!!!!!!

Yeah, maybe she thought to save the best for some special, over dramatic moment. ^^ I'm looking forward to it. ^^

Why? Please, don't do that.(￣∇￣")

If she doesn't make a bigger more dramatic character development for Akihito in this arc I plan to take a long break and wait until the end of this manga to read it. My reading preferences changed in time and I simply don't enjoy to read Finder like I used to anymore. Quite saddening because it feels like I'm saying farewell to an old friend.

Maybe you have high expectations for a manga that proceeds at a real slow pace. If you want to wait until the end of Finder, possibly you will need a great deal of patience (and years). (￣∇￣")

Yes, slow pace is literally killing me, especially every time I read Junjou Romantica it feels like I aged 10 years more. ( ￣∇￣")
But even in Junjou Romantica which is 10 times more frustrating than Finder, Misaki had a huge character development which got me hopeful for Finder too...
I should know better#－.－)

More than character development I would like to see more action and mafia tradings... yeah, surely my tastes are special. (￣∇￣")

Not at all, I also think Finder would be a good seinen manga. (●'◡'●)

Personally, I would not change a thing (except it might be nice to see a little more Fei/Yoh, Tao and Mik)

^_^ ^_^ ^_^

Yeah, I would like to see them again soon. I have such a crush on Yoh. (￣∇￣")

He is a cutie, and I like poor old tortured Fei

Yeah, Fei.

I'm pinning all my hopes on Aki's headstrong nature, Hot Monk, and the cover of volume 8. And if not, we still have the old version here and can just pretend the rest of it never happened, right?

Just got a sneak peek - Aki is left in the cold when Asami finds a new boy ... http://www.mangago.me/home/photo/832326/
Maybe Aki will hook up with Hot Monk?














Joking

Joke aside: Hot Monk has... *coughs* potential. Who knows, maybe she can hook him up with Fei Long. ^^ I for one would like to see what's under the monk outfit. Yeah, I'm a pevert like that.

Amen to all of that. And yeah, that volume 8 cover... I'm literally itching to see that scene play out.

Fei group hug! :)

Aww, man... :( You know, I have absolute zero idea how this works in the mangaka world. But I would be interested to know how free they are in their creative process. And I don't just mean the art work, but the plot. So: How much of the plot is the mangaka's own creative process and hasn't bee influenced by anyone? And how much of it is the influence of the publisher, the editor etc.? It has been mentioned here quite a few times that sensei originally had different ideas in terms of the storyline and the characterline, that she had intended to go this way and another, but that it was decided (by whom? her? her publisher? both?) to take a different route in the end.

So in this particular case I'm wondering: Was it just her create decision which she was 100 % free to make? Or was she convinced/talked into/pressured, even, to backtrack Akihito's Lightbulb (his aha-moment with regards to his place in Asami's life and in his heart)?

What is also surprising about this is, that in the Asami novel, the author (based on sensei's input) was rather open and revealing in terms of Asami's feeling towards Akihito in the last chapter. Asami's feelings there were quite enlightening. That was as much of a "I'm in love with Akhito" as we're probably going to get any time soon (or ever). So it's interesting, that on the one hand, the novel takes two steps forwards in the feelings/emotions department (yeah, yeah, I know it's just the novel, not the manga...), but then then rerelease of the manga backtracks in Akihito's case.

It's almost as if the original version... was considered a mistake. Something she (or her publisher?) regreted putting in there. And that now they are maybe trying to "rewrite Finder history", so to speak. *sigh*

PS - thanks again for the detailed comparison, eworth! :)

I think the whole series has been a bit off the cuff for sensei, because the original story was only chapter one - a one shot, that became super popular. Sensei has admitted that had she known it would turn out this way, that the original chapter would have been different, so I think she is swayed by outside opinion and welcomes some outside input. But that could just be rumour ...
The novels - while approved by sensei, were not written by her, so they are almost a kind of fan fiction - I think.

As far as I know, Sensei wrote the rough plot for both the novels. So they are canon.