#namaiki zakari

[hotwaterandmilk]

Series: Namaikizakari. Artist: Miyuki Mitsubachi Publication: Hana to Yume Issue #13 (06/2021) Details: Hanayume June Bride Catalog Source: Scanned from my personal collection

[kaizokucujoh]

Naruse Shou icons

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[shipcestuous-two]

Namaiki Zakari (cont'd)

After sending that in, I decided to continue my re-read of the manga and, in addition to the other stuff that’s suggestive of brosis (despite the leads not actually being related) there’s the fact that, in some official art, they’re given such similar coloring. Here’s just one example!

Look me in the eye and tell me that you wouldn’t mistake these two for siblings if sent this image with no context. I can’t figure out a way to make it work (unless they were unknowingly half-sibs who didn’t meet til high school) but maybe they could be unknowingly cousins or something, at least

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[x]

Wow, they really do look alike!

[shipcestuous]

(submission)

The biological brosis thing is a very small thing over the course of a long manga, but I’m submitting it here for that reason even if there’s things that could go on both blogs here. Sorry if that’s not okay?

Anyway: in Namaiki Zakari, the MC Yuki is treated like a big sister by the basketball team she manages (many of them actually call her that). For a while, she treats her LI/future boyfriend Naruse like a pesky little brother, to the point where she even tells the whole club that. He tries to go along with the ruse for a little bit, before he caves and points out he doesn’t see her like an older sister at all. (If you take those chapters in isolation, it feels like a fauxcest story, lol)

but I’m actually here to talk about her family. Yuki makes such a good team “big sis” because she’s an older sister to five(!) siblings. There’s triplet brothers, a year younger than her, and then twin little sisters (maybe another year younger than that). She’s lived her entire life up until the story starts completely ignoring her own needs and feelings, because as the oldest sibling, she’s had to prioritize her younger siblings’ needs all the time. It’s sweet but sad.

You could already make the case that it’s a little suggestive who she ends up with: a boy who’s the same age as her younger brothers, and who she initially viewed as another bratty little brother type of guy. Plus, her LI Naruse also has an older sister of his own, and falls for the ultimate older sister type. It’s quite amusing.

But then, we see a flashback where one of Yuki’s brothers–Koushiro (who does notedly have a “sister complex”)–did the cute manga trope where, as a little kid, he declared his intention to marry Yuki when they grew up. Of course, he didn’t know what a wedding ring was (he was that small), so he heard “round thing” and brought her a bunch of pill bugs. Which is gross, but still endearing. (He did change his mind about marrying her a short time later, though.)

There’s an arc later in the manga–when Yuki and her boyfriend are already pretty serious–when Koushiro runs away from home over an incredibly dumb fight with one of his triplets and decides to stay with Yuki. He’s annoyed to find out her boyfriend already planned to stay over, and the two don’t get along very well right away. That’s partially because they’re pretty similar! Again, that’s suggestive.

And when Yuki tells her boyfriend the story about the pill bugs, his first question is “did you sleep together?” He clarifies he meant it in the innocent way, and she says it wasn’t weird that they did (in the innocent way) because they were siblings. Then Naruse is like, “I know I always tell you stuff like ‘don’t treat me like I’m a little brother,’ but now I’m jealous.” He wants Yuki to dote on him like she’d dote on her siblings! And she’s like, “Jealous? He’s my brother,” and Naruse points out that, even if that’s the case, Kou has still gotten to see sides of Yuki that Naruse hasn’t, due to them being siblings.

It’s just a really interesting dynamic: the MC dates a guy who’s the same age and a similar personality to her sibling, and that guy both has an older sister himself and also kinda wants to be treated like a romantic version of a younger sibling (whether he usually denies it or not).

And then, immediately after that conversation, Yuki's other two brothers–Shintarou and Kenjirou–come over to the house to find Koushiro, and another brotherly fight breaks out. Yuki apologizes to her boyfriend for all the sudden drama, and he suggests they just used it as an excuse to get some attention from their sister since it’s been a while, now that she’s moved to her own apartment for college.

(A small note, but Kou and Shin were the ones fighting before. Kenjirou just came along to mediate and was really enthusiastic to do it. He’s the most wholesome–read: happy-go-lucky–of the three, and it was really cute. I kinda ship the triplets with each other tbh. And the twin sisters, too.)

