Two episodes leftPrevious thread: >>4587163
Since is a modernization of little mermaid, the twist it will be Grace was right and the king wrong
>>4600593Won't be much of a twist desu. Grace is already a hundred times more sympathetic and likable than the king
I would be surprised if there wasn't at least a kiss at this point but someone made a pretty good argument for a wedding.>Grandma does the ceremony>Dad takes photos>Brother plays the organ>Cake shop they work at bakes the cake>Himeka is the best woman
>>4600641It's a long shot, but it really would fit the theme they seem to have going where "it takes a village" of supportive people for true love to properly blossom. In the past Lara had no one to support her relationship with the prince, from both the merfolk and the other humans. I'm imagining the contrast between the Lara and the prince alone on the tower, and Lara and Mari in the family church surrounded by loved ones.
Just as a reminder for anyone who doesn't want to be spoiled, episode 11 is getting a live screening in Japan a number of days early and they are also showing 12 a week early along with it. Which means that in the next day or two, there will be significant spoilers in this and probably the general thread, whatever the outcome of the show ends up being.
>>4600641I'm torn. One hand I don't want to get my hopes up because japs can't into endings and are reluctant to PDA in general (see Gundam Witch). On the other hand, Lara had two interrupted kisses with Luca, so her first kiss being Mari would make the whole thing come together beautifully (and it would hopefully convince the schizo to finally an hero).>>4600647That's gonna be rough. I don't think I'll be able to avoid spoilers without swearing off /u/ altogether for over a week.
Give me all the spoilers I'm ready
>>4600647It's possible we won't get any since japanese are known to be polite about that stuff, but we'll see.
The live screening is early Sunday morning EST, about 8 hours before episode 11 airs. I don't expect Japanese viewers to spoil the whole thing but I'm still planning to take a break from social media in the meantime. It sucks that it means missing post episode 11 discussion though.
Love the art style.
It's Fall season! All that's left is winter.https://x.com/Goodbye_Lara/status/2098320644219846919
>>4601166Most adorable so far.Do we know when winter one is dropping?>>4601066Canon.
>>4601166This is wonderful.
>>4601166
>>4601175Dato,,,
>>4601166Hey an official Gundam witch from Mercury crossover
I see fish fucking is in right now
>>4601843
>>4601886
Compilations of every time they say each other's name.https://x.com/UnknownDriver17/status/2098133091734655003https://x.com/UnknownDriver17/status/2098133540860752171Also, reminder that the advance screening of the final two episodes is in 4 hours, beware of spoilers after that.
3.5 hours until ep 11 spoilers and 4 hours until finale spoilers. Enjoy the next week gals, I'm going to ignore all mermaid related media until a week and a day from now
>>4602029Same. Hopefully when we come back the threads will be on fire, but for a good reason.
Spoiler-free reactions from JP yurifriends who went to the screening seem positive.
>>4602090Nice, but hopefully we don't get anything more specific. Let us have the please of discovering it by ourselves when it airs.
It's not looking good, guys. We might be getting the Frozen 2 special.
Read the spoilers for the finale and as always the japanese writers can't write a good ending for life, Lara should be standing along Mari and be her support than leaving her like that, I'm especially annoyed for not getting kiss either between Mari and Lara. Whole series feels pointless now
>>4602121I read it too, it was somehow even worse than the most pessimistic predictions, other than the het ones, but those were disproven by episode 10 already.Forget about a kiss, Lara just leaves Mari for absolutely no fucking reason other than "it's an ending, so it has to be bittersweet, because it's le deep!", fuck realism fags forever and ever, should've known something was wrong with the director when he kept insisting he didn't want this to be like other anime.Sayonara indeed, into the trash it goes.
>>4602126>Lara justThat is not even what the singular Chinese supposed spoiler says though. It says that she moves out of their HOUSE because she wants to be able to live on her own, i.e. support herself. The thing she attempted early on in 3 and 4, but now can actually accomplish because she is a more rounded person instead of permanently crashing on Mari's floor.
>>4602129They literally have a fucking stereotipical train chase scene at the end, did you think she's just moving next door and they'll meet again next week? It's a goodbye for the foreseeable future, as the title implied, only it's even dumber than her dying.
>het/lucafag viewers who saw it are all pissed off or moody about it>yurifag viewers who saw it all say they greatly enjoyed itFeels pretty safe. Will wait to actually see what happens because this show has been an outstanding filter for how the average person watching is a retard who can't understand what is happening.
>>4602131It's not America, you retard. Trains don't go a hundred miles. Nips ride the train to go to school or work everyday and she has to stay in the vicinity because the other mermaids are going to take a significant amount of time to recover.
>>4602133Be sure to give us your candid impressions after watching it, anon.
>>4602129>singular Chinese supposed spoilerYeah I'll believe it when I watch it. This doesn't line up with (positive) impressions from other attendees, but of course people would jump at the chance to doom and gloom. And also the Chinese are not immune to trolling.
I'm suddenly relieved the Madoka movie chose sequel bait over an actual conclusion, nips can't into endings.
>>4602133>>4602131For the record, even in the show they take the train to get to Mari's school and to go to the bakery for work (after Mari's father drives them initially for the interview). Lara has no long term savings and her job is at the bakery. She has nowhere to go and no resources to do some grandiose move and her family and the person she loves are both there in Shiga, which the entire show is about. She's just finding her own apartment as part of her growth into someone who can actually live among humans, because the show makes a point early on of how reliant she is on Mari's family and her development towards taking care of herself.
My first yuri and it's this. Y'all live like this?
>>4602133Spoiler in image. It’s the original Chinese leaker answering a question.
>>4602141Yuri is the best thing in the world, but if you want a good yuri ending you gotta read manga, anime is either incomplete adaptations, up to interpretation, or unsatisfying teasing with no substance.The only exception I can think of is Kannazuki no Miko, but its problem is pretty much everything other than the ending.
Good saved me a week of spoiler waiting for nothing.
Why does the concept of 'payoff' escape so many authors, who settle for pretentious nothings instead?
>>4602126>realismBest part that's not realistic. Realistic is staying in one place your entire live. That's the experience of most people. "Le leaving to find yourself " is romanticised, hollywood bullshit that rarely applies to reality.
>>4602148Exactly! That's why I love spoilers.
>>4602143I don't know my own taste for yuri yet to go looking for more, but I know it's definitely what I thought this anime was going for.
>>4602142That is probably the Tokaido or Biwako line (both go to Kobe), they run past half the locations in the show. Assuming that Mari lives in the far southern end of Omi at the southern end of Biwa, (hence her boxing name and them using the grocery store at the southern tip of Biwa), the are also using one of these two same trains to go to and get home from the bakery every day. Again, she has no money and her job, family and true love are right there, she's not going to move to the other side of Japan.
>>4602152>it's definitely what I thought this anime was going forThen you like fairly slow burn yuri in a modern setting, possibly with supernatural elements and high stakes.Since there's adaptations, for the modern setting I'd recomment watching the 'Yagate Kimi ni Naru' anime, then finish the story with the manga, there's no fantasy elements but it's probably right up your alley.For the fantasy/stakes thing the 'Kimi ga Shinu made Koi wo Shitai' anime is airing this season, watch it until it ends then catch up with the ongoing manga.
Aaaaand the leaker deleted the supposed leaks.
>>4602153>>4602142
>>4602149they only think about the investors.
>>4602163That's probably a factor sometimes, but I think many of them are genuinely convinced that shit like this is clever, deep and thought-provoking, as opposed to just, you know, bringing things to their damn cathartic culmination, which they see as cheap, unrealistic and childish.Basically, they're so intent in huffing their own farts that they lost sight of basic common sense.
>>4602165>anything shy of Disney-adjacent everything working out perfectly with no conflict ending can't be cathartic or culminate in a satisfying manner."Childish" seems like an accurate self-description of your sensibilities.
>>4602165Presenting to the court exhibit A here >>4602172, I think we're on track for a guilty verdict.If it were up to these guys Kaguya would've ended at the fake-out, thankfully it was just there to mock them.
>>4602174If it were up to you, Kaguya would never have existed, because the big scary sad bits would hurt your feefees, and so every show would just be meaningless, banal trash. Thankfully you contribute nothing of value to society and will never be anywhere near any creative decision making, so I get to continue to enjoy actual storytelling and artistic effort while you endlessly whine about your inferiority complex.
>>4602175I rest my case.
>>4602175Don't worry Koide, I'll still watch your shit 'deep' ending (pirated) next week since I got this far. No way I'm ever following anything else you make though.
>>4602176I accept your concession.
Looks nothing like 'not the usual yuri'
>>4602179you will read the epilogue novel, manga, illustration, or interview (99% of the fanbase wouldn’t care) and you will like it.
>>4602179>I'm going to pirate the thing I was already pirating while pretending it's totally a heckin' meaningful statement and not that I pirate everything by default anywayBrave. I'm sure he's devestated. I mean the show is hugely popular and insanely well rated, and he has a decade of success under his belt already, but him somehow knowing that one anonymous foreigner on 4chan that already wasn't following his work isn't going to follow anything else he makes will probably be soul crushing. I expect he'll pack it up and never make anything again.
I'm glad I got spoiled so I no longer have to have hope for this shit show
>>4602187>>4602184I don’t know if I would recommend anyone watch this show for the yuri in the future. I mean, I can absolutely recommend Kannazuki no Miko to anyone for the yuri although it is a mediocre show.
Gon-chan ; _ ;
>>4602200That is one hell of a line to go out of!
>>4602203Grace deserved better. She should have found a cute tomboy to be gay with like her niece did
>>4602203Especially seeing director himself shat on it final episode later.
>>4602208>>4602151>>4602149>>4602148Spoiler tags exist for a reason, you know?
We're getting a Goodbye Lara movie that pulls an Adolescence of Utena later. #trust
>>4602209But none of those posts contains spoilers.
>>4602211They do, implicitely.
>>4602212>implicitlyNee-sans here don't understand the concept
>>4602203Too bad it shits all over that message the very next episode
>>4602215Yesterday talk:>they're going to kiss, it all leads up to it!Today talk:>well, let us not underestimate implications!That escalated quickly.
Ok, so the only thing we have is a chinese leaker saying Lara leaves but overall the jp yurifags seem happy but the hetfags seem pissed right?
>>4602219Correct.
>>4602219We have one person saying something with absolutely no one else to corroborate or verify it, so take these leaks with a grain of salt.
>>4602219Leaker has been wrong before.
>>4602222Even if he doesn't understand japanese perfectly if he saw a kiss or love confession he would say it.
How can it fuck up that badly? Assuming the leaks are right it throws EVERYTHING away thematically.????
>>4602221It's the only leak we have? hm.
The leak is accurate, stuff like Mari telling Lara she should live to love like Grace told Mari in this episode is too specific to have been a guess. Better stop coping as soon as possible.
>>4602219>the only thingTo be clear: this is just what supposedly happens at the very end of the episode. During the episode itself, Lisa relents to letting Mari try, it's confirmed that Mari is Lara's true love, Lara's powers are properly activated and the sword is returned to its "good" form of being Light after Lara, trying to save Mari remembers all their moments together. After things are resolved there is supposedly a timeskip and then some resolution with Lisa and about the mermaids slowly healing and Lara decides to move out of the household.
>>4602226The only one. No one else posted anything specific. Hence grain of salt.
Shitposters and doom spiral-ers are losing their shit over Lara getting her own place instead of living permanently on her girlfriend's floor, but the fact of the matter is they already promised to have a future together in 8 and the show firmly doubles down their love being true love, all the way through to the finale's climactic moment.
>>4602233Lara needs a new room for them to build their love nest after all. Also It really doesn't make sense to me that the spoilers have Lara saying goodbye to Lisa because there's no way she's going back to the sea. Plus she'll need her sister if she's ever to get a proper ID card or guardian since Grace is gone.
>>4602233Nah, I hate pointless BS like that
>>4602233Anon, you really think the final scene of the series is a timeskip to Lara simply moving to a different apartment, and Mari giving chase for no particular reason, then getting a meaningless final shot of her profile, as the two will see each other again tomorrow?The leaker said it's not even clearly explained what or where she's leaving for, it's obviously not something as trivial as that.Best case scenario is it can be interpreted as not indefinite, which is even worse interpretation material than usual, especially for a romance.
Was Grace/StupidName sisters yuri?
>>4602246Both hetsluts I'm afraid.
>>4602239>meaningless>no reasonNo. The series set up in early episodes that Lara is overly reliant. She was scared to even go outside without Mari and so could not begin looking for her true love, then struggled with adapting to people, then struggled with the reality of accountability and taking care of herself, and then struggled with working and earning things from her work. The show is not just about Lara finding love, it is about Lara finding love and also finding a place for herself in the human world and becoming an actual person instead of just an awkward out of place princess.There is a timeskip to after the events of finding true love, where she then has an update on the progress of her family, and then moving out of Mari's house. This isn't simple, it's the natural arc of this second growth, that she is now able to stand on her own two feet and can do stuff herself, like have her own place. I do not think Mari gives chase for no particularly reason, I think she gives chase because she has conflicting feelings about no longer being around the girl she loves 24/7 but also being happy to see her doing well. I have no idea what "profile view" amounts to because it's fucking meaningless without the actual expression worn and framing used. cont
>>4602251But you would have to be an actual fucking retard. Proper, legit low IQ stupid to think that the show about her finding a place with the people of Shiga and her true love and her caring about her family has her moving out so that she can leave her family and Shiga and her place and the person she loves forever. Very obviously that is an interpretation that borders on braindead, especially since there's no suggestion that it's a sorrowful, depressing goodbye, and there's no indication that it's framed badly, and the 11 episodes prior, and mid climax promise act directly against such a remarkably stupid takeaway. Ocham's razor. The show sets up her questionable ability to take care of herself up, so the show knocks her questionable ability to take care of herself down. No reason is provided for her "leaving" because the reason is self evident: she isn't moving to the united states, she is just moving to her own place.
>>4602251I don't mind the development, but if there's no kiss I'm not sure how to feel about it...
>>4602264Anon I...
I wish i could post that Penn throwing Lara into the trashbin pic on this board.Never again Original animu, never again.
Post art if any. I'm still spoiler-free... for now.
>>4602275
>>4602224Japs can't into endings, this is common knowledge.
>>4602281I'm not too used to something nailing it until the second-to-last episode and just throwing it all away at the very end though, you can usually see the signs far earlier.
Revue Starlight literally ended with all the pairings separated.
>>4602284Because the girls still have to complete their studies. They all say they'll meet again (aside from Junna and Nana I guess).
>>4602284But they formed new pairings with each other.
Honestly the problem with the leak is because it is a very barebone summary, bereft of any context, so it felt drier than what it will be on screen. Like the leaker has to add something about Luca because they are so broad about their spoiler they miss one of the more important character.Reading it again, I think people who watched it know the first part is Lara and Mari confessing their love to each other, which is why - as far as I see - the Japanese yuri fans who watched it like it.But as a summary it simply goes point by point (a happened, then b happened, the c tells d that it is x, etc.) so it lost most of its meaning and flavor.And I think it is pretty obvious the reason Lara goes on train while Mari stays is because Mari hasn't graduate yet. After Mari finish her school she will go after Lara.Though I admit this is why Mahoutsukai Precure and Cosmic Princess Kaguya are smarter about their time skip by having them longer (5 years and 10 years each), so their characters are both adult and no longer need to worry about waiting for high school graduation (though Mahoutsukai do use university graduation as plot for its sequel, but I digress).The only issue I have is there is no kiss because it has been hinted so hard, but I'll wait for the episode. Assuming the leaker doesn't leave mentioning kiss on purpose, best scenario they have a kiss off screen which is why the leaker doesn't mention it (like Lara swims toward Mari, their head collide, but we only see their lower body so we technically don't see them kissing), but I don't want to put much hope on that and maybe they replace it with the swordfish thing (which hinted at episode 11. Either the princess kiss her True Love, or the swordfish eats her True Love).I feel like people's opinion will be better when it released
>>4602200
>>4602299So the leaker isn't a chink yurifag? I just assumed he was because chink yurifags are pretty crazy about their love for yuri, they are the only ones I can imagine leaking episodes of a potential yuri anime.
>>4602310He went as far as getting a ticket for the pre-screening so he probably is.
>>4602300Are you... are you actually applying some common sense here? Do people like that still exist?
/a/ is saying the ending is yuribait and Lara leaves Mari to never return.
11 episodes of specifically, very heavy-handedly referencing compulsory heterosexuality and patriarchal oppression only for the ending to be "altruistic, Christian compassion" and all that symbolism meaning nothing would be the most Japanese writing thing ever. Also the last-second implication that merpeople don't love romantically whatsoever would probably get the writer lynched by everyone.
It ending in friendship would not only make people who wanted a yuri ending mad but also hetfags mad as well since Lara would've only seen Luca as a friend
>>4602310Their bio says "lean towards yuri and slice of life", but they have posts of pilgrimages and merch for both yuri(ish) and het shows.
>>4602316>a boxing gloveThat uh, may be a bit much.
>Mari calling her cute awoke her heart>Rowan confirmed that the dagger manifests when Lara felt love for Mari>all instances of love so far have been romantic, including Lara's with the prince>"Live for love, not the law">actually it's just friendship this time lolWould actually be the worst writing of all time so I will wait to see it for myself.
>>4602314>the last-second implication that merpeople don't love romantically whatsoeverThey do, Rigmor created her light that way. It's just Lara who doesn't because actual yuribait.
>>4602330Lara's light manifested in episode 3.
>>4602330>>yuribait.So it ends in het? Because that's the only way this and anything like it can be categorized; it can't be applied under any other reason.
>>4602335Low quality bait.
>>4602336If you ever reply to, or acknowledge bait, it means you fell for it and gave the baiter what they wanted. Be better and just ignore them.
>>4602339The problem is that it's not bait on his part, it's simple and plain mental retardation; they are the ones who see Het where it doesn't exist and think they are intelligent.
>>4602330>It's just Lara who doesn'tGrace also doesn't, she stabbed her True Love and gets her light that way. Episode 11 basically gives two option, either the princess kisses her True Love or the dagger appears and stabs/consume her True Love.
So is the ending yuribait or not?
>>4602348Wait and see for yourself instead of trusting vague spoilers.
>>4602348YesIt was also het baitLiterally no one won
>>4602348No. It is yuri but supposedly somewhat unsatisfying yuri.
>>4602351So it's not bait of any kind, just a normal unsatisfactory ending; there have to be winners in bait, that's mandatory.>>4602355Basically, classic old-school yuri?
>>4602364True love is confirmed but there might not be a kiss, just a big embrace, and they might stop being roommates.
>>4602387I think her being your grandma is a good reason to not kiss her lest you cease to exist. Girls can't do the nasty in the pasty and be their own grandma
Mari better punch something or someone very hard in the finale
>>4602405
>>4602300Reminds me of Gwitch finale leak. There was a mention of no kiss, no confesssion, there was not much going on between Suletta and Miorine during the big fight, and the way they described Miorine traveling felt like she was leaving, so people were pretty disappointed. In the end, even though the ending fight wasn't as satisfying as we had hope, the leaker didn't point out that sulemio was practically reenacting the romantic F91 spacewalk and both ended the show with rings implying marriage. It left the ending of the show for no to be no misinterpretation. In the end, I don't think this show will stick the landing like how everyone was expecting it to go, probably because they wanted to play it "safe" for the general audience. Japanese yuri audience will settle down with that ending and define it as "big love" or something which is what some of the staff probably intended since one of the creative staff director tends to constantly retweet yuri laramari art. And unlike Gwitch, they seem to actually go for an open to interpretation ending just so fans can interpret the relationship as romance. And knowing japan interviews, they probably won't bother defining the relationship either. Doubt they can define it as some kind of sisterhood or family bond like kaguya if the leaks are true at least. Who knows, maybe the December seasonal video can show something more lovey dovey cause I doubt the LN will.
>>4602434Honestly, if there's not an open "I love you" kiss scene or whatever, how the fuck can anyone intrepret Lara and Mari's relationship as anything other than romantic in nature? It's been about as subtle as brick to the face that they do in fact love each other, while obviously I would enjoy a proper kiss, we don't need one to see what's right there.
So all that talk about not being like other Yuri shows was for nothing
>>4602320Yeah this hits me the most in negative way, before all true love situations were between a girl and a boy and they were romantic in nature, but now since it's about a girl x girl situation, they decided to make it non-romantic situation as true love goes and even go so far to not show anything romantic between the two and just split them up in friendship kind of way of growing up.That is a retarded coward way out feeling completely cheated after the whole ep11 flashback and Grace last words, like they decided to change the original ending it should have in last moment or were not allowed by sponsors to make it yuri fully.It is a yuribait I'm afraid cause the girls don't end together even in friendship way which adds to the insult that short Lara x Luca thing was treated by everyone in the cast as romantic situation.
So do they turn back into their original mermaid forms right before they kiss as a test for whether or not the love is true?
27 years.It has been 27 years and nothing has changed, if anything the state of this shit has gotten worse.At this point I need more completely over the top "fuck you the entire point is that queer love saves the world and misogyny can eat a dick" stories like sexiled just to push back against this "no but you see it's more subversive if we're subtle (read; coward out because we're scared of the lesbians not having mass market appeal) and never make it clear!" bullshit.I was literally raised on this type of yuri and I am just so so tired of it, why is it all the het stuff gets to be overt and in your face but ANYTHING gay or out of the norm is pushed out of frame?They even play coy with Lisa's anglerfish partner because they can't acknowledge anything going on with that, I remember seeing people trying to argue this series had themes of comphet only for the show itself to refuse to show anything but heterosexuality AT ALL, hey people love to bring up Utena? Utena had multiple instances of queer side content not even just Utena and Anthy while this can't even fucking do that, it's ALL het right down to the shows Lara watches on TV constantly, couldn't even throw one yuri in there because acknowledging that those exist would be too scary.Yes this is a meltdown, I'm old and tired boss.
