[Simon]

Originally Posted by dahl_moon

The only spoiler I've read about the latest volume is that it "concludes the story between Yumi and Sachiko." I haven't read any further since am still at volume 29, but I'm hoping that "the conclusion" is intentionally left vague so that Konno Oyuki can come back and write additional stories.

Spoiler for Konno's postscript to the novel:

Anything's possible, but the atogaki (well, the bits I can read) suggests Konno is laying down her pen at least for a while. She reflects on how far the series and its characters have come, and makes the rather poignant observation that while the books cover a year and a half of Yumi's life they represent ten years and eight months of her own (「祐巳の時間で一年半。私の時間で十年八ヵ月。」).

Then again she does relate the novel's title to the way gokigenyou can mean so many different things (hello, goodbye, farewell...), so I guess Konno's own closing with said phrase leaves her options open

Semi-related to this thread, has anyone read Hana Monogatari by Yoshiya Nobuko? By all accounts the stories are a kind of "spiritual ancestor" to Marimite, not to mention being a good read in their own right.