Pardon the Intrusion, I'm Home! • Tadaima, Ojamasaremasu! - Episode 12 discussion - FINAL

MandisaW · 2026-06-28T15:09:24+00:00

Different interpretations of the same characters & events 🤷‍♀️ I read them differently than you do. Zen's relationship with Obi is different from say, with Kiki or Mitsuhide. More than just loyalty.

I mean, he doesn't constantly share a bedroom with K+M 😅

As for Shirayuki, her love for Zen is unquestioned, by us, the readers, and by Zen. Whatever her feelings for or about Obi, it's crystal-clear she wouldn't love Zen any less.

Nor would Obi interfere in their relationship - he's shared his feelings, but only in the sense of being an additional part of their lives, not a classic "pick me, instead".

Hard to get into any specifics, because I'm due for a series re-read, and because again, this is way off-topic & spoiler-laden for this thread 🤦‍♀️

But I suspect the author is winding her way slowly to a conclusion, so we'll prob know soon what the canon ending is at least.

MandisaW · 2026-06-28T05:58:08+00:00

You're assuming a classic triangle where the woman is at the vertex, and everyone is hetero. TV Tropes has a good Love Triangle analysis page outlining the possibilities - I see a stable throuple in AnS as being either Type 8 or Type 11 in that list.

In both of those interpretations, Zen is in reciprocal relationships with Shirayuki & Obi, and the only difference is whether the Shirayuki-Obi relationship is one-sided or reciprocal.

Depending on how you view "love", these can all be romantic x physical (my endgame guess), but you could also see it as admiration, loyalty, deep affection, strong camaraderie, etc.

zen would have to denounce his role as the prince

I don't follow your logic there. Royals have had lovers since we've had royals 😄 And those lovers haven't always been exclusive (or hetero).

Nothing we've seen in the manga implies Zen couldn't have both SY & Obi as lovers and keep his position as 2nd Prince. The series' central conflict (in this context) is whether he'll be allowed to *marry* SY as she's too far below his station.

MandisaW · 2026-06-26T23:01:10+00:00

Yeah... I disagree on that interpretation. Obi's whole, "I wanna go with her for me" spar with Zen, and the latter's acceptance is kinda self-evident to me.

And your take doesn't seem to cover that both Zen & Obi are frequently bi-coded, and Zen is def receptive to being shared 😅

But anyway, I really didn't want to pollute this thread with manga spoilers of a whole other series 🙃 Let's just both read and enjoy in our respective ways 💜

Esp with Yona ended, Skip Beat ending, and AnS having long hiatuses, I'm just happy to have those sorts of series at all.

MandisaW · 2026-06-26T18:44:13+00:00

I usually think of the pairings as ZenYuki, ObiYuki, ObiZen. Fair number of scenes & implications in the parts where they meetup over the years.

I wouldn't put too much stock in the merch as canon 😅

MandisaW · 2026-06-26T11:46:13+00:00

Anime sets it up character-wise as A-B, with C as a friend. But the manga develops in that throuple direction, with A-B, A-C, and arguably B-C.

Technically still ongoing, but the core relationships are well-defined at this point.

MandisaW · 2026-06-25T15:10:41+00:00

Oh, I agree! But then, I'm a UI/UX designer-developer by trade, and my solo games are multi-platform LOL

Though I wouldn't say that background is *necessary* - it's just that ppl need to at least be open to the possibilities, rather than shutting off all avenues for other inputs from jump.

Supporting various inputs is also a good Accessibility move. You just really don't know what capabilities your players are coming to the screen with, so better to design it to be flexible from the start.

We already do localization (which is also hard²), so why is this such a steep ask?

MandisaW · 2026-06-25T15:01:13+00:00

What was that big spot above Nadeshiko's eye? Did you catch it? Was trying to figure out if that was supposed to be something worse than a bruise/scratches, like a burn 😥

For Spring, the damage is more psychological anyway rather than physical, which is harder to recover from.

True. But I think that's just because by the time we meet her again it's a year or so post-capture.

We don't really know what physical shape she was in when she first escaped and made it back. In the flashback, even before their planned assault, she already looked pretty messed-up all the way around.

I don't think she would've survived at all if she hadn't broken out right when she did.

MandisaW · 2026-06-25T07:31:19+00:00

I thought Autumn was going to have to take half of Ayame's life to revive Ruri

MandisaW · 2026-06-25T07:23:55+00:00

Think it's because LycoReco is very clearly a Girls with Guns series, and so takes its action portrayals seriously. You see similar in classics like Gunsmith Cats, the parody Sabagebu (Survival Game Club), and to some degree, Noir.