>>4602490For the record before someone says "just watch the actual yuri anime lmao" I am literally doing that but most yuri that gets adapted either gets hit with the poorly animated curse or is just a simple romance that barely gets this big budget animation and massive attention, I love yuri romances but I don't just want yuri to be shoved into that little corner where this is the only spot it can exist away from most people's eyes and I DESPERATELY want more yuri originals.At least Kamiina Botan was good.
>>4602490Same.
>>4602487As far as I can check, the chinese leaker never says it is just friendship or non-romantic. I don't get why people begin to parrot "it is just friendship" from.We shall see what happen next episode, but I think the idea is they confess their feeling (and seems to have intimate pose), however there is no kiss and Lara decide to lives on her own instead of stay in Mari's house.If I am the staff, the winter audio drama will be about Lara and Mari reunited so it recontextualize the videos as their future self..
>>4602495Gon-chan is in the fall video so they're not supposed to be canon. I do believe the winter one is going to feel weird no matter what.
>>4602496You mean the one on Mari's phone, right? It could be explained that Mari's grandmother using Gon-chan as avatar when calling Mari, which then explain the upper left mini image where she crosses her arm as Lara and Mari comes home.
>2 failed kiss attempts with Lara >1 failed kiss attempt with grace I cannot envision a finale where Lara doesn't get at least an implied kiss for closure after this buildup.
>>4602434Leaks fucking suck. You cannot do justice to anything in just a handful of sentences, and they're always, always biased by virtue of having to pick and choose what you reveal.>>4602453There is zero room for interpretation. Zero. Anyone who says otherwise is willfully ignoring everything that came before the finale, ESPECIALLY the last few episodes.
>>4602453>how the fuck can anyone intrepret Lara and Mari's relationship as anything other than romanticIt's spelled right out that it's "true love" multiple times, theres nothing to interpret. It's even more blatant than CPK, and you'll be hard pressed finding anyone denying CPK is yuri anymore.Even ignoring the tons of symbolism up till now, Rowan confirms there's still someone she truly loves (and the dagger proves it) which causes her to immediately think of mari and warn her. Then theres grace, who is revealed to be fully aware of Mari and Laras feelings, and brought mari to her den to tell her to follow her love (because she believes mari and lara are the keys to achieve her dream of finding love on land).It's just a matter of how far they're willing to commit to showing that In the final episode, but with how much they've been teasing Laras kiss, it'd be weird if we don't at least get some payoff for that.
>>4602497Interesting enough, Gon-chan isn't there for the spring festival one. Mari just points out that Gon-chan is cuter than the fish Lara caught.
>>4602506>There is zero room for interpretation.Well we gonna see that, granted if they didn't screen ep12 right away with ep11 for the event, we could rightfully think that the love confession and kiss or just intimate embrace and them ending toghether is only logical conclusion to this story. But seeing how slimy about the issue this director is I wouldn't be surprised if he somehow pulled friendship love as total cope out.
>>4602511>willfully ignoring everything that came before the finaleThat's what you're doing right now
>>4602512In what direction?
>>4602490Exactly. I hate settling for scraps.
>>4602506>Leaks fucking suck.No, leaks fucking rock.Can you imagine what our expectations would be if going into the finale blind after yesterday's episode? The leaked sentences are more than enough to know I'd have punched a freaking hole through the monitor.Pic-related is a reminder of what a satisfying yuri ending looks like, there is absolutely no reason to settle for anything less in a yuri love story, None, don't let anyone gaslight you otherwise.Someone forward it to the pretentious hack who directed this masturbatory trainwreck.
>>4602490At this point I'm just sticking to adaptations only. Originals never deliver, it's an infuriating experience.
>>4602515>No, leaks fucking rock. Cringe
>>4602515>Can you imagine what our expectations would be if going into the finale blind after yesterday's episode?Lovers confession and a kiss and them being mutually happy together in contrast to all other past true love pairings?It would be too simple ending, director did everything in his power that this would not turn into standard yuri story romantic ending.
This general has been nothing but spergs getting mad at nothingburgers for weeks now. Im seeing the ending for myself, before I judge it.
>>4602518>director did everything in his power that this would not turn into a satisfying endingWell damn, now I'm forced to acknowledge that he 100% succeeded in his noble intent.
>>4602519Hey anon, good on you for being calm and reasonable. God knows there's not a lot of that going around right now.
Oh, Shirahama (Witch Hat Atelier mangaka) likes the anime enough to draw fanart of it.
>>4602515>Pic-related is a reminder of what a satisfying yuri ending looks likeIt's so beautiful.Whenever I see it again, I'm left thinking "this is how it should be, it's just natural for build-up to be followed by this level of climactic payoff".Should be the standard ending every "yuri" anime is measured against.
>>4602533It's mostly trolls. I will admit the leak was good fuel for shitposting tho
>>4602490Yeah. I'm even deathly bored now.
>>4602515>No, leaks fucking rock.This. Can't say how many times a leak saved me from disappointment.
>>4602542It's the final week, they didn't save you from disappointment, youre already invested. Now you're left with uncertainty for the final stretch and have to hold onto that feeling for another week to see how it really fares and if the leaks were accurate; instead of collectively finding out together all at once, then forgetting about the show if it really was THAT bad.And If the leaks exaggerated it, then you just had the finale spoiled for nothing
>>4602546The PV tomorrow will validate or invalidate the leak unless it's incredibly vague on purpose so not that long left to wait.
>>4602546This anon gets it
>>4602546I don't doubt that's how it works for you anon, but for me it's the exact opposite.Without the leaks, I would've spent the whole week fervently looking forward to an amazing finale that fulfills all the expectations raised by the previous episodes, only to sit down and watch it with a growing sense of dread as that underwhelming conclusion unravels before my eyes, leaving me completely crushed in the end.But now that I know in advance I should expect nothing, I have one week to absorb the blow before actually watching the episode, so when I do I'll at least be able to marginally appreciate any small silver lining there might be.Since I was going to be disappointed either way, I might as well still get something out of it, if at all possible.
>>4602536It's just tiring how eager people are to jump at the chance to doom and gloom. Negativity has become so prevalent on the Internet that it's all anyone knows what to do anymore.
>>4602557I may have screwed up some grammar in my comment, ah well.
>>4602516>originals never deliverCosmic Princess Kaguya did (though that's a movie). Witch from Mercuary did. Flip Flappers was at least pretty close. Plenty of Western cartoons go full yuri. There is that mermaid themed indie short animation that came out recently which was yuri.It's not all bad for original animation. But as anime is 90% adaptations, you are better off with something that was already proven yuri beforehand.
>>4602560>Cosmic Princess Kaguya did (though that's a movie). Witch from Mercuary did. Flip Flappers was at least pretty close.I'd argue that none of them delivered as much as they could on the yuri side, but at least they had the excuse that the yuri was a subplot in them, even though it was very important still.Lara on the other hand has no excuses for not going all out (understatement), the whole anime was about the protagonist finding love ffs.
>>4602561CPK can literally not function as a story without the yuri. The only thing it was lacking was a kiss.WfM indeed wasn't about the yuri, but the story did build up to it properly. It was still kind of annoying how vague it kept things towards the end, but contextually the yuri is completely undeniable at least.Flip Flappers, like I said, was really close. It was very gay, but it feels like they needed a season 2.I agree on Lara, but I never had any expectations for it to begin with. Was just denying that original animation never delivers yuri. You know how many people grew up with She-ra or Owl House? Good stories with yuri are not that rare. They are certainly more common than the same thing for BL.
>>4602560WFM had its interview rewritten to "it was up to interpretation". A massive Gundam franchise ending with yuri is still an achievement on its own.>>4602562Owl House got axe by disney because its too gay or was it because the story too dark?Remember LWA, they want to pair Akko with a guy?The world (especially Japan) still cannot accept yuri, especially the higher-up executives and committee members.
>>4602566Blah blah, that stupid interview story is such old news it's not even interesting bait anymore. The suits were corrected. The actual creators of the anime doubled down and confirmed the yuri's canonicity. There is zero room for interpretation anymore and Bandai's garbage move has gotten them nothing but backlash, so they aren't pulling that shit again.>Owl House got the axeIt was never really revelead what the reason for the accelerated ending was, but it was most definitely not for being too gay. And the show still ended getting most of its plot points done.Little Witch Academia isn't yuri, was never intended to be yuri and whether the het ship exists or not, that doesn't change. I don't know what your point is... Sounds like you got upset your own headcanon wasn't real?
>>4602557Shitposters aside, the most negative ones are usually the ones most passionate about the thing in question because of their investment.I love this series and have been watching it since before the big reveal in episode 3, and will refrain from judging it just yet, but if the ending is as bad as the leaks make it out to be, I will be first in line to shit on it relentlessly. That is frankly an unforgivable ending for the kind of story they've built up so far.
>>4602567>Sounds like you got upset your own headcanon wasn't real?sounds like you are not from here
>>4602570I am totally fine with Diakko shipping and I know LWA was pretty popular for being so yuri goggable. But bringing up LWA in a list of anime that the "evil hetshitter suits" tried to keep from "becoming too gay" is just silly.
Hope they get bullied into making an alternate ending, à la Evangelion
>>4602576The only way to save this shit, but I doubt they will ever do it.
>>4602578Koide comes off as a professional fart sniffer so if anything it's more likely he'll come out and explain why his depiction of love was deeper than homosexuality or comphet.
Director is probably patting himself on the back after the "goodbye Lara" title drop
>>4602580>fart sniffer director thinks he's too clever to write a traditional ending and HAS to subvert expectations Apt comparison
>>4602581both Gon and Lara leaving Mari not long after she cried over being lonely without them and talking about always staying together during their talk on the balcony is a pretty cruel ending if true
>>4602587Wasn't the romance the core narrative?
The worst part is how this weeks episode was such an amazing set up for the finale. Such a great set up, raising expectations even further before being shot in the back of the head right at the finish line. Why is yuri forever cursed with these kinds of endings?
https://x.com/d0nut2x/status/2099472294615957986>that summary is very shit imo, u shouldnt make an opinion based off that alone, i will not spoil anything else
"World's biggest fumble" will be its lasting legacy on /u/. Free dunk for the taking, and they go for a half-court shot instead and miss
Yuribait confirmed? Lara does indeed leave Mari at the end with no guarantees to return or a romantic reciprocation?
>>4602604Why are you asking us this? We don't have any more information than whatever crumbs have been shared.
>>4602604Japs and chinks leakers said it is soft yuri, Mari is indeed Lara's true love at the end, but she decides to leave anyway for reasons lol
its really bizarre how common it is for a yuri to end with the girls going off on their seperate ways, whether temporarily or not. I can understand non-conclusive endings, but ones where they go out of their way to make up a reason for the girls to go off somewhere always felt odd to me, and i dont know why they do it
>>4602613I don't think Lara will leave forever
If it had a kiss or an actual love confession then at the very least the chinks would've already leaked that. I always knew that at best this would end in a nothing burger.
>>4602560CPK has the director going out and saying there is no homosexual love of ANY kind in the movie (which directly contradicts shit like the novel cus Noi is right there) and WFM still has arguments over it tears later because of Bandai.Why does all the straight love get to be explicit and overt but two girls are locked to ""well if you just have subtext o vision-"" even if the subtext is as subtle as a hammer?Sorry but I'm not going to pretend originals are even halfway to decent anymore after this shit and won't be watching another one until someone tells me it ended in yuri.
>>4602652Lara is explicit and overt. There is nothing subtextual about Mari being confirmed Lara's true love.
>>4602654I have literally already seen multiple JP people go with "oh so the true love can be sisterly naruhodo" about laramari because the show refuses to clarify or have any sort of confession or kiss and it's so focused on men the subtext (which is what I complained about) is allowed to slide over their head to not threaten sales.
>>4602655>I've have literally already seen multiple JP people be fucking retardsLara has five beloved sisters, you moron. And the show both explicitly states, from Yoshiya, that familial love is not the same as true love, and implicitly establishes from all angles that familial love does not count, which is why Grace and Lara's mother had to go find actual romantic partners despite being twins in love with each other, and why the six sisters weren't able to just power the kingdom themselves, especially when Lisa obsessively loves Lara, and why Lara had to go on the journey to begin with when her love for her family was already so strong she was willing to do anything to try and help them.
>>4602652>the director saidNo he did not. You are just lying out of your teeth. The most he did in some interviews (and not others mind you, as Jap interviews are worthless trash where they are always non-commital and change their opinion on a dime) was to say that their relationship is "more" than romantic love. Which is Japanese code talk for it's fucking gay, but they don't want to say it out loud because they are doing a fucking interview.It's impressive what a piece of shit you are though for trying to pretend Noi is somehow the homosexual representation in the novel, when he is literally at most hinted at being in a relationship with Iroha's brother, while Iroha and Kaguya are just explicitely lovers in it. And the movie had explicit romantic confessions. And the guidebook, other interviews, several production notes and the LN's author all confirmed it over and over while we are at it.This looks like targeted shitposting with just enough misinformation to trigger people who know better. Pretty tryhard, but at least better than the usual no effort ragebait. 4/10.
This show reminds me of when retards argue that PriPri isn't yuri.
>>4602658I like how you're making a lot of assumptions when I singled Noi out specifically for the line of Iroha's where she asks about her brother and Noi, everyone already knows Kaguya and Iroha are gay as hell which is why I didn't point to them but feel free to keep calling me a troll or whatever.As for the interview I've seen multiple people even in the cpk thread on here talk about the director cowarding out in interviews with it just being friendship unless that wasn't the director and I was mislead.My point was that I'm tired of just getting fucking subtext even if it's unsubtle and barely subtext at all but you take that as me saying this isn't yuri because why exactly?
>>4602664>he said there is no homosexual love in iz>but Noi is right there!That is basically how you phrased it, so of course it sounds like shitposting.>several interviews where the dirdctor cowardded outYes, I just mentioned one of them? Him saying their relationship is "more" than romantic in one interview is basically saying it is not romantic. That was what people argued about. Director Yamashita has also said in other interviews their love cannot be defined, because it is layered and all types. But again, those are Japanese interviews. They are quite literally scripted to offend as few people as possible. That has always been the reason they are worthless.In all other media Yamashita and the whole staff are far more direct about the romance. In the guidebook the voice actresses, script writers and animators bring up their romantic love for each other repeatedly and that is the most official information source out there. The LN was co-written/supervised by Director Yamashita, so he literally was part of the novel that actively and openly stated the yuri.In fact from the beginning there are interviews where Yamashita openly said they had to cut some of the yuri scenes from the movie because they had way too much content and had to reduce the movie's runtime for pacing. He also said they had to cut lots of the family drama for the same reason, so you know it's still canon, because the family drama as well as the yuri are both far more expansive in the novel.Point being that he explicitely mentions it being yuri by saying they cut a lot of the yuri scenes in the first place.The fact that you literally went for "he said no homosexual love at all!!!" bullshit, which you can't even derive from the shit you misremembered and a Japanese interview would never state that openly, is basically the same as ragebait. Neither CPK nor WfM are subtext. Maybe you are just very, very stupid?
>>4602652>>4602658>director going out and saying there is no homosexual love of ANY kindThat's not quite accurate, but also not entirely wrong.Of the two problematic interviews I remember, in one of them he called their relationship 'friendship', and in the other one later on he called it 'familial'.But at the end of the day interviews don't matter much, as the other anon said they say all sorts of things in them; the actual facts are that the girls are gay as heck in the anime and LN, but they are never overtly treated as such, which is a trend that continues in the current spin-off that still dances around the subject despite blatant teasing.That is unfortunately the best that has been achieved yet outside of yuri-marketed series, GWitch is in pretty much the same situation for example, all official material post-anime will always take place in the 'don't confirm, don't deny' limbo, despite even the director having set things up to be explicit in the ending, but the suits didn't care.And if Lara ever gets any additional content, you can bet it will get be reserved same treatment, so if you want to enjoy these series you need to accept that the girls will never refer to each other as lovers (or wives, despite the wedding), and that they'll never kiss or do anything as undeniably romantic.So there's both things to commend and things to deplore in the current middle-ground; could be better, could be worse.
Golly, this subtext is too subtle, it could mean anything really.
>>4602711In G-Witch's case the director confirmed they are married at the end though. And this was after the interpretation stuff so it has been the last word in.
>>4602721Yes they didn't censor the director, but he has nothing to do with the series anymore, and obviously you don't see the officials tweets/interviews ever calling the girls married or stuff like that, VAs haven't "slipped up" in official contexts anymore either, nor is the current spin-off seemingly on track with making things explicit, in fact it canned the whole wedding arrangement subplot.It's clear that they're still aligned with their up to interpretation gaslighting.
>>4602655>oh so the true love can be sisterly naruhodoPerfectly acceptable considering the show refuses to say anything more.
How does lesbian sex between a girl and a mermaid work?
>>4602490idk dude, watch Lesbian Space Princess
>>4602508>and you'll be hard pressed finding anyone denying CPK is yuri anymore.The director denies it
>>4602812The show implies babies start popping out with true love's light.
>manga adaptation by Saburouta announcedlol what the fuck
>>4602934yurichads won
>the official synopsis for the finale>the PVYeah, looks like the Chinese leak was indeed fucking shitty and not representative of the episode at all. A list of events with zero context.
>>4602934Ihttps://x.com/Goodbye_Lara/status/2099773687859949939
>>4602938Anon, I...
>>4602934the Citrus dude?!
>>4602941You can make anything look terrible by badly (or barely) describing it.
Real talk how good or bad are the chances really now that we got a yuri author doing the manga? I don't know if that usually effects things or not so I'd like to hear from the ch/u/ds here.
>>4602944There is nothing important in the PV or synopsis that wasn't already summarized by the leak though.I don't know what you're expecting but it's best to accept reality by the time you watch it, whatever happens won't change that there's no kiss and Lara leaves in the end without specifics.
>>4602934They really are baiting hard huh. I feel bad for anyone that hasn't been spoiled yet.
>>4602946We already know it's ending ambiguously. It's no different from Sakuragi Ren doing the Aquatope manga, they won't change the events there either.
>>4602946Judging by the ongoing Kaguya manga made by a yurifag, nothing changes, you'll get your teasing with nothing explicit anyway.>ch/u/dsYou have to be over 18 years old to post here
>>4602947By all means, keep dooming about it. I know I won't.
>>4602951I'm sorry.
>>4602952I'm not, so it's all good.
>>4602946>give the LN to a homophobe >backlash >give the manga to a yuri authorHmmmmm. I imagine this was probably decided long before, but it still leaves me cautiously optimistic (emphasis on cautiously). Unlike how it used to be, manga adaptations usually follow pretty closely to the source material nowadays, but there's a chance. Giving the manga to that person specifically feels like a deliberate act. At least we'll get some more cute scenes between the two, I remember the DIY manga being really good, and the girls band cry manga had a few scenes too like showing that Nina and momo share a bed
>>4602946Damage control.
I'm not sure I like the artstyle but we'll seeIs Saburouta a woman btw
>>4602946i don't care for manga adaptations, I also don't like Saburouta's art.
>>4602946It’s not just that this was a completely deliberate decision made by the people in charge of the project or that they picked her out of everyone (which makes sense, since she isn't doing anything important right now); they are clearly and intentionally targeting the yuri audience one way or another. It’s like picking an artist known only for drawing naked people to adapt some shitty series about adolescence.
So everyone is panicking about the leaks because of the implication Lara is separated from Maro for an extended period of time as she leaves to travel the world?
>>4603064Also there's no romantic confession either.
>>4603064Pretty much, besides the obvious shitposters desperate to pretend the true love isn't romantic even though the show already directly addressed it.
>>4603064i mean, we went from>they gonna kiss and be together foreverto>they might see each other againit's a pretty harsh downgrade
>>4603088>What? Yuri Subtext is evolving!>dun dun dun dun dun>ding!>Congratulations! Your Yuri Subtext evolved into Reunion Subtext!>pa-pa-pa, pa-pa-papara-papa!
>>4603092It isn't subtext.
>>4603092shoulda pressed B
I've accepted the anime isn't going to deliver in the finale but I know Lara and Mari have mutual romantic feelings. I wonder if the manga is gonna pick upon that at all or it'll just be some what if scenario.
>>4603199Hopefully it's not a one-to-one adaptation of the show and they actually expand on the slice of life aspects and focus more on Mari and Lara getting closer and maybe a little bit more on Mari's inner thoughts and feelings.
>>4603024>since she isn't doing anything important right nowVery funny...
>>4603064God forbid people want unambiguous romance for once.
>>4603280In a show that was 90% about romance including Lara's two failed het romances. I find it really annoying.
https://x.com/Goodbye_Lara/status/2100155732234793376Who tf would want the Luca lara acrylic diorama
>>4603287Open end also means she doesn't officially break up with Luca, you can bet lots of hetfags will interpret the ending as Mari is her beloved best friend, Luca is her boyfriend.True love or not doesn't really make a difference when it's not defined, Elsa was also Anna's true love in Frozen, but she still got a husband.
>Story about rejecting society's norms and expectations >Director appeals to society's norms and expectations with a copout ending I see
There's an uptick in fan art but discussion kinda died? On twitter at least.
>>4603408I mean it's the middle of the week, discussion for ep11 is mostly done and there's not much to talk about until the finale.
>>4603408There's disappointment in the air. I haven't read the spoilers but I have enough of an idea despite the english speaking side staying vague about it. The fan art you speak of is grace angst.
>>4603578
Mermaids can't fuck they said.
>>4603292>"I'm not making a typical "yuri" anime">Proceeds to do the exact same thing as every single "yuri" anime that cowarded out last second in the last 10 years>Except worse because we have much more openly gay anime coming out more consistently than 10 years ago now so people aren't as willing to settle for this
>Live for love, not for the laws.Is this a dig at how lesbians can't get married in Japan?
>>4603585This just feels weird to think about.
>>4603585>>4603706Yeah, too perverse
Opinions on future lara and mari appearances? I think Lara will cut her hair and Mari keep it the same. Which are both kinda boring but in character.
>>4603842
>>4603798Lara's super long hair seems like an utter pain to take care of so I can see her cutting it. Dunno about Mari, but I don't think she'd grow it out a lot with her boxing and all.
>>4604235Anon...
