Do you think homophobes would read Otherside Picnic and try to no homo it despite Sorawo and Toriko literally confessing to each other and having sex in later volumes? Oh and Toriko literally has 2 lesbian mothers she knows what being a lesbian is.
Propaganda for Soratori: "Exploring the Otherside, a realm separate from our own, populated by internet creepypasta, Sorawo and Toriko defeat monsters and are only able to survive because they have each other. It is a slow burn, but they do fall in love. Otherside Picnic is a great series with a ton of character growth, and a lot of Toriko and Sorawo being badass lesbians with guns."
"They explore an alternate dimension together, fighting horrors crafted from early-internet creepypasta, and are able to survive through the power of yuri and guns."
I’ll be honest, whenever I start enjoying a fictional lesbian couple I start to ask myself which of them seems more transgender that I can project trans headcanons onto. Usually it’s not that difficult, but for both Marcille x Falin and Sorawo x Toriko I’ve flip flopped multiple times
Instead of making a giant collage I've decided to recap my daily Femslash February posting from twitter/bsky into just one post here (under a cut of course)
February 1st: Suletta Mercury x Miorine Rembran from Gundam: The Witch From Mercury
February 2nd: Falin x Marcille from Dungeon Meshi
February 3rd: Grandmother's of Yuri, Haruka x Michiru from Sailor Moon
February 4th: Yuzuki x Makoto from Skip and Loafer
February 5th: Korra x Asami from Legend of Korra
February 6th: Nomoto x Kasuga from She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat by Sakaomi Yuzaki! It's an ongoing series that I HIGHLY recommend!
February 7th: Madoka x Homura and Kyouko x Sayaka from Puella Magi Madoka Magica
February 8th: Venus x Jupiter x Neptune from We Know The Devil
February 9th: Meryl Stryfe x Milly Thompson from Trigun
February 10th: Catra x Adora from She-Ra and The Princesses of Power
February 11th: Kiki x Namari from Dungeon Meshi
February 12th: Aerith x Tifa from Final Fantasy 7
February 13th: Harley Quinn x Poison Ivy from DC Comics
February 14th: A very special Valentine's Day femslash with Utena x Anthy from Revolutionary Girl Utena
February 15th: Dame Aylin x Isobel from Baldur's Gate 3
February 16th: Luz x Amity from The Owl House
February 17th: Athena x Janey Springs from the Borderlands series
February 18th: Princess Bubblegum x Marceline The Vampire Queen
February 19th: Alphys x Undyne and Susie x Noelle from Undertale/Deltarune
February 20th: Leo x Vega, Peony x Silkrose, and Bunny x Velvet all from indie comics Roadqueen: Eternal Roadtrip To Love, Goodbye, Battle Princess Peony, and Vampire Blood Drive by Mira Ong Chua
February 21st: Starfire x Raven from Teen Titans (2003)
February 22nd: Lana x Mia, Franziska x Maya, Kay x Ema, Aura x Metis, and Susato x Rei from the Ace Attorney series
February 23rd: Agott x Coco from Witch Hat Atelier
February 24th: Sorawo x Toriko from Otherside Picnic
February 25th: Lyn x Florina, Lissa x Maribelle, Edelgard x Dorothea and Dorothea x Petra from the Fire Emblem series
February 26th: Lady x Trish from Devil May Cry
February 27th: Elise and her three love interests Rozenmarine, Freya, and Lebkuchen
February 28th: Any combination of Shadowheart, Lae'zel, and Karlach from Baldur's Gate 3
February 29th: Elster x Ariane Yeong from Signalis
J-Novel Club released the first part of the English translation for Volume 8, and because I was impatient I thought, might as well subscribe and read as I go. It also helped that there was one other novel I wanted to read but that’s a potential topic for another time. Anyway, this volume will be split into nine parts so I’ll probably be doing this for a while.
For those not familiar with Otherside Picnic by Iori Miyazawa, I’m not sure how to accurately explain it. Two disaster lesbians with guns explore a parallel world of supernatural horrors like it’s their playground, at the risk of insanity, bodily mutation and death? There’s the novels, the manga and the anime, though for best experience, the novels are the way to go.
Spoilers are below the cut.
File 24: Mujina Attacks
1
With a title like “Accomplices No More” and that synopsis, I shouldn’t be surprised we’re starting off with the big question.
2
Toriko’s birthday is so close to mine, you’d think I’d have remembered. Also I’m reminded that Sorawa forgot about her own birthday but remembered the exact date she met Toriko almost a year later.
Speaking of their anniversary, it seems Sorawo is not completely dense after all! Yes, Toriko was hoping to get lucky with you, you idiot! But then you killed the mood by talking about murdering her ex.
Gifts for Toriko? What do you get for the girl who got you matching knives for Christmas?
I wasn’t expecting lingering trauma from that encounter last volume. That should be interesting going forward, seeing how physically affectionate Toriko is. On the one hand, I know Sorawo should tell her why she freaked out, but on the other hand, we really don’t want to repeat past mistakes by bringing her up again on their birthday date.
So we’re back to the question, how does Sorawo feel about Toriko? I think Toriko has been very patient and understanding with Sorawo, but this has been dragging on for a while. It’s past time that Sorawo put some serious thought into what Toriko means to her and what she wants their relationship to be like.
A week with no contact, though. Ordinarily, I’d say it is for the best, but these two can get sucked into some Otherside nonsense at any time and any place, even in their own homes. At least Sorawo has Akari check in with her on occassion, but as far as I know Toriko doesn’t have anyone in her everyday life to do that for her. At least not somebody who’d know to contact Kozakura or Sorawo.
