Ah, and something quirky to plan in for your catch-up that just caught my eye:
Subaru is a RU series. Issue 75 was a RU issue, but issue 76 is a TA issue, so there is no Subaru in #76. So you could do your Subaru catch-up alongside reading 76 (and probably discover a couple more new series In 76 to add to your catch-up list ) and then see your hero for more in #77
If that makes no sense:
Harta has three types of series (there’s a chart at the back p 848), and three types of issues:
Oh, perfect! I may have already dipped into #76 so I’m going to get my post set up for that issue, then I think I’ll start Subaru! This is quickly becoming a very involved project
Oh, man, I was looking forward to this one, and it delivered! Really excited to keep reading. I thought the art was really nice and expressive with the thick shadows, and the mix of humor and action was good! Interested to see how our characters get to know each other and what kind of interpersonal conflicts arise.
真柴姉弟は顔が固い The Mashiba siblings are stone-faced
I liked the sibling relationship The comedy seemed fun enough, I’ll keep reading and see how it is.
For some reason I had kind of a hard time following this one at first and grasping what the story was about, so I didn’t really connect with it by the end. Not sure why
Well, they certainly 渡る’d that 山 ! This one was okay, lots of domain-specific mountain climbing vocabulary with the tools and stuff. I liked the scenery, but was less interested in the explanations of how mountain climbing works. This would be great for someone who likes to climb, though!
Another really good looking series! I will add this to the catch-up list but it looks okay to jump in to the journey in the middle as well. Looking forward to checking this one out.
紅椿 Beni Tsubaki
So, I heeded everyone’s warnings about this one being horny and read the chapter at home instead of at work It was indeed, wildly horny. At least everyone seemed like they were having fun The contrast between the last chapter, which seemed like a normal-ish series about like, youkai people, and this one is cracking me up.
The art in this manga is so unique and evocative, and the story is so melancholy
北北西に雲と注げ
I liked this short, seems like a good enough series that I’d keep reading if it wasn’t getting transferred soon. Not quite interested enough to read the collected volumes, though.
This seemed like an intriguing supernatural… horror? This was the third chapter so I wasn’t sure if this is a short series that will be wrapping up soon.
ニコラのおゆるり魔界紀行 Nicola's Demon World Travelogue (new to me)
This series seemed cute! I like the art style a lot. Too bad it’s ending in 81. I googled the author but it looks like she doesn’t have another long running series yet.
Annnnd we’re done! I liked this issue overall and feel like I got plenty out of it. This time I didn’t comment on everything I read, but here’s the TOC highlighted with everything I read vs skipped. Looks like I read 23 chapters and skipped 10. I’m looking forward to around issue 80/81 when the Aokishi split happens because starting at 75 is a little awkward with all the series that are about to be transferred. I’m also looking forward to getting to know brand new series as they start in the magazine vs jumping in partway.
I read this whole volume yesterday and decided to sleep on it to let my impressions percolate. The art is really nice and atmospheric, and it’s quite easy to read, so that was nice.
What I kind of came away with was the impression that the age regression creates this sort of barrier to their relationship which then creates a vibe of tender longing where they can’t be together. What I wondered about that is kind of like… why not write any other type of real-life couple that can’t be together and so has moments of tender longing, like a gay couple, or an interracial couple, etc? I mean, why does it have to be age regression, I guess, is the question It kind of reminded me of those YA dystopia stories I used to read as a teenager where it was all like ‘imagine a world where love is forbidden ’ and they just mean ‘love between two straight people of the same race/class/etc’ because, of course, in the real world, all kinds of relationships can be and have been forbidden. That’s not to say I hated the story of this manga, I guess I just wondered why one would reach for this particular story and barrier to a relationship. Like, it almost felt at times like I was reading a gay story about straight people.
Of course, the specific factor of the age regression does raise a lot of questions for me too. Like, okay, they’re pretending to be siblings. Where is his family? Do they know what happened, or do they think he disappeared? Where is her family? What if they come to visit and hear from someone else that she has a little boy living with her? I also recognize that it’s tough for him to be constantly treated like a child when mentally he isn’t- I wondered if this remains for long enough, would he start to feel like a child? I also wondered if he would ever be turned back, or if the conclusion of the story would just be that she has to wait for him to grow up, which would show that she has eternal patience for waiting for him, despite society saying they can’t be together. If that’s the case, then, y’know, again, that could be any number of other societal barriers that aren’t ‘in love with a man that was cursed to have a child body’
So, that raised a lot of thoughts for me, but I’m still curious about this manga so I’ll keep reading and updating you all!