>>4604235I believe you :)
>>4604235it's amazing that an anon posting here has an uncle who works at kinema citrusand it's even more amazing how easily even he could imagine a more competently written ending than the joke we're getting tomorrow
Remember even if it's not a happy end, that doesn't make it not yuri.
Where is the source of the "Lara leaves Mari forever and "true love meant love of humanity or whatever"" leak?
>>4604824The first part, from a now deleted Chinese source, said that post timeskip Lara wanted to move out of the Otsu household and that the episode ends with her getting on a train, allegedly without much explanation about exactly why or where to. Nothing in the leak said anything about "forever". The second part does not exist at all, that same source had Lara triggering the real benevolent form of her 'light' by having a flashback montage of Mari specifically.
>>4604830Consensus on /a/ is that this is another Jellyfish situation where is no clear romantic resolution.
>>4604832/a/ is retarded, as should be immediately obvious from their general taste in shows. It is already framed romantically and has been since ~episode 4 began teaching Lara what love was actually about via Himeka's explanations of what made her fall in love, or even episode 3's ending. True love has only ever been presented as romantic within the show and notably does not work for platonic relationships even when they are as close as being twin sisters who would die for each other.Friends don't completely lose control of their heart when their friend indirectly says "suki". Mari wouldn't be framed as feeling disingenuous about Lara getting close to Luca if her feelings were actually platonic, because she'd just genuinely be happy for her friend. There isn't a non-romantic explanation for what happens in the show, especially not one strong enough to ignore all the things that say it is romantic.
This is either going to be an instant yuri classic, or it's going to be one of those shows /u/ points to for years down the line and goes "careful, it could be another goodbye lara" whenever people get too optimistic about a yuri original.it all depends on the final episode
>>4604843Well if leaks are true there's no love confession in romantic sense and no kiss so in last momnt director turned true love to also have non-romantic friendship meaning out of nowhere just for Mari x Lara finale.It's just sad if true.
>>4604845>>4604833
>>4604830The second part only came about because certain people on /a/ are obsessed with yuri losing so they twisted the meager leak of Lara getting on a train into "see? she never loved Mari in the first place", completely ignoring the show itself and episode 10 confirming the opposite. Nevermind the official synopsis for episode 12 confirming it yet again.
>director wants to make an anime that "shows, doesn't tell">every sign points to romantic love>director in interview: "actually it's not romantic, its anything but that">viewers feel like absolute clowns
>>4604901>shit that didn't happen
>[SubsPlease] Sayonara Lara - 12 (1080p) [47938DD3].mkv>[Erai-raws] Sayonara Lara - 12 [1080p CR WEB-DL AVC AAC][MultiSub][1B8A4514]subs up
Leaks were "right" but shitposters were just mischaracterizing it. Lara is literally just moving out so she can live on her own and has every intention of coming back to keep her promise and live with Mari.
But what's the purpose of having the final scene Lara leaving Mari at the train platform?
8/10 finale, 8.5 out of 10 show. Would have been better with a kiss, but was still heartfelt and had two explicit confirmations from Lara that she loves Mari and a confirmation that her moving out hasn't changed that they're going to live together in the future. >>4604909See here.>>4602251
>>4604909So Lara can learn to be independent away from this "finding true love" destiny crap.
>>4604904seems to imply past-tense, no? Mari never did say "goodbye lara" at the end either, so it could be temporary. Still a wet fart of an endingalso no kiss wtf. What was all the build up and foreshadowing for
>>4604912It's not actually in past tense, what she says is "sore honto yo" (lit. 'that is true' but in this context 'what was said is true'/'I mean(t) it')
>I want to live with you... btw im leaving to another city byesasuga nippon writers
What was the point of the previous eleven and a half episodes?
>>4604917The development of their love and Lara's growth as a person.
Not as bad or cowardly as the leaks made it out to be no kiss tho, but not as good as I expected it to be prior to the leaks, especially after episode 11. timeskip 6 months later immediately after realizing she's in love with Mari is so ASS. In pretty much every other show I'd be fine without a kiss, but there was so much emphasis on it here that it feels wrong to leave it out. Also maybe im just a midwit, but what did she mean with the speech at the end about no longer needing true love? Shes still romantically in love with Mari right? She also formally broke up with luca.Live for love, not for laws 10/10 first half7/10 middle section with the predictable Luca plot9/10 for episode 10&117/10 for the ending
so lara declared mari her true love and the only reason she wanted to live in the human world, then dated luca for 6 months before dumping 'em and leaving? holy ass timeskip
cant believe i fell for it againOST was good though.
>>4604920Can't get a lesbian kiss but we sure can get this.
>>4604920I don't think lara was still dating him during the timeskip, I think he was just reminiscing about the past. It's not clear
I'm glad I read the leaks in advance. Very limpdicked ending. Forced, out-of-character departure. It's gross how they insist on never showing anything; every development just happens off-screen. Lara and Mari didn't even have a proper conversation.
>>4604919She's talking about it as a concept, It's the same as the "live for love not for laws" thing that Grace set up in her mirror message. Mari was already her true love but she doesn't care about the whole elaborate duty of forcibly trying to "finding her true love", she just wants Mari. >>4604920She didn't even bother speaking with him, that's why she was completely unaware the painting was done. Mask fell off, bud.
Fuck you Koide, I better not see anyone associate him with Ikuhara ever again.
>>4604924>every development just happens off-screenActual midwit take. Every development happened directly on screen.
Saburouta will fix it
this show was THIS close to becoming a classic. I can't recommend it to anyone looking for a yuri recommendation 10 years from now, but I can definitely recommend Kannazuki no Miko or Simoun.
>>4604930I assume at this point that you are just shitposting and I don't know why you are trying this desperately hard to falseflag KnM.
What a horrible ending, I don't even want to care anymore.
>the ominous premier of special footage they announced was just a recap MV set to the openingExpected, but still meh
>>4604927Nope.
>Revstar ending but worse in every way while also being less gayWhat a fucking hack.
>>4604935>fight on screen>call a truce on screen>Mari avoids Lara on screen>Lara defends Mari on screen>Mari softens and takes a shine to Lara on screen>Lara becomes infatuated with Mari on screen>Lara has love explained to her as being things like what Mari does for her on screen>Mari supports Lara on screen>Mari realizes she's more attached and cares about what happens to Lara on screen>Lara realizes she can't give up on Mari on screen>Mari is conflicted about encouraging Lara's pursuit of Luca on screen>Lara realizes that Luca isn't right for her like Mari is on screen>Lara realizes that Mari is her true love on screen>Mari misses Lara on screen>Lara says multiple times that Mari is her true love on screen>Mari faces down death for Lara on screen>Lara summons the light of true love to save Mari on screen>every development just happens off-screenGenuinely. Are you actually low IQ?
Disappointing ending to what had become my favorite show this season. It wasn't nearly as bad as I was led to believe, but i still think it brought the entire production down by a letter grade.Feels like they went out of their way to avoid any payoff a normal romance anime would have, and ended up delivering a "typical yuri" ending
Can't tell which i would have preferred.This ending, or the expected doomed yuri with an actual kiss
I feel like there's an alternate version of that finale that was really good but in practice the script's clumsiness just kinda let it down a bit. Which is pretty much a summary of the whole show, really.Also I assume that "countless times" line was just referring to Lara "doing unexpected things" with her asking him out then immediately breaking up with him being given as one example, rather than suggesting she'd broken up with him multiple times, but I'm curious if the Japanese was more clear and the translation just kinda bungled it a bit?
>>4604940Even without a kiss, Mari being dead would have a greater impact than this.
>>4604941I didn't want to bring this up because it makes everything even more retarded, but it's ambiguous in Japanese too. Luca does sound like he's saying Lara asked him to date and break up countless times during those six months.
Sigh.
>>4604943>One of them should have died instead of them living apart for a while!Not subtle.
>not even a proper confession, let alone kiss I get they want to be different and all, but come on....Need a spin-off or maybe the manga to cover the 6 month gap where all the actually satisfying stuff happened.
>>4604944>>4604941She did it multiple times. They went to the initial dates, then she went with Lisa and said she was never going to see him again, then she came back and they hung out with Mari and Leo a bit and she did the thing on the bridge, then got angry and broke up with him again.
That was fucking *awful*. Laughably bad. And you just know we are going to spend the next few years of having to put with people saying >You just didn't understand it!Ugh.
>>4604949Did you understand it?
>>4604944This wouldn't really make sense, since lara would have no incentive to still think of him as a romantic partner anymore. The only reason she forced herself to date him was because she was on a mission and was trying to force it. I really think he was just referring to the previous "dates", especially since he was acting like they haven't met in a while
The scenes with Lara and Mari were good and emotional enough that I didn't mind no kiss, but the separation does feel a bit forced. What exactly is Lara expecting to accomplish by moving away? Couldn't they have timeskipped to after Mari graduated so that they both could travel together?Overall, I liked the show, but it seemed a bit confused on what it wanted to be. Too many episodes spent solely on Lara with Mari barely around, too many episodes spent on hetbait red herring. Also, no resolution to Mari finding out Grace died.Maybe it should have been 24 episodes, or at least should have used its 12 episodes better.
>>4604951>This wouldn't really make senseEntire ending in a nutshell so I wouldn't put anything past it.
>>4604949Don't worry now people will try finding scraps from others sources materials and (you) that only watched and cared about the anime will have to accept how this new info totally changes the anime.
>>4604950Fuck you. The fabled /u/ anime original will forever be out of reach because of people like you.
>>4604955Not only that, OTHER anime are now required reading to get it.
>>4604956So... no?
>>4604952>What exactly is Lara expecting to accomplish by moving away?
As this boards biggest Goodbye Lara defender, the ending was... underwhelming. Not enough for me to denounce the series as unforgivable, but still incredibly unsatisfying. Maybe it's an ending that will be better recieved in retrospect, but I doubt it.The ambiguousness about how long she'll be gone for doesnt help either. Could be months, could be years. Will they stay in touch frequently? Idk.I get she wants to grow up and be more independant, but its such a lame note to end on. Although I will give credit where credit is due, the director mustve had a lot of restraint to not end on mari giving a title drop
>>4604960She was making her own money. Even if she really wanted to live on her own, why not remain in Shiga?
Why were Lara's eyes constantly hidden in the epilogue?
>>4604960She better have took the can when she moved out too
>>4604962why not continue to experience new things with Mari like she was doing up to now?>no but i need to move somewhere elsebitch just do it on the weekends, it's not like she went that far from the town
The positives: it was yuriThe negatives: typical yuri ending where one of them leaves (albeit temporarily) and the director is too cowardly (or pretentious) to have a kiss
I will be very honest, what did the writer and director expect from the story and the ending? It's not like the "true love" stuff is revolutionary either, we get dime a dozen of these love but i won't label it yuri stuff every year. We already having CPK doing the true love stuff this year and it did that stuff a lot better in 1 single movie and is not boggled down by het romance.
>>4604962There's nothing to suggest she isn't. As discussed earlier in the thread, the train she boards is one of the same two trains they catch to go to work and likely school. It runs all the way through Shiga. It's unclear where her new place is.>>4604963Because she is sad about the distance just like Mari, but also like Mari realizes it's the healthy thing to do (the same reason Mari starts to protest but then doesn't). Which is why the shot that then does show her face is her honest feelings, that she's still struggling with her "legs hurting" (read: human life being tough, it being painful to be away from Mari) but is going to keep moving forward.
>>4604968>The positives: it was yuriWas it though? Lara continued dating Luca but never dated Mari.
>>4604972No, retard. She didn't.
>>4604975>>4604922
>>4604975So denying what was said is how you're gonna cope about it? How long do you plan to do this for?
even outside the "left for another town" bullshit, they straight up forgot about some plot points like the ringthis reeks of last minute change or rushed development
>>4604977>>4604978>>4604948She broke up with him (for the second time) on the bridge in episode 9and then had not spoken to him in six months. Which is why they are only NOW, after the six months talking about how she vanished, and why he is only now, after the six months, telling her the painting that was nearly done six months ago is done.
>>4604975>>4604980You we're wrong first, WATCH THE SHOW and stop coping now.
>>4604972>>4604978You are genuinely stupid.
>>4604982>zero counter argumentThat's what I thought, faggot. Fuck off back to /a/.
>>4604979It's really doesn't, it's just means that it's never had real importance for the author.
>>4604904Does Mari know she's coming back? It reads like Lara hasn't discussed this with Mari, and she has to reassure her.
>>4604989The ONE thing Lara confirms is that she's not expecting to be back anytime soon.
>>4604989Mari probably has abandonment issues given her mother and Grace and the way she reacted to Lara's potential death mid-season. Lara promised to and says she meant it. Mari seems to accept it enough to not press the issue more and then look still pretty happy at the end.
>>4604992Really stretching there.
>>4604996Basing it on actual dialogue rather than having to rely on interpretation like the idea they'll be seeing each other regularly.
>>4604997I wouldn't really call trying to turn "No I'm not gonna fail and come running back instantly" into "I'm not gonna be back anytime soon" basing it on actual dialogue. That's a pretty liberal jump.
"Not a traditional yuri" is already becoming a meme...
>>4605000He really broke new ground here.
>>4604999It's still closer than interpreting anything Lara does during that ending as them still going to see each other regularly. She hasn't even discussed the possibility with the Otsus, they have to tell her she can come back anytime. In fact she comes off as reticent to me, she can't even give a proper reply to Mari asking her why she's leaving.
Lara? Gone Grace? Gon(e)Mother's keepsake necklace? GoneWhat the fuck did Mari do to deserve this kind of ending?
>>4605004>they have to tell her she can come back anytimeThis is literally just standard Japanese behavior you goon. It's impolite to imposition and it's standard to invite people back. >she comes off as reticent to meI agree, but I think it's pretty obvious from her shakiness and what she does and doesn't say that it's because the decision is hard for her too. She just thinks it's necessary since she's been relying so much on Mari and her family.
My entire feed is almost entirely people shitting on the ending. People from all walks of life are crossing the language barrier to come together to call it weak
>>4604952>>4604960Thinking about it some more, I think the implication is that Lara will end up killing Mari if she stays around her. That's why she needed to "find another light", so that her species can live without Mari dying.
>>4605011Lisa said her light is already working to restore the merfolk even if it's weak.
>>4605011Not even a little bit. The light is stabilized and working as it should to restore the mermaids.
>>4605010All im seeing are english speakers. How are the japs and chinks
>>4605016How are you not seeing any Chinese? That and the Spanish are like every other post about it
>>4605017Mask just completely off, huh?
>live for love, not for laws >entire story about not following what society tells you >Ending is lara leaving her (maybe)gf behind to learn more about societyOK? Least you could've done was have a kiss, but I guess social Norms got in the way
oof
>I'm leaving for a place where a new light is waiting for me Genuinely what did lara mean with this???Does she not get any feelings from Mari anymore? She looked like she barely cared when she left, at least hug her goodbye or something. She gave mari the look you give your coworkers when you're leaving work right before vacation
>>4605006more importantly, despite being a boxer, she barely punched anyone, I was expecting her to deflect the fish dagger with a jab
I don't know what anyone was expecting. A kiss and a real confession is too much for an anime original now. They know they can make the most money by pandering to all sides and never taking a definitive stance. That's always how it's been for anything not under the GL label.
>>4605024>pretend guy who has been dumped for 3 episodes and half a year in-universe hasn't been>call other people delusionalAlmost as bad as you fags' Elan copes.
>>4605028I don't think they pandered to anyone here.
>Lucas painting was so bad Lara had to leave town as an excuse not to see it
>>4605006>>4605025Mari lost everything and we're supposed to accept this bullshit. I hope she can get together with her senpai.
>>4605035>Leo sends her a pic>Lara throws her new phone away
if you want to watch a show about a redhead coming to change the life of a slightly sad normal girl with a yuri ending, Flip Flappers is right there
Even with no kiss, I probably would've been fine If it just ended without the timeskip. Wouldnt have been great, but it would've been decent.Although I am glad the entire internet seems to be on the same page about the ending being awful. One of the very few times youre not being gaslit into thinking an ending is a 2deep4u masterpiece by people online
>>4605041I found exactly one person SWEARING on the "greatness" of this ending and I don't mean to bring twitter shit here but this guy just making shit up now.
>>4605044To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Sayonara, Lara...
I don't want to see any more Lara x Mari fan art. Mari was shit on so much the entire show and with nothing but headcanon to show for it. >>4605028I don't see how this is pandering to anyone. I at least was planning on buying merch but am not anymore. Will people who want straight romance like this ending any more? I would have been fine with this series being straight if it had been set up that way. But this ending would have been shit if Luca and Mari switched places in the narrative. And they did the character leaving bit at the end in the worst, most cruel way possible.
Checking out what people are saying after the finale and WHEW, DID I DODGE THAT BULLET! Utena has caused irreparable damage to the yurifag mindset. So many people eating into this shit cuz muh themes when they get baited to the moon and back lmao.
Mari:>I feel lonely, you know!Grace:>*dies*Lara:>*leaves*
>>4605052Mari:*found hanging in her room the next day*
>>4605054she's a strong independent boxer, she doesn't need true love after even dying for another's sake.
>>4605049>baited>by a show that was yuri but ends with temporary separation
>>4605057>temporary(headcanon)
>>4605058>Lara: I meant what I said about living with you>Lara: I'm going to come back and talk to the rest of the family when they are better even if they resent me>headcanonSo did your mother smoke while pregnant or were you just eating paint chips as a toddler?
>>4605057easy on the copium anon
>>4605059>I meant>SO WHY ARE YOU LEAVING>There's no confirmation of anything and Mari clearly will be left to wonder if she's really coming back. I suppose you know Lara better than Mari does.
>>4605057>>4605059Remember when we were discussing all the setup to Lara and Mari kissing a week ago? Now we just have to imagine they might see each other again and that something might happen then. Amazing yuri!
>>4605061>j-just because Lara says explicitly twice that she'll be back doesn't mean she's really coming back!Gee I wonder who typed this.
>reunion subtext
>>4605064kek
>>4605048A shame because the fan art was getting good. Would those people even continue drawing them?
>entire show is subtextIt can be whatever I want it to be!
>>4605066They should draw Mari with the boxing senpai and/or with Grace.
What was this ending? What was the whole point of Lara leaving? Who thought this was a good idea?
It feels like they forgot about the ring until the last minute. At least have lara give it to Mari or something to make up for her mother's knecklace you broke, or to hold onto it until she gets back
It could've just ended with a 10 year time skip and shown their reunion if they wanted to do this shitty separation
Grace is rolling in her grave right now screaming at Lara asking what the fuck she's doing.
Reminder the Lara director was an apprentice of Revue Starlight director and worked on StarlightNow, remember how the Starlight movie ended
>>4605067writer is clearly an amateur, he could have both Mari and Lara be completely silent in the train depart scene, instead of mainly Lara, that would've left us with even more dialogue to make up.
>>4605071The ring was about obligation and duty, Lara fell in love with Mari genuinely because she just did.
>>4605074Revue Starlight is about girls training to be actresses and performing on stage, not about finding true love, finding said true love and then leaving anyway.
>>4605075I cannot believe that this level of ineptitude is simply due to being an amateur. This is I guess that guy's vision, but nobody else seems to know what the fuck the vision is. You could pick a random person off the street and they'd probably write a better ending (in general terms at least, it would need refined).
>>4605077And a lot of the revues that are obviously about the characters and their relationships still hint romance and it still ends up with separation. Like they could've made the plays anything else if it wanted to be purely about "training to be actress"
>Lara tries to kiss everyone >Stops caring about her mission to find true love >No longer cares about kissing, and doesn't try to initiate one with MariAm I overthinking this, or does Lara have no desire to kiss Mari unless she's forced to because of her position as princess
>>4605081She had no desire to kiss anyone. She did it because she thought that was what she was supposed to do and both times triggered nothing but negative feelings.
>>4605081The harsh truth is that there's never an indication of romantic interest by Lara and Mari towards the other. The only romantic interest ever considered in the show is always towards the opposite sex.
>>4605079>This is I guess that guy's vision>visionthis is the guy pleasuring himself in front of the audience
>>4605074With a montage showing that the girls are still friends that talk regularly despite the distance?
>>4605069The name of the series is sayonara Lara
>>4605069>>4604960
>>4605085They also made a reunion MV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTPEIRH7oSYGood luck to Lara getting something like this.
>>4605085If your only criticism of Lara's ending is not showing this shitty montage you're retarded and your criticism is shitHarsh truth is Lara is no different than Revue movie. The director here just copied his senpai's idea>>4605089Changes nothing, revuetard. Lara is a descendant of Revue. If you hate Lara, you should rething your feelings about Starlight
You try saying Revue is yuri and posting about the VN in the yuri games thread and you'll be mocked for good reason. Fuck off
>>4605083>profuse blushing when someone says they like people like you isn't a indication of romantic interest>feeling bad about someone trying to date someone else isn't an indication of romantic interest
>>4605093Go back there, thread police-kun.
Honestly if they just deleted the entire timeskip it would've been a better ending.
>>4605095I'd say that having SOME interest in trying to date said person would be indication of romantic interest, but I suppose it's natural to just avoid coming to that conclusion all through the show.
Mari shouldve fell in love with grace instead
>>4605081Nothing about their bond screams romantic.
Moral of the story is mermaids are horrible soulless creatures who belong in the ocean
>>4605104>>4605095
>>4604960Okay, and what is she planning to do? Buy her own house and set up her own business to prove she's a strong and independent mermaid who don't need no humans?Lara is a dumb fucking fish, Mari should have slapper her to make her come to her senses.
>>4605041>Even with no kiss, I probably would've been fine If it just ended without the timeskipThat's where I stand as well. It's not even the separation that gets me, I can live with that. It's that there's zero explanation for how we get there or for what Lara's thinking. Nothing is even implied. No one around her really knows either. I mean what?
It was pretty good all the way to the climax. Then afterwards it just felt laughably stupid. Good thing the leaks already gave expectations for it.
>>4605106That's not character development. Mari is back at square one. She didn't change. After 11 episodes of going in circles, Lara gets some off-screen development during the 6-month time skip, and does something which feels borderline out of character. This shit should've been happening over the course of the show.
