I’ve never really complained about it all these years, but I’ve had this feeling since the cultural festival arc. There was this setup for something big that was supposed to happen after chapter 23. Kashima had been encouraged by his cousin. They both knew about each other’s feelings, and it seemed like they were going to compete for Tono, but then… nothing.
Having the three protagonists walking around the festival together felt pointless. It didn’t lead anywhere romantically, and it wasn’t even particularly funny to watch.
Before, Tanaka took five chapters just to cover one day of camping, and now the entire Romeo and Juliet play didn’t even get five pages. I understand the metaphors behind it, but it just wasn’t interesting. Even the kiss was kind of underwhelming, and apparently everyone forgot about it pretty quickly, even Yaguchi and Tono almost.
The fight with Tono was fine and it served the purpose of exposing Yaguchi, but then in two pages he gets accepted by his friends and his classmates just stop talking about it. Kashima was basically left on the shelf for almost ten chapters, so for years, until he finally resurfaced recently.
Sorry for the rant, but I needed to write this down somewhere at least once
I don’t know if it’s actually like this, but lately I’ve noticed that, after the initial excitement, there’s kind of an overall feeling of disappointment surrounding the latest chapters.
Yagutoono fans don’t seem to believe anymore that they’re actually going to end up together and even their latest kiss and confession didn’t get the reaction I expected. Meanwhile, the Kashitono fans were super excited about chapter 32, but then Tono ran away and Kashima completely shut himself off, so they don’t seem very happy with how things are going either.
The other club members have basically been forgotten, and whenever they do show up, they feel more like caricatures. The sex scenes are basically nonexistent now. It’s not like I was particularly invested in them but they were part of the manga’s original premise and they also used to lead to a lot of funny situations.
Shikatani randomly cross-dresses and I don’t even remember what Tamura looks like anymore. The only fans who seem happy are the Yuri/Jimmy fans (well, except for the ones who were hoping for Tamura and Yuri) because they’re actually fun, they get romantic and erotic scenes together, and they’ve continued to grow as characters.
I won’t say anything about Akemi and Itome because I have a feeling their arc is coming soon.
Honestly, Kashima feels like a completely different character compared to the beginning. The whole “Kashima chasing after Tono” premise is basically gone. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with giving him more of a background and making him a more three-dimensional character, but sometimes it genuinely feels like I’m reading a different manga.
Yaguchi has had some really good development too, but he also feels different. At first he used to have these malicious moments (he was never actually a bad person) that were really funny. Now he’s basically been turned into a tsundere, even though he wasn’t really like that in the beginning.
Tono is honestly the only one who still feels consistent, even when he goes through changes.
I’m also kind of sad that Tanaka took so long to continue the story, because after growing as an artist and working on different stories, her style has obviously changed. Maybe even for the better in some ways, but the humor and the overall atmosphere just aren’t the same anymore.
I still like Yarichin, and I’ve been following it for over a decade now, with some breaks here and there, but I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something missing and that I’m not completely satisfied anymore. Sometimes it feels like the manga isn’t being made with love anymore and is more rushed