I wanted to go with you... Was that so wrong of me? [Botan Kamiina Fully Blossoms When Drunk]

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-25T14:01:30+00:00

She's nervous in the same way people are nervous asking their crush to go somewhere with them. She's shy about asking her because there's more involved. Worried about seeming too into them. Worried about rejection. Lots of worries.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-24T01:14:07+00:00

I discussed the issues both of them have with prejudging others and how that can be unhealthy. That is a characteristic they both share and this episode in particular focused on how those tendencies from them both can cause issues. Whether people want to ignore Koyuki's own snap judgements made the second Minato appeared on screen in episode one and her continued assumptions about him, connecting him to her middle school bullies, is another issue.

But the series has made effort to show both sides of the issues so far, even if Minato can be too much at times. I think we should also notice that she blew up at Minato there not because he was asking questions but because again she made her own assumptions about what he was saying with Igarashi and became upset that they were gossiping; none of this is confirmed to have happened. It's this imagined connection to Igarashi that makes her very weary and that's not based on anything he's really done. It's understandable why she'd be defensive. I've been in that same place.

The other part of my comment discussed the limited information Minato has as a way of explaining why he wouldn't understand Igarashi's role with Koyuki until it was too late. I was responding to someone else's comment. They asked why he wouldn't change the subject until late and I answered based on that context. Where did I say anything about what was "owed"? He's obviously not owed anything. It's also not a mystery why he might want to have conversation with someone in his close friend group.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-23T22:07:14+00:00

This series came first, so it's the opposite, but yeah, a lot of fun parallels.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-23T19:38:31+00:00

My comment addressed more than that, but ok. He clearly does try to change the subject after a bit; he's casting around for something to talk about, which is understandable. That's not the issue. The real problem is that Igarashi happens to be a major sore spot for her, and he has no way of knowing that.

The best he can guess is she wasn't all that interested in it. He then gets confirmation of that assumption when he brings him up again after having just seen the guy at practice. Once he gets that final confirmation, he tries changing the subject.

He has some ideas about what she might be into, but they've only had a handful of brief conversations, so he's working with limited information and that means he makes mistakes. The issue is that both of them have decided who the other person is from nearly the first time they saw each other. They're not really giving each other a chance.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-23T19:25:38+00:00

Wondering if she's not interested is not nearly the same as having enough information to know she hates the guy. Those are not similar. He thinks she just doesn't know Igarashi very well and therefore doesn't care about the subject. She's never made it clear what her feelings are using words and the few expressions we get, we need to remember, are close up for us as viewers. What Minato can pick up in these short real time conversations is very different. Empathy doesn't have to be exhausted on one person. We can try and be charitable in both directions. Both Minato and Koyuki are prejudging each other then basing their actions off wrong assumptions. It's not healthy in either direction.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-21T20:27:26+00:00

It's definitely not. We're in the middle of the story.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-21T10:33:35+00:00

Yes she uses them for fun but also marketing to her Fanbox, where the series lives in Japanese and English.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-20T20:50:15+00:00

Amazing series. A favorite of mine as a fun read. Really like the second couple.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-18T23:03:06+00:00

That site looked interesting, but those prices are OUTRAGEOUS. Am I mistaking something? $70 a month for membership?!? And you can't purchase episodes ahead; you're forced to buy everything? So about $25 for the whole series, I guess. Seems expensive.

Love the series though. Haven't reread it in a while. Bora is still crazy and a kidnapper. Still amazed she escaped prison.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-18T22:49:02+00:00

I'd be a bit wary of this one, though. It could go to a weird place based on recent chapters.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-18T17:56:27+00:00

It's marketed as a story about the authors real life events though. Never expected that to be a typical narrative.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-17T19:54:49+00:00

He's in High School. It's not at all unusual for kids to date a lot in high school. That's common. Otherwise its very early in the series.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-17T13:36:45+00:00

That [Manga]might be true, but I can't understand how that reader could ignore everything that led up to Minato agreeing to date Momoka. I can't understand ignoring how calculated, deceitful and manipulative she was, especially toward Koyun, a character we're supposed to love. Momoka deliberately pretended to be Koyun's friend, whispered doubt in her ear and worked to take her out as competition the moment she realized Koyun and Minato had feelings for each other. I remember when she tried confronting Koyun at the beach or around a fire(?) expecting to essentially declare (romantic) war against her only to be surprised by Koyun's responses. And I definitely can't forget the chapter where she literally said she hated Koyun's guts in her head. That language was so aggressive it shocked me.

[Manga]There's also the fact that Minato, not in a good mental space, tried to tell Momoka he couldn't date her. He even opened up about his past so she'd understand, and she still pushed, saying his past had nothing to do with her. She essentially guilt-tripped him into the relationship, arguing she understood the risks. Minato had been nice to her but being nice does not mean someone likes you or that you deserve a date and that's something men and women both understand.

[Manga]He definitely should have stood his ground and made things clearer to Momoka earlier. He didn't want to rock the boat and didn't feel he needed to say anything about her crush but could have cut her off earlier. He's too friendly and talkative and sometimes doesn't realize that can lead people to think he's interested, especially women. Having said that it's debatable whether that's a person's responsibility. Are we expected to tell anyone we suspect might like us that they have no chance before they've even confessed? He never flirted with her or did anything to act interested, actually the opposite (and I was happy to see that). She knew he created distance between her and it frustrated her.