>>4605121meant for>>4604938
>>4605048>Mari was shit on so much the entire show and with nothing but headcanon to show for it.Now I'm reminded of similar complaints with Chisato and Takina.
>>4605128This like ending on Chisato leaving the hospital and Takina not trying to get her back.
>>4605074Yeah but the Revue movie gave each pairing an entire duet song and battle to explain why they had to (temporarily) part ways. Not to mention all of them went on lengthy monologues on their change in mindsets and perspectives. Sayonara Lara just jumped into a 6 month timeskip out of nowhere and had Lara be weirdly cold and silent during the entire exchange. Anyone who claims this ending was good is filling in the blanks with their own headcanons and stretched interpretations of muh themes to make it make sense.
>>4605131And they still separated. Lara director just copied his senpai. Lara ending is shit because Revue is shitYou're only defending Revue because you were told to. Probably herd mindset in shitting on Lara . Went to twitter, learned you have to hate it and thus you hate it. If you weren't sheep you would see both endings as similar and Lara would make you realize how shit Revue ending is
>>4605131>Lara be weirdly cold and silent during the entire exchangeThis made the entire epilogue so much worse for me. Yes I get it, she went through a tough experience, no longer innocent mermaid, more mature now, somber about leaving yada yada, but it's just a really shitty last impressions of the main character.
We're obviously getting a Lara movie anyway, probably will be announced in less than a month.
>show called "goodbye lara">shocked it ending with a separation
>>4605133I have no issue with Revue's movie because it actually earned where it ended up and retroactively fixed the shit parts of the anime series (i.e. Karen and Hikari feeling like a corporate-mandated generic lead + long black haired deuteragonist and the other girls not being as fleshed out). I saw the writing on yhe wall for Sayonara Lara since Episode 8 where they decided for some reason one of the emotional climaxes of the series needed to be two episodes crammed into one. I'm also not a zoomer/gen alpha who needs confirmed kisses/confessions to enjoy a series since just having confirmed yuri isn't an indicator of quality writing as shown by the heaps of boring, badly written, and ugly yuri manga out there.
>>4605138I think autists get too hung up on needing a kiss and a confession because they can't enjoy anything without an authority figure telling them what the rules are.
>>4605140There is very little hope in this ending. It feels 80% bitter and 20% sweet instead of 50/50. You can headcanon yourself all day but what is in the actual anime is not very good and is just depressing. On top of not really giving much payoff to much of anything the rest of the series set up.
My whole problem with this shit ending is that if you want to be hopeful somehow about it it's just feels like a really bad cope.Oh Lara leaves and she will comeback later to fullfil her promise of living together with Mari. Will she really? The whole point of her going away is that she want to be independent, yet, we are to believe that after she estabilish her life somewhere else she will just... abandon it again to go back and live with Mari? I'm not saying she will not go back and visit sometimes, mostly for her family let's be honest, but the whole point of living together feels like nonsense.
>>4605137A bad, forced separation that makes no sense narratively or characterwise.
>>4605138>>4605131Stop replyng to the Revue schizo.
>>4605144Same with Revue. If the point of separating is their carreers, thinking they'll have time to reunite instead of being busy is retarded. This learned from Revue but people refuse to see it
>>4605147They can outsource. And announced movies usually come a year after.
>>4605146Didn't realize there was a thread schizo kek >>4605147
I guess noticing the truth can seem like schizo ramblings to the blind
>>4605142>>4605144The last few minutes feel so out of place that it feels like a bad end or a mid-runtime low point.Lara's face being hidden even as she leaves makes it feel ominous, like she's not being honest and is hiding something.
>>4604956The fabled /u/ anime original already happened in 2017, sorry you weren't here to watch it.
>I don't want to make a typical yuri showCongrats faggot, you didn't made a yuri show.
>>4605040I feel like originals devolved hard since Flip Flappers.
>>4605163He made the most spiteful, mean-spirited "yuri" show possible.
"typical 'yuri'" was always a dig anout he fell about the genre desu. Dunno why people kept running cover for him.
>>4605163Next interview they better ask him where is the kiss. Can't avoid a question if the question isn't subtext.
>>4605176Should ask him what his intention with how Lara acts at the end is.
I think alot of You are being kinda coy about how shit played out in this animu.You had an entire arc of the fish dating a dude and being concerned by the idea of a having a True Love moment with a Prince for the entire show, a very male prince every.single.time while never actually even entertaining the idea that Mary could be her 'Prince'.There was never a catarthic moment, never an actual declaration that didn't come with a downplaying of the actualy NORMAL feelings and an ending that suffers terrible because of it.This is a work from a coward.Shit sucked from ep 6 on and you all know it, this was always going to 'superfriendship with barely there subtext'.
>>4605161Seven Mortal Sins?Frame Arms Girl?Symphogear AXZ?Princess Principal?Yuuki Yuuna Hero chapter?None of the candidates of that year feel like the "fabled /u/ anime original"
>>4605176>implying he will answerThe questions that get answers are carefully selected. Inconvenient questions get ignored
>>4605178Last episode had "live for love, not the laws" after Grace is saying how she sees the light between Lara and Mari. And the episode before that had Mari's face flashing in Lara's mind when asked who her true love was, as well as the fish dagger penetrating Mari as the "true love". It's obvious by the ending that the writer is a coward, but that doesn't mean the setup wasn't clear and obvious.
>>4605179Hina Logi
I'm sad the Mari volunteering to share her soul never happened like some anons speculated about. I really thought it would be a cool way to leverage the original source material.
>>4605166You know what?This weirdly mirrors the new Resident Evil movie, except that i actually enjoyed that.But like this is 'yuri' in name only, the same is true for that movie and its links to Resident Evil.
>>4605182Can't believe I missed it while looking at the list of shows in anichart
>>4605181>live for love, not the lawsYeah, but that rings hollow because it seemed like it didn't had a follow true by the writer, at least by what it was show to us in the last ep.
It's the kinda shit that makes you more mad the more you think about it.
>>4605190Yeah, it makes me likes Witch From Mercury and Kaguya more in hindsight.
>>4605188>>4605190This show was on the verge of greatness, but it feels like it had a writer change at the last second.
One of the most clear 'Who the fuck is this for' animus i ever wasted my time on.
The kinda shit that makes you not want to watch the episode
>>4605057>was yuriPics or it didn't happen.
I remember that I started watching this show after episode 3 aired, on the same day of the World Cup Final. Now I feel as disappointed as I did back then with the final match. What a terrible note to end your main character on.
>>4605163Being non-committal is pretty typical though
>>4605144She's not dead, is she? Just imagine a reunion.
What an absurd trainwreck, even Jellyfish didn't drop the ball so hard, this goes beyond just not delivering on raised expectations, it's plain fucking around for its own sake, or rather for the director's.
>>4605217 A reunion would have no cathartic factor because there's no good reason for them to ever be separated in the first place.
>>4605220Glad you know why that shit Revue epilogue and the credits shit is not good and is still shit
>>4605218>even Jellyfish didn't drop the ball so hard,Arguably, Jellyfish just dropped the ball this hard in episode... 8 was it? And then never picked it up again. More offensive when it happens right at the end tho.
Apparently the Lara wirter wrote the TaiAri live action which also ends with a sudden separation
What a complete baiting letdown this show turned out to be.I didn't want to write anything before watching it myself to see how it was presented.But if I have to be honest this was one of the most insulting antiyuri anime I could ever see created now with such ending this shitty director gave us.He even dares to put in Lara mouth words that she is looking for new "light" now specially seperating herself with Mari and we all know how it sounds, looking for new excitements.It's like what was really the point of putting so much emphasis through the show on romantic true love if in the end Lara just destroys that concept only because to give director an excuse in the ending to not make it yuri related.I don't give a shit if she's gonna return to Mari or she won't, we will never know about it, it's left to the interpretation, I honestly can't understand how stupid writer you have to be to create such ending and shitty baiting first half of this episode to dismiss it later.And of course the director even once to the end didn't want to put any kind of mention that different kind of love means romantic love between two girls like it was some poison ivy.He did everything in his power to only show heterosexual romantic love in this show till the bitter end, even changing female anglerfish to be a boy in human form.So I say fuck you Koibe-san and I will never support your Lara work in any way anymore, and fuck you Citrus author for supporting this non-yuri lie by making manga for it.
>>4605222>Jellyfish just dropped the ball this hard in episode... 8Sure they ignored the seemingly important plot point from then on, but they didn't separate the girls in the end for no fucking reason, they had their fight and reconciliation, so you can at least imagine they're going to pick things up from there; waste of potential sure, but not retroactively ruined at least.And it was still a subplot in Jelly, here it was the whole damn story, and I'm supposed to be intrigued by the fact that they feel more distant in the end than they were since episode 3? After the lengths they went through to finally solve everything that threatened to separate them?It's so unbelievably anticlimactic, if the director hadn't acted so pretentious in interviews since the beginning I'd be seriously thinking they tried to pull some kind of sequel hook, but I'm sure he's just stroking at his ingenuity for not doing what other anime would have.
>>4605227>she is looking for new "light"This and having Luca say they broke up, there's so much going contrary to Lara wanting Mari that's it's feels awful to ship the two like before.
>>4605178Even if 99% of the relationships portrayed in the show werre straight up to episode 11 where the only on-screen non-rejected kiss was, all the buildup to Mari being Lara's true love alongside the confirmation of that left me and apparently tons of other people hopeful they'd deliver on the confirmation of said true love being romantic, maybe even on a kiss since it was set up multiple times with Lara. The shit we ended up getting makes zero sense even when bracing for the most negative ending imaginable given the setup of the first 11 episodes, it's like they decided to be spiteful on purpose.
>>4605195To me it feels like Japan being Japan. Nothing has changed since utena.
>>4605227>Citrus author for supporting this non-yuri lie by making manga for it.Suburota is the type of mangaka that people in /u/ actually think based Teren is.
You know that if there any follow up, writen by this same author, it's going to be about Lara trying to be happy on her new life, finding it difficult and she may or may not try to date someone else again until she then miss Mari and then goes back to follow her heart... only to Mari to have move on from her.
>>4605239That would be based as long as it was revealed Mari is dating a fellow female boxer.
>>4605183I think they are indeed, sharing the same soul, that's why Lara was able to ressuct Mari.
>>4605242ressurect*
>>4605239>You know that if there any follow up, writen by this same authorI don't care even if he says Lara and Mari get married one month later, if you need to read a damn tweet to salvage an anime then it's irredeemable garbage, do it in the actual show or shut the fuck up and take your well-earned shitstorm.
You know what is the saddest thing?That Lara needed timeskip to become a complete cold bitch whose dream is not to be with Mari anymore, and also she dated Luca and played with him to end that just now, so add that to the yuri insult list.Everyone lost.
>>4605245Even tourism lost, guess Lake Biwa is only good enough to hang around for a year before moving on to bigger and better place.
>>4605248Only if you don't drag down unrelated shows into this. Lara fumbled, other shows didn't
>>4605248You were trolling back then, and you are still trolling now, so no. Your concerns were never in good faith.
>>4605239Learn English.
I like to imagine grace watching the situation, pissed, after talking about how much she wanted to watch over Laras love
>>4605227I wouldn't call it antiyuri just because it had a shitty ending. If anything, it's anti itself, because it subverts its own themes and buildup for nothing.>fuck you Citrus author for supporting this non-yuri lie by making manga for it.Implying Saburouta deserved any respect to begin with. If anything we should be glad she's putting her art skills something that's not Citrus.
>>4600641Cute
>>4605268I've got nothing to say about that.
>Ending received so much backlash it will get removed from BD release with new scenes being added to fill the runtimeCope?
>>4605271The only real 'I CONCEDE' move would be a movie ala Adolesence of Utena and i'm not even would care to watch after this ending.
>>4605271Nobody that makes an ending like this in the first place should be trusted to do anything. Reversing your decision just because people dislike it isn't any better. But given that the writer seems averse to any kind of commitment he may see the backlash as a sign of having committed to something. But given how tasteless the Japanese often are I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't that much of a backlash there.
I actually went to the trouble of avoiding spoilers all week for this dogshit. God I hate Japan.
>>4605277I'm glad I didn't and yet it was even worse than how the leaks described it.
>>4605277Told ya.
>>4605190>>4605195The ending is awful because it undermines its basic premise, which was to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. Grace killed her prince, Lara got killed by hers. The whole point of the story was Lara finally a new love AND keeping it without having to sacrifice it like mermaid laws demanded it.She refused to kill Mari, but she still had to part ways with her, which is no different, she renounced to her true love anyway for no reason.
>>4605227>didn't want to put any kind of mention that different kind of love means romantic love between two girls like it was some poison ivy.Yeah, that's what annoys me too.
>>4605278Remember anons saying the leaks must've been putting together a worse picture than the real thing would turn out to be? I remember.
>>4605287The leaks didn't even say anything about Lucalaras dating history. The leaks were putting better picture
>>4605289The leak DID mention that something just felt off about the timeskip outside of the random separation, I think they just didn't have the guts to mention it was that.
>>4605289Because they weren't dating.
>>4605289It actually did and everybody thought he was trolling.
>>4605289They didn't date. Stop being retarded.
>>4605184>except that i actually enjoyed that.
>They didn't date. The author had Luca say they broke up because... What's up with this cop-out that goes contrary to what was shown in the anime? You can talk about how Lara didn't take it seriously and got fed up with it quickly, but it's useless to say, "It didn't happen."
>>4605367I mean as a non-related feel bad Survival Horror flick, it worked.As a RE movie is was legit worse than RE 2002 and RE 2004
>>4605368They are already feeling the heat.
>>4605237The rapist?
>>4604833man this aged like milk in a car in the sun on /a/ sweltering hot day
>>4605373As retarded as the ending was, Mari is the person Lara loves. How many yuri girls you can say have revived their love interest?
Now I've watched it, what the ending intended is something like Canaan ending, instead of Utena or Revue Starlight.The episode emphasizes multiple time how mermaids hate human/humanity and this hatred will not disappear even after they wake up.So implicitly Lara knows that if her love for Mari actually reciprocated, it will restore the mermaid kingdom but it will then lead to the mermaid invading people of Shiga and endanger (even kill) Mari.So the idea of the ending is Lara has to sacrifice her love for Mari, and be separated from her, in order to protect Mari. It doesn't deny Lara loves Mari, but it does end with Lara unable to be with Mari. Which is what Canaan ending is.And just like Canaan, I think this idea is shit.The answer to a story about conflict should be conversation/bonding not separation/segragation.Grace realization in episode 11 that human and mermaid can have a True Love is because she observe Lara and Mari actually has conversation and bond together. That should've been what episode 12 is.Honestly, I think they create the ending first (specifically from 14:00 onward) and then create the rest of the story to reach that ending. But they then overshoot themselves (especially with episode 10 and 11) and clumsily tries to go back to the ending they first created. Because in no way the pay off for episode 10-11 is "Mermaid and Human has to be separated from each other".On the other hand, it is salvagable, they just have to change the final 10 minutes or so (my idea is to make Lara and Mari kiss, which will revived mermaid kingdom but makes the recovery slow so they can't invade human even though they hate them, and add montage of human and mermaid meet and bridge their differences + heal their enmity), which maybe what the manga is aiming for especially because I am pretty sure most people don't like this ending so there will be pressure for the adaptation to do different ending.
>>4605374I can count all the yuri girls that randomly abandoned their loved one while giving no actual reason.here:
>>4605375>invade ShingaTheir special princess got no diffed by guys with spears, you think they're going to do anything with Camp Otsu there??
>>4605376She'll be back.
>>4605172You think more people on /u/ would actually realize sometimes yuri is used as as a term thats interchangeable for strong females relationships not necessarily romantic. Girls love or shoujo ai is the one thats explicitly for lesbian centric narratives people just get the two mixed cause yuri is used for the porn term.
>>4605381There's some slight truth to yuri referring to heavily emotional relationships between women instead of romantic but the director of this knew exactly what he was doing when he used that term.
>>4605375I could swallow this in Canaan pretty easily because it was 2008 and the best yuri around came from Touhou doujins. We're well past that point.
>>4605375It's 2026. We've had enough of shitty non committal or bittersweet stuff. In fact it's exactly why Kaguya hit big, because it's a "surpasses all else" to reach happy ending.
Rewatching the ending, it feels even stranger on a second view. We're told Lara has gained this love for the human world, and for Mari... but both feel entirely absent in those last few minutes. The Lara we see feels detached, like a different character entirely.
>>4605368They broke up in episode 9.
>>4605372No, therapist.
>>4605373All that post says is correct.
>>4605391What I'm asking is which utena. The rapist or the raped?
>>4605389Supposedly becoming human drained all the joy from her, but that's still a retarded direction to take your main character in the last few minutes of the show (and with no foreshadowing to boot).
Well, at least it was deep and eva-esque
>>4605395If by Eva you mean the Rebuilds.
>I don't need true love!>All I want...>All I'll EVER want...is to be in a world with YOU! Open to interpretation my ass
Honestly, my biggest take away from the ending is somebody needs to spell it out for this dumb fish that she love Mari
>>4605397In this case the problem wasn't the interpretation but rather how it was handled.
>>4605381Newer yurifags should learn from their elders and be less militant about it.
>title called sayonara Lara>She doesn't die just abandons her friend foreverLmao yuri of the year lol
>>4605397And then she leaves and, as far as we know, may never return or may go on to date other people lmao
>>4605401I get what it was going for, and I didn't hate it, but fuck me they pulled a reason for Lara to not stay and fully admit her feelings for Mari out of nowhere. This episode should've been longer or at the very least go one more episode.
>>4605381>shoujo aiget the hell outta here.
>>4605404Utena was a million years ago, old woman, I don't have to accept wishy-washy bait shit that doesn't want to commit beacuse "two girls exchanging a look is yuri in my heart"
>>4605406Lara could go on dozens of different dates, and wouldn't feel that "light" she does with Mari
>>4605410What does this matter when she want to find a new light?
Do all the drama CD things take place before or after the ending?
How do the writers and producers see the completely negative response to the end and still double down on not committing to the yuri.
>>4605411The point is she won't find it. Which was the whole point with Luca, that he wasn't her "light" no matter how hard she tried pretend he was or how well they got along. Now we're just taking that stretching it beyond its natural conclusion. Basically we have to off-screen Lara's realization of her own feelings as she goes on various more misadventuresUnless we get a season 2
>>4605405>>4605406>outright says she'll be back to Lisa>says she meant what she said about living together with Mari in the future>noooo she's gonna never return and be gone foreverNot sure if trolling or just genuinely braindead.
>>4605412IF scenarios.
>>4605416Why does she leave, then?
>>4605427To learn how to live by herself.
>>4605413If anything it's more puzzling why they keep trying to dabble in it without delivering while also expecting to go down well.
>>4605427>>4604960
>says the goal is to make something that isn't the typical yuri>makes the most stereotypical possible 'they're obviously in love but only in the subtext and the ending is them separating for reasons'What did he mean by this?
>>4605434>explicitly says multiple times that Mari is the person she loves>subtextWhy do zoomers not understand what subtext is? The hot chocolate can and flower are subtext. Himeka's earrings are subtext. Their relationship stopped being subtextual in episode 3 when Mari openly summoned the physical manifestation of Lara's heart.
laramari lacked the "it factor" that makes me get emotionally attached to a ship so I'm not as devastated as i could have been by this shit ending but still what a shitty underwhelming ending
Would it have been a better ending at all if they said an actual heartfelt goodbye like the fucking title?
First half:>"I can't pierce the one I love" (while thinking of Mari)>Kota compares his love for Lisa with Lara's love for Mari>"I still want to be in this world. because this world has you.">"I don't need true love. All I'll ever want is to be in a world with you" then the authentic true love light finally activates and fixes everythingSecond half:>"All this time I think I was just searching for this...a world where I wanted to be. That's all I wanted">"The light you found is different from the past princesses">"I'll talk to father and everyone about the future of merfolk and humans. Because I'm certain that's the 'light' I found.">"Where are you off to next?" "I guess...where a new light is waiting for me.">"These scars are who I am...I'll keep walking using these legs of mine."I can almost see how they want to use Mari as the stepping stone for Lara to realize her love for a place in humanity, but it all feels so disjointed and abrupt. They baited with the yuri way too hard for this non-yuri message as its conclusion.
>>4605430>>4605433Ok now explain to me why she needs to actually fucking leave and not, idk, get a job locally.
>>4605451The only place that hired her locally was a bakery.
Episode legitimately wouldve been improved if they cut out the entirety of the timeskip and played a video of the plushies making out for 5 minutes instead
>Lara leaves Mari behind>She travels Japan with her sister's finances>being a tourist, doing nothing in particular, having a good time>sends Mari messages once in a while>Mari is happy for her, but she feels abandoned>mom gone, Gon-chan gone, Lara gone, everyone seems to leave her>tries to drown her sorrows in boxing, training and sparring all day>her trainer tells her that this is wrong, but she convinces him that she found resolve in Lara's absence>...>one day, Lara receives a message>Mari is in the hospital>during a match, she fell and hit her head badly>Lara rushes back>finds Mari in the hospital bed, unresponsive>Mari's family welcomes Lara, but they don't seem too pleased>they try to hide it, but they quietly blame her>Lara goes to Luca>Luca moved on and found himself a girlfriend; they've been happy together for a couple of years now>he didn't even talk to Mari since Lara left, they didn't have much in common>completely lost now, Lara goes to Lisa>Lisa didn't talk to Mari either; it's not like she even liked Mari all that much>Lisa asks Lara if she found what she was looking for>Lara realizes that she didn't even know what she was looking for>but she's all too aware of what she left behind>now, she just stays at Mari's hospital bed all day>it was Mari's turn to leave Lara>and it was Lara's turn to spend the nights sobbing into her pillow
>>4605472>>Lara rushes backYou lost me
>>4605472Kek
Still insane to me how they just skipped half a year ahead, and explain nothing of what happened or the aftermath. Have to use your imagination to fill in what was possibly the most important time in their relationship so they can hurry up and show us lara leaving her in the most uncaring way possible. Is it too much to ask for at least a peck on the cheek and a "wait for me" If you're going to pull that type of ending? Without any context of what went down during the 6 month skip, Lara just comes off as selfish after putting Mari through all that and breaking her mother's momento, just to start talking about "finding a new light" and nonchalantly leaving. Lara chose NOW to be devoid of emotions after crying the entire show. I don't care if it's to show her "growing up" or whatnot, it's lame as hell.
