I think the difficulty is pretty consistent throughout the book. I’m not used to reading older books at all so its definitely on the harder side of things for me. As I’m getting more used to the author’s style while reading, its getting easier in that aspect but I think the content itself is consistent in its difficulty.
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Finished the book, it was a fun read. I’m looking forward to hearing everyone else’s thoughts as more people finish.
ch9-10/overall book thoughts
The sports day thing was interesting. Feels bad that Katsuko got injured and that’s basically what it took for her to be more accepting or kinder to Youko. I was expecting to see more of her in the final chapter too but I guess it made more sense to focus on Youko & Michiko to end it.
The Christmas party was nice. Wasn’t expecting that to be the gift to Michiko. The locket seemed like a good gift too, wonder if there is an illustration with it in the physical book. Sucks the digital version doesn’t include the illustrations.
Not sure if I missed something near the end but when they were talking about writing letters to each other, it made it seem like they weren’t going to see each in person again? Michiko even told her to forget about her on other days outside of Saturday. Seems odd to have such a deep relationship with each other but then not see each other again after graduation but not really sure what it was like back then.
Wasn’t sure why they had the 人物紹介 at the end of the book either? Seems like they just chose their favorite line for each character and repeated it there? First time I’ve seen that at the end of a book.
As for the book overall, I had a fun time reading it. It was definitely on the harder side of things for me. I think I could have appreciated it a bit more if it was a smoother reading experience but I still enjoyed it. I liked the middle chapters focusing on the summer vacation the most. I think Katsuko ended up being the most interesting character out of the cast even though she was kind of a terrible person at times. I didn’t dislike anyone besides maybe Tsuneko, she was kind of annoying anytime she spoke 
Youko was nice but maybe felt a bit too perfect at times? Michiko was a fun character, I liked her energy.
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That’s probably gonna be towards the end of the month for me at this rate. But I’ll try to make some progress between now and then 
I read some of your thoughts, but stopped bc I didn’t want to spoil myself too much wrt the ending. But I’ll look forward to reading them once I’m further along
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Ch 3-5 thoughts
wth is up with Tsuneko, she was really pretty nasty!
I felt really bad for Youko this whole chapter. It seems like she’s had a really rough time, and I really felt her sense of insecurity here. Idk but something feels a bit ominous. I was glad Michiko reassured her, and wanted to appeal to her mom to comfort her a bit. On the same hand, you could kinda feel the difference in maturity between them. That said I do like that there is less of an extreme gap between them vs say Yumi and Sachiko. This feels a bit more equal and realistic, which also makes up for the very light inner monologue (not a bad thing)
Also interesting considering the “until graduation” aspect of it. In the first place, it’s kinda interesting/weird that it’s a 1st year x 5th year pairing (which also makes me think of Sei x Shimako, but much more extreme). Like Youko is apparently heavily desired - so how come she seemingly hasn’t had a sister until the end of her school career?
Katsuko seems like a real piece of work too… I’m guess her whole issue is just that Youko became Michiko’s older sister (also why did the NPC other classmate also have to be named Michiko - the names are confusing enough already 
)
In general I had trouble following some of the conversation (and speaker identification), and where exactly things were taking place (probably a consequence of reading too late at night). Was also reading while I was offline, so the chapters blurred together. I’ll try to leave notes per chapter in the future. May have some interesting articles/writings about 乙女の港 to share, once I’m done.
I’ve kinda already semi-spoiled myself on a lot of the story, so I’m trying to finish it sooner rather than later. It’s hard with all the lookups and unfamiliar/weakly known kanji tho
I have a bone to pick with the illustrations (which I’ll upload more of this weekend). Michiko 13, and Youko is 17. The text never mentions them being an irregular height iirc, yet Michiko is almost the same size as Youko. They don’t look like there’s a meaningful difference in their age
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薔薇は生きてる | L30?? (mentioned in ch 3 or 4) does seem pretty interesting, and it’s from 1935 - so another hard one probably!
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Ch 5 thoughts
Wow this chapter was on fire!! And the NTR has started… Things are getting spicy
I can totally see why Michiko would be so taken with Katsuko (tho I don’t like her very much), and the tension between that + her feeling disloyal to & yearning for oneesama is sooooo fun to read
Seeing her go through town was nice, and there’s quite a few doki doki moments. In this chapter
They send letters via messenger pigeons?! That’s pretty cool! I didn’t get what 木の穴へ首を入れて is supposed to mean… Is that like saying “stick your head in one of those wooden planks for a guillotine”!!!
