https://mangadex.org/chapter/adfb1a1a-f5bf-48a1-b86d-137fcceb9617/1
New chapter is finally translated.

>>49663370 (OP)
Aunn wants to have your puppies

>>49663370 (OP)
No new Aya outfit? Waste of a chapter!

>>49663370 (OP)
Before CDS? Something is fishy here.

>>49663481
there's no CDS chapter this month

I sure expected more from this plotline... Would it be that much effort to extend the mystery to three chapters? To put some hermit or Tenshi? Is Aunn undeserving a proper dialogue so that she needs to voice herself in sfx?
Also, aren't Nikushi and Nikujin functionally the same? And since when Reimu actually knows her stuff around youkai?

>>49663590
All these mysteries should just be reduced to a single chapter which would vastly improve this manga.
It wouldn't even be hard, just cut out Aya and Mamizou and you're basically done.

>>49663630
I don't know... Lack of set up would be probably frustrating too, in other way. If it just "Reimu and Marisa hear about something, investigate it, then it turns out it is nothing interesting (or that interesting part stays hidden from them)" chapter after chapter, then why not condense the whole manga into BAiJR style collection of newspaper articles? The amount of suspense would be about the same while in more digestible form.
That story about the frog in bottle stays as my favorite piece of LE. It had an actual decent pacing.

>>49663630
there's no one translating the comments ZUN makes on his radio show anymore so we have to rely on google translate, but he did say recently that Lotus Eaters is about folk tales that you can't find online, so maybe he feels like he can't do them justice in one chapter

>>49663697
Counterpoint: WaHH. Stories start and get resolved in one chapter. It's not that the story structure is significantly different, it's just condensed.
You can easily imagine the kind of cliffhangers a differently formatted WaHH would have, and they'd be similar to what we get in LE. "What is SDM planning to do for their setsubun?" "Why is Fox Marisa here for the fox ball?" "How will Suwako suggest Sanae get revenge?"
The difference between a cute story and an unsatisfying conclusion is one month of waiting.

Whale manga always makes Marisa really fucking cute

>>49663370 (OP)
Is Aunn interested in puppies or in having puppies?

>>49665679
Former, in this context. Though I imagine that if you presented it as 'strengthening of shrine's defenses', then she might be interested in the latter.

>>49663590
Reimu being a youkai nerd is a rather overlooked trait of hers, she actually rates rare Youkai like Nue higher since they give her opportunities to lecture people about Youkai, something that doesn't come up often.

>the title of the arc is "i made some stupid shit up"
>aya makes some stupid shit up
>people are upset the arc is about some stupid made up shit
is this the fault of me, the reader?
maybe it would've been more palatable if the nikujin was a cute girl? aunn got some really cute panels at least.

>>49666108
>people are upset the arc is about some stupid made up shit
Where? Anons here were complaining about pacing, not about the meat of the mystery. Also
>Aya makes some stupid shit up
I'm not sure if nikushi in itself is supposed to be made up. The eyewitness report Aya used for the first article and the tail were hoax, sure, but you think Marisa would be searching for it if a lone article in Bunbunmaru was the first and only mention of nikushi she has ever seen?

>>49666180
>you think Marisa would be searching for it if a lone article in Bunbunmaru was the first and only mention of nikushi she has ever seen?
absolutely yes, she's chasing a headline and making rash decisions at every turn this arc. the important part isn't the specifics of what she made up, but that publishing the article at all started a wave of sensationalism.
>complaining about pacing, not about the meat of the mystery
because there is no mystery, there is nothing TO pace. the cryptid in question is a nondescript little blob. the arc is commentary on sensationalism about nothing. and now i'm thinking the reason the nikujin ISN'T a little girl is because there isn't enough meat to the mystery in the real world either, or at the very least enough corroborating accounts of it.

>>49666382
Good Lord. Mamizou is flat it's not even funny

>>49666382
Good Lord. Mamizou is flat. It's not even funny

>>49666382
>the important part isn't the specifics of what she made up
I've mostly had an issue with 'stupid' part of
>>49666108
>Aya makes some stupid shit up
if nikushi was known. There is a difference in insulting readers' intelligence between an article claiming Sasquatch sighting and one that makes up a new cryptid, you get what I'm talking about? And I believe in Marisa enough for her to not fall for never-heard-before miraculous mushroom that was suddenly spotted.
>because there is no mystery, there is nothing TO pace. the cryptid in question is a nondescript little blob.
Come on, it's literary asking for a three chapters: previous one was the set up with nikushi the way it was done; this one would be with nikujin just like it was, but end it with a cliffhanger on how Marisa and Reimu question the article that started it all after meeting the youkai in place of the mushroom; reveal the truth in the next chapter after more digging around about nikushi.
Or drop the fake tail part and Marisa needing to talk with Miyoi to go hunting again and condense it into one chapter. This would work too, maybe even better, because then the alleged 'mystery' wouldn't hinder behind the
>commentary on sensationalism about nothing
at least in my opinion.
>because there isn't enough meat to the mystery in the real world either, or at the very least enough corroborating accounts of it.
From the modern finding of feng, sure, but wikipedia (yeah, yeah, I know) alone gives enough excerpts from historical sources that making a chapter focused on how old stories are repurposed for sensationalism (to keep in with the theme) seems as an easy way to fatten up this meaty mystery.

>>49666455
i was mostly being crass for effect.
i originally thought we'd get a part 3 too but after looking at the length and cadence of previous volumes i just don't see it happening. frog in a bottle was the last 3-parter we got back in volume 3 4 years ago. getting a 4th 2 part arc is way more likely than a 45+ page part 3 where we would do what, plumb the depths of youkai genesis? i don't think there's enough meat on those nikushi accounts to provide enough material for a large chapter that didn't involve an uncharacteristic amount of character drama (e.g. aya facing any repercussions whatsoever). maybe the Feng article on chinese wikipedia would have enough info to change my mind, but i can't read that. we've never had a one-off so that's not in the cards. the choice of myth was bad so the pacing was bad.

