[No longer updating this blog because I was unhappy with the story telling and I don’t want to invest any more time or money into translations. Enjoy the archive.]
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The first chapter of the Love and Poison side story has been delayed due to Comikey not receiving raws from the publisher on time. It’s not yet known by Comikey when the chapter will publish.
May I ask you on your thoughts on the final chapter of Firefly Wedding? I’ve been seeing a lot of… mixed thoughts on it to put it lightly.
Tbh I also have mixed thoughts and am unsure how to feel on it but I also feel it’s not the worst ending ever???
Thoughts below the cut.
I think that the ending is a symptom of a greater issue. That being that I don’t think Oreco Tachibana did a good job planning the plot beats. Instead, it feels like she was writing by the seat of her pants. For example, in the beginning of the story, Jubei is distressed that Satoko has been kidnapped, and whips Kotaro as punishment for his failure to protect Satoko. And when Nitobe shows up back at the Kirigaya Estate, we see that Jubei is sick with worry for her. But his behavior is inconsistent with his explanation to Satoko that when he found out that Rei Kirigaya went behind his back to plan Satoko’s kidnapping with Mitsueda, Jubei approved the idea with the caveat that Nitobe would swoop in to save Satoko. As a planned meet cute to create chemistry between them to overcome the issue of a man not wanting to marry Satoko because of her illness, and so Satoko doesn’t have to lie to him. So why punish Kotaro if it was his plan to have Satoko kidnapped? The whole Kirigaya family was in on it, and I don’t see why he would have to save face to the servants. Another writing inconsistency is the outcome of Mitsuharu & Satoko’s wedding.
This image of Shinpei being victorious and them having a red wedding was one of the earliest promotional images that was released. However, the wedding ends with Shinpei, in my opinion, losing and Satoko soothing him into submission. This is a big contrast with what Oreco had planned in the beginning. As she mentioned in an interview that at the beginning of the story, she had a particular end envisioned. The ending of the wedding brings back around an idea set up in chapter 43, about Shinpei recovering his mental health and learning to be happy without Satoko. But this is dropped to focus on Jubei returning Satoko to the Kirigaya Estate, and brought back up at the ending of the wedding as to give Shinpei a new goal to work towards. A future for himself where he helps people instead of hurting people. And we see that when Shinpei is left to his own devices, he goes back to being a mercenary, and teaches a boy to be one himself, but without killing. Which I think misses the mark of using himself for good? I love the idea of Shinpei having a mental health arc, I just think that it wasn’t woven in with the story well enough to see it come to fruition.
And because we can see that Oreco has moved away from her original plan without a well structured plot to replace it, we can come back around to the ending. The theme was that Satoko was like a firefly, she would shine brightly for a short period of time and then die out. And an intersecting theme was whether or not she had a say on who her husband was.
I think that the original plan was for Satoko to die, as the firefly theme set up, after marrying a man her father didn’t want for her. Hence why old man Shinpei is reading her letter at the beginning of the story. But Oreco decided to go off the original course to create an ending where they could live happily ever after. I’m not sure what would compel her to make this decision, but it could have been two things: She has said that she sees them like her own children, and so perhaps she decided she didn’t want to see a bad ending for them. And perhaps fan reception to the idea of her death.
Whatever it was that made her to change her mind, she saved Satoko from death to give her a happy ending. To all those that are happy with the ending, or are mixed about it but are glad to see them end up together: Oreco wrote this ending for you. I’m not being sarcastic, I’m 100% /positive when I say I’m happy that she wrote this ending for you.
To those who are happy they’re together but upset that they only came together when they were old: Oreco wrote herself into a corner with her original plan, and this is the best way she thought she could pivot into her new ending.
To those who are unhappy with the ending: I hope you’ll take away from this the good times you had reading the chapters… I’ve sunk a lot of time and money into this blog and fandom. That’s all I can tell myself.
Just based on these paragraphs, I think one can see that my issues with the writing run deeper than the ending. So while the ending did break previously established themes, and I’m unhappy about that. I think the ending was an increasingly larger snowball rolling down the hill towards me I was going to have issues with one way or another.
I’ve sat with the ending for some time… and all the issues of the manga have killed my motivation to update the blog.
If you enjoyed the ending, make sure to let your opinion be known! I’m sure Oreco would want to hear it right now.
The adaption is produced by David Production, known for the "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" series and "Cells at Work." It is directed by Takahiro Kamei, known for "Urusei Yatsura" and "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind," and character designed by Yukiko Aike, known for "Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop" and "Your Lie in April."
Tachibana expressed her excitement, saying, "I'm looking forward to seeing how the characters, entrusted to David, who excels in action, will move on screen. I can't contain my excitement. I'm entrusting the characters, whose action skills are captivating, to David, and I wonder how they'll move on screen. I'm really looking forward to it, supported by the director, who is gentle and lovingly invested in the work, and character designer Aike, who carefully captures even the smallest nuances. I really want to watch the anime on TV for the first time with all the readers, but I wonder if I need to supervise first. I'll discuss it with him. I hope everyone enjoys it together!”
When aoi told satoko about yukari "she's always been strong willed, But she's gotten even worse after shinpe-sama stopped sleeping with her"
What does it actually mean? Does that mean shinpei have s3x with yukari or what?
I think Aoi was trying to say, in the nicest way possible, that Yukari is usually demanding or acts in whatever way will gain her what she wants. And her behavior has gotten worse since Yukari lost her love rival Satoko.
More thoughts, which contain spoilers, below:
But I encourage readers to consider that Satoko is the daughter of one of the Celestial Maiden Island Management Guild members. And while initially she’s told to become a sex worker to secure a man to buy her freedom, she is seemingly freed of that obligation because it makes her uncomfortable. And she had no need to actually secure her own freedom because her father can release her from the island any time he wants. However, for Yukari, her freedom depends on the love and attention of a man. While Shinpei and Satoko run around the island, Yukari must continue courting men until she can find one who deems her worth paying for. So to lose a man to another woman in her job is to lose the opportunity to leave the job, the island, and to gain a household and a relationship she is desperate for as seen in Kotaro Ogawa Part 2. Yukari seems to have genuinely liked Shinpei and Shinpei seemingly has money at times, enough to buy Satoko a load of engagement gifts. And he has a stable job. So it’s not out of the question that Shinpei could have bought her out of the job. And even if he didn’t have the money to leave the island, that wouldn’t have been totally necessary because non-sex workers like shop vendors have to be able to have households on the island. So they could have lived perfectly fine on the island.
It’s not unreasonable for Yukari, after losing her relationship opportunity with Shinpei, to buckle down and find another man to secure her freedom.
