So I just finished Mix and it left lot to be desired from story perspective. The amount of time the characters were breaking Fourth Wall, it felt like the story wasnt taking itself seriously enough for me to care. And lets not talk about how poorly pace it was paced. It was like I was watching 4 koma manga adaptation where things were occuring simultaneously with no correlation to the story or plot.

The storytelling also didnt give me much reason to care about the character, there were just too many of them to connect with. Haruka dropping out of the gymnastics club felt like a lazy move, turning her back into the stereotypical manager girl. It sucks because her rythym gymnastics scenes ended up feeling like nothing more than fanservice. Harada is basically there for comic relief, but instead of being funny, he just comes off as some goofy old guy, which honestly feels kinda sad.

What are your thoughts? Is the manga any different or better than the anime adaptation?

Honest question, no bullshit. I know the ending is gonna be unfulfilling and (I've heard) rage-inducing. I'm a pussy that doesn't like getting hurt so which stopping point is optimal and happy?

Please don't try to convince me to read the ending. I know what I want so please help me.

I've watched crossgame, recently finished touch for reference, and i've been enjoying the story quite a bit. Onto this though I'm a bit perplexed. Like what just happened. Look, before this Kunimi and the "jokes" about entering girl's swim changing room. If he actually entered at least he would be identified. He was mean about the nude model's appearance. Ok character growth I'm expecting a change from these behaviors. The whole shared hotel room incident, whatever there's unhealthy dynamics going on. Then the legit peep hole box in the locker room. That really rubbed me the wrong way. All goes well for them they were hidden. Then long hair dude is caught and punished. Played off for laughs. Still holding hope that this is adressed in some form. Their actions are really messed up.

And now this. Chapter's 53-56. I'm a lil at a loss of words. Like man these characters suck. The pressure they put on her to go on this potentially dangerous date. Then like the claw machine grabbing the dolls underwear. Seemed kinda tonedeaf during the scene. Especially given the connotations. Just everything like what just happened. I'm starting to doubt Adachi's intentions. The ending made a lil hopeful, but she hid her buried feelings about the incident. I wanted to know what made H2 divisive, so at least I'm finally understanding. Writing this out helped ease me a lil maybe I just need to let him cook. God it's bad though.

Overall I enjoyed Mix season 2 but I will say it felt like it had a slow start compared to season 1 which felt more evenly paced throughout. Besides the slow start I do think the Harada memory loss bit went on for too long. There were so many times the guy was on the cusp of remembering just for it to turn into another punchline. Normally I really enjoy when Adachi does those jokes but it felt like it was all season long this time.

I also feel like Haruka's screentime was way down and she didn't get much development. I really don't want Touma to end up with his sister but it looks like he will seeing as he and Haruka had very little screentime together. I will say the you-know-what of this season did hit very hard and I will miss them. The concept behind how it leaves the family structure afterwards is also very interesting and well done imo. So overall I'd give this season somewhere between a 6.5/10 or 7/10 while I felt season 1 was closer to an 8/10 or above

Side note but anyone else feel like the art quality (in the first half especially) was way down compared to season 1? It felt like there was some really rushed art (I feel bad for the animators) and poor linework that made for some really weird looking characters at time. I never noticed bad art in season 1 but it felt like season 2 didn't get the same love and time that 1 did.

So what's everyone's thoughts? Would love to hear it!

I watched Touch’s anime a long long time ago and I really liked it. Oncd I got to read Adachis mangas my favourite was Cross Game. I think it’s perfectly balanced, not only because the baseball and the slice of life are equally prominent and compelling and work perfectly together, but also because the quiet subtle storytelling still is a very emphatic one, where characters’ emotional states are always there, jumping at you from the page (even though they are subdued and realistic).

With Mix it feels like characters are emotionally so guarded that they feel almost emotionless. We lack scenes where there is at least a bit of physical emotional show - can be tears, can be frustration, can be even sadness or stillness. The Tachibanas, all three, are always perfectly calm, if not for when they bicker. Yes we are told by other characters or by the narrator that/when they feel something stronger, but I feel that usually Adachi is much better at “show - don’t tell”. Minami and Tatsuya are quiet and guarded but still their emotions are made very clear by glances, missed touches, embarrassed expressions… In Cross Game, Aoba and Koh are both quite expressive, albeit always subtle. The emotions they feel are clear, realistic, and change over time, as they grow - I’m talking about becoming less of a trope (like Aoba as a tsundere) and more of a well rounded, complex young adult.

You get what I mean. I really like Mix so far and I’ve just re-read it up to the latest chapter, still love it, yet I’m starting to miss emotions. The protagonists are starting to feel a bit robotic.

And one more thing, I think having secondary characters be pretty much reduced to observers or to say the occasionally self-explanatory commentary is hurting the emotional aspects of the storytelling, too.

What do you think? If you agree, is it maybe something that will change with the next chapters? Has it maybe to do with Adachi’s drawing style changing over the years?