Anyway, the brothers ask Yuki if, now that she has a boyfriend, she’s suddenly eager to kick her brothers out. Ostensibly “out of her apartment that they came to without any notice,” but also maybe in a “have we been replaced?” sense. And they tease her for wanting to be alone with her boyfriend. As I mentioned, Yuki used to do everything her family wanted without ever being selfish, so they’re shocked when she basically snaps, “Is it so wrong if I did?” (And then it’s just super awkward, as it would be anytime you suddenly hear about a sibling and their partner Doing Stuff. But it’s very funny.)

The brothers talk about how much their sister has changed the past few years: she’s become more expressive and willing to stand up for what she wants. And they kind of resolve (in their own goofy way) to try and act less like brats. And then they eat dinner with Yuki and Naruse, and they really start buddying up with him. Before they leave, Koushiro even drops the suggestion that he’d be okay with it if Naruse proposed to Yuki one day. Because we need that brotherly permission, obvi.

But anyway, I need to reiterate that–even if Yuki’s boyfriend has had a character arc, grown up a little, and also pushed Yuki to think of her own wants more often–he’s still reminiscent of her little brothers in some ways, and especially with the way he acted early on in the manga. So the situation is still really funny to me.

omg, something just hit me. Yuki’s boyfriend—I referred to him by last name since that’s how he’s called in the manga but his first name is Shou. Which sounds so much like her brother’s nickname of Kou. The parallels are wild and don’t you think that has to be intentional?

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Thanks for sharing with us about this manga! 

Koushiro and Yuki sound very cute, and the canon relationship does sound pretty suggestive of bro/sis vibes.

[surenschompychompers]

Okay okay

So I know I'm late for ace day but apparently everyone else is too, so I have no qualms for talking about this now: Suwa, from the manga Namaiki Zakari

So he isn't CANONICALLY asexual unfortunately, since like the word isn't used, but his arc is so clearly, CLEARLY asexual. He shows up kind of late in the series, and he's really more of a secondary character I think, but it is specifically described that he felt pressure from the society around him to be interested in people sexually, so he sort of acts like he is, but in his own words it's just "not his cup of tea." He's not interested in doing anything. He told his girlfriend near the beginning of their relationship that he was having a really wonderful time just hanging out with her. To me, he's rather undeniably asexual, and highly relatable, so, I just wanted to spread some love and awareness for him on this special-day-after-the-special-day!

[roronoa-roro]

I demand an anime for namaiki zakari >:(

[douxlama]

[mangagoth]

[kahixxi]

[hatsumishinogu]

Namaiki Zakari. Vol.15

[hotwaterandmilk]

Series: Namaikizakari. Artist: Miyuki Mitsubachi Publication: Hana to Yume Issue #1 (01/2021) Details: Hanayume Allstar Desk Calendar (July) Source: Scanned from my personal collection

[kaizokucujoh]

Machida Yuki icons

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Made by me @kaizokucujoh

(just finished this manga and it’s literally my fave im crying)

[graphicpolicy]

Yen Press Announces Ten New Series

Yen Press Announces Ten New Series #Manga #LightNovels #Comics #ComicBooks

Yen Press has announced a slate of upcoming releases that includes several manga (The Hero Laughs While Walking the Path of Vengeance a Second Time, Let This Grieving Soul Retire, Namaiki Zakari, I’ve Been an Omega Since Today, The Splendid Work of a Monster Maid and Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Wraith Arc,) and light novels (Magical☆Explorer, Cross-Dressing Villainess Cecilia Sylvie, The Girl I…

[ljaesch]

Yen Press Announces Six Manga and Four Light Novel Licenses for November 2021

Yen Press Announces Six Manga and Four Light Novel Licenses for November 2021

Yen Press has announced the following light novels and manga for release in November 2021: Title: The Hero Laughs While Walking the Path of Vengeance a Second Time (Nidome no Yūsha wa Fukushū no Michi o Warai Ayumu) manga Creators: Yamo Yomoya (art), Nero Kizuka (original story), Sinsora (character design) Summary: Kaito has been summoned into another world as a hero, and though all goes well for…

[myshipofeva]

[roronoa-roro]

so fucking in love