Four days! Four days I lived like a zombified hermit to finish the typesets Stiletto mercilessly left behind for Kiyoku Yawaku. If that’s how much work it took to type the 80+ pages, then I can’t imagine how much energy Swirly must have used up to clean these atrocious raws. By the way, thank you, Swirly, for donating the tankos! Starting from Volume 3, we will be using HQ raws.
With that squared away, I should be able to say, “Tonight I sleep like a baby.” Because I seriously need sleep. Three hours a day for four days is going to kill me. Seriously. And it’s been hard for me to sleep while working on Mayama’s arc. The moment my head hits the pillow, my brain cogs start wheeling in motion. Because I’ve lost a friend too.
I called up my ex-boyfriend yesterday, but hung up before he could answer. We went to the same high school. He was a senior, I a freshman. He was there at the breakfast table when my dad said he had received a call from my mom, who was vacationing in Thailand.
“Oh, by the way,” he said. “Your mom called and said your friend…what was her name? The one who used to come over all the time?”
“Who, [ ]?” I said.
“Yes, [ ]. She’s dead. Hung herself from the ceiling. Her aunt called your mother and told her they were going to hold a funeral.”
At the time we weren’t friends anymore. We got into an argument the summer before high school started and never spoke to each other again. She died without ever telling me why she was so angry with me. The last we interacted was in English class when she passed out papers to everyone in her row but me…
Anyway, I hung up on my ex because he’s been seeing someone new, and so have I. He won’t be able to move on if he keeps feeling sorry for me. Guys are suckers for damsels in distress. It’s depressing stuff, I know. And I’m sorry. Hopefully a full night’s rest will do me some good.
For those of you who suffer from bad memory, let me refresh it for you. Mayama is the punk who tried to steal his friend’s girl Haruta’s high school friend. Last place we left off in Volume 2, Haruta died after smashing his bike into a truck while texting Kanna.
Fast forward a few years, and we find Mayama, now a college student in Tokyo, trying to help his Sempai score. It is there that he meets our country bumpkin heroine, Ai Nagatomo, and admits to a fetish for long hair?
(Only kidding.)
Even though it’s a chapter with a simple theme, Ryou’s amazing ability to realistically portray inner turmoil and suffering deserves applaud. What absolutely slays me is how good Mayama’s arc is. So good that it’s unsettling.
Yesterday, I was stalled at a stop light and noticed a teenage boy talking on his phone while biking across the street. Any other day, I would have shrugged it off. But you see, now things have changed. That is what a truly good story can do to you.
Thank you guys for all the hard work with these great mangas!!
Kiyoku Yawaku was such a great series! Probably one of the best I read. I really liked Mayama’s arc as well but I probably liked Kanna’s better. I started to really appreciate this series while reading volumes 6 and 7. Before then, I thought it was just a good series of slightly related oneshots, nothing extraordinary for Ikuemi Ryou the goddess. Then I realized what made this story unique and I got hooked.
Agree!
As a whole, the series is divided into two major overarching arcs: Kanna and Roku. Mayama’s arc is actually part of Kanna’s. So, in other words, I’m with you there. I love her story. I’m really excited for the next few chapters because Kanna will be playing a critical part in upending Ai Nagatomo’s peaceful life. 🙂
Do you have any idea why it’s called “Puzzle” in France though?
Eh… In the french annotation there is something like “this story is composed like a real puzzle”, and now when I know about Kanna and Roku, I can say that the annotation contain a little spoiler :’) But I can’t understand why they have changed the original title.
“Puzzle” is the word we use to say” jigsaw puzzle” in French. As Filli wrote, it refers to the way the story is built. At first, the reader can believe that the different chapters are just separate oneshots. Then, little by little, connections appear and build a bigger story. And the whole story doesn’t appear before the very end. It took me a while to understand that the whole point of Kiyoku Yawaku was to allow us to get to know the main characters before actually meeting them, by showing us how other characters saw them and how their lives were influenced by Kanna and Roku. It reminds me more of concentric circles than a jigsaw puzzle but that analogy also works.
I think the french publisher chose that title in order to try to convince sceptical readers to stick with the series, that it was more than it seemed at first sight. Ikuemi Ryou is very famous in Japan and her name alone is enough to draw readers in. Besides, any manga reader can tell at first sight that the series is very promising. But the french market is different, smaller. Ikuemi Ryou is practically unknown here and readers less experienced. Most shoujo readers are teenagers who tend to prefer series that are easier to read, more immediately rewarding and older readers usually stick to seinen. Publishing such an ambitious and unusual (by french standards) shoujo was a gamble, and it didn’t pay off. Kiyoku Yawaku was a huge failure and unfortunately, this means that we probably won’t get to read another series by this mangaka for a while, if ever. Most readers thought this series was too convoluted and as a result difficult to read and to enjoy. To be honest, even if I’m glad to have been able to read Kiyoku Yawaku, I would have tried to publish a more mainstream series, like Principal, before this one. It’s as if the publisher had thought; “If I have to publish one series by Ikuemi Ryou, it will be this one!”.
Oh, thank you. I didn’t know this thongs about french manga market before…
Thank you so much for the new chapter!
Please, can you re-upload the links to Act 3a and Act 3b?
cats, please revisit this page for the downloads: https://stilettoheelsteam.net/book/kiyoku-yawaku/
It should be working now!
Thank you very much!!
Nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
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Thank youuu!!! I’ve bought some french volumes of kiyoku, but I haven’t got the second vol. :’) The story (and the author) is amazing, thank you for translating Kiyoku and other Ikuemi’s works, especially Principal. They give me an impression of real life… And, somehow, your story reminds a lot of this story.
Thank you soooooooooooooooooooo much, I really love all of your works. Please continue your hard working.