Watashi Datte Seishun Shitai Desu yo, Hontou wa. - Vol. 1 Ch. 5

[EulBassist]

Thanks for the chapter!

 

[mildmannered]

Yukari: 🥴🔫

 

[Andigo]

Other people articulated how beautiful this was already.

That leaves me to cheer for the possibility of a yuri sidecouple! Even if I can't justify it well.

Though Tachibana wasn't trusted with Shouko's crush, she had a read on the situation. Shouko didn't even know the boy's full name, and Tachibana had more evidence than Yukari. Tachibana is not coming off jealous of Shouko's attention, she's a tad envious of Yukari who is just a "quiet kid"? Hmmm. Tachibana framed questions like probing to defend a sapphic friend, maybe as wishing she could bond with Shouko over the topic, but not romantic envy. Great friendship, better gaydar than an average straight person.

Since this doesn't look like another love triangle to give Shouko depression, I'll cheer for the archetypical calm attentive girl and airhead couple. It gives Nagi more purpose than comic relief to irk Yukari. I doubt they're already dating, it may not work out, but Tachibana slots into the usual crush-on-the-village-idiot role.

 

[luminas]

Sweet home Arakawa~ 🎶 🥴

 

[what.]

Of course. It just has to be their literal blood relative huh? Gods please why is this such a common trope in yuri😭

 

[undeadman]

man what is it with yuri and incest

Ikr makes my soul sad 😔

Edit: actually now that I think about it it might be based on the whole harmful stereotype about gay people that they're just attracted to every single person of the same sex that they meet and are super predatory because it's kinda like "look these lesbians are so unable to keep their hands to themselves they fall in love with their own family members" idk just a theory

 

[josilva81]

What a chapter, so much going on! I wonder how the (not surprising at all) reveal that Shoko's crush is Tenri will affect her dynamic with Yukari. And what about Tachibana? Is she in love with Shoko too?

Thanks for the chapter

 

[UdenEmpati]

Wait - the surprise from people over the incest factor confuses me.

Were people actually caught off-guard by Shouko's crush being Tenri, and not the senpai guy?

Or were there previous grievances about incest present in previous chapter discussions and I missed them?

This is just a weird point for me to suddenly see those complaints.

 

[yaqwalker32]

 

[KoitoNanami01]

Well i always knew her crush actually is her cousin cause she didn't even care about the guy, incest is wincest but not with this one i guess

 

[Jybu]

Something something, If i had a nickle for every doomed cousin yuri itd be 2 nickles which is weird or however the saying goes

(lowkey might be more than 2 too)

 

[StormSeeker39]

man what is it with yuri and incest

Feels inherent to the classic style - the more forbidden the tastier the anguish

 

[bookbarker]

Wait - the surprise from people over the incest factor confuses me.

Were people actually caught off-guard by Shouko's crush being Tenri, and not the senpai guy?

Or were there previous grievances about incest present in previous chapter discussions and I missed them?

This is just a weird point for me to suddenly see those complaints.

The complaints come mainly from people who like yuri but not incest.

The twist is a genuine twist because the expectation is the straight relationship and it would be a legitimate pain for the MC because it's unrequited on two levels (at the attraction level and sexual preference level).

Even from last chapter alone we can see the author keeping up the act by having Shouko change her reply to Tenri from one that appeared to support her efforts at chasing Senpai to a neutral one, implying Shouko doesn't want to hurt herself further by supporting her cousin.

But now that the cat is out the bag, it's a little easier for the MC now.

 

[UdenEmpati]

The complaints come mainly from people who like yuri but not incest.

The twist is a genuine twist because the expectation is the straight relationship and it would be a legitimate pain for the MC because it's unrequited on two levels (at the attraction level and sexual preference level).

Even from last chapter alone we can see the author keeping up the act by having Shouko change her reply to Tenri from one that appeared to support her efforts at chasing Senpai to a neutral one, implying Shouko doesn't want to hurt herself further by supporting her cousin.

But now that the cat is out the bag, it's a little easier for the MC now.