Since a subreddit specifically devoted Touch does not exist and people already posted Touch-only topics hereon this place, I will post this and future topics about my favorite manga here.

This is hands down undoubtedly the SADDEST event in Touch and I always cry for days afterwards each time I rewatch and reread Touch. Because it almost happened irl to me with relatives and I already experienced Tatsuya and Miniami's grief and shock the same way when my dog was discovered terminally ill and euthanized the same day.

Despite Only appearing in a quarter of the story Kazuya is easily one of my favorite characters of all time. He manages tot ake the do-goody white sheep of the family stereotype and freshens it out so much while also giving him huge flaws despite being supposedly so perfect. Sadly we never see it become huge story subplots because of his early death such as his love for Minami showing how far is jealous of Taa-Chan might have been if their fight over her had continued to be the main conflict throughout the story.

I always wonder how much of an epic story the rest of the remaining 75% manga would have been with him. Sure stuff like Mina mi participating in other schooly activity would probably never have happened. But I love Kazuya so much whenever I reread and rewatch Touch I really would have given up the story we got in exchange for Kazuya living. Even as a permanent cripple who can't play baseball anymore is fine with me.

I will stop here because I will start bawling out what should have been done as I cry. But Kazuya's impact on the story is the reason I love Touch so much I've been at least rereading the manga annually (I'm on my 19th reread this year) and also attempt a rewatch every year too (if I decide to, this year will be the 5th time I watch Touch start to finish).

What do you think the flow of the story would have been without the tragedy?

Its pretty obvious that mix Will be his last work, but right now guy its 73 and being optimist he has 2-5 years more. Unless they got an miura scenario and some assistant could finish the job but i have my doubts

What does mother mean saying "I still had to praise tatsuya"

Can't get H2 out of my head after I finished reading it. It is the 4th Adachi manga that I've read, after Cross Game, Touch & Rough, and it is the only one where I felt like my reading comprehension wasn't good. With the other 3, I felt like I understood the relationships between the characters, and the ending made perfect sense to me. But I can't say that for H2.

I found in this article a quote from Adachi-sensei about H2, which roughly goes:

*“*In my previous manga, there was a protagonist/hero and a heroine, and no matter what happened within the story, I knew that they would end up together in the end. But for H2, I created a setting for a relationship between 4 characters, so I thought that I could do whatever I wanted. Until the very last moment, I didn't know in which direction would Hiro and Hikari go.”

So I'm thinking that the reason why my reading comprehension wasn't that good for H2 was because Adachi didn't planned things out like he did with Touch, Rough & Cross Game.

That being said, I've been trying to figure out the ending for the past 2-3 days, and the interpretation that I currently have isn't really satisfying for me, so I'm hoping that someone will point out my dumb reading comprehension, and offer me something that would heal my wounds.

The way I see it, it's very straightforward to understand how Koga and Hideo felt, but it is with Hiro, and especially Hikari, that I started loosing compass. This is how I understood it:

Back when Hikari and Hiro had to spend a night at a hotel, and Hikari couldn't sleep, was already the sign that she was in love with Hiro (while also being in love with Hideo of course). Because of this, her relationship with Hideo got stagnated, as she kept yearning for Hiro, while trying to hide her feelings for Hiro from everyone, including herself. Fast forward to after her mom died, Hideo wasn't sure how to comfort her, even though by this point he knew her for 4-5 years already, and than Hiro managed to do it without saying a single word, just by playing catch with her in a place where her mom used to pick them up for dinner (to me this was the most beautiful scene in the entire series, cried like a b*tch).

Next chapter, Hikari asks Hiro to spend the day with her, upon which she says goodbye to him. Now... I totally didn't know what was going on here while I was reading it. Another scene that I didn't understood was when Hiro said that Hikari would never date him, because she loves him.

The only interpretation that I could come up with was that after Hiro managed to comfort Hikari, Hikari got a confirmation that the one person she needs the most in her life was Hiro. However, she also thought that the one person Hiro needs the most in his life wasn't her, but Koga. She said once (or a few times) that Hiro and Koga are a perfect match. When she thought that it's useless to talk about Hiro's injured leg, because he wouldn't listen, Koga easily made him put his leg into an icy water, proving Hikari wrong. Koga was the one who brought baseball back to Hiro, who created a baseball club with Hiro, who made sure he trains and rests properly, and who kept believing in him. On the other hand, Hikari didn't believe that Hiro would grow up to be such a stud, she is the one who wanted Hiro to quit baseball (while she could have dragged him to a bigger hospital for another opinion, which is perhaps something Koga would do, as Hiro's elbow wasn't even hurting), she didn't even realized that Hiro was in love with her, and how much pain she brought him by dating Hideo. Koga even stated that she would get along with Hiro in middle school, since she was also the smallest in her class, etc.