>>4605451>get a job locallyFor all that we know, she continues to work at her current job.This seems to be a common misunderstanding. People, I think because they are used to the US and EU, think that she got on a train so she must be moving 400 miles away to the opposite side of a continent. Nips ride the train to work and school everyday. She catches the local JR Kobe line from Seta. There are three other stops ON THE SHORE OF LAKE BIWA on that line, and the very, very end of that line, the absolute worst case scenario even if she were riding it that far, is two hours away. Given that she has a job already, at the bakery, and would need that steady employment to find an apartment, she's probably only a couple stops train stops away.
>>4605472>copy pasting greentexts from /a/
>>4605472I actually love this>Lara got all these friends, but none of them became Mari's friends>Mari gets hurt because boxing is all she has>the story comes full circleLara is a selfish person, at the end of the day. Human relationships are not a game you can just put on pause and then continue later at your convenience. Lara needs to realize that, as Mari did everything for her, she should do just as much for Mari, if she wants their love to persist.
>>4605521>Lara needs to realize that, as Mari did everything for her, she should do just as much for Mari, if she wants their love to persist.Woah, you mean like maybe becoming a functional human being who can support herself and meet Mari on equal terms instead of living on Mari's couch forever?
>>4605510The vaguely of what happened during that timeskip, followed by Lara leaving makes it seem like Lara lost interest. I don't think that's what they were going for, but the unfortunate timing of things makes it come off that way. Especially with Laras ominous lines and how she barely even looked at Mari during the entire ending sequence, instead looking at her phone or off in the distance and how they kept obscuring her facial features. Just leaves off with a horrible feeling instead of the bittersweet ending they were probably trying for.
>>4605521>I actually love thisWell, you posted it, so...
>>4605522That's not why she leaves. She leaves to go on a journey of self-discovery, leaving Mari alone when Mari is at her most vulnerable. If her goal was to be sufficient for Mari's sake, she could've rented a place in the same city and kept working.
>>4605526No, that was me.
Not even trying to hide how obvious the Utena inspiration is, and still somehow managed to miss the entire point of the scenes their paying homage to
What's the significance of leaving on Mari's birthday, other than to make her feel worse?
>>4605518All headcanon.
Mari had a better relationship with Grace.
>>4605530To make her feel worse. Mari's pain and misery sustain Lara. That bitch was not allowed to die because she needs to suffer more.
>>4605531So is anything you say instead about he moving away forever, dumdum.
>>4605539Which leaves both sides all headcanon. What an amazing ending to a story!
>>4605530Saw someone mention this is false. Mari goes to Okishima and the finale happens in October. 6 months later is April. Her birthday is March.
>>4605518>she's probably only a couple stops train stops away.Sure, logically that makes sense, but the epilogue is framed as if she'll go far away, or leave for a very long time. Art is made to invoke emotions and the emotion the epilogue invokes is that Lara is fucking gone
>>4605531No? The train literally says exactly what it is when its doors open, you retard. It's the local train to kobe/kokogawa. The station says that it is Seta station. I am just explaining to you what was literally shown and said in the show.
And why can’t she transfer trains later and go even farther? Nothing saying either way.
>>4605553I mean, there's really nothing indicating that she'll stop where the train stops, she could get another train, a boat, a plane, a bus, etc...; those aren't the faces nor dialogue of two buddies who'll catch up with each other at the bar next week.But the important point isn't even the physical distance, it's that she and Mari are definitely not at 'couple' closeness at the end, not even at 'best friends' closeness, they feel more distant now than they've been for most of the series, and for apparently nothing but fickle reasons since everything serious was resolved, that's what gets to people.I've been thinking if there's a possible interpretation that Lara is forcing herself to leave Mari to avoid something bad happening to her, and that's why she kept her at arm's length, became apathetic and maybe tried to date Luca still, she just wavered a little when Mari asks her why she's leaving but she doesn't even answer, maybe she felt that she had to keep her word and actually renounce her true love, but it feels like I'm reaching...The ending is probably just as badly written as it looks.>>4605555Trying a bit too hard there, anon.
>>4605558>having actual agency and being a functional person>fickle reason
>>4605542It's not exactly six months later. The calendar in Mari's room shows it's the 28th and Mari's birthday is March 28th. It could be April 28th but it's more likely March because that's going to be a Sunday so it makes more sense for Lara to be leaving on that day and for Mari to be free in the morning and having her part-time bakery job later as opposed to April 28th which is Wednesday.Someone was incredibly callous to Mari.
>>4605560guess being a bitch is part of being a functional person too
>>4605556Because if she were were doing a transfer or catching another train to farther away, they would have gone to the other station similarly close to Mari's house, which has express trains to transfer locations, and she would have caught one of those instead of a local train on the line which stops every 3 minutes at tiny stations with no other trains.
>>4605563>incel projection shit
Look forward to the remaining four seasons winter date between Lara and Mari! :^)
>>4605438Same.The creators were so fucking afraid of expository dialogue that they forgone all dialogue and communication altogether. Everything feels anemic. Fucking pretentious asses. That's not what "show dont tell" means.
Fuck it. I'm shipping Himeka and Mari now. Because why the hell not at this point.Both heartbroken, they break each other's wounds. They even go to the same school and could have a cute dynamic, Himeka gets her saying prince and Mari gets a supportive and cheerful girlfriend.
>imagine getting yuribaited in the year of our lord 2026 (soon to be 2027)
>>4605578Himeka literally got a boyfriend.
>>4605581She can still be saved.
I haven't even watched this show because I can never keep up with airing stiff anymore but I always thought it looked nice from a distance, so reading all this has been a real downer. Next time for sure.
>>4605584Honestly you could watch it, stop when the finale cuts to six months later, and it'd be great. It's just the epilogue that's baffling.
>>4605587That's probably what I'll end up doing, all the animation I've seen from it so far seems gorgeous.
>>4605590Visually, it's an absolute feast. It's gorgeous, well-animated, the music is great, the voice acting is great, the direction is great. I don't think there's anything bad to say about the presentation, it's fantastic.Story-wise, if you can stomach stopping an episode a bit early and being left a bit hanging because you'd be stopping right when the climax ends, then yes, do that and then headcanon the rest to your heart's content.Like seriously, it feels like the final 5-6 minutes were written by an entirely different team, it's that incomprehensible.
>>4605591>>4605587I wish you dummies wouldn't be this overly dramatic. You can just watch the whole thing and then, instead of making up dumb fanfiction about how they're totally gonna be apart forever, take it at actual face value based on what Lara literally says in the show: that she'll be back and intends to keep her promise with Mari .
>>4605593I think it's less about that and more about the fact that even outside of the actual content of the show itself the story its based on was literally written by a gay guy who was basically writing a story about being gay but couldn't actually just come out and say that because of the time period he lived in. So all the pieces were falling into place perfectly, we live in a time period where you COULD openly depict a story like this, and then...wet fart, same themes you've seen in every other show ever.
>>4605414>offscreen the most important character momentThat's just awful writing.
>>4605416>>4605593>>4605518If she's gonna be back, then why not show that? What's the narrative value of ending the story when the characters are at their lowest point?
>>4605602Right, what actually happens shouldn't be so dramatic or depressing, but it's presented as if it's a permanent farewell. It's not and yet it was directed like one, and I don't understand why.
>>4605593It's not just the separation but how it is depicted. They're not gonna be apart forever, but the final scene sure made it look that way. Lara is depicted as suddenly distant and dismissive of Mari, she now has drab colours to indicate her humanity, and her face is conspicuously hidden all the way.It's just not a good way to end a show, it's a major whiplash from everything that came before.
>>4605548>but the epilogue is framed as if she'll go far away, or leave for a very long timeThis is what was jarring. Nothing in the way that ending was constructed made me feel like these characters were really ever going to see each other again. Sure, Lara implied she'd be back at some indeterminate point, but even if her new home was only a train ride away, emotionally she may as well have been 1000 miles away.
>>4604960>>4605433>>4605088A line that she said while she was in a heightened emotional state is not a good enough reason. Nothing about Lara's characterization in the story makes her out to be the type of person who would truly want to move away and become independent. That was never established apart from this scene where she is just throwing a tantrum.
>>4605602>when the characters are at their lowest point?>I wish you dummies wouldn't be this overly dramatic.Mari's lowest point was her fucking mom dying when she was a kid. Her lowest point in the show was her depression when Lara was actually missing. She is mildly lonely at the end. Lara's lowest point was her original human attempt and her next lowest point was attempting suicide, not being a bit shaky and scared but trying to find her footing.The narrative value of ending the story where it ends is actually explained in pre-show interviews, and was the context for Koide's original "not typical yuri" comment, but not in the way people stupidly think ("omg because it's not yuri!!"). He explained that he's cynical and that what he was going for was not the standard coming of age story where the end is "wow the future is so bright and clean and happily ever after" but instead a, as he put it, more grounded story where they would go "things are tough but we will live toughly."The value is that it's a largely happy ending where the two characters are happy and things ARE going to work out, but also not everything is solved or just magically perfect. They have issues that need to be worked out and Lara has spent most of the show being able to sidestep her own lack of agency and self-sufficiency, and that is part of why Mari is Mari and why Koide talked about her being the sort of character necessary for Lara, because she needed someone to show her that ability to move forward and not collapse under bad feelings. So they part briefly knowing they'll come back together and be better for the experience and so do not need to express those bitter feelings more directly. This,
>>4605605The tone of the whole timeskip is just so fucking weird. She's going at most an hour or so away, yet she cries when saying goodbye to Luca like she's never going to see him again, doesn't reply when the Otsu family tells her to come visit, her eyes are hidden the entire time, and the farewell between her and Mari is done like she's moving away forever.If they wanted this to be a celebration of her finally walking on her own two feet after breaking free of society's expectations, why have the whole thing be so serious and somber? It's just so weird.
>>4605605>>4605609This, by the way, is what> and her face is conspicuously hidden all the way.this is. Lara hides her face because she is putting on a brave face, exactly like how Mari's face was hidden when she was putting on a brave face re: Lara's true love obsession earlier in the show. I get that your guys' immediate reaction to this is "well they should have just talked about everything and then stayed together" but talking about how they both really didn't want things to change and didn't want to live apart was just going to make that necessary step harder and no one is going to benefit from Lara indulging and being a glorified trophy girlfriend/ pet fish replacement. So Mari doesn't force the "why are you leaving" and Lara hides that she isn't quite as sure and okay as she seems, and it is a bittersweet thing but with the security of YES, she's going to come back and YES she does remember her promise and meant what she said about living together with Mari.
>>4605607>Nothing about Lara's characterization in the story makes her out to be the type of person who would truly want to move away and become independentShe starts the series as a baby who is bored in the palace and security of being taken care of and wants to go out and explore. It's the first thing she immediately shows interest in, and her interest at 3 years old is what instantly clues Grace in to the fact that Lara is like her and won't be content to just sit there like the other princesses, waiting.
>>4605609>>4605611not the person you quoted, but you’re giving the director too much credit. It ended like this because they can’t show explicit yuri. I get that they included tons of subtle hints, but without a proper conclusion, what’s the point? Now what? Are we going to read another director interview that interprets Lara new “true love” as anything but yuri? Do we need to consume secondary media like the LN, Drama CD, or manga just to flesh out the story or the epilogue?
>>4605472Might as well repost the rest>days pass and turn into weeks, Lara is still at Mari's side>Lara spent so much time holding Mari's hand that she became keenly familiar with all the calluses on her palm>Lara didn't want this>she didn't want to hurt Mari>she just wanted to see the world beyond her bubble>she comes to realize that she left Mari just like she left her family>always chasing something just out of reach>now, her family is sleeping at the bottom of the ocean, with hatred in their hearts>and the one who makes her heart ache so is sleeping in front of Lara, with loneliness in hers>Lara knows she's not the only one to blame>but that doesn't mean there's no blame on her>she squeezes Mari's hand tight, hoping for a fairytale miracle>like when Lara's love brought Mari back to her before>but she's only human now, there's no magic left in her>and no matter how far she goes, she will not find it>it's time for Lara to grow up>gently caressing Mari's sleeping face, she vows to never leave again>Lara will be there, always>she gives Mari a gentle kiss on the forehead>she knows Mari will be back>and Lara will be there to welcome her home
>>4605623>It ended like this because they can’t show explicit yuri.This is way too charitable. They didn't write 11.5 episodes and suddenly realize "Oh no, there's no way the Kadokawa and the Shiga board of tourism are going to fund our yuri anime, better fix this by fucking up 5 years of dedicated work from our small studio."
>>4605615I don't see why that means she has to move away from a stable home with people who love her. She wanted to know humans and she did, she has nothing to gain from meeting more humans unless she wants to become a world traveler or something. That comes out more like some weird wanderlust than a desire to be independent. This aspect of hers also went largely unmentioned through the bulk of the story because her only obsession was muh prince.
>>4605609I'd say that their lowest point was when Mari fucking died, but in any case they are not in a good place in the epilogue. Mari lost her Gon-chan, she lost her mother's memento, and now Lara is going away too. She's clearly feeling like shit, so Lara moving away just seem callous. If the point is for Lara to become independent, it's still a dumb note to end the story on after how positive the final otherwise was.>>4605611>it is a bittersweet thing but with the security of YES, she's going to come back and YES she does remember her promise and meant what she said about living together with Mari.Again, the problem is that while this is what being stated, it doesn't match what's being shown. There's something called the Tethercat Effect, which is why you last see a character doing something and you get stuck with the feeling that they will continue doing it until you see otherwise. That's what's happening here, even though we are told that they will reunite, if the last thing we see of them is being separated, that's the impression that will stick with us. Lara's words and actions don't even feel like she's sure about coming back.
>>4605629Right, for me this is where the ending really doesn't work. Compare it with other separation endings, like Utena or Kannazuki minus the movie and epilogue. We have even less reason to believe those couples will be together again, but the audience is still able to accept that they will be someday. Here, I'm left with the feeling that Lara is just as likely to never contact Mari again as she is to send a text. Even the line about wanting to live together felt more "yes I did" than "yes we will".
>>4605625As much as it feels like a cop out, until the homophobic fossil executives die out this is true. For example the G-Witch staff talked about how they were frustrated they couldn't do more. Or when the magazine that published Konohana Kitan died the author went to look for a new publisher and a lot of them required the author to add a male MC and make it a harem to get it published.
Im gonna kill myself
>>4605635>GwitchIt's very disingenuous to compare a multigenerational franchise that sells 10s of billions of yen in plastic model kits that still managed to sneak marriage in to a 12 episode original from a significantly lower profile studio. Again, this is an original work that they themselves chose to write in the way they did. There are much better ways to write subtext.
>>4605635I liked everything about Lara but I just wish they didn't yuribait, it would've been a fine series on its own.Comparing it to Gwitch is just not acceptable because at the very least Gwitch made it clear even before the ending that the directors wanted them to be a coupleI'm not even sure if the staff of this wanted Laramari to be a thing.
>>4605638The ending just felt so fucking mean towards Mari. The character that pulled her weight the most was the one that lost the most. Fuuuuuuck this.
>>4605623>without a proper conclusion>Now what?There was a proper conclusion. Lara set out to re-ignite the light and save her people, and she did.If, for the sake of argument, the last scene had instead been Lara putting on her uniform to go to work, and Mari kissing Lara goodbye and saying "bring baumkuchen home with you", an objectively more favorable ending from purely the perspective of "amount of yuri" and being happy. Would you know "now what?" any more? Would you have any more idea what they'd be doing in 10 or 20 years? The ending in both cases is that now they keep living their lives and going through stuff. In the actual ending that includes Lara trying living on her own and then coming back home, in the hypothetical it includes Lara going to work and coming home.I'm NOT arguing those two things are the same, but short of an epilogue on their deathbed where they explain everything they went through in life, you are just describing the nature of ordinary narratives ending, especially any sort of coming of age narrative, where the youth just deal with the problem at hand. Do they go into immense debt as adults? Do they accomplish their stated dreams? Does Homura die fighting wraiths? "Now what?" The answer is "probably things mostly stay the same and fine", which is what >>4605629 is talking about only this is isn't really a tethercat situation, because the whole point of tethercat is that lacking any indication it will stop, you could illogically assume it continues forever. But we have indications so this situation is "probably things mostly stay the same and fine, and Lara comes back and she and Mari eventually move in together, Lara has a hard talk with her family who are not happy about things but also got their lives saved. Mari will attempt to win a belt and Lara will bake her a cake."
>>4605650This is kind of a disingenuous argument because there's only so much they could fit into an episode and at the end of the day what we see is what they decided the most important things were to prioritize for the story they were trying to tell. Especially in animation, where every frame, every tiny little insignificant detail is intentional. Obviously people are going to draw conclusions from that. I'm not arguing it's not yuri, because the show inarguably goes beyond subtext, but the ending could have been that much more impactful for it.
>>4605650The point where a story ends is important. Obviously characters' live go on indefinitely, but it's their last scene what will remain engraved in the audience's minds. If Lara will eventually come back, then what is the point of the last scene being her leaving? That makes it seem like the departure is the important part and not the reunion, because when a story ends the assumption is that no more noteworthy events will happen. It makes the eventual reunion feel unimportant and places all the weight on the separation. Showing is also more important than telling (which is really ironic to say about this show). They tell us that Lara will come back, but we don't see any indication of such. The whole epilogue is framed as a goodbye with uncertain probabilities of reunion.This is what I meant by this being a low point for the characters. The story leaves you with a bad aftertaste because the hope for the future is stated but never shown.
>>4605668>we don't see any indication of such>goodbye with uncertain probabilities of reunion.Where are you getting this though? There is literally NOTHING in the episode to suggest "uncertain probabilities". You are genuinely just inventing this idea, while also insisting that Lara must just be lying to both Mari and her sister, and there is zero reason to have this perspective.
>>4605650There shouldn't have been a time skip at all. You know how the show should have ended? Instead of them floating aimlessly in the water talking about how Mari came back to life, just have Lara kiss Mari and the light revive all the mermaids and mermen and they realize the love Lara had for humans was valid (saying they'll come back in the timeskip with the hatred still going on almost makes the whole climax pointless). That's it, roll credits. With Mari dad and grandma hugging both of the girls as the song plays, slight hints of the yaoi duo as well finishing the show with a smug grin from the little bro.How could someone fuck up an ending so obvious? Everything was leading to this.
>>4605687The brain bug that compels writers to give dogshit endings to anime originals still activated even though it did so much later than usual.
The real issue everyone has with this ending is the perspective. Yes, Lara's journey demands that she be more independent, which is what she does throughout the story. From that point of view, her leaving is not a major surprise; she wants to experience the world, etc. But this narrative completely leaves out Mari. Mari's the opposite - she was as free as you can be, because she has nothing other than her immediate family. No friends, no lovers, no hobbies besides boxing, no major ambitions. And that left her empty and lonely. But Lara gave Mari purpose. Mari was trying to be the strongest for Lara. She did so much for Lara, and even ended up dying for her. But then, her tragedy is ignored. Lara leaves, despite not having much of a reason, and doesn't even reassure the girl that she will come back. From Mari's perspective, this is not a happy ending. It's just someone close to her leaving her again. Is "her everything" not good enough? Is it her fate to always be a side character in someone else's story?The problem here is not Lara, it's Mari.
>>4605703So I'm not crazy. I've watched only like half of the show but after reading all the spoilers I felt that Mari became a tool for Lara's development. Maybe what I'll write will be controversial but I never felt like that even with Milkit THE trophy wife in yuri media.
Yuri mangaka Takano Saku criticized the ending. You know its bad when when the japs stop pulling puncheshttps://x.com/takano_wf/status/2102078697973141602>I hadn't intended to comment on the finale of *Sayonara Lala*, but it’s been nagging at me, so I’ll say just one thing.>The director claimed, "I intended for it to be very simple"—specifically, a story about a girl named Lala growing up, culminating in her independence. But if that was the goal, framing the premise around "searching for true love" feels like a massive case of misleading the audience.>You can't set the stage with a "search for true love" and then suddenly swerve into a story about "independence"—especially not right at the very end, in Episode 12.>If Lala had consciously explored "how she wanted to live" along the way, I could have accepted it and thought, "Oh, I see—so that's the kind of story this is." Instead, she spent the whole time obsessing over "finding true love" and "running out of time," so it never felt like a story about independence at all.>To suddenly declare "I'm becoming independent" in Episode 12 was a huge letdown. If they had just depicted the psychological process or the steps leading to that realization, I could have been convinced.>Personally, I could foresee—and accept—an ending where she breaks free from the "True Love = The Law" dynamic. But because they forced that shift in so abruptly in the final episode, I’m left feeling unconvinced and unsatisfied.>I didn't need this to be a *yuri* series or end with a romance between girls; I would have been happy with any ending that felt earned. But simply tossing aside the theme of "love" in favor of "independence"—effectively saying "so, there was no romance after all"—just left me thinking, "What on earth?">If it was always meant to be a story about independence, why mislead us with the romance angle in the first place? I really wish they had shown us the journey to that conclusion.
>>4605677It's not about the character lying, but about the show itself and the way the scene is framed making it come off as insincere.
>>4605732>If they had just depicted the psychological process or the steps leading to that realization, I could have been convinced.Man am I glad to see someone over there think the same as I do. A five minutes epilogue just wasn't the right way to go about this ending, it needed more time to bring the audience to the same headspace as Lara's.
