Sexual assault by the love interest toward the MC, and not handled well. MC repeatedly struggles and says no SEVENTEEN TIMES and is ignored while LI continues to escalate until someone intervenes, then MC slaps LI hard.
Mutual friend later asks her what happened and MC says she didn’t know how to say no. 🤬 actually you said no 17 times and had to use violence at that point to stop sexual assault. It’s not cute or a confidence issue.
I was upset by these scene and appalled by how it was handled later. This is not a safe person to be with, and this is not an issue of “she’s just used to getting her way.” It goes into detail, it wasn’t stealing a kiss, it was removing her clothes and groping her bare genitals while she repeatedly screams for her to stop, if not more than that.
Times she says no during this assault from LI: Pg 133 “Knock it Off” (LI hugging MC’s face into her breasts) Pg 134 “I’m telling you no…” Pg 134 “belong to me!” (LI holding onto MC and licking her ear and saying she’ll make every inch of her hers) Pg 135 “Thanks, I’ll go get changed, right away, okay? By myself!” (LI straddling over MC unbuttoning her top) Pg 137 “I said no!” Pg 137 “I’m… not ready for this yet” Pg 139 KICKS LI back Pg 139 “Cut it out” Pg 140 “I’m sorry… I can’t yet” Pg 140 “wait! You’ve got to be joking!” (LI climbs farther on top of MC) Pg 141 calls LI pervert, creep, yells “STOP IIIT!” Pg 142 “Hey!! Remove your head from my skirt! Leave my damn legs shut!” Pg 142 “Don’t pull down my panties!” Pg 142 “Hang in, where are you aiming for?!” Pg 142 “Not there! No freaking way!” Pg 142 “No, seriously! Hyaah!” Pg 142 “CUT THAT OUT, DUMB-ASS!” Interrupted by younger sibling MC slaps LI “You goddamn asshole! She saw everything! This is why I said no! I hate you! I knew it! I knew being girlfriends was terrible! GET OUT!”
I will not be continuing this series. This is a horrid level of detail, and 10 pages of assault, for a YA/teen girls love romance, and it’s not handled with the appropriate severity. This is NOT a situation in which both parties should apologize. MC should not be apologizing for slapping or yelling at LI for continuing to sexually assault her while she begged 17 times for her to stop.
Renako and Mai end up at a hotel together, not for the reason you’re expecting, although not for lack of trying on the part of Oduka freaking Mai. When the cat’s away, however, the mouse might inadvertently cause all sorts of havoc by inviting her other female friend, Ajisai, over for video games.
This series is turning out to be a lot of fun, but it comes with a big old slew of caveats. It’s definitely more ‘fun than funny’, but that’s about par for the course for a series like this. That’s not the real issue here.
Oduka (freaking) Mai is a lot to take and a predatory lesbian with a smile on her face and love in her heart is still, indeed, a predatory lesbian. You can easily argue that she knows Renako a lot better than Renako knows herself, but that doesn’t make some of her actions easier to swallow.
They make sense, mind you, in the context of the story. Mai has never had anybody be anything but fawning towards her, so she doesn’t really get the idea of being told no. And that certainly plays out in the incident that closes the volume and our dangling thread of a bad idea that will lead the next volume.
Renako, for her part, pushes back against Mai’s overtures, although less for lack of interest than her still figuring herself out (the story is pretty clear that Renako’s sexuality is already ‘of the genre’; she simply hasn’t come to terms with it). But her frankness and honesty with Mai are why the latter is so taken with her.
Like I said, it all makes sense, so when Mai is particularly forceful during the bath escapade, she’s in the wrong, but it’s not out of character (and the way that Renako defuses her is pretty cute). And later on, well…
Part of the problem is that everybody believes in the myth of Oduka Mai, well almost everybody, and that includes Mai herself. Yet beneath it all she’s just a beautiful, yet insecure, kid with mother issues and a desperate need to be loved for herself.
As a result, Mai looms large over this entire volume, including Renako’s burgeoning friendship with Ajisai, whose defining attribute might be ‘fluffy’. But Ajisai loves video games almost as much as Renako and they quickly become fast… friends. While Mai is abroad helping her mother.
And that little tete-a-tete does not sit well with Mai, who swoops in with all the power at her disposal (considerable). Except she’s running so hot that she goes way, way too far for Renako’s current situation and Renako reacts in a way that is completely justified, but Mai and a rebuke don’t always go together.
