This is adorable.

Marietta really reminds me of Akari in Aria. She has that same pure enthusiasm and kindness and charming naivete.

And Grieja is such a perfect match for her.

There was a moment there, after we met mom and found out she’s more or less as much of a goofball/troll as onee-chan, and dad was there but out of frame, when I just knew he was going to be like Chie. And sure enough - even the same ahoge.

Yeah - I immediately smiled when I saw Usagi. I’d like to see some focus on her and Takae - I think they’d have an interesting relationship, since they’re similar in some ways and polar opposite in others.

And hopefully, broadly, this whole situation will lead to Saotone finally working up the determination to stand up for himself. I’m not holding my breath though…

Wow - a surprise guest appearance by the character the manga is actually named after. I didn’t expect that.

I suspect that that was a retcon - that the author wasn’t satisfied with the master character for whatever reason, or maybe just preferred Uruchika (as do I), so just ended up shifting the focus to Uruchika. And then had to do… something. And this was it.

It is sort of odd, but there jave been periods during which Chikagecwas basically incommunicado so it’s not entirely out of line. I think it’ll work out, and if the series runs long enough, the master will get a chance to be a recurring character.

Ooh…

I expected this chapter to pick up where the last one left off - with her walking through the door to save him from his awful day.

Nice twist though to flashback through her day, which was at least equally awful.

So now we know that they both need healing, and they both immediately thought of the other.

The next chapter’s going to be glorious…

Go mom!

This is an odd situation. Mom’s basically right about Sanda, and about Yagiuda’s effect on him - Sanda really has been conned into being submissive to adults who mean him harm. But at this point, Sagiuda isn’t one of them. He’s sincere. But that’s part of the problem.

Sanda’s earnest and naive and sort of willfully ignorant. He’s not very good at thinking about difficult things and he’d rather not do it. And Yagiuda provided some crucial feedback to him early on - he was the first adult that Sanda decided to go ahead and trust anyway, when he really shouldn’t have. And just sort of coincidentally, Yagiuda really ended up more or less worthy of that trust, so Sanda could just ignore all the difficult stuff and go back to being a dumb kid and get away with it, and he did.

But now that’s become a pattern. Whenever he’s faced with an adult who means him harm, he wants to go ahead and trust them and submit to them so he can just keep on being a dumb kid. And it’s not working out for him like it did with Yagiuda, but he’s so busy being a dumb kid that he’s not aware of that.

So it’s arguably a good thing that mom is stepping in to show him that some people just cannot be trusted ever and really need to be dealt with fully. It’s just sort of unfortunate that she’s directing that against someone who actually can be trusted, rather than one of the many (most notably the headmaster) who really do need to be dealt with… with extreme prejudice.

Curious to see how this plays out…

Finally caught up with this.

First, it’s notable that it took this long to read 28 chapters, and a reflection of the fact that it was a slog.

And it’s either the case that the “last chapter” bit is misleading or that it was entirely unexpectedly axed, since the story isn’t even close to wrapping up.

I really can’t recommend it. It’s not entirely awful, and there’s still some intriguing mysteries that might shift the tone a bit, but as it is the story is too rushed and superficial, and pretty much every character, and most notably the protagonist, are all some variety of loathsome POS. In fact, the few characters who weren’t utterly loathsome were apparently there solely to be murdered, and just as likely murdered by the protagonist as by the supposed villains.

I’m not sure if I’m going to keep following it or not. There’s one specific mystery that’s been broadly hinted at that could undermine everything - could make the protagonist manipulated and/or delusional instead of what he appears to be - just a smug, self-absorbed and entirely conscienceless POS. I still want to give NISIOISIN the benefit of the doubt but…

An entire chapter with Nishi - I’m in heaven.

I can’t say yet. By gritting my teeth and forging on,I only managed to make it through three more chapters last night, and as yet there’s no sign that he’s going to change, and he really is an utterly loathsome character. I’m not giving up yet though so I’ll let you know.

Just discovered why you only read five chapters, and there was a pretty good chance for a bit there that I was only going to read five chapters too - because chapter 5 is when we discover that

I’m going to give it a chance though - NISIOISIN hasn’t let me down yet.

Erica’s serious.

There’s been a certain amount of les yay between them from the very beginning, but there wasn’t any direct in-universe confirmation of any romantic feelings in either of them until just now.

This should be interesting, not least because Komichi is by her own admission entirely confused by the whole concept of romance.

And meanwhile, what happened to the play? Was it getting too provocative? With Erica and Komichi in the leads, I suspect that’s going to all tie together.

Back when the stuco prez was first introduced, it made me realize that Takae (and to some degree, Ushigome too) would be a perfect fit for the stuco, and that’s what I expected to happen. And then it didn’t. And it continued to not happen for so long that I had given up on it. And now suddenly…

And it’s nice to see Makoto get some recognition.

Damn I love this series.

I’ve said it before, but it could just be a slice of life with Gray and the kids and I’d still love it - the family scenes are just so well done and the characters are wonderful. But then it has that whole additional layer of Gray the badass, and he is very much a badass, and an honorable and admirable one at that. And then as if that’s not enough, it’s also moving into rom-com territory, and doing that well too.

Seriously, what more could I want?

Ah… that made me laugh. 😄

Okay then - is it going to take long for some serious reveals? My guess is no - that’s most of why I’m patient. It feels like things are finally moving fairly quickly toward a direct confrontation between Remilia and Pina, and that’s when it’s all going to come to a head. And that’s when, if Emi is indeed watching, we’re going to find out.

Can you be patient? Can I be patient?

I thought you probably did, but no thanks. I’m content speculating. 🤔

The big mystery to me is whether Emi’s watching, and if so what she thinks.

That last scene of Remilia was a bit over the top. Emi was definitely a good influence on her, but there’s always been the possibility that Emi wasn’t entirely right - that at least some portion of Remilia’s villainy was inherent, and is going to reveal itself in spite of Emi’s influence.

I suspect we’re going to find out relatively soon. The story sort of languished for a while, as Remilia slowly positioned herself, but things appear to be moving pretty quickly now.

And… that’s the third title today to go on my TBR.

Pretty much the moment I saw that it was a NISIOISIN adaptation, I was already sold, but I read the first chapter just to make sure, and yeah.

Good thing it’s only 28 chapters …

…the company’s efforts appear to be yielding results, as evidenced by the successful takedowns and ongoing legal actions against major piracy sites.

I just wonder who they’re trying to convince here.

There have been piracy sites on the internet pretty much from day one.

And the biggest ones have gotten taken down pretty much from day two.

And new ones keep popping up.

Robin?