>>4605732I mean they don't even explicitly acknowledge that she loved Mari outside of symbolism and the "who do you love?" moments. Like why do we have so much shit with Luca dates and not even one just straight forward "I love Mari" or "I love you Lara"I think ending it with rejecting "true love" would've been fine if they at least explored her....true fucking love.Instead we get a bunch of huge shots where it's obvious she loves Mari but for some reason is never allowed to just say she loves Mari
>One year later of Lara living on her own
CPK used up all the original yuri juice so there was nothing left for Sayonara Lara
>>4605584>>4605590Don't watch it. It is the most anti yuri show I have ever seen. I got baited into watching it when I saw the bd artwork, but all that came was several episodes of comphet and the last episode which was basically a humiliation ritual for yurifags. I wasn't even that invested in the show but it still made me feel awful.
>>4605772>It is the most anti yuri show I have ever seenYou haven't seen many shows then. In fact this may be your first one.
>>4605732damn, takano going at it.great criticism. The whole group of people going captain hindsight and saying "it was always about independence" when there's literally one rant that somewhat goes in that direction all through the show is hilarious.
>>4605732if Murcielago's author saw the ending he would probably draw Kuroko impaling the crew's heads on pikes
>>4605772>yurifags I was going to going respond to earnestly before reading thatPlease fuck off and never come back
>mfw faggots on twatter are using the 'the director couldn't show open yuri guis!'While TWO other yuri shows are on air at the same time.
>>4605732Whos Lala?
>>4605788>being this new
>>4605732Well said, the ending is a disservice to everything the show tried to be.
At least I still have Mari. >some time later>Lara feels the light wear off>she frantically calls Mari>finds out Mari's going out with another girl and that's why the light stopped>the mermaids die out>and they all live happily ever after
>>4605788>1720 results found on /u/ first used in 2011What are you talking about anon?
I cannot believe they fucked up what could have been a yuri/gl legend like CPK... they would need like few ovas or movie to fix it??? even then... so sad.
>>4605732This is exactly what I've been saying on this thread, the story suddenly swerved in a direction that was never established.
>>4605732It's not like "yuri" anime ever acknowledged girls love desu. 99% of the time it's just vague shit, even the most glazed ones never do the final step.
>>4605784How many other shows have a major theme of finding love, have the love between the 2 female main characters resolve the main conflict but this is not elaborated on at all and ends with them going their separate ways?
>>4605842There's nothing antiyuri about that. Yuri doesn't necessarily mean that the girls will end up together.
>>4605841Those "yuri" anime are just seasonal moeshit/idolshit
>>4605844One of the girls dying for the other, but only for her to go on to date some dude afterwards, despite having no pressing reason to do anymore, and then acting cold towards her during their goodbyes feels pretty antityuri to me.>inb4 they didn't dateStop coping already. It can be read either way and the writers know it.
>>4605849That's literally the smallest problem with the finale.
>>4605851Fine, but even that "smallest problem" comes across as the staff taking a dump on genre after playing around with it the whole runtime.
https://x.com/Goodbye_Lara/status/2102235435888218348New visual to be released in a few hours. A crumb? A nothingburger? Something to placate the epilogue haters?
What are they saying?
Hey, at least we got this from on of the animators, right?
>>4605943I wonder how many animators are unsatisfied with the ending too.
>>4605943You know they fucked up when Lara's warmer with Mari in this pic than in the episode itself.
>>4605943Did other animators draw anything for the finale? Even if it's not Lara/Mari related, I'd love to save the pics.
>>4605959https://x.com/koidetakushi/status/2102268393613307965Director posted this just earlier.
>>4605943>Drawing the old LaraBased.
>>4605962It's the new Lara, anon, look at the ears
>>4605960Thanks
>>4605849>It can be read either wayIt can't. The dialogue makes no sense unless they have not seen each other in a long time.
Don't show, don't tell the anime.
One more official (I think?) pic that feels better than the anime itself.
>>4606000No thanks, put it in the show if that's what you want to portray.
Honestly this shit is regressive at this point if we're going to bother calling it a Yuri.If we can get a series as good and as blatant as kamiina botan this year there's no reason to be accepting something like this. I don't even think there's any denying the love between Lara and Mari but even then the execution of that is such a dog shit nothing burger the only way I'd be willing to call it Yuri is if it was made more than a decade ago.
>>4606032Yuri is not a badge of honour.
>>4606034No but it is a badge of lesbians, which this wound up not having.
>>4606000That's just the tourism pics you get when you visit the places.
>>4606061At least the other one is post-timeskip
>>4606000They're still teasing one more nothing burger.
>>4606065They can fuck off since that picture is befroe timekip.
What other stuff can I watch or read after this disappointment? Newfag here. I'm reading now KimiShinu manga it looks doomed but super sweet, somehow don't like how the anime looks. I'd appreciate pairings close to Lara and Mari too.
>>4606058Mari is gay for Lara.
>>4606072Watch Flip Flappers, it turns 10 next season.
>>4606072Othere than gwitch, there's Izetta the last Witch. It turns 10 next season.
>>4606072If you don't mind doom yuri, there's Blue Drop(anime). It turns 19 next season.
>>4606072If you want something with good animation that features a serious character x genki character, presuming you haven't watched Kaguya, there's a 3 episodic OVA series by the name Re: Cutie Honey that practically has yuri saving the day in the final battle. Don't forget it's called Re: Cutie Honey, not Cutie Honey. That's a totally different premise with similar characters.
>>4606072Mayonaka Punch is great
>>4605849>Stop coping already. It can be read either way and the writers know it.The __dub__ translated it correctly.
All this discussion ultimately boils down to this one sentence. Mari is one Lara loves. Not likes, but loves specifically, the same way she wanted to love a prince. Mari is the love Lara was looking for, ultimately, which is why her light breaks the spell, like Grace wanted. There's no ambiguity here. Sure, the last 5 minutes are dumb and clearly rushed; this should've been a 13-episode show. But that's a different story.Ultimately, Sayolara is a yuri story, inspired by Utena.
>>4606124We don't give a shit, talk about it somewhere who still cares, I don't, the ending destroyed that concept of true love anyway making it null.
>>4606125Don't be a tsundere.
>>4606124>Sure, the last 5 minutes are dumb and clearly rushedThat's mostly my gripe with the ending, the rest was fine, there's no denying that Lara loves Mari. But fuuuuck these last 5 minutes.
>>4606072There's not a lot of characters with Mari's exact style, but the trope of goofy fish out of water that melts the heart of a stoic/serious character is pretty common in yuri. As a pallet cleansers I'd recommend The Witch from Mercury. The show has some flaws and the main characters' relationship sometimes gets sidelined, but it's still the emotional throughline of the series, and they're just a really great, loving couple. If you're coming into it from Lara the ending should be very satisfying.I'd also second Re: Cutey Honey if you want something shorter. The first two episodes are pretty silly and cartoony but it leads into a great finale with surprising emotional weight.
>>4606125Learn English.
>>4606134Everything I wrote is perfectly understable.But it's always sad to see you resolving to ESL blaming when you have zero arguments to support your retarded views.
>>4606136>resolving to ESLI'm not going to bother arguing with someone who has the language comprehension of a toddler. It's like trying to explain something to a dog.
>>4606132Yeah. Lara loves Mari, romantically even, but the stronger message seems to be that romantic love is unnecessary or childish, and independence/growing up is more important.
>>4606141So it doesn't matter even for a second since that true romantic love is instantly rejected and as concept destroyed by Lara herself as needless element. Better to be independent looking for excitements in big city than be in love with Mari and staying with her, and even playing with Luca in the middle for some time. Truly a yuri classis some retards are now praising here.
>>4606142>Luca fanficYour mask fell off.
>>4606142Even though people seem to be finding it ambiguous somehow, I don't think there's any sensible interpretation of the ending where they she and Luca dated again. Occoms razor says he was comparing her leaving town suddenly to her previous hot/cold actions during the series. The ending sucks, but it's not for that reason.
>>4606142Only someone desperate for an excuse to act like the show wasn't yuri would keep bringing up the conversation with Luca and act like it says they were still dating. And the only reason someone would want that excuse is if they're truly so dumb and insecure that they can't even look at the show objectively after the poor ending fallout, or they're just trying to troll yuri fans. Whichever of those two you are, it's tiresome and you should stop posting.
at least laughter can ease the pain a bit
>>4606146Even natives read it that way idk which part of it is fanfic
I think the worst things about the ending is that it affirms Andersen's cope about giving up on homosexual love being some noble act of self-sacrifice, and not recognizing that view as an unfortunate product of its time.
>>4606210No, natives have been arguing about it since the airing. We have the English dub, where there is no implication they've even spoken in the past half a year, and where the contentious line in question only aligns with one interpretation. Please stop this desperate cope, /a/. He was never in the running and she forgot about him three episodes prior and then didn't remember she should probably go apologize until the day she was moving, lol.
>>4606221I trust the original more than the dub.
Gonna repost a good Japanese interpretation of the ending here>In episode 11, Grace says, “Live not for the rules, but for love,” distinguishing between the “rules” that have bound Lara for so long and “love.” When she says “We are born twice,” I think she presents “love” as the second birth—as the stage of “living,” as one of the paths (or perhaps the collective idea of the paths) that we choose for ourselves and walk down. But Mari, who is lonely and unable to understand the weight of the mermaids’ rules, says that she was “born to love someone” (perhaps, on a meta level, because she is Maria), conflating “loving someone” with “existing” and “destiny.” That is why Lara rejects those words, and why Mari is pierced by the blade. Lara has spent all this time suffering because she was bound by the “rule of loving”—the destiny/curse of being an “existence” destined to love.>But Lara only rejected that one, misunderstood statement from Mari. She herself still loves Mari; she never truly wanted to hurt her. That is why she goes so far as to retrieve Mari’s soul even at the cost of tearing herself apart. I think that self-sacrifice and obsession are undeniably forms of love too. However, before that, Lara needed to be freed from the curse that “I exist solely to find true love.” As long as that curse remained—as long as her very existence depended on “love”—Lara’s blade would continue seeking the souls of those she loved.>I think what finally broke that curse was her defiant “Don’t make a fool of me,” followed by her choosing to leave the Otsu family and become independent. I don’t know what kind of life Lara will choose after that, but precisely because she might want to choose the path of living with Mari (loving her), as she confessed at the lake, I think Lara needs time to transform from the “mermaid” who “seeks only love” and “tries to devour the souls of those she loves,” and instead learn to live firmly rooted in the human world.
>>4606291>Only after Lara gains a soul of her own—an existence and sense of self that isn’t dependent on loving someone—will her blade finally stop attacking Mari. That’s why I still think she’ll eventually keep her promise to make Champion that cake. And I think the desire to “live together with you” is unquestionably love, whether that love is romantic or sexual or something else entirely.>I don't think the ending of Sayonara, Lara is actually denying the possibility of a romantic relationship. Rather, I think it’s saying something like:>“There are things you need to do first—you need to establish yourself as an individual.”>“If you try to love someone without first becoming independent, you can end up simply becoming dependent on them and hurting them, so that’s dangerous.”>“And, fundamentally, true love shouldn’t be something that someone forces upon you or exploits you for.”>That’s how I interpret the ending of Sayonara, Lara.
Who the fuck are these retards suggesting that Witch from Mercury was a good show
>>4606292>And I think the desire to “live together with you” is unquestionably love, whether that love is romantic or sexual or something else entirely.Japanese people, man. The only types of love are platonic and romantic. Anyway all of that is good in theory but the show didn't actually present it in its runtime. You can imagine entire worlds going on inside characters' heads but that doesn't make the ending good.
>>4606385It's great how anyone can make any interpretation up to justify how this ending is actually good, and there's nothing to contradict them, isn't it? Feels like the satisfying, conclusive end to a journey, doesn't it, when you can just imagine aaaaaanything you want?
>>4606387At least make it a fanfic or fan comic.
>>4605971Old Lara with human ears.
>>4606387>just imagine aaaaaanything you wantOldest writer's trick in the book, make the readers do your work for you.
>>4606391I feel that "I trust the reader/viewer to fill in the blanks" doesn't work nearly as well when your ending is nothing but blanks to fill.
>>4600547>https://realsound.jp/movie/2026/09/post-2531497.htmlnew interview just dropped
>>4606412>I didn't understand what true love is or where the show was going.>Cool, that was our goal!
>>4606412>“But if Lara agonized over it this much and made that choice, then that’s also a valid path.”Boy would it have been great to actually see her agonize over her final choice instead of being plopped down in the aftermath.
>>4606292I honestly think this is probably what the writers were going for. It's also the only theory I've seen that gives a satisfying explanation for why Lara was so cold in the final scene: the dagger is gone now, but it still exists, and has the potential to kill Mari again if Lara gets too close without establishing herself as someone who is able to live/survive without love.I think the problem is that the idea that love is something that can hurt others was underdeveloped beyond the supernatural side with a literal magic dagger. Lara's love blows up bridges, but we don't see her really cause mundane harm to Mari or the Otsus. And the things we do see are portrayed comedically: the broken window, Lara tracking water all over, being a NEET. I suppose Luca mainly takes on the role of someone who Lara's love really harms emotionally, but since we know she doesn't really Love him, it cames across that the problem there is simply that it wasn't true love. So we're left with a disconnect between the magic symbolism and what the writers are trying to say about real love.
>>4606228Subs are no more original than dubs.
>>4606419
>>4606418I thought the dagger only manifests when True Love (Light) becomes Hatred (Dagger), and that it became so big because it was 200 years old, while mutual love does not create it the way it appears between Mari’s parents. Doesn’t the dagger already become full after stabbing Mari, so it shouldn’t return as long as Lara and Mari share mutual love?
>>4606425>so it shouldn’t return as long as Lara and Mari share mutual love?I think that's the problem. Lara doesn't want Mari to die if they have a fight or break up. And on the non-magical level, Lara feels she isn't mature or independent enough yet to get close to Mari without emotionally harming her if things go wrong. Which is kind of a stupid message (like a shitty answer to the hedgehog's dilemma) but I think that's what they were going for.
>>4606428"You should never be with someone if you have so much as the potential to hurt them" is a HORRIBLE message, you can and will hurt each other pretty often even in a loving relationship but that isn't a reason to not be in love or try for it.And if you both need growth you can do it together instead of fucking off and trying to solve everything alone.
>>4606428>Lara feels she isn't mature or independent enough yet to get close to Mari without emotionally harming her if things go wrongExcept we don't know that. We don't know what she's thinking or feeling at all. It's all so vague the message can be anything, so it ends up being meaningless because it's like they had nothing to say at all and just told their audience "it's whatever you want it to be, there you go have fun".
It's a bit sad seeing people write fanfics about what character might be thinking or what they could be doing in future where the only thing you get is ep12 few minutes of content which shows you something different.Hell soon some people gonna convince us that this is the best yuri ever cause in their minds Mari and Lara reunited few years later into the future and started dating.G-Witch or Kaguya or even Utena can't compare.
>>4606439That's a sign of a successful story. People loved the characters, and now they want more. That means Kinema Citrus did something right. Evangelion was like this too - people raged about the ending mostly because they wanted something more satisfying for the characters they were obsessed with, but Anno had other plans.Lara might legitimately become "one of the greats" if they don't stop here. Make an OVA/movie about Mari and Lara reuniting in a dramatic fashion. Or maybe add that storyline to the manga. Basically, do what Eva did, keep going.If they don't, I would personally still consider Lara a great series worth watching, just with a somewhat confused ending, which is not unusual for anime.
>>4606439>People loved the characters, and now they want moreI don't want more, I want an explanation for the new person Lara suddenly turned into. I'm not interested in a continuation if they just throw "character development" that we don't get to see under the rug and act like understanding it doesn't matter.
>>4606444Meant for >>4606443
>>4606444For that, you have about a hundred theories already written about the ending. If they make a continuation, I don't think it would be about "character development". Rather, they would show what Lara chooses to do after episode 12, and more importantly, the kind of relationship they would have with Mari. That's the real question here.Hell, I'd say the potential continuation should focus on Mari specifically. Ultimately, she's the one who got shafted by the ending, not Lara.
>>4606447So that they can have them change during an unknown period of time without any explanation again?>Hey everyone, Mari gave up boxing so we can move whatever plot we picked forward! Doesn't make sense but deal with it!No thank you, now I know how these writers work and I'm not interested.
>>4606443>Lara might legitimately become "one of the greats" if they don't stop hereNow this is cope. It'll be regarded as just fine overall but to snag an actual continuation they need to build funds from merch and a recap movie. For a two female lead anime, they need the goodwill of the yurifags since those are the type of viewers who will autistically buy said merch, recap movie tickets, etc. The ending dividing the yuri fanbase means it's already over. Especially when the majority of anime profits actually come from overseas these days and the chinks (one of the most powerful buying groups, especially for yuri-ish works) overall hate the ending.Not to mention Furukawa is likely in full gear working on Love Cobra right now and he likely has dibs to the staff who was working on Sayonara Lara since most of them (including Koide himself) came from Revue Starlight's team. Anime cours rely heavily on the staff chosen and if most of the team is working on Love Cobra for the next 2-ish years, a Goodbye Lara continuation becomes less likely, as the timing will be lost. And being honest I'd rather the staff take all the cool cel-painting and art shit they picked up for Lara and apply it to Love Cobra than a Sayonara Lara continuation, as the former has a better chance of being good.
>>4606450I think that's being uncharitable. The epilogue was the only stumble they had. This ain't something like Wonder Egg Priority, which started well and proceeded to crash and burn for 80% of its runtime.>>4606452It's definitely cope, I doubt this project will go much farther than this. But what it has going for it is hype - it actually managed to get a lot of reactions online, positive or otherwise, even pulling some attention away from the biggest Mushoku Tensei episode ever. It's one of the biggest new names of the season, alongside Yani Neko (which is not an original). Japanese suits these days are incredibly hungry for success stories; they grab onto anything that's not flopping outright. SayoLara is not like Silent Witch, where, despite the production value, everyone knew it was over by the time we got to the last episode - nobody was even talking about it, and Kadokawa wept because Studio Gokumi just buried what was supposed to be their Kusuriya.So, while I'm not holding out hope, I know something could potentially happen.
I can't believe we had yuri SnK before GTA VI, sasuga Japan you're fast.
>>4606452>Love CobraLet's hope Koide just animates and isn't given a say on anything lest it turn into Up to Interpretation Cobra (with strictly het teasing).
>got hungry for more yuri after watching Lara>randomly chose one manga where the protagonist kinda looks like Mari>got to this pageJesus fucking Christ.
Why aren't lesbians allowed to fuck on screen in anymore in yuri these days?
>>4606453There's the manga, but with the bad vibes from the final I don't expect it to make a splash unless it makes itself clear from the start that it'll do something different. Nobody's going to want to read a straightforward adaptation of a work where you know going in that the ending sucks.
>>4606453>I think that's being uncharitableIs it? When you know that they can throw everything away when it's most important just to hamfist a message that was never the focus before, I'm sorry but that permanently obliterates all the goodwill they had accumulated for 11 weeks. The trust is gone. If they did it once, they can do it again.
>>4606412>We were best friends in college but we drifted apart after one of us got marriedAwesome example to use about the emotions they packed in the ending, really hopeful message about the main """relationship""" of the show.
>>4606421Only one of these matches the dub, and there are other people, also from Shiga, who have the opposite interpretation. Since the dub is simulcast, that means they translated from script, which strongly suggests that the script says "difficult".
>>4606415>Boy would it have been great to actually see her agonize over her final choiceWe did.There are very few times where I think "filtered" is an appropriate response to people not liking a piece of media, because it is often just thrown out as a "you didn't like something I liked", but this show genuinely fucking filters people. It has been filtering people from the start when they didn't understand what the dagger or hot chocolate were about and it has filtered them to the very end.The agonizing is exactly why Lara feels>>4605734>>4605131>>4605849"insincere" or "cold". It is why they obscure her face for most of the final scene, exactly like how Mari's was obscured when she was internally agonizing over Lara. I dunno if people are just too autistic these days to properly read when a character is putting on a front, or if zoomer media having every character clearly announce what they are feeling so it can be streamed on a second screen has blunted that ability, but it's honestly worrying how much people seem to struggle with understanding what is happening if it is anything more than expository.The last scene feels "uncomfortable" because it is a scene where two people are both trying to get through a choice that isn't easy but is probably right, by tucking their hurt away and trying to avoid saying anything that will make the choice too hard to make (though Mari momentarily cracks).
>>4606474There was nothing to indicate in the last 6 minutes, or anything previously in the show for that matter, that the choice is "probably right".
>>4606474I think you should suck director's D a bit more there anon, you almost got it.
>>4606476Basic understanding as a human being who is presumably over the age of 18 is what should indicate to you that the choice is probably right. If you are not a child and have any life experience, you should understand what is not good about the current situation, which involves a teenager who has been completely and totally sheltered for her 16* years of life briefly experiencing a tiny sliver of reality and settling for that narrow experience as being enough.It is how you end up with people stunted like this anon >>4605626Who thinks that knowing ~12 people is enough and that the only people who could gain anything from being exposed to more people are "world travelers or something". It is the same reason why it's probably the right choice for kids going to college to live in a dorm for a year, or otherwise pick a place where they aren't just commuting from home. Because there are valuable lessons, conflict management and organizational skills, budgeting, interpersonal experiences, etc. to be gained from moving outside the comfort zone of "I have always lived in a place where 99% of my life is being handled by other people". Lara is not a proper, healthy person in her current situation, just like a kid """paying rent""" (read: a tiny reduced amount) from a part time job to their parents who put it in a fund for them to use later is not actually doing any sort of preparation for their future as a well rounded adult.It is probably right for her to move out for a bit and get a feel for what being a person is actually about if she's going to be anything more than a weird trophy fish who works and waits for Mari to come home.>>4606478>I have no argument or contribution to supplySo why even bother replying?
>>4606479>So why even bother replying?If you read newest interview and actually see they wanted to shat on Mari x Lara from start you should have different views about this anime you praise so much now.
I too love writing the show in the writers' place.
>>4606479She has no legal papers and the only job she could get was in a bakery, she cannot live by herself.
>>4606476>>4606479>or anything previously in the show for that matterFor the record, this is also wrong. It is the whole point of the mermaid kingdom, a comfortable place where Lara was loved and treasured and surrounded by a fair amount of people who she knew. Where there was an attitude of it being enough and there being no reason to look for anything more. Lara had a reasonable and happy life to be led there in the original kingdom.Was it "probably right" for her to go on a whole big trip to see the human world? If yes, then you understand on a fundamental level why the choice was probably right.