The woods stuff was nice for a bit, but wow Katauko is so manipulative
Youko’s letter definitely seemed like she was putting up a front - but maybe she’s just that proper/magnanimous… But the lack of 私の妹へ suggests she was actually hurt… And now Michiko’s hiding their time in the woods. I wonder how things are gonna be between them when she’s back
I can’t believe it pulled the “sudden rain” trope 
… But what becomes of the dirtied letter that Katsuko now has in her possession?!
I can’t wait for the next chapter
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Ch 6 thoughts
Overall very enjoyable and eventful chapter.
Conversation with priest felt weirdly disjointed. Was surprised mass didn’t have more description
Michiko’s bike learning seems to be progressing pretty quickly!
Katsuko anxiety over Miko dumping her when school is back, combined with Miko’s naivety over “I just want to be friends with everyone” was enjoyable to read. Katsuko (probably rightly) suspects ppl will see them as sisterly (which she knew the whole time, so like 自業自得よ), and I’m really curious how this will go down.
Also I don’t buy her “there’s nothing bad between me and Touko” routine, or care for her relationship philosophy about 喧嘩 (obviously it’s important to have the security to fight or express opposing views in a relationship, but Fighting daily isn’t really health, and I relate to Michiko & Youko’s dynamic as more ideal - especially since they have had some disagreements, and been fine). Idk, I’m probably reading too much into it. Anyway it’s clear Katsuko has a kind of jealousy or sense of inferiority when it comes to Michiko & Katsuko
The exchange at the race, where Katsuko convinced Mko she should be more proud of Japanese people (if I understood that right), and then Michiko thinks Katsuko had いいところ too was interesting.
Youko’s letter calls her with -san, but is still addressed to -sama, instead of imouto. I’m glad Youko is so magnanimous, while also taking her hard work in stride. I feel sad for her being split up from Michiko, and hope she not feeling jealous and stuff. Love that her letter just makes Michiko yearn for her more
語学 - study of foreign linguistics. Michiko’s language learning seemed pretty quick. It was cool reading Katsuko’s thoughts about it tho
Anyway, while I still don’t particularly like Katsuko, the fact that she’s is there to teach Michiko all this stuff is really amazing for Michiko, and I’m glad she has that opportunity at least
Concert was nice, and so was Michiko crying at蛍の光
Mentioned in this chapter:
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Ch 7 thoughts - a nice change of pace
This matching Sumire thing of Katsuko’s is definitely gonna cause some trouble when they get back to school (chill yo, Katsuko!). And of course Michiko couldn’t bring herself to tell Youko
Anyway - we Finally get away from Katsuko… relief
Love that we got more of Youko’s perspective (tho it was a little confusing that it kept switching within the scene)
Michiko’s whole “if Youko would only be a bit harder on me, I’d tell her” thing… I get it, but it’s also kinda 最低
I appreciated the unspoken tension, and also the fact that Michiko was still fairly forthcoming despite being afraid, and even did outright ask Youko about Katsuko… it’s also clear that Youko understands she’s graduating eventually, and has that in the back of her mind. Which I wonder if that is part of why she’s so lenient about Katsuko.
Ch 8 thoughts - yeah, that went as expected
It’s interesting seeing how the 2 classes/years react differently to Katsuko being all over Michiko… For the 1年生 it’s all gossip time, and for the 5年生 it’s all “we must protect this relationship and talk some sense into Youko” (sadly unsuccessful so far).
The miscommunication dynamics here remind me soooo much of Yumi & Sachiko & Sei. It’s not exactly identical, but it’s so similar. I’m a lot more sympathetic to Youko than Sachiko (and more sympathetic to Yumi than Michiko), but I really hope she wises up soon. Also it’s gotta feel really bad to be told “I completely understand your feelings” by someone who doesn’t, who is also the person you want to understand you the most. I do feel bad for Michiko on that count. Also like she’s a first year, so I can cut her some slack for not knowing how to rectify this whole mess.
And omg Katsuko, go away already!!