3
It’s funny to think about how the cynical loner Sorawo is actually percieved as the cool kid in her class, contrary to how she thinks she is percieved.
The entire conversation with Benimori is easily the highlight of Part 1.
Let’s start with how she lead with the questioning. Even now, I’m not sure how I’d describe Toriko, especially if put on the spot like that, so I can empathise with Sorawo. Even so, Benimori was patient and took it one step at a time to get the most important and relevant information out of her.
The part about separating love, romance and sex, and the various assumed aspects is definitely something to think about, and very relevant for someone like Sorawo, or even me. For me, I think at some point I knew to view each of these things as separate, but I consider this a reminder that some people do view them as a package deal. It’s easier for me to think every relationship is unique than for me to remember that for some people being in a relationship means doing x, y and z.
My favourite part of the questioning was when she asked Sorawo if she could imagine bringing her partner to a love hotel. She did but nothing happened. “Your partner wasn’t disappointed, were they?” We all were!
There was another part though, when she brought up the eyepatch and wondering if this partner was abusive. I could understand the caution and was prepared to write it off, then I remembered how Toriko resolved the situation by slapping Sorawo in an attempt to “fix” her and then shoved her ghost finger into her eyeball. They’re both kind of messed up though, and they know and accept that about each other, so it’s probably just something they’ll need to work on in the future.
Also appreciate how until the end, Benimori stuck to the gender-neutral terms and avoid making any assumptions. Although, given Sorawo’s limited social circle and the fact that she made it clear her partner was someone she’s spent a fair amount of time with already, it probably wasn’t hard for her to guess who it was. Toriko has visited Sorawo at her uni a few times and she stands out a lot.
That’s it for Part 1. My guess is that Sorawo will ask Akari next, for no other reason than convenience. Maybe she’ll drag her beloved Nattsun into the conversation. Then I suppose it’s just Kozakura left. I can’t imagine Sorawo going to Migiwa, Runa or Kasumi for this.
Sorawo Kamikoshi from Otherside Picnic is a trans woman and most of her issues and her development across the series makes it feel like that. Regardless of if it's intended or not her issues with gender, and sexuality alongside her gender. Her family issues and situation with the cult. She struggles with femininity despite clearly wanting to present and dress more feminine. Even the sex scene in volume 8 comes across like two non cis lesbians discovering themselves and enjoying intimate intercourse in a way which doesn't fit with typical society. I know some may disagree with this pov but it's so comforting personally.
Full list below! They’ll be included in round 1 against the 13 couples/ships that survive the preliminary round. Round 1 will be randomised and start tomorrow with 8 polls and the other 8 a week later, round 2 will not be randomised since it’ll include ships/couples with 3+ submissions.
1. Caitlyn x Vi from Arcane (canon)
2. Rose x Kanaya from Homestuck (canon)
3. Percy x Vex’ahlia from Critical Role/The legend of Vox Machina (canon)
4. Beauregard x Yasha from Critical Role (canon)
5. Moriarty x Holmes from Moriarty the Patriot (implied)
6. Ava x Beatrice from Warrior Nun (canon)
7. Kim Dokja x Yoo Joonghyuk x Han Sooyoung from Omniscent Reader’s Viewpoint (implied)
8. Alex Fierro x Magnus Chase from Magnus Chase and the gods of Asgard (canon)
9. Andrew x Neil from All for the game (canon)
10. Sapphire x Ruby from Steven Universe (canon)
11. Barnaby Brooks Jr x Kotetsu T Kaburagi from Tiger and Bunny (implied)
12. Heavy x Medic from Team Fortress 2 (implied)
13. Dina x Ellie from The last of us 2 (canon)
14. Blake x Yang from RWBY (canon)
15. Nico di Angelo x Will Solace from Percy Jackson series (canon)
16. Amaya x Janai from The dragon prince (canon)
17. Adora x Catra from She-Ra and the princesses of power (canon)
18. Camille x Nyra x Dendrobium from Muted (canon)
19. Toriko x Sorawo from Otherside Picnic (canon)*
*They actually got 3 submissions, but I’m counting them as 2 because of the possibility of a double, as the last submission was this:
“I think I may have already submitted this, but I can’t remember, so I’m doing it again to make sure. They explore an alternate dimension together, fighting horrors crafted from early-internet creepypasta, and are able to survive through the power of yuri and guns.“
you know otherside picnic anime is pretty good. the opening song was great, i loved seeing toriko and sorawo interact. BUT the light novel and the manga would always be superior. i felt like they told the story better? the anime didn't manage to deliver the creepiness that the light novel and the manga had so... yeah it felt lacking in some parts. it's still a good watch though so PLEASE I BEG YOU to watch otherside side picnic so we can have more yuri anime!!
read the light novel and manga too while you're at it hehe, toriko and sorawo's relationship is more developed there >:D
ALSO WATCH THE MV OF THEIR OPENING SONG? GIRLIE IS GAY!!!! I REALLY LOVE THE SONG AND THE MV IT'S SO GOOD <3
https://youtu.be/ey_9CIQQHXo
(AND YES IT IS YURI NOT YURIBAIT! just because they don't kiss every five seconds, doesn't mean it's not yuri. sapphic stories aren't just all about physical touches. they canonically like each other, it just so happens that the story is more sci-fi supernatural action horror with a dash of romance on the side. and i love that. we need more stories where sapphics just exist without making it all about their sexuality. we're more than that. )