The incredible lack of self-confidence that Renako has causes all sorts of problems this time around, not in the sense of making Mai agressive since that’s a big no-no, but she has a super hard time expressing herself because she’s so scared of breaking her facade.
This is especially apparent at the end, when Renako’s apology for having to skip out on Ajisai for a follow-up meeting (because Mai is about to do something super dumb) turns out to quickly morph into something a lot like a love confession, even though it’s actually nothing of the sort.
Like I said, minus Renako’s continued panic this is not a super funny series, but it’s got a ton of interesting stuff flying all over the place. Mai is a lot and if you cannot handle her being pushy, don’t even sign up, but the story does a lot of work on why she acts like she does.
It’s complicated. Mai needs to chill out and Renako needs to be honest with herself and those two would be set. They literally realize they both want the same thing from one another but Mai’s version has a physical component that Renako is struggling with. And instead of going full harem, I kind of like this direction for the narrative, warts and all.
3 stars - I mean, it may seem like I’m trying to excuse Mai’s behaviour, but I do recognize how incredibly problematic it is and how off-putting it will be for some. Still, I absolutely got sucked into all this and it’s nice to see a yuri that isn’t afraid of showing some physicality amidst the drama. And, hey, it’s still healthier than Citrus.
I definitely found this volume to be a step up from the first- and I think I’m going to go ahead and pickup the light novel version of the story to read further, rather than wait for the next manga volume’s release.
I’m definitely appreciating the MC’s internal ‘awakening/realizations’ aspect of the story, which is easily my favorite part of this one.
The main relationship is a messy one, with some definite consent issues coming into play- but I’m appreciating that those issues aren’t being brushed off for laughs like some series might do, but seem to be a somewhat important plot point (though it still remains to be seen where it all lands).
The first volume was so good that it made me purchase 2 more!! Then I read this volume and regretted it.
The sexual assault was completely uncalled for, it was terrible to read the MC say NO a dozen of times only to be ignored. I liked Mai, but she became forceful about their relationship beyond all limits.
To be honest, I don't know where this story is going from now on. It's so sad because the art is cute and there are some interesting aspects about MC's awakening to her sexuality, but it had to be ruined with sexual assault...
I'm reading volume 3 because it's already purchased, but I have no expectations about it anymore.
Interesting to see how sapphic relationships are explored in these ages 15+ manga. The characters are all pretty likeable. The humour is just my type. But as usual there's a problem with consent. It's not clear cut, since our protagonist is still confused/questioning, but uncomfortable experiences do NOT help any questioning person grappling with their identity. The protagonist retaliated and made her boundaries clear, but again the same time felt the overwhelming need to apologise. Why? Just for that, I can't rate this a full 5 stars.
Apparently I didn't read very much of this series in scanlation, since most of this volume felt unfamiliar; either that or I got it confused with yet another similar trope-heavy yuri manga plotline. Anyway, in this volume Mai comes off as a bit too pushy, though in a way that is sadly all too common in romance manga (or possibly just most romance stories in general). But overall remains entertaining enough that I will probably read more if/when I stumble across future volumes.
La trama se complica en este segundo y no se sabe muy bien cómo va a acabar el duelo, que parece terminar en el siguiente. Engancha lo bastante como para que, cuando se queda el tomo en lo mejor, cojas el siguiente para saber cómo salen del embrollo.
Me encantan las miguitas que te tiran de cómo va avanzar la trama a futuros, con los otros personajes.
Siguen las peculiares peripecia de esta parejas de amigas (a veces novias). Comienzan a tener sus momentos de intimidad, pero también de riñas, celos y malosentendidos. Situaciones forzadas por un lado y forzosas por el otro.
I like Oduka Mai and I appreciate that the story is clearly trying to show that she's led a charmed life that in no way prepared her for things like "listening to others," but good god, that girl needs to learn that no means no.
Me había gustado tanto esta historia hasta que llegue como a los últimos tres capítulos ESTOY TAN TRISTE Y ENOJADA 😭😭 tienen que dejar de usar el AS como si fuera cualquier cosa 😞😞
This originally had a 3.5 rounded up. After thinking it over, though, I change my mind. It’s a three. Without any spoilers, just, the thing I thought happened to stage a specific conversation- I don’t think it was written like that now that I’ve read part of the third book. I think it just happened and it probably just happened as fan service, but like- super cringe from me, ick.