 76 Marin imagines how Gojo would respond to her confession and it begins to break her confidence, this becomes deeper in chapter 77, though by the end of it she's trying to psych herself back up, but we see that crack and on page 16-18 when she realizes she has real deep feelings. This isn't just a crush. This is real love and it makes her afraid of what will happen if she's rejected. Chapter 100 pages 20 has the first thought since then of "What if something puts a wedge between or breaks their bond? What if they can't do this together forever." And then from pages 21-27 she sees that distance growing and doesn't know how to bridge it.

The pacing is a problem because monthly and wanting things to happen, I get it. But this is a slow burn with call backs and build up over multi arcs that is coming to a head.

Please reread and try to look for it. It's even somewhat in the nun arc.

 

[Jmann]

that's true, so many people are complaining about the manga not pacing properly and not enough romance and the author isn't doing her work perfectly, automatically assuming that she should know better because of how big the anime and manga blew up.

there's a reason why it was changed to monthly in the first place. we should be happy that the quality of art actually increased and didn't falter after the change to montly. because the other alternative would be hiatus after hiatus after the author can't keep up with the pressure of expectations bearing down on her.

anyways, i personally enjoyed this arc way more than the nun arc which to me was more of a filler than anything. in this arc we finally get proper recognition for gojo and marin that their skills are beyond average and is even better than professionals. we are seeing development in their abilities and later the romance will follow.

Exactly. I love this arc bcs it shows their sides as humans, no as "romcom characters to please the audience". Nun arc was filler fanservice, this arc - is character centered and show their vulnerability and growth at the same time. "With great power comes great responsibility" - now they climbed to the new top and Gojo feeling pressure, and how he deals with it, how Marin will support him, where this success will lead them... This is hella great! I'm waiting for grandpa to stand up and give our boy some life lesson 👍🏻

 

[hiro02b]

Am I going crazy or literally nothing is happening? This is so slow it hurts me