That happens to me too! For me, I think it’s specific to Aria. I haven’t had the issue with other manga. But still really confusing.
It’s Venice in SPAAAACE! With cute girls! But without any actual SPACE!
It’s not in SPAAAACE though, except for the first few pages.
Edit: well, as far as we could see.
Spoiler alert!!
That’s the one I had in mind, yes 
It’s chapter 4’s discussion, stuff that happened in the first few pages do not count as spoiler!
@windupbird has been typing for like 10 minutes now, and I’m eagerly awaiting what they have to say!
It’s on Mars. Mars isn’t Earth, therefore Mars is space.
But it’s also ON Mars, hence space without the space.
He’s been typing since I wrote my post 25 minutes ago. Think he’s just fallen asleep on his keyboard.
I’ve had this issue with other manga, but I haven’t noticed it too much with Aria. I think I do still have moments like that with Aria, but it just doesn’t bother me as much as it has with other manga. I kind of let those moments go because it doesn’t feel too terribly crucial to know who said what right away, and like you said, it usually becomes clear after another panel or two anyway. Sometimes I’ll go back and reread a segment if I realize later that the person speaking isn’t who I thought it was. Like @seanblue said, I think it probably gets easier to immediately deduce who’s speaking from speech pattern cues when you become more fluent in the language.
…I once attempted to read a manga where the opening scenes were just three guys sitting in a bar and talking, and it was a nightmare. Like …would it be so hard to put some direction on your speech bubbles please D: And stop showing random shots of the countertop when people are talking k thanks
(I actually stopped reading it because I got so annoyed by that, haha xD I spent more time trying to figure who was saying what than actually reading the darn thing. Maybe someday I’ll try again).
(LOL @seanblue way to amp up the pressure, I’m sure this was so not worth the anticipation xD
@Belthazar No I’m just the most indecisive poster on the planet And also a girl I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve spent an hour plus writing a post, only to delete it and never post anything)
I kind of wish people could (optionally) set their gender on the forums. It would probably help with the pronoun issues and stop people from awkwardly using “they” as a workaround.
I do that sometimes, but usually not after typing for an hour (except that time I was typing up a question for Kiki and then figured it out as I was writing the question).
By the way, I didn’t realize you were such a high level. When do you think you’ll hit level 60?
It’s on Mars, Mars has an atmosphere, therefore Mars is not space
Unrelated, but to prevent a double post:
You can use they with confidence when talking about me 
Haha, I always assume that my general writing style and overuse of emojis gives me away as a girl, but I don’t mind a “they” either. Gender is tricky on these types of forums, for sure. 
I’m also somewhat incapable of writing posts that aren’t essays, so that makes it take even longer xD The conversation has usually moved on by the time I’m satisfied with my post, so in the end, I figure it’s just not worth posting.
I know, I can hardly believe it myself 
I’ve actually been trying to slow down a bit so that I’ll at least finish Genki I before I reach level 60 (unfortunately, that plan hasn’t been going too well xD) Between that and being busy at work, I’ve been averaging about 2 weeks per level recently, so it probably won’t be for another couple months. I’m not really in a hurry to finish. My commute will feel so empty without WK lessons and reviews to do!
Yes, you are very good at never hinting at what your gender is. 
I sometimes feel like lack of quote attribution is a standard thing for Japanese writing. I’ve lost count of the number of (translated) Japanese novels that just read like
“Yes. Yes. This is a fertile land and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land! And we will call it… this land!”
“I think we should call it your grave!”
“Ah! Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!”
“Ha ha ha! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!”
“Oh no god! Oh, dear God in heaven!”
It’s like, who’s even in this scene, much less who’s talking? At least with manga we get pictures…
I knew that’d happen the moment I wrote “he”. If I’d written “she”, though, you’d’ve been a guy.
Let’s just go with the Japanese usage and avoid all pronouns wherever possible:
@windupbird has been typing since I wrote my post 25 minutes ago. Think @windupbird has just fallen asleep on @windupbird’s keyboard.
I recently read “The Black Tides of Heaven” by JY Yang, in which all children below the age of about sixteen use “they” pronouns. Except the main character was one of a pair of twins, so it was constantly confusing whether the narration was talking about both of them or just one…
But it’s more than 100km from the Earth’s surface, thus by the currently accepted definition, it counts as outer space.
But now the question is, what “I” are you using? 私、わたくし、僕、俺、あたし、わし、我、吾輩、おいら?
[appropriately solemn voice] 吾輩は猫である
I use 私 (わたし) in real life, including with family and friends.
@Belthazar
We are actually using different definitions of space, specifically 2.1 and 2.2 in this dictionary
2.1 doesn’t give you much to define something as hard sci-fi, since you could argue that, say, a fantasy story is “just” happening on a different planet, and thus would be happening in “space” 
Regardless of that, I really like space opera in general, which relies a lot on def 2.2 of space.
Aww, I kicked off a whole discussion and immediately went to sleep 
Yeah, that’s what I’m wondering - I don’t really remember having this problem with Flying Witch though, so I thought maybe Aria had particularly confusing bubble placement or something. Seems like latownsley also finds Aria more confusing than usual, but windupbird finds it less confusing than usual, so who knows
I’m starting to pick up on their speech patterns more, so I’m sure that’ll help. Still requires me to read the bubble in order to know who’s speaking though; I guess I’d expect, in a comic format, to be able to predict who is saying what without even having to read the text 
Also… spaaaaaaaaaace!
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