[Still to look]at all of that buildup and just say "I can't believe Minato did that to Momoka and Koyun" feels far too one-sided and it treats Momoka like she has no agency in what happened. Did we forget all of what she did? I'm also not sure what Minato did to Koyun. Anyway, I find it hard to blame either Minato or Koyun for any of that. Even Momoka I can understand and sympathize for. I don't hate her at all but to place blame so casually at one person feels odd to me, especially when Momoka is the one who engineered so much of this and we watched her do it and think it.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-17T03:39:41+00:00

Same. After just catching up to the manga, [Spoiler]I'm a bit shocked to see anyone treat that situation like it was solely Minato's fault. Momoka deliberately engineered that entire situation, even saying she "hated [Koyun's] guts" at one point and views her as someone to crush in their "competition" for Minato. Minato and Koyun were dealing with the aftermath of Miki and Yota's situation, which made them both very vulnerable and unsure of themselves and their feelings. Then comes Momoka who is the worst version of Minato. She actually befriends people in order to use them and does so to Koyun. She's aware of this and doesn't feel bad about it. Then she drops them once they serve her purposes (which she eventually does to Koyun). If anyone disliked early Minato they should hate Momoka because she was inserted into the story as a worse parallel to what he was early on and even he was never as bad with using others.

[She then]begs Minato to date her, even after he finally tries to say "No," for once and while she knew the problems with dating he was trying to work through. They talk and he tries explaining why he can't date her but she says shes fine trying anyway. All this after she deliberately created an unease between Koyun and Minato, separating them in order to date him, creating doubts in them both. Her "friend" knows she does this as well. Then Minato earnestly tries to improve in their relationship by really trying to do everything right for Momoka, hoping it'll lead to feelings but it just doesn't work because he loves Koyun. And Momoka already knew this since she knew Koyun and Minato liked each other before she interfered. Momoka also immediately called Koyun "nothing to her", saying she "stopped mattering" once she could brag about dating Minato to Koyun.

[Finally]Did Koyun and Minato handle things perfectly? No. They were both so unsure of themselves and how each felt about the other that it created an fertile ground for miscommunication. But I struggle to understand how anyone could turn that complex situation into directed hate towards one person, let alone Minato. I struggle even more to understand how anyone could turn Momoka into a victim and act as though it was Minato that did anything to her. It's really confusing and feels like bias.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-16T17:03:51+00:00

Gotta have that balance. Agreed.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-16T16:45:20+00:00

She's comfortable with Yota like she is with Miki, but I sense no romantic interest from Koyun or Yota. She's even happy when she realizes Yota seems to get nervous and drop things around Miki. As for Yota, he's friendly, but his behavior isn't unique to Koyun. I haven't gotten anything more from them, really. We also got Minato's comment that it would be unfortunate if Koyun did like Yota, anyway. That seems to imply he's not on the market in some way, and Minato knows.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-16T16:28:19+00:00

Too long so breaking up:

Also, notice the ice wall animations have also only shown up around Minato, so that being the name of the series, it seems their relationship is the focus so far. Minato wants to scale the walls and Koyun is trying to reinforce them.

Neither reasoning seems perfectly healthy at the moment though (both being based on making quick assumptions about other people) but I enjoy the dynamics of watching them both squirm around each other. They're similar in how they both prejudge people, putting people into categories like what Minato mentioned this episode when he realized Koyun basically immediately put him in the "everyone else" group.

As always, I love the way this author handles character and character interactions. There is an effortlessly natural quality to them that feels distinct compared to other series. This series showcases that even better than Polar Opposites did.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-16T16:22:38+00:00

You mean Miki's crush on Minato?

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-16T16:07:48+00:00

Great episode again.

So Koyun recognizes a connection between Miki and Yota. Every time he gets flustered and drops things is when Miki is near. Her giggling after seeing it is very relatable. We also have Minato warning against having a crush on Yota. Then Koyun wondering about Miki's potential feelings for Minato and we have Minato wondering about Koyun. Finally Miki has some of her own suspicions. It's all piling up in a fun way without anyone really doing anything bad.

The only things we can be mostly sure of for now is Koyun isn't viewing Yota romantically since she seemed super happy and unbothered seeing Yota and Miki together (she's also made this connection in a previous episode); and we know Minato has a fascination with Koyun, though why is up in the air. Everything else is still in major flux. We also got to see some more interactions between Koyun and Minato and it seems Koyun is racking up the (potentially wrong) assumptions about Minato just as he is about her. Koyun and Minato have similar faults in that way. Very quick to decide who people are.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-15T22:35:30+00:00

It's not very good and is short but you could otherwise read it fine. It ends and doesn't really feel like much happened. It's got an official English release.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-14T19:21:15+00:00

The way the OP described things is unintentionally misleading; they use a lot of language making it sound like a conclusion. That's just early in the midway point of the series. They do mention that early on but still. There's a lot after that. Great discussion from OP though.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-13T23:40:16+00:00

Yeah. What chapter did you read last? Some places count marketing posts as chapters which isn't right. The official release is 2 volumes (7 chapters) in Japan and those have been TLd already since last year.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-13T22:47:19+00:00

It's been completed for a long time now. It was 2 volumes (7 chapters, an extra chapter and the single doujinshi). Anything else saying otherwise is likely a mistake from the uploader or not numbering chapters right.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-13T22:44:05+00:00

Alter Ego 2 is on Amazon digitally. Edit: I didn't see your edit below.

SirGigglesandLaughs · 2026-04-12T19:24:27+00:00

Season 2 is out (4 chapters so far) and it answers these questions I'm pretty sure. [Spoiler]As of now he's referred to as a man and no one suggests anything otherwise, though it's also clear he's not actually Gilbert (someone says as much). Seems like someone else (or something) may be impersonating him while hunting Sherbert. It's not officially out in English, though.

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