Enjoyed the first half rather more than the second half. Former was about Machi-nee vs Ayane and their respective attempts to manipulate Suzu through her love for their mother’s daifuku while latter was about Suzu’s fear of ghosts - at least it did reinforce Ikuto’s closeness to Suzu and make him more useful too but the way he defeated the ghost just seemed too easy, making the girls seem wimpy rather than making him more manly.
Though we take sweets for granted, the production of refined sugar (intimately linked to slavery in the Carribean) wasn’t commonplace in the early modern period. Koyuki, our beloved lesbian ninja from Keroro Gunso, who also leads a traditional lifestyle with Dororo had also made this point when comparing her sweets with Natsumi’s.
Even so, Suzu’s sweettooth is really scary. But I suppose if she doesn’t outgrow her daifuku passion, Ikuto could find it very useful in persuading her to indulge in more kinky stuff. I was going to type out a list of unsafe sexual practices but then I realized that was redundant since there are no condoms on Airantou. *GA~~N*
Dere to tsun to dere. Machi-nee embodies scary. Firstly, she can flip from one mode to another more quickly than most girls. Secondly, she exudes the ‘must get married because biological clock is ticking’ eagerness that I’d wager most guys find even scarier.
Machi-nee feels like an old spinster at 18!? Good grief. I guess the social context of Airantou reflects the early marriage trends of early Meiji Japan and the rest of the girls are younger.
Like Wile E. Coyote attempting to make use of Road Runner’s fondness for bird seed, there’s still no way for Ayane to defeat her nemesis even after she’s discovered her weakness. Oneesama power disparity is just too great. LOL
One of the surprising things about this series for me is my attitude towards Ayane. Sure, she’s a ridiculous person who thinks much too highly of herself but every time she clashes with Suzu or tries to contest Machi-nee’s hegemony, I find my sympathy growing as her acts seem less inspired by malice or spite than a feisty refusal to accept the status quo. Oh, and her terrified screams of ‘O~nee~samaaaa!!’ are just pure win.
Not much Rin this week but there seems to be relative lack of Rin in the manga too even though she’s probably the only one who can give Suzu a run for her money IMHO (Yukino is too loli, Chikage is too science vessel, Machi-nee is too sadistic, Ayane is too loony). Rin reminds me of Kagura (also my favourite of the six Azumanga girls) for her relative physical strength, earthy style of speaking and behaving as well as having a lot of common sense.
Nice also that snarling Mikoto showed up. Is she really blood-related to Rin? I just thought the oneesama thing was just a term of endearment and that their relationship is that of colleagues and fellow apprentices. Anyway this island needs MOAR yuri.
As far as I have read from the manga, no, she is not blood-related to Rin. When I heard Suzu saying “imouto”, I thought she said that to describe the kind of relationship she thinks they have (the same way onee-sama is used).
And yes, Ayane has a way to be a likeable character; the “always second place” type of characters can be annoying, but Ayane just doesn’t fall in that category.
Glad to know that I’m not the only one who hasn’t read the Mikoto-Rin ’sister’ relationship literally. I’m rather puzzled how no one on the island seems to use their family names though.
I’m still trying to figure out why the second half didn’t really appeal to me that much. Hopefully it’ll just be a one-off.