The complaints about incest also feel like a point of bias derived from a difference of culture, given marriage between cousins is (last I checked) legal in Japan, and Shouko and Tenri are both girls--which, I mean, kinda negates the "biological issue" that tends to discourage incestuous relationships. Other people can feel how they want about it, but it's contextually not as big a deal, presumably, for JPN readers, and that's assuming they're first cousins (which I can't find it being specified).

But beyond that, I had a bead on Shouko's target of unrequited love being her cousin as of chapter 2 or so, and I've made the mistake of just assuming it was generally obvious (going by context clues within the story, not the meta-argument of looking at series tags).
It was certainly meant to be a twist for Yukari, though, yes.

 

[thewomanliest]

The complaints about incest also feel like a point of bias derived from a difference of culture, given marriage between cousins is (last I checked) legal in Japan, and Shouko and Tenri are both girls--which, I mean, kinda negates the "biological issue" that tends to discourage incestuous relationships. Other people can feel how they want about it, but it's contextually not as big a deal, presumably, for JPN readers, and that's assuming they're first cousins (which I can't find it being specified).

But beyond that, I had a bead on Shouko's target of unrequited love being her cousin as of chapter 2 or so, and I've made the mistake of just assuming it was generally obvious (going by context clues within the story, not the meta-argument of looking at series tags).
It was certainly meant to be a twist for Yukari, though, yes.

yes.. it's obvious. complaints have been made in earlier threads, but since it's official now, obviously you're going to see more complaints because it's explicit now rather than implied (even if it was heavily implied and painfully obvious). take a glance at the thread for chapter 1 and you'll see plenty. but when there's a reveal, everyone who was side eyeing it earlier is speaking out more now because it's confirmed. all you're doing by saying that is making yourself sound pretentious af.

also calling it "cultural bias” is oversimplifying it and honestly feels borderline exoticizing. people aren’t uncomfortable only because of legality or biology, it’s also about family dynamics and boundaries, which exist across cultures. it's not unique to one culture.

 

[UdenEmpati]

yes.. it's obvious. complaints have been made in earlier threads, but since it's official now, obviously you're going to see more complaints because it's explicit now rather than implied (even if it was heavily implied and painfully obvious). take a glance at the thread for chapter 1 and you'll see plenty. but when there's a reveal, everyone who was side eyeing it earlier is speaking out more now because it's confirmed. all you're doing by saying that is making yourself sound pretentious af.

also calling it "cultural bias” is oversimplifying it and honestly feels borderline exoticizing. people aren’t uncomfortable only because of legality or biology, it’s also about family dynamics and boundaries, which exist across cultures. it's not unique to one culture.

If you're trying to make me feel bad by calling me pretentious then 'good luck', I guess.

I'll give you oversimplifying by reducing it to cultural bias, though. Any given grouping of people will have myriad dynamics and assumed norms between them even within a greater collective tier of organization, and those can be incongruent or in-harmony in ways that defy easy categorization.

My point is that this is, at some level, a work created by a person drawing experiences from the context of their environment and lived perspective. It's also far and away not the only work of its kind that contains similar motifs, and while that's not to say that Japan is the only place to have legal, and some amount of cultural acceptance for relationships like this, it at least informs some portion of it being present in fictional works from there.
If that still runs afoul of what you think is reasonable to cite before crossing a line into objectifying Japan as a cultural entity, then I guess that conversation can be had as far as it pursues constructive understanding.

I will say that those who feel adversely about it are not wrong in doing so, and insinuating otherwise is mean-spirited of me.
I do think it's less important a point than the big reveal of the obvious foreshadowing of who Shouko's actual target of affection was, and so seeing so many comments dedicated to it feels like missing the point of the chapter and stymies more relevantly-focused discourse.

But again, no one person here should be an arbiter on what others choose for input.

Arguing about that input, sure. But never outright censoring or prohibiting it.

 

[0ri]

I was trying to recall who Shouko was into between the cousin and the guy at the start of the chapter, so thanks for that
Godspeed to Yukari on an anti-incest campaign o7

 

[graynile]

never saw that coming man.........

 

[LemanRusk]

Feels good to have a socially inept MC that does not immediately turn into Temu Bocchi at the drop of a hat. She might be crumbling inside but by God Yukari is going to try and hide it as much as possible.

 

[sss-class-Himejoshi]

Thank you for the upload~