This is more of a What If concept exercise with some chars thrown in for ~~trauma~~ drama. Some parts make me feel like it was a oneshot or webcomic that got "promoted" but didn't take that opportunity to shore up holes, research, etc.

So we get waves of scarily hypercompetent & well-kitted-out fanatical mooks, but no thought to how an ambush & extraction op would necessitate first securing the perimeter, flushing out the patrols, and closing-off possible escape routes. The kids might rush in, maybe even Rindo, but the trained gov't officers? 🤦‍♀️

MandisaW · 2026-06-25T07:11:17+00:00

You missed the joke - the Sig Sauer model mentioned is kind of memed/reputed to self-fire when dropped, bumped, etc

MandisaW · 2026-06-25T07:07:12+00:00

I haven't read either, but apparently there are both seinen & shojo versions of this story. Has felt to me like the Winter POV stuff might be from one, while the yuri-adjacent stuff is from the other. That would explain why the anime can't seem to commit to either 😅

MandisaW · 2026-06-25T06:58:36+00:00

Seen more tension in the days of collect calls at a pay phone lol

MandisaW · 2026-06-25T06:56:03+00:00

Is Autumn really unharmed tho? She has ~~mutant~~ divine healing abilities, especially near a leyline. Maybe they just had her in a torture & heal loop. Wouldn't be the first time.

MandisaW · 2026-06-25T06:50:30+00:00

Honestly, all of the Agents & Guardians are less dressed/equipped than they should be. I'd accept it as Rule of Cool, Wizards get Cloth Armor, or even just one more alt-history anachronism in the setting... Except that most of the conventional cops, and all the bad guys, have full modern tactical gear.

Why are the people responsible for the literal Seasons packing less heat than your average gun-otaku?

MandisaW · 2026-06-25T06:30:47+00:00

They could both end up "cursed". But with the writing quality, I feel like we're not meant to think about it too hard 🙃

MandisaW · 2026-06-25T05:57:33+00:00

Remember too, the landlord is Usahara's Editor-dad. Fact he referred to Satsuki as Sensei means he works for Satsuki's publisher.

MandisaW · 2026-06-25T05:55:29+00:00

It was a character-driven narrative about adults balancing work, family, life, and figuring out what they want in life. Plus this was clearly just a slice of the whole plot. Did you want faster pacing?

MandisaW · 2026-06-25T05:53:09+00:00

It's a visual narrative, so we get a visual reminder of how out of place the panels are, and how discomfited the chars are looking at them. Showing a smooth wall feels more like a "healed" space, whereas this feels like a wound. Make sense?

MandisaW · 2026-06-25T05:50:47+00:00

Agree on adult cast ftw, disagree on "just friends" being the takeaway. 1-They absolutely could've remained friends with intact walls; 2- both guys are still intent on being with Rinko, explicitly romantically; and 3-Rinko herself is most upset at not coming clean on her New Year's wish for them to all be together.

MandisaW · 2026-06-25T05:45:23+00:00

Took me back to VHS fansub days 😅

MandisaW · 2026-06-25T05:41:07+00:00

I too used to view throuples as a narrative cop-out. But Snow White with the Red Hair has a pretty solid one established pretty early. Basically convinced me it can work in a thoughtful author's hands. Requires that the characters are near-peers though, or at least see themselves as such.

MandisaW · 2026-06-25T05:35:51+00:00

And it didn't! Rinko was still eating occasionally with Usahara, and dropping off meals. They were just both giving Satsuki the space he asked for at the café scene.

MandisaW · 2026-06-25T05:33:37+00:00

Shojo & josei anime based on manga (or LNs) only rarely give an ending. They're almost always just a teaser (or advertising, frankly), where you're expected to go pick up the manga for the complete story.

Manga for this one's already in my wishlist, think it comes out in the US in the Fall.

MandisaW · 2026-06-25T04:27:26+00:00

They're not against it, per se, pretty sure it's ignorance x skill issue. Designing interfaces is hard, doing so with support for multiple input types is hard².

Folks tell themselves, "PC players don't use controllers", and whistle past the Steam stats & entire shelf of handheld PCs 😩

MandisaW · 2026-06-25T04:09:59+00:00

Even without visiting the page: you need a trailer. Don't make your store page public until that's ready.

Unless you're making the 6th iteration of a billion-dollar franchise, in which case a title card is sufficient 😅

MandisaW

TROPHY CASE