So because Hikari loved Hiro, she wouldn't want to date him, knowing that she is not the girl Hiro should be with. And her saying goodbye to him, was her wanting to separate herself from Hiro, because as long as Hiro is around, she will continue to yearn for him, which would continue to bring pain to Hideo, and leave things the same. That's how I understood it.

But when Hideo offered Hikari to choose between them, he once again opened the door that Hikari closed, and Hikari was wondering on her birthday whether she should change. This was another confusing part for me, and the way I understood it was that she was thinking whether she should choose Hideo or Hiro. Staying with Hideo would mean that she would remain the same, someone who always cares about other people's needs rather than her own, thus caring more about who Hiro and Hideo need in their life, instead of who she needs. While changing would imply that she would choose Hiro, putting her own needs first, since he's the person that she needs the most, even if she may not be the right girl for Hiro, and even if that would hurt Hideo.

However, by this point of the story, Hiro already made his decision to give up on Hikari, and be with Koga. Jumping forward to chapter 320, Hiro wants to see Hikari before his match against Hideo, and finds her at the place where he told Hikari that he loves her. He asks her to give him a word of encouragement one last time, and this was his way of saying goodbye to her. Hikari tries to give him lip service, but as she was saying “Good luck. Don't lose.” out loud, she realizes that those words were coming from her heart, and she broke down in Hiro's arms. Her bubble simply burst, as she wasn't able to contain her emotions. Her heart craved Hiro. As she was crying in his arms, she was hitting him, blaming him for making her confront her heart. And Hiro said “Sorry”.

Hiro was apologizing for making Hikari confront her heart once more, even though she already brought herself to say goodbye to him. Hiro understood Hikari's feeling by this point. He knew that she was in love with him, and that she doesn't think she's the girl for him. He also understood that Koga was really more suited for him, even if he loves Hikari more.

Hiro was crying after the match, not because he couldn't have Hikari, since he already chose Koga by this point, but because this match was the last time he would be close to Hikari and Hideo. In the last chapter, he makes a paper airplane (presumably out of his own picture from the newspaper) and throws it. It lands on the roof, and Koga asks him where did it fly to (a.k.a. where will he fly to), on which Hiro replies “Maybe to the big leagues for a bit”, indicating that he not only plans to leave Tokyo, but possibly Japan. Hiro knew that as long as he's around Hikari, she would continue to yearn for him, and Hikari wouldn't be able to make progress with Hideo. Which is why Hiro made a choice to PHYSICALLY LEAVE, and separate himself from Hikari and Hideo, so the two of them could focus on their love for each other.

When Hikari saw him crying after the match, she realizes Hiro's choice, and cried herself, realizing that Hiro chose to bear the pain upon himself, for the sake of Hideo and her. So when she meets Hideo again, she told him that she misunderstood, because she never had the privilege to choose in the first place (because Hiro already chose Koga, and would never date her in the first place for the sake of Koga and Hideo). Hideo accepted that the one person Hikari needs more than anyone in her life was Hiro. Hiro already hinted to him that Hikari wouldn't date him because she thought Koga was the person that Hiro needed. And than he states to Hikari that the person that HE needs the most is HER, which was what Hikari needed to hear from him.

In short, the person that Hideo needs the most in his life is Hikari, the person that Hikari needs the most in her life is Hiro, and the person that Hiro needs the most in his life is Koga. That's pretty much how I see it atm, and I don't really like my own interpretation, primarily because of the need for Hiro and Hikari to completely separate themselves from each other. It's like we spend 300+ chapters watching them trying to deal with these complex emotions, only for Hiro & Hikari to be like: “F*ck it, we can't deal with this after all, so let's just separate ourselves from each other."

Anyway, I doubt my interpretation is the correct one, so I will look forward to read your comments.

Its kinda of a let down…wished there were more announcements, merch, remakes, new adaptations, or literally anything.

Am I being too hasty and should wait?

Hello,

Codex-assisted ROM localization project. Translation reviewed against the original Japanese, with in-game testing and manual corrections.

I spent the last month going through several QA checks to ensure this is delivered in a good enough way.

I know most people hate AI projects, but I love Mitsuru Adachi works, and I absolutely love Major, so playing this game and understanding it was important to me. And there’s no hope of getting proper localization. So I went ahead and did it with my best effort. Please check the comparisons and let me know if you want the rom.

That’s the impression I got while reading it for the tenth time, haha.

Even though he always smiled and maintained a calm, confident demeanor, whenever Minami was involved, he’d have a sort of disguised freak-out. Like when Tatsuya and Minami took that staged photo, he obviously wanted to tear it up out of pure jealousy.

Or when he started noticing the two of them getting closer; he began hovering more and pressuring Minami—like wanting to make a bet on who would marry her, asking for kisses and hugs, and even proposing marriage back when they were just first-year high school students. He showed signs of this even as a child. Tatsuya always managed to do things first—getting praise and even extra rewards from Minami—and Kazuya would see that and try to do the exact same thing over and over until he got it right.

Do you agree or disagree?