>>4606479Cool, but when was any of this established? When was it ever the focus of Lara's character arc to merit being the culmination of the final episode? No, two tiny inconsequential scenes don't matter in comparision to the bulk of the story's overwhelming focus on true love.This is like the conclusion of a subplot that never actually existed.
>>4606485>>4606484Literally in episode 1.
>>4606486Just in episode 1? And never mentioned again afterwards? Is that it?
>>4606487No, it is also most of episode 2, and in episode 3, a little in 4, and especially in 5 and 8. It is happening the entire time, where Lara is learning about new things and becoming a more rounded capable person that never would have existed if she had she remained in her initial comfortable, known place where she was loved and things were handled for her. It is the reason that Lisa and Kota are uniquely capable and a actual characters compared to the non-entities of every other sister, or the extremely shallow incompetence of Rowan, who does nothing but kneecap his own interests and the interests of his people because he has no experience and rejects the outside world. Because the arc of the first 10 episodes, behind the main drama, is that Lara was a sheltered princess with a drive to be more than that and she spends 10 episodes going from "I can't go outside unless Mari is there" to "I can try to handle this and also protect Mari", and then is, for episode 11 and the first part of 12, reduced back to just being the damsel princess before the growth catches up to her and she remembers she has grown more capable.So yes, it is a significant focus of Lara's character arc and it is not unreasonable for the culmination of the final episode to be that she wants to try stepping free of that continued sheltering she has been using as training wheels the whole anime.
>>4606489NTA but what about Mari? What bothers me it's that Mari feels like a secondary, if not tertiary, character like yeah we know about her past and her motivations but her actions don't have the impact that you should expect from a deuteragonist.
>>4606482I love how these 12-page essays are always in favor of the ending, trying to justify why it's "right".>Lara is [headcanon, headcanon, something I can guarantee the writers weren't thinking about, headcanon], therefore the ending makes sense.
>>4606489Why did no one see it coming then? This all seems like a post-hoc rationalisation rather than something you picked up over the course of the show. Where was all the discussion about this theme while the show was airing? Or people speculating that the story could end like this?If viewers don't pick on a central theme of the story, then the authors fucked up conveying that theme.
>>4606493>Why did no one see it coming then?This is so fucking funny. Before episode 12 I hadn't seen a single person predict that THAT was how the show was going to end, and now you got people coming out of the woodwork claiming that oh no, the clues were there all along.
>>4606493Because telegraphing doesn't mean there is a single aligned outcome to be predicted. Personally, I expected Lara to either die protecting Mari and in doing so pay her life to demonstrate how far she had come from incapable Lara who needed to be saved in 2, or to be forced to sacrifice the mermaids to protect Mari and Shiga, and in doing so symbolically destroy that sheltered existence she had come from.>If viewers don't pick on a central theme of the storyThey did. I assume you understood that episode 5 is about Lara being forced into actual circumstances a la work, which is difficult for her and which she nearly gives up on, but then rallies and decides she can do it even if it's hard and she fucks up? You got the theme, but picking up on a central theme =/= knowing what is going to happen at the very end.Consider, since people love this comparison (or since bad actors are trying to force tribalism), Kaguya:The initial setup of Kaguya meant that there was always going to be a confrontation in which Kaguya was going to attempt to be returned to the moon. That was obvious. Did anyone see that she would go, and then come back wrongly and end up Yachiyo and then be built a robot body? No. But that's because there are many other outcomes that would have also fit. It was always likely they'd lose the initial fight against the moon, but it would have been a valid conclusion for Yachiyo to relocate tsukuyomi "to" the moon, bringing the two worlds together. It would have also, the point of comparison, been a valid conclusion to have her instead return to the moon as happy, earth Kaguya rather than mind wiped and change the moon for the better, after which she could freely come and go to visit Iroha.The theme of Kaguya is forging a happy end. Was anyone predicting halfway through the movie that the last five minutes would be adult Iroha building an android housing unit for Kaguya? Fuck no.
>>4606490>What bothers me it's that Mari feels like a secondaryShe is. And I think that is a weaker point of the show, but also not something that is finale-specific. Mari is a supporting character the majority of the show. She has less going on because she is also already most of the way through her arc. We see her development (a rowdy child, her mom's death, Grace, her boxing) mostly in flashback, where things happen quick and with more summation. The show is primarily about Lara and Mari's character does suffer some fort it, but the circumstances of the ending wouldn't assuage this. If Lara had stayed, it would have still been a show mostly about Lara where Mari is primarily secondary to her.>>4606491Nothing here is headcanon. I am explaining shit that is right there on screen but which apparently a large number of people did not understand.
>>4606499Ok then you could replace Mari with anyone else because apparently her entire backstory was there only so Lara and the viewer could feel some empathy for her. It's because of shit like this that a lot of people on the yuri fandom gave up on het romance so now you can see why the emotional side of the fandom dislikes this finale.
>>4606499What do you take of the talk about wanting to live together? Is that actually what Lara eventually wants, or is it a "that was a nice dream but I'm moving on"?
>>4606499>which apparently a large number of people did not understandIf such a large number of people do not understand what a writer is going for, then said writer failed at their job, simple as. If all of this was set-up properly, people would have picked up on it and wouldn't be so upset that this is the way the story went.
>>4606501What you are describing is a failing typical to romance stories in general, but I think that Lara is actually better than most shows for this. Mari needed to be Mari because her characterization is important even if we only consider her as narrative support. Luca, since he is the immediate point of comparison, would not have helped Lara. He is a whiny fag who can barely handle himself and who did not actually see Lara as a person and would have reinforced her fairytale ideology.Mari is grounded, she gets shit done. She does not coddle Lara but is also kind and supportive of her. She writes off the fairytale nonsense and stands her ground and all of these things rub off on Lara and contribute to her development. It was important that Mari be Mari.>>4606502Seems to be what she actually wants, and we already know what her heart wants. I do not think that her choice at the end erases the rest.
>>4606504I think that claiming things have to be expository to the point that no one is left behind is a good way to absolutely fucking ruin media. A large number of people not understanding Blade Runner doesn't mean Blade Runner failed.
During the final scene, I was initially focused on how there were no words suggesting they'd meet again. But watching it again, the inverse is true as well. I can't help but take solace in neither of them saying "goodbye" in the end. Even in the final shot of Mari, it's like she's specifically refraining from making the obvious title drop, and smiling because she knows it's not goodbye, and they'll meet again.That may just be cope though, and the "Sayonara, Lara" here is understood but unstated.
>>4606506This was not "a large number", it was everyone. This is not from a lack of exposition, but from exposition not matching what is shown. This is a fuckup from the writers, not the audience.
>>4606505>Mari is grounded, she gets shit done. She does not coddle Lara but is also kind and supportive of her. She writes off the fairytale nonsense and stands her ground and all of these things rub off on Lara and contribute to her development. It was important that Mari be Mari.Yes but she feels more like a narrative tool than a real character, her needs and desires matter little to nothing to the plot the closest character I can think about it's Fran from Majo no Tabitabi but she's a incidental character that appears here and there if the plot needs her not the main love interest that shares at least a third of screen time with the MC
>>4606506Don't strawman this, it's not about exposition, it's about making sure that the themes on which you apparently wanted to end the story on all along come through strongly enough that people go "oh yeah that makes sense" instead of being baffled. Which, judging from the reactions all over the internet, they failed to do.
>>4606509>>4606511To be fair, the final episode only aired three days ago. I don't think it's unreasonable to create a work that takes time and effort to fully understand.
>>4606511I think the themes came through strongly enough. I think the problem is that that a lot of people are not actually interested in a genuine "why" because they are too emotionally outraged and will not accept any explanation at all, because they just want to be angry about it.
>>4606518It's ok, man. You can tap yourself on the back because the jury is out: you have a more discerning eye than everyone else.
>>4606515Will it really make sense with time, though ?I'm not only talking about making sense of everything including the ending, but will there be actual people listening to it ?There's a lot of disappointment thanks to the ending, that's a strong impression that'll stay and close ears. I feel it's just impossible to tell if we'll be getting anything noteworthy through time or if it was really botched.
>>4606519You don't even understand how you're proving my point.
>>4606518That's the point though, people wouldn't need to be asking themselves "why" if they had even picked up a whiff of those themes. If they didn't, it's because they were too buried behind the rest of the narrative, and that's a failing of the writing, not of the audience's ability to pay attention.
>>4606412I just noticed this is Natsuki Moriyama the creative director. I didn't bother to read it before, but people were posting certain paragraphs here and there. Plus she's one of the staff members that kept retweeting Lara x Mari art on my timline, so I recognized her name.
https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/12120175?q=sayonara_lara+animated+This should had been the ending
>>4606540If the staff weren't retarded worthless assholes high on their own farts
How did they managed to do it so right even when the director blabbled like a monkey?And how did the retards from this animu fucked stuff that bad?
>>4606551>ESL>blabbled like a monkeyIronic.
>>4606553>ESL trying to shame another ESL and failinglmao
>>4606561>being so new you don't know how greentext works
>>4606483oh my god I cannot believe someone actually made this imagehilarious
>>4606479>Basic understanding as a human being who is presumably over the age of 18 is what should indicate to you that the choice is probably right. If you are not a child and have any life experience, you should understand what is not good about the current situation, which involves a teenager who has been completely and totally sheltered for her 16* years of life briefly experiencing a tiny sliver of reality and settling for that narrow experience as being enough.Famously in the real world when we have a comparable situation such as a teenager escaping from a cult, the correct solution is to set them loose on a faraway city without access to foster family or other support networks. That's what works out best in the end.
I'm going to go watch some lighthearted mermaid yuri instead.
Can anyone tell me why this anime is SO FUCKING VAGUE AND SYMBOLIC when it comes to lesbian attraction, yet so perfectly straightforward and casual about hetshit??? Am I even watching yuri??????????
>>4606586Maybe in the end they didn't think it was a good idea to promote shiga with yuri. As the project started gaining traction from people who were very passionate about it, they decided to dial down on the Yuri while also dialing down from the het they had in the concept trailer to compensate. There's no kiss, no hug, no cliche handholding from Lara with any of the guys, and they even forced Leo in one of those Luca dates. Even Kota wasn't allowed to directly tell Lisa he loved her. His confession line was basically made to compare his love to Lisa with Mari and Lara. Only kiss was Rigmore and Rowan to show the light forms from romantic love. Would have been nice if Mari was stabbed in the mids of a confession to make it seem like she had more to say after the whole "born to love someone"
Wait, Mari’s actually dead in the ending?
>>4606585if you like maniacal fox monster, that is
>>4606667need to rewatch frame by frame till the end from the moment Mari resurrected by Lara
>>4606681Nice. What's the original post about?
>>4606681That's what happens when you don't have a unified writing team, got no idea why they let someone who hates laramari write the final episode.
>>4606683They didn't, stop shitposting.
wanted to share my theory, that Lara did kiss Mari, when she gets on the train she walks a few steps in, then for some reason right back to the edge of the doorway, right in front of Mari, we see her eyes finally with a tear in one, then the shot changes to the sky, for 5 whole seconds before the doors are closed, Mari then chases and all we see of Lara is her face in shadow again, crying maybe, blushing maybe, who knows. but something happened in that 5 seconds, maybe just a kiss on the cheek or more, something happened
>>4606683We don't know whether she hates writing laramari, but she's probably bitter after the nonstop attack she kept receiving when she mentioned the Biwa Grand Festival clip with the laramari plushies knowing how disappointed the fans were going to be. She basically confirmed any material outside the show is basically noncanon by calling it an "if" scenario. Most of them felt mocked by what she said and I even saw some of them post "if" under the new official bike art. She should have just kept quiet and not bother mentioning it like everyone else.
>>4606692You know what, since anything we weren't shown is apparently valid in this "fill in the gaps yourself!" ending, I subscribe to your theory, anon.
>>4606696thank you. i mean considering how compressed this final episode is 5 seconds of nothing seems strange
I came across this dynasty comment that doesn't say anything new but puts it very well: https://dynasty-scans.com/forum/topics/23431-goodbye-lara-open-spoilers?page=4#forum_post_1018578
New merch now leaves out Grace and adds LaraLuca stuff alongside LaraMari.
>>4606699>LaraLuca is the almost kiss>LaraMari is a normal scenelmao
>>4606700Not like Mari got any kiss, almost or otherwise.
>>4606698It is very well put. I've seen a similar, well-written take on (brace yourselves) reddit about the way Japanese media treats physical intimacy in lesbian relationships, and ultimately in Lara. And yeah, it is kinda damning that Lara is ultimately more of the same in a long line of deftly avoiding saying anything significant about a yuri relationship.
>>4606702They could have added the ending hug scene too but no.
>>4606702They could've at least used the hug from episode 5 but yeah, the utter lack of intimacy of supposedly the main relationship compared to the false lead plus their willingness to sell shippers a moment that's a low point for Lara's character should tell you even more about their priorities.
>>4606699Gotta keep throwing bones to the het shippers, I suppose. First the finale, now this.
>>4606582Fucking right. There's an incredible disconnect between what the writers are willing to treat as valid or realistic when it comes to love between women. A 16 year old, barely literate, illegal alien with a disability living on her own? Absolutely! What other choice could she make!? It's a grounded, "tough," coming of age ending! Meanwhile the relationship between the female leads must absolutely not culminate in a explicit romantic relationship. We'll forgo realism here and have it remain beautiful, unknowable flower that can't be put into words. And like >>4606698 says, let's all pretend to ignore how this subtle symbolism never shows up for straight relationships, but still happens all the damn time for gay ones. Even if the writers weren't aware they were being bigoted, they were, and they deserve all the shit being flung at them.
>>4606698This really gets to the heart of it. Reposting some of it for emphasis:>This is not a new direction this media category has taken. Lesbian media has always been treated in this strange standoffish, inability to be explicit, kind of way. Especially and particularly in Japan. The flailing, fledgling and doomed romance of young girls, as so demanded.>Sure enough you could take a butcher knife and mercilessly remove this context, tear out the organs and taxidermy the body, and call it something entirely different: that stories should be allowed to be this way, that this is just another facet of human experience, yada yada.>Perhaps you are right in the fiefdom of your mind. In a lobotomized scope of literature, the ending was at worst kinda mid. Indeed.>In the known history and experience of lesbian media, on the other hand, it was murder on soil soaked red with that of thousands before. I can't see it as anything but. I refuse to be charitable.>Now, if only everyone could stop trying so hard to hide the bodies, that would be great.
>>4606703Ah what the hell, I'll link the reddit post too, I think it's worth a readhttps://www.reddit.com/r/GoodbyeLara/comments/1wllmpb/goodbye_lara_episode_12_discussion/pazn0rd/
>>4606733>Because to production committees and to audiences, 'yuri' isn't just a type of relationship, it's a genre. It's a thing to be corralled and put inside its own box, where it can be safely entered and exited by the people who 'want' to be there. 'Yuri' can't passively "surprise" people in different genres, in different stories, where it is not announced and where it does not belong, because if you do that, if you present it as an equal to heterosexual relationship, that might be seen as a statement too far for some people. This articulates really well why we want so badly for these anime originals to succeed in taking the leap to main text, when there are perfectly good shows like Botan and Kimishinu airing, and why it hurts so bad every time they don't.
>>4606698Huh? I've been visiting Dynasty for 15 years this year and I never knew there was a forum.
>>4606738What the fuck, it's right there on the top bar.
>>4606291>>4605732The "independence" cope that some people are huffing deeply bothers me. To me, it smacks of trying to justify an ending by drawing from the well of convenient literary cliches, in lieu of critically thinking about the actual story as presented. It's completely at odds with this specific story, where the premise is that Little Mermaid is already a free spirit that rebels against her family and her society's laws to chase her heart's desire on land to begin with. We already got all of this out of the way in one episode, it is the very basis of what this new story is derived from. So to wrap back around to this without actually saying anything is pointless: the idea was already baked into the premise. I think that is a total failure of storytelling.
>the ending is so good when you just make stuff upThat's what all these theories sound like to me tbdesu
Well, this is a yuri series; that is a fact, and it is neither disputed nor called into question.The issue is that, while it is a competent series, it has too many flaws as a yuri story to truly function as one, I can understand what the creators were aiming for, but it doesn't quite work here.There is no need to overanalyze the symbolism or ideas regarding romance in Japan; it isn't that complex. The series aimed higher than it could actually deliver; while it may look visually appealing, it clearly pandered to its "target audience" in the silliest way possible. This kind of experimentation works for a movie, but not for a 12-episode series spanning three months.It's yuri, but stupid.
Deja vu?
>>4606687I'm not shitposting fuck off, so stupid that they split the merch between scenes with mari and a scene where Lara is at her worse all to please retards.It's obvious someone on the team has an insane bias despite episodes 3 and 11 blowing them the fuck out.It legitimately feels like two different people wrote and designed the merch for this show
>>4606758The argument that the ending it's "realistic" and thus inevitable also seems to me to be ignoring that this is fiction, or, more to the point, that absolutely nobody would have been complaining about her lacking in independence if the show had ended with a kiss or them living together or what have you.
>>4606761>It's yuri, but stupid.So yuri means platonic friendship between two girls where their so called true love is destroyed by one party meaning Lara and never acknowledged later and Lara still dates a boy she was with before and then seperates with her female friend.What a great not typical yuri story.Shame even once during it we didn't see Lara x Mari happening as something more than friends and be treated like that by author.
>>4606769The ending was shit and I don't consider this a yuri but you're retarded.Lara did not date Luca that was a mistranslation, also Lara canonically had romantic love for Mari.
>>4606769No, you are twisting things to fit your narrative, paranoia, and lack of vision.This is yuri—incompetently handled, full of pretentious crap, and generally mediocre in the areas that actually mattered—but it’s yuri at the end of the day. Not liking it is one thing—I didn't like it either, ultimately—but I’m not going to deny the facts, nor will I deny that it wasn't worth it in the end; it’s no different from a game with 4K graphics and terrible gameplay.
>>4606763No? Author said she didn't consider it yuri right after volume 1 came out and she remained laser-focused on their relationship being about loneliness and companionship without ever promising romance. The separation at the end was a foregone conclusion they start discussing partway through due to Koyuki being a third year, they're shown meeting again at the end and they still hang out together in their adulthood as per the bonus chapter from a couple months ago.
>>4606769Sayonara Lara is yuri even if it's the worst yuri anime in history it's still yuri.
>>4606778>westoidsWtf are you talking about? Even japanese mangaka disliked the finale, fuck even a "status quo" finale like the Necronomico one is a masterpiece compared to this BS.
>>4606777Weird how the show is going into everyone's shoujo ai list and nobody's yuri list
>>4606780Anon, it's 2026. That's not a thing.
>>4606770>Lara canonically had romantic love for Mari.If you jump through the hoop of the only "confirmation" being Kota comparing it to his love for Lisa and ignore Lara going on to reject true love immediately afterwards to give the writers a get out of jail free card to avoid committing then sure, it was confirmed. I'd rather not eat shit straight from Kinema Citrus' platter so I'll just file it under 'not yuri' instead.
>>4606763>>4606776If those were two boys on the cover, 99.99% of people who see it will say it looks gay as fuck and there's absolutely no way it's anything but gay. Weird how depiction of lesbianism isn't held to the same standards.
>>4606788It is yuri though.
>>4606790Yuri™
>>4606791What a nice yuri merch.
>>4606792Like it or not, it is. A story about two girls who fall in love with each other. As unfortunate as that separation ending is, the fact still stands.
>>4606777Not the worst, but it does make the Top 5, alongside the Yuri Kuma Arashi anime, Yamibou, and UtaKata.>>4606783Your opinion isn't canon; the fact that the canon is stupid doesn't change the fact that it is canon.>>4606786>>4606789Do we have to bring up 5 Centimeters per Second, which is supposed to be a romance?
>>4606783The dagger kills only people that Lara loves romantically, that's the biggest proof that this was yuri.>>4606793Belongs here just to remind us how low can be the bar for the genre
>>4606793>> Love LabIt doesn't even come close; Love Lab is straight-up, pure hetero trash a pathetic rom-com masquerading as a slice-of-life series.
>>4606791>>4606794It’s the same logic used by Studio Trigger’s publicity team: appeal to everyone and see who falls for the trap.
>>4606793Just ride this thread out, it's the last one.
>>4606796>Yuri Kuma Arashi anime, YamibouThe first one was fine, I guess? Even if I don't remember how the fuck ended. Yamibou was a product of its time, I can't ask too much about a pre KnM yuri anime.>UtakataI've only watched the first episode but I really doubt it could be as bad as what we got from Sayonara Lara.
>>4606795The ironic part is that if they wanted to give it the feel of a "classic," they succeeded—reminding us why things shouldn't go back to that era and why we're better off now.
>>4606801>>I really doubt it could be as bad as what we got from Sayonara Lara.For most of the series, you have to put up with the classic magical girl trope where the main character is head-over-heels for someone older—only for that to ultimately not matter, because she’s actually supposed to be in love with the girl who gave her her powers, while the boy she loved ends up in the same situation with another guy. In the end, none of them wind up together because the "magical beings" return to the mirror and never see each other again; the only yuri element involves two girls who were deceived by the same guy and decide to get together because of it.
>>4606797It was trying to kill Kota.
>>4606801>>The first one was fine, I guess?Nah, the main couple feels forced; instead of working on their relationship, the series focuses on a stupid symbolic antagonism that really doesn't work.>>Yamibou was a product of its timeThey should have had the decency to leave out the male protagonist from the original eroge, but Hatsumi is a bitch and didn't deserve to get away with it—that's what I hate.
>>4606806Because Kota was going to hurt Mari, Did we watch the same anime?
>>4606808It tried to eat Luca.
>>4606793Nah, let's not exaggerate.Lara is definitely /u/, no matter what you think about its ending. Hell, Madoka is considered /u/, even though it ends with Madoka literally telling Homura that she's her best friend forever before evaporating into pink glitter. Imagine if SayoLara ended with Lara saving Mari's life, then telling her that they will always be best friends and turning into foam. That's how what's now considered one of the great yuri masterpieces originally ended.