This is one of my favourite things about this manga, I enjoy being in the world
I like that way of putting it, that is the vibe.
It’s a bit troubling with the age gap, that’s exactly why I don’t unreservedly shout out about this manga. I an unconformable with recommending something dwelling on longing in that situation, but on the other hand, it’s not triggering for me and I find the setup and questions it raises compelling somehow
Interesting, I hadn’t thought about it like that.
Why fantasy or sci fi… at all?
On the one hand, I just wonder if one answer is that sometimes or for some people they can explore an emotional state or a situation more honestly when the premise is fantasy. So in professional reflection practices (e.g., for medical and teaching professionals) one technique is to abstract the situation to make it unrecognisable because without that the person reflecting (or author, or reader in our case) may pull up subconscious barriers to engaging in the actual topic honestly and thoroughly. This is a sneaky way of lowering our defenses.
Harta has done that for me, the one-shots have revolutionised what I’m willing to give a chance and as a result 7 issues in I’m now looking back at some of the things I skipped in Harta 75 and thinking… I might read it anyway (even though a certain aspect is distasteful to me)
Another idea, I don’t know this mangaka’s past but I wonder if this scenario is a stand-in for them exploring a different real life longing that is so taboo that’s why.
Or, the simplest idea I have, as an author, let’s say you want to explore the forbidden love angle, but if you aren’t yourself gay or have been in an interracial relationship, that could lead to a rather inauthentic work that enrages people who have. Whereas a fantasy scenario means exploring it without experience is allowed lol and you might get less judgment for mucking it up.
yes that’s me! This is what I like about this premise, once I got wrapped up in the world and I was like oh. What if… like you did, and I thought actually it is its own interesting scenario about how to deal with these challenges. And I have fun getting wrapped up in that for the scenes that lend themselves to it. Mostly, if they grow up as brother / sister it’s not exactly as easy as waiting for him to come of age. In everyone else’s eyes they’re siblings, doh!
Now that your post is buried give a little nudge when you update it!
Yes, as I was reading it I kept being like, I can’t quite decide how I feel about this But not in an ick, definitely can’t read this way, just like, hmm
Yeah, true! If it’s fantasy then there’s no pressure or preconceptions coming from the readers.
I had this thought too. Is there something they want to explore that’s taboo but they didn’t want to explore whatever the actual real-life situation was, so they ended up approaching it from this kind of removed perspective through a fantasy situation?
I also had the thought that, (not knowing anything about the mangaka’s work/life, just speculating) if the author wanted to explore a real-life topic like gay relationships, it could be that writing an explicitly gay manga would get them labeled as BL/Yuri and then as an author they’re kind of put in a box where they may be expected to write certain genre conventions, or people dismiss their work offhand. But, if they’re writing a fantasy straight relationship, then they can explore any aspects they want without being locked in to a genre expectation or dismissed by a straight audience.
Yes, exactly- if they wait for him to grow up… what then? Can they actually be together? Also, would she still see him in a romantic way after living as siblings for so long, and seeing him physically as a child, or would her feelings change?
I wonder if I should update the post and then nudge, or if I should just write reviews in a fresh post and then link them in the original post, so they’re all together? With the linking method, people trying to follow the conversation afterwards could click through and see the discussion. It does get a little tough to organize these threads sometimes
I stumbled over a short story by the same author (and I also wrote about that in this thread) and it seems like the author has an interest in the setting of featuring a young boy and a more mature woman as well as age regression and explored it in other stories as well. If you read the replies to my comment, rodan gave some nice context and definitely has a more favorable interpretation than I have (mine borders more on – this seems like a fetish to me), but I can’t really enjoy this series anymore since I stumbled over this other short story by the author. Not saying that my disappointment is correct, but it is there and I can’t really enjoy the series anymore.
You know, the Conan reading does seem likely given the huge popularity of Conan… plus there’s the prevalence of age-gap relationships in Japanese media overall.