>>49666562
The Miko chapters were essentially a four part thing presented as two two-parters from chapter 51 to 54, along with being mentioned in a couple pages in chapter 55. I'm not sure why ZUN decided that Miko needed to have a significantly longer appearance since it still didn't amount to anything, but there's clearly certain storylines that he feels can go on much longer.

i love marisa

>>49666395
It'd funny because this artist loves boobs, but he gives Mamizou none

>>49672091
Miyoi is the only major character that even has any boobs

>>49663630
Damn that's erotic

>>49663370 (OP)
Aunn-chan kawaii!

Good chapter

>>49663370 (OP)
I'd give aunn some puppies if you know what I mean

>>49672587
Is it?

>>49672924
Yeah

>>49663370 (OP)
>>49663428

>>49663370 (OP)
Man. The lack of CDS is felt. Discussion is dry as hell. Even if shit-flinging and baiting is a big part of it, at least there are people talking...

>>49663708
Can’t find online my ass. It’s in the wiki - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuppepp%C5%8D#References_in_Japanese_culture

>>49682091
they're similar in appearance only maybe
no wrinkles, stink, and the elements of deception originate from aya
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuppepp%C5%8D#Similar_tales
this is really funny, it's literally what's happening in the chapter. people just making stuff up and playing telephone.
"hey we saw a kid or something in the castle"
"no man that's a mystical blob and eating it will make you immortal i think"

Bunbunmaru, in cooperation with a raising star of action literature Ch. I. Runo presents "Lotus Eaters: Cry Mushroom and Sell Sake, Fairy Edition"! Condensed to roughly 29 pages, with minimal edits to dialogue, less meandering and much less panels with stinky tanuki!
https://files.catbox.moe/467eio.jpg

>>49663370 (OP)
But does the whale own a dishwasher?

>>49672699
She's 9...

>>49683959
But if she's 9 doesn't that mean 7 ate her?

>>49663370 (OP)
This is slowly turning into “nothing ever happens, the manga”
>>49683352
Based. Needs even less tanooki

I was teaching my Mom about Touhou characters and accidentally said I wanted to shoot hot sticky ropes across Whaletits' bountiful bosom

I messed up real bad

>>49683914
She does, you spamming piece of shit.

>>49684155
How can you say something like that accidentally

>>49684155
and then she said she'd be whaletits for you, right?

>>49683352
You have ADHD, don't you?

>>49684209
No, not at all. I actually like "nothing ever happens" stories as long as they are philosophical enough or have eye-candy (LE is belonging to the latter category). Is the edit too fast-paced or something else prompted such comment?
I just wanted to test if I can shorten the story to one chapter in length with no art skill and without excessive rewrite. This is still about 6~7 pages too long, but I think it's possible to squeeze it even further. However, you would need to frame it differently, with a single thread instead of two separate plotlines jumping between each other in a pseudo-montage. Currently, some Geidontei interjections are made solely to signalize that Marisa-Reimu thread moves to another scene, with some time passing in the background.
Something like:
Aya mentions about nikushi -> says she has a tail (but not showing it on panels) -> Marisa searches at night -> Marisa and Reimu talk -> Marisa finds puffballs -> Reimu reads second report -> Marisa sees nikujin -> Reimu intervenes -> wrap it up in Geidontei
might be a little bit shorter, but I'm not keen on doing it right now, maybe later.

>>49683352
As a writer the exercise I always hated doing was cutting down a text to the absolute bare minimum while preserving its meaning. However it's really interesting to see this applied to other media.

>>49683352
Thog doesn't approve, too much reading.

>>49684641
We can't aspire to meet the level of legends immediately.

>>49684256
It feels like it jumps back and forth too much. Also I am pretty sure you completely cut out the pages showing the tail Aya showed off but still kept the part at the end where she says the tail was a trick. I may have just missed it though.

>>49685263
>>49684256
Actually I read the rest of your post after answering the original question. You seem to be aware of my issues, but I feel Aya amazing them with the tail is important to them being shocked it was a fake.

>>49684156
i just fucking despise that recent light retcon and cursed ZUN to no end, what was the point of the Barrier if you just can Smuggle/Reverse shit? the whole point of the gensokyans don't understanding discarded Old Tech from the outside world is they giving it a rationalized magical explanation. it also could damage the status quo of the setting.

>>49687349
Cry me a river.

>>49663418
I want to grab Aunn's puppies

>>49663370 (OP)

>>49691358
why can't 3d be this cute?

>>49663370 (OP)

>>49663370 (OP)
No new Aya outfit? Waste of a chapter!

>>49717358
>>49663428

>>49663370 (OP)

>>49663370 (OP)

>>49687349
I doubt that even with attempts to grt outside world tech that the stuff that'd actually transform society is common. Do even if the stuff got to the villagers it's not like it can significantly change stuff.

>>49663370 (OP)

>>49687349
I'll have to check but iirc in some early(pre-SA I think) interview ZUN mentioned something about it being easier to write/avoid anachronism with the barrier.
But since MoF you have that with the kapa, or earlier considering Tengu I guess.
Stuff just slides in, some people figure it out, most things are misinterpreted, some might get some magic properties.
>>49724900"
Hard especially due to numbers, with the population of the village I doubt they'll do much. Post-industrialization populations require to be more interconnected to function properly.
There's also things depending on how the author think the past was since he mentioned stuff like all glasses being from the outside world even if time wise they could have had glasses pre-barrier (still can be justified with no glasmakers in the village tho).

>>49663370 (OP)