>>4606810During a romantic confession, yes.
Also, the dagger first materialized when Mari told Lara that she liked her, back when they first met.
>>4606807>Nah, the main couple feels forcedCommon that's not as bad to be called one of the worst of all time.>Hatsumi is a bitch and didn't deserve to get away with it—that's what I hateAgree but again it was a product of its time. Kinda funny that if we saw Sayonara Lara from Mari POV we could get a similar feeling than with Yamibou.
>>4606811>just pretend SayoLara is Madoka and it's the greatest Yuri masterpiece everFine
>>4606811>>ell, Madoka is considered /u/, even though it ends with Madoka literally telling Homura that she's her best friend forever before evaporating into pink glitter.That would make sense if we were talking about just a single 12-episode anime and nothing else, but we are dealing with a multimedia franchise comprising multiple entries, spin-offs, and continuities—all of which consistently feature yuri (at least the good ones) in one form or another.
>>4606818Yes, but Madoka was considered /u/ even back when it was just the original series.
>>4606698That's not what incorrigible means.
So Mari is dead and the person we see at the end along Lara is Mari's ghost, right?That would explain why Lara acts so cold towards her and leaves her alone.
>>4606821I have learned that the ending of this show is whatever you want it to be.
>>4606821Yeshttps://x.com/The_Tired_Newt/status/2102954670985490447
>>4606823Ok then my headcanon it's that Lara was isekai'd in her way to work, she reincarnated as Viola and that's why she hates so much the light in people like Arale.
>>4606787This isn't true because Hikaru ga shinda exists and everyone calls that shit friendship
>>4606821
Sayonara Lara but it's a horror story about Lara who's being chased by the ghost of her beloved Mari, so she goes on a killing spree in search of human light that could be used to revive her dead girlfriend.She carries Mari's skeleton in a suitcase, dressed in her school uniform.
It's a whole new level of fucked up that Mari being dead would make that ending feel much more natural.
>>4606830Fox and fish? like Miko and Shiori?
>>4606834Hinako... enough with your NTR fetish...
>>4606821Ending so rushed that it takes days for someone to come up with an explanation for itI don't think I want to hear about this anime anymore
>>4606837>I don't think I want to hear about this anime anymoreI want to hear more about it because the theories are really getting good now.
>>4606835I swear watatabe fanbase have the weirdest memes, especially psycho Miko and Hinacuck
>>4606833>It's a whole new level of fucked up that Mari being dead would make that ending feel much more natural.>>291187642Well ironically that is the only outcome which has sense seeing how Lara acts after timeskip.Mari didn't survive, it was only temporary fix, Lara lost her true love and lost her light but mermaids got enough of it in that short moment to recover in years, in semblence Lara tried to reconnect with Luca but it didn't work, so she moved on that time and decided to look for new light in the city, while Mari ghost slowly wanders around her staying at the station and finally seeing her off. Goodbye, Lara.The End.This is the perfect bittersweet ending than the shit director created with retarded excuses he thinks are about independience, themes he never actually touched at all in this story.
>>4606791I am left wondering why they didn't just make the straightforward het show the 2024 concept trailer made it look like. The only thought process I can see making sense is that they decided on this "Lara rejects true love" ending at some point, could not wrap their heads around a positive straight relationship not being romantic (as there isn't a single example of it in the finished product, they all are) so they decided to use Mari for it. That's the most charitable take I can conceive.
>>4606839Would've been in the same boat if they actually did something coherent post-anime, the interview and merch aren't fueling the interest for the "real" ending or mass psychosis the ending left us
The blu-ray extras will disprove this
>>4606838Here is top 1 saddest Yuri deaths did you rike it?
>>4606837C'mon Anon, at least stick around until they release the traditional post-series interview that recontextualizes the ending and makes it worse somehow.
>>4606808>>4606812So it attacks anyone who is convenient for the plot and not just Lara's romantic true love
>>4606872>The community finally finds an explanation for the ending>"Uh no she's alive, haha, and don't forget to buy Luca's painting, we still have plenty of stocks !"
>>4606827>Hikaru ga shinda exists and everyone calls that shit friendshipEvery single person I've ever seen talk about it said it was BL
>>4606827>>4606906I thought it was less hard BL and more roundabout "MC is gay but not necessarily in love with the thing skinwalking as the guy he loved".
>>4606907>the fastest thread in /u/ with the most repliesWow, it gets 10 replies a day?
Memes evolve really quickly these days.
>>4606921I don't get it
>>4606924Ending scene Mari version of that "draw [thing] with just a few basic shapes and colors" meme.
>>4606925Ah, I'm not familiar with the original meme, that explains it. Thanks.
And 1000. When was the last time we had a dedicated /u/ thread reach 1000 posts? G-Witch?
This shit doesn't even look as good or inventive as Flip Flappers and fumbled way more. Flip Flappers actually delivered on the yuri but they just made it weird.>>4605576Revue Starlight movie was dogshit because of this too. The dialogue became even worse than the anime's dialogue between Karen and Hikari.
>>4606821>>4606825>lara looks like she had the joy of living sucked out of her>she needs to find a "new light">her interaction with mari on the station was so one-sided that she might as well not have been thereWhy the fuck does it line up so well?
>>4606835Ackshually, it's netorase if she likes it.
>>4606944Because the writers cared that little about Mari, but it's a fun theory.
>>4606933I don't remember if the jellyfish show was before or after G-Witch
>>4606832Eventually she reaches a foggy lakeside town where she meets a sultry doppelganger of Mari called Maria.
>>4606840>psycho MikoPedo Miko you mean.
>>4606840>>4606961She ate a thousand toddlers!
This frame is gonna get reposted for years.
>>4606821Lara died in a train crash on the way to Kobe and Mari is now dating Himeka after she realized she likes girls and broke up with her boyfriend.
They wasted Mari, a perfect good tomboy we barely get in yuri. How do we preserve this girl besides the meme and Nagahama shipping?
>>4607045Commission douijns with her.
>>4607005the only way the ending could've been meaner to Mari is that both of her arms explode for no reason
A reminder that Saburota is in charge of the manga adaptation; all things considered, they sent that manga to die and Saburota will be a scapegoat as long as there are angry people.At this point, I don't know if it was a genius decision, something stupid, or both.
>>4607050If the manga is a throwaway thing then maybe she has more freedom to change things. The Tokimeki Tonight manga for instance was a tie in to the anime but ended up running for 12 years after the anime ended and is very much its own thing. Or maybe giving the manga to a yuri mangaka was damage control since they knew the ending would piss people off. Though I'm probably being way too generous. Even within the average confines of a manga tie in though there's room to improve this series without changing too much. Even if the rest of the manga is largely a rehash of the anime, if she's able to improve on the ending (or even change the ending completely) I can see it being worth it. Watch the anime up until the time skip and then read the ending of the manga.
>>4607047Maybe. I'll give it some time. I can sense it coming.
>>4607052I'm interested to see how it will go, but I'm pretty pessimistic. The manga announcement was well before they knew how much the ending would flop, so I can easily see it starting out like the series, and getting axed from lack of interest and blowback. And even if it doesn't, who's going to want to set themselves up for disappointment a second time, not knowing if the ending is set in stone or not?
>>4607050How long is the waiting for that to start
>>4607054It's certainly strange to give this series to a yuri mangaka though after what they pulled. I'm more saying they knew the ending to the anime would be controversial and so allowing the manga to be explicit yuri may be a bone thrown to that audience. Nothing about the production of the series makes a whole lot of sense.
>>4607056I hope that's the case. I believe Citrus and Lara both ended up being more popular overseas, where the ending was received particularly poorly, so maybe they'll give her more freedom. I at least trust Saburota to makes the best of her circumstances in terms of yuri.
>>4606961>>4607004Miko ate lots of expecting mothers, for fun!
>>4606769No romance yuri
>>4607072There's no such thing, go to sleep.
>>4605576"Show don't tell" means showing emotions physically instead of stating them directly, like in pic related.The problem with Lara's show don't tell is that they're neither showing nor telling.
>>4607091They did both, you are just dumb.
>>4607005Is that a "see you space cowboy" one?
>>4607105Lara doesn't tell Mari why she's leaving; it's left up to your interpretation (and interpreting people sure did).Lara doesn't comfort Mari in any way either, so nothing's happening on that front either.If this was "show don't tell", once Mari tells Lara that she's gonna feel lonely and steels herself, Lara would turn to her, take her hand, and maybe plant a smooch on her forehead. Then she would get on the train as they both smile at each other sheepishly. Words then wouldn't be necessary.
>>4607106Yes
>>4607109After reading the newest interview the director has no heart to create such happy ending, he only thinks about himself and not his viewers expactations he created with the show. He thinks he created the greatest anime about a girl's independience theme where he basically didn't deliver on that at all in the actual show to show Lara progress int ogoing there, we basically go from happy Lara to dead inside Lara after timeski pwithout any reason behind it given in the show, ironcially mari death in the finale would fit this much more than what we got. He is nuts and a retard.
Sounds like a case of thinkiing "sad and bitter and not happy= tough realims, going against idealized cliches", so sniffing his own farts enabled by all the deconstructionfags who praise stuff like Madoka wrongly "Madoka is better than those generic mahou shoujo because in real life magical girl would be sad and tragic and shit". Of course because making adaptations is easier in many respects, you need a certain pretentious mindset to want to take the anime original risk, and this is the resultJust seems they went too far and retarded with their idea of "realisitc ending to contrast and reject the fairy tale shit"
>>4607109It's frustrating to see people comparing it to the earlier episode scene of Mari holding her real feelings back while her eyes are off screen. Both scenes use the same device, but with Mari it was A): a realistic response to your crush dating someone else, and B): framed as something she needed to overcome and be honest with. By ending on this with Lara, the writers seem to be saying it's the "right" choice, and doesn't come across as how most people act, let alone how Lara does.
>>4607109>>4607167>>4607169>>4607171The first problem is that Japanese people don't tend to realize when they're doing things wrong, and they seem genuinely surprised by negative reactions or when something ends up failing (like Nanoha Force, for example).Regarding the issue of "realism" or faithfulness to the original tale (the Disney version isn't the original), one has to remember that in the original, the mermaid dies and the prince ends up with another girl. So, if they wanted to go down the dark route, Mari would have needed a replacement and Lara would have had to sacrifice herself—assuming they actually wanted to take that path instead of delivering that stupid, half-baked ending that offered no real resolution, just incompetence and sheer apathy.
>>4607049Having My Joy flashbacks from this post. I can't believe that we got a similar ending in Lara but with less NTR and without Mari losing her chances to pursue her athletic career.
>>4607169>anti-critic schizo unable to go 5 minutes without projecting his fart fetishism as usual.
Comments about the Q&A stream are coming out. >In the scene where Lara and Mari are at the train station, it is crafted in a way such that their gazes don't meet, but even so, their hearts connect on a deeper, emotional level.Something along the lines of>"even if they are separated by distance and time, their eyes are still meeting"It sounds like the scene was supposed to come across more hopeful than it did, but the disconnect between what they intended and what was on screen is baffling.
>>4607228>In the scene where Lara and Mari are at the train station, it is crafted in a way such that their gazes don't meet, but even so, their hearts connect on a deeper, emotional level.Yeah they did such a good job that Mari being dead in that scene made sense as a theoryGotta thanks >>4606872 as it really doesn't get better as time goes on
>>4607192How is criticizing the show "anti-critic schizo", you retard?Wouldn't "anti-critic" defend the show?. Do you know what words mean?. You sound like the anti-critic schizo since you jumped to this nonsense as a response to my post shitting on the staff's retarded ideas
>>4607228Someone posted a transcript of the OG Japanese plus a machine translationhttps://www.reddit.com/r/GoodbyeLara/comments/1wq0a5n/transcription_translation_nonhuman_of_the_12th/His comments about moving on being difficult, Lara's transient nature, and so on, coupled with the overall tone of the epilogue and the "new light" line, doesn't lend itself to a very optimistic interpretation of the parting. It makes it sound like Lara's a fleeting girl who's there one moment, gone the next after she finds what she needs/wants, to repeat the process somewhere else.
>>4607238So: Lara's an slut who can't commit to any serious relationship or what?
>>4607228So it seems these were just comments from JP twitter, and don't reflect the interview at all. >>4607238>Director Koide: Even when the future is uncertain or leaving things behind causes pain, the act of choosing and stepping forward is what defines living—whether you are human or a mermaid.Great, I'll start by stepping forward and leaving this pretentious bs behind.
I love these memes so much
>>4607238This director is really fucked up in the head.Nothing he wrotes or talks about had any actual reflection or proper development in the anime he created, but hey his word is a word of God so he can say any bullshit now and you should belive his shit.
>>4607261Okay this is the best one yet.
Unironically go watch Forgotten Island if you want a story about the relationship between two girls that's properly developed including a separation that's set up early and explored with the proper nuance and way more optimism. Also has a merman that's constantly made fun of in case you're feeling a little bitter about the species like I am.
>>4607269
>>4607269Is it gay? The preview looked pretty gay
>>4607283It's just friendship but it's even gayer than trailers made it look.
>>4607269>ugly westshitWould rather rewatch Lara, and I hate Lara after that ending. At least Lara doesn't make me nauseus. If you're gonna reccomend non-anime shit to anime fans, make it a book or something not visual. Visual mediums require people liking the visual aspect and the aesthetic differences between anime and non-anime means non-anime recs to anime fans will never workI'd personally reccomend Kannazuki no MikoSouma does the comphet stuff better than Luca, and it does the whole "one girl must kill the other to save the world" much better, has a much better ending and of course both girls are explored beautifully and matter to the narrativeHell, Valkyrie Drive might be ecchi trash, but Akira's fake man act is also a better exploration of comphet than Lara does and it also has a better ending. And Mirei is nowhere near as neglected as Mari is by the narrative
>>4607005
>>4607234ACK doesn't stop being ACK just because sometimes he is anti gacha games rather than anti crack pairings.
>>4607306>ugly westshitI hate the pixar artstyle and male characters in it, but western cartoon art style aren't all bad. Only specific ones like cartoon network and pixar slop are. >At least Lara doesn't make me nauseus.Fake yuri fan.
>>4607328Fake yuri fan is when you have aesthetic preferences apparently. For all that is bad about Lara, you can't say the animation and art team did a bad job. It's just a tragedy they were wasted on such dogshit director and writer who shat on their story and characters in the last minutes for no good reason
>>4606827>>4606906>>4606908>The Summer Hikaru DiedThe author herself has claimed the BL label doesn't apply to her story. She's also extra woke and claims 'Hikaru' is asexual because he's an eldritch being despite the 1st volume showing him getting turned on by Yoshiki fisting his interdimensional chest hole. So yes there are 2deep4u creators on the BL side too who want to seem deeper than they are by distancing themselves from "cliché" (read: straightforward) depictions of gay relationships.
>>4607469Well she never said it can't be considered a BL, but the relationship is queerplatonic.
>>4607936No, she's explicitly said it's not a BL and chose not to use the tag, but that it's a queer/LGBT story. Basically bullshit that wouldn't fly in the yuri space.
>tfw the cuck director actually said that they just wrote the ending first in the new interview.lmao
>>4607998So he admitted whole anime was basically a waste of time, especially since nothing in 11 and 2/3 of last episode lead to that retarded independence ending theme, and were fully about finding true love message of human x mermaid union.He truly is a retard.
>>4607998It seemed obvious. Doing that, at least in a general way, isn't even a bad thing to do imo. But you still need to make it work. If you write an ending, then write everything else and it doesn't align, then you need to tweak the ending. But it doesn't seem he thought to do that in this case. Or thought his aggressively mediocre, cliche ending was too good to modify.
>>4607985You see that all the time in yuri. Yagakimi for example.
>>4607998Basically confirming our suspicions and explaining why the ending feels so disjointed, like it came from a different series altogether.
Both this and Flip Flappers were insta-classics until they kind of faltered in the end.
>>4608002I think the fatal flaw was having an ending he wanted to stick to while also giving each episode director the freedom to tweak things about the story they were in charge of protraying.
>>4608038You aren't wrong but we are definitely talking about massively different degrees here. Even if Flip Flappers floundered a bit at the end, I still have extremely good memories of it and love it dearly to this day.This shit just nuked itself at the finish.
>>4608038In Flip Flappers you could really feel the writer change. Here it came at the last minute with no warning.
>>4608041Flip Flappers only got away with it because of when it aired.
>>4608046Not really, you might not like the ending, but it's not a contradiction that ruins the whole thing; in Lara's case, it makes the entire series pointless.
>>4608040That makes Lara seem like another Hug Precure, a Frankenstein of loose ideas and concepts that didn't combine well in the end, and it gets worse the more you think about it.
>>4607998I find it funny that in the anime Kore Kaite Shine they talked about that method of making the ending first and then developing things to get to that point, the problem with Lara they forgot the part of developing to get to the point and just got to that point.
>>4608038at least FliFla ended in yuri, even the director said Cocona and Papika are"more than friends but less than lovers"
>>4608070Hey, 2 × 2 = Shinobuden uses the same analogy within the series itself; one of them was literally drooling over the other, so...
>>4608064It's not a contradiction, but this is also a transparently disenegous argument. None of the backlash is actually about "muh narrative contradiction". That is a thin veil for people being mad about it being bittersweet, or about the yuri not ending up with a kiss. When Flip Flappers aired it saw an immediate small wave of dissatisfaction that was then mellowed out by "well, it was yuri and a pretty high quality show". If Lara had aired a whole decade ago, it would have seen a similar small wave of dissatisfaction then replaced by generally positive reception. Much like how VD:M only got away with its bullshit because it aired a decade ago. If it were to air this year instead, the threads would be non-stop shitposting about male monster rape and how one of the main characters is just straight. Much like how Izetta caused minor waves of disappointment when it aired but if it aired now would be met with the same hostility.In fact, Izetta is probably the proper point of comparison that people keep ignoring, because Izetta literally ended the fucking same, with one character deciding it was better if she had her own place. Only Izetta was more subtextual and less explicit, and featured an end scene that took place after the separation.
>>4608073>That is a thin veil for people being mad about it being bittersweet, or about the yuri not ending up with a kiss.No, this is the lie people keep repeating to for some reason try and justify the godawful ending. Though I won't deny the complete disregard of the yuri aspect is a part of it, but that's due to the fact that it was built up so much. It's an aspect of it, but it fits in with the retardation in how poorly everything flows into the ending. Same with the shitposting around Luca's line. It's an attempt to deflect from everything else and pretend people just wanted Lara x Mari to happen (in a vacuum) when that's only one part of the disappointment with the ending.
Fat fish tits
>>4608073https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnkRg5PmmCg
>>4608073>Izetta is probably the proper point of comparisonIt's not. Fine and Izetta actually met at the end and you could even theorize that the ending was a homage to one of the most popular shonen het subtext couples (the end of the Hades arc in Saint Seiya) because even the MC's motif was red like Izetta. (And yes they also met years later with the red MC in a wheelchair but at least here Fine actually has her memories of her time with Izetta) Lara ended with a separation that was directed as if it was permanent and with no real reason shown in the actual show.
I'm a bit surprised the fan arts are still going strong. I suppose some of them were waiting for the anime to finish first. I admit I still enjoy the ship but I wish I never watched the anime in the first place.
>>4608124Not all of them are positivehttps://x.com/makgeolliyuzu/status/2104212014176538965Eventually most fanart will probably be this
>>4608186Lara is the one that needs to suffer, not Mari.
>>4608124There's actually way less fanart than what could have been possible if they stuck the landing, especially on the Japanese side. There were a bunch of yuri anime fanartists (usually draw little comics and doujin for shows like MyGo, Uma Musume, BTR, and Medalist) who had been excitedly tweeting about LaraMari while the show was ending but had much quieter responses to Episode 12. Generally a lot of these fanartists are waiting for the ending to jump wholeheartedly into a ship but the ending for Sayonara Lara was so out of the left and unsatisfying for yuri fans that it seems like it's really taken the wind out of their sails. If you look at the main hashatg on twitter there's barely a fanart every 6 hours only a week after the show ended and the majority of it is English/Chinese art.
>>4608213God that's sad. I remember when Shirahama drew Lara and had the feeling nothing could go wrong by that point. Imagine your anime's legacy is just disappointment.
>>4608073>None of the backlash is actually about "muh narrative contradiction"It absolutely is, that's what everyone has been talking about.>If it were to air this year instead, the threads would be non-stop shitposting about male monster rape and how one of the main characters is just straightThat's exactly what the threads were filled with, so thanks for telling us you're just talking out of your ass.>>4608073>Izetta literally ended the fucking same, with one character deciding it was better if she had her own placeBecause it made more sense given the circumstances, they are not comparable at all.
>>4608073The problem besides the ending is giving your girl a male love interest but then having the yuri be hidden in symbolisms and shitFlip Flappers, Izetta didn't have male love interests for any of the girls. In Valkyrie Drive:1.The mud monsters are clearly rejected2. Akira's a woman3. Mamori shows clear attraction to Mirei similar to "male Akira" and even stronger even if she's in denial. The very nature of being an ecchi show means they can focus on the sexual attraction. So despite any tasteless scenes, the yuri doesn't get downplayed
>>4608327
>>4608328
>>4608352
>>4608361I actually don't think the knife was supposed to leave a scar, but Lara gently caressing it in bed is hot enough to make it canon in my eyes.
>>4608365The director certainly didn't care to indicate any lasting (non-emotional) damage to Mari in the actual show.
>>4608307>Those absLara is so lucky... I wish abs were real.
>>4608333>>4608363there it is, that's what happened in those 5 seconds where the camera just showed the sky.thank you for dumping all these
>>4609192
>>4609194
>>4609196
>>4609192>>4609194>>4609196>>4609197beautiful art but the artist needs to learn about the 180 degree rule
honestly the more I think about how selfish Lara's personality really is, maybe Mari is better off without her
>>4607985Why lie? she's stated multiple times that it can be considered BL.