That’s understandable. I haven’t read the story you came across so I would have to decide for myself how I feel that the subject is handled, but that’s not something I want to read at the moment
It does seem after reading the discussion about the author’s other works that they are interested in depicting specifically age gap situations, so I suppose that answers my question of ‘why reach for a de-aging situation as your first choice.’ I think at least 昴とスーさん doesn’t appear to be going in a sexual direction, which is what would put me off of continuing the story, but I think your feelings are understandable and I totally get not wanting to read the author anymore!
Ok, I’m done with issue #76! Still think I got my 110 yen’s worth. Technically if I continue at this pace I could do 2 issues per month which would be a pretty nice pace for (eventually) catching up to the magazine. But it’s a lot of manga reading so also maybe I won’t At the very least I’ll aim for 1 issue per month.
His presence would be illegal at the time. I think the implication is that she found him injured or otherwise in need and took him in out of compassion, but other than that I don’t think the circumstances are made explicit.
New series starting in Harta Alta seems quite interesting. Mystery story where all the suspects have supernatural abilities. Also I’m a sucker for snowy settings
That looks fun, thanks @VikingSchism ! Starts Monday on Harta Alta for anyone not clicking on X.
I’m trying to figure out Harta Alta again. Do I understand it right that they publish monthly and you can access the last 2 chapters before they disappear?
What happens to these - do they graduate to the main magazine or do they just go straight to Tankobon if they are popular?
responses to soggy on Harta 76
向かいの彼女 Girl on the other side
I notice my mood and how rushed or relaxed I am matters a lot. Sometimes I’ll read one again and my impressions can change a lot. I was in a certain mood when I read this one and it hit me in my stride, but it definitely wouldn’t have at other times. I remember having to read it twice though, for similar reasons since it took me a while to figure out what the heck was going on. Then I read it like a comedy/thoughtful ‘what if’ scenario
Yeah, the other day I started laughing to myself internally in anticipation of you coming across some of these, and it reminded me of some fun discussions I hope you found
It’s great! I skipped a lot more than you from the start so it might not be comparable, but yes it did make it really fun in a different way to have a handful of series that I was following from the start.
The main thing I do is check in for updates (nearly) every Monday. You’re right about roughly how things work for a specific series within that, although I would be surprised if the rate of new chapters or how much is left free is 100% set in stone.
There’s also occasional short stories, and once recently they republished an older series from the magazine at a chapter a week. The first chapter of any given series is also always free.
They don’t move to the main magazine, no (or at least, that hasn’t ever happened). They do get tankobon like the regular magazine series, and those are handled the same as any other “HARTA COMIX” label tankos (announced in the magazine the month before, released alongside the magazine, etc.).
I’m no manga editor or publisher, so I don’t know how the reasoning works behind the scenes at all and this is purely speculation, but I would guess since a lot of the authors of Alta series had previous series in the main magazine, that it’s a way to expand the capacity of what the same editorial infrastructure can put out and keep more authors in the system while I assume still getting most or all of the direct monetary benefit of publishing the manga via the collected sales, and not disrupting the balance of the main magazine. (and maybe if a fully monthly cadence works better for certain authors than a 10/year or 6/year that goes into it too, who knows).
Anyway that’s to say I guess that it does feel in general like “more Harta, but over there.” (rather than like a feeder or slightly less official level like 八咫烏杯 or something)
) and then see your hero for more in #77
so I’m going to get my post set up for that issue, then I think I’ll start Subaru! This is quickly becoming a very involved project 
The comedy seemed fun enough, I’ll keep reading and see how it is.
’ and they just mean ‘love between two straight people of the same race/class/etc’ because, of course, in the real world, all kinds of relationships can be and have been forbidden. That’s not to say I hated the story of this manga, I guess I just wondered why one would reach for this particular story and barrier to a relationship. Like, it almost felt at times like I was reading a gay story about straight people.
2/4
yes that’s me! This is what I like about this premise, once I got wrapped up in the world and I was like oh. What if… like you did, and I thought actually it is its own interesting scenario about how to deal with these challenges. And I have fun getting wrapped up in that for the scenes that lend themselves to it. Mostly, if they grow up as brother / sister it’s not exactly as easy as waiting for him to come of age. In everyone else’s eyes they’re siblings, doh!
I will read your notes sometime in the second half of this year when I get there