Ch 9 thoughts - unexpected
Wow, I was not expecting a 仲直り chapter! I’m not sure I totally agree with Youko’s feeling of guilt (I don’t think she’s done anything wrong, and to the contrary, she’s been very sharing of Michiko), but I couldn’t help think of (major spoiler for マリみて book 11-12 iirc or so Yumi’s realization about her attitude towards Sachiko, during the whole Touko introduction to the story… which I also didn’t quite agree with (for different reasons)
Anyway, this was a surprising chapter, and I’m really curious to see how the book wraps up)
Ch 10 thoughts
Liked the Xmas gathering thing (tho I usually hate play scenes, this was written well), and the locket. Like that they’re staying together forever, and all. Didn’t like that Katsuko was basically written out of the story. The farewell & reply address going to the two sisters, yet again made me think of マリア様がみてる.
Overall really enjoyed this book, and despite the sometimes difficult sections & vocab, in really glad I have it a read! Not sure I’ll really reread it (it’s good, but マリみて is better), but maybe I’ll look at some of the author bio or notes that I skipped, sometime in the future
Response to Azusa overall thoughts
There isn’t
It made it seem like Youko was moving away or going to be overseas or something. Youko was chiding her for her lack of confidence that they’d see each other at the beginning of the chapter I think. It may just be that Youko will be busy with work all three time. Also while it’s never explicitly mentioned (well a bit in earlier chapters), I think there’s the unspoken assumption that they’ll eventually get married & have kids, and probably be tied down as housewives? Idk how that factors in with the family farm stuff
Interestingly there’s a subset of light novel readers who check the あとがき before reading a book (and I’ve done this on occasion, when I wanted to know the general contents first) - so maybe it’s similar to that? Or they didn’t want to give things away, if ppl didn’t want to see it? (I skipped it, so idk). The physical book doesn’t have it at all (tho I had somewhat read the 登場人物 on Wikipedia already)
The plot around her was the most dynamic, and developed. The plot around Michiko & Youko felt like taking a casual stroll through the garden most of the time.
I agree, upholding that Yamato Nadeshiko archetype. As much as I complain about this other character (a ton), I found Sachiko from マリみて to be a much more interesting iteration of this archetype. Too be fair, there’s 50 years of literary tradition development between this & マリみて, and stuff like this clearly laid the blueprint, it seems
She had a very good balance - great 主人公!
I’ll try to get to the rest of the illustration uploads soon, and if I find some interesting analysis of the story, I may post them here. But otherwise I guess we’re mostly wrapped up! Thx so much for reading it together 
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Reply
Hmm that is interesting. I usually try my best to avoid spoilers so I rarely look at more than the description + tags on something before I read it. But yeah, sounds like it might be similar to that.
That’s a good way to put it I still enjoyed their scenes together but I felt much more engaged in the story when Katsuko was around.
Thank you for uploading all of them! The illustrations in the book are very pretty.
I usually like to search youtube for LNs/manga that I’m reading cause sometimes I can find readings of the book there which can be nice at times. I didn’t find anything like that for this book but surprisingly the top result was a Vtuber recommending it. I don’t really watch vtubers but was surprised to see that as the top result. I checked out their channel and they have a few interesting videos for general yuri recs.
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Some interesting historical writing, talking about the romantic qualities, social context, and various comparisons & contrasts
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Generally same (I don’t even look at tags half the time, except to determine “is this yuri?”). I did it recently with まりみて, cuz some volumes are side stories, and I wasn’t in the mood to read them. I find authors generally aren’t too spoiler-y anyway though.
Readings = 朗読? Never occurred to me
I think someone linked me to one of their other videos the other day, funny enough. That’s cool tho, maybe I should try looking up other books in the future.
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I know the Kadokawa channel used to upload some for manga they published but looking at their channel it seems they don’t do it as often anymore. Kind of a shame. They had a nice one for リリィ・リリィ・ラ・ラ・ランド.
This channel has some readings for aozora stories that are nice too https://www.youtube.com/@roudokushima/videos
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I also completely unrelatedly happened across her channel a few days ago while looking for book recommendation content in jp
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Illustrations for ch 3-6 have been added.
off topic, but replies to above
It was already on my wishlist, but this vid bumped it a bit higher (tho it seems to be on hiatus or something, cuz hasn’t updated since May 2023). Also that whole setup (besides the harem + mystery) & intro just screams まりみて (in a good way). It’s cool to see the mangaka life from it, but go in a totally new direction (just like 私の百合はお仕事です! | L27 lifts from it as well). I’m really iffy with harems generally, but this one seems like I might get along with it.
What a fun coincidence. I don’t really get what her crazy long 百合を語る vids are supposed to be
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