i just added You Lie All The Time - Bedroom Session — beabadoobee to my shima playlist! it’s a mixed external & internal read of shima, which i think i can best express with some of the lyrics:

You lie all the time
Yeah, you do
But I can’t complain
‘Cause I’m just afraid of losing you

shima lies all the time about his wants and feelings because he’s afraid of losing his relationships (with his mother, his friends, his classmates) if he were to express them. the original song is intended to be the speaker singing about/to another person, but the lyrics fit really well as just shima, so i guess you could imagine “you” as his laidback persona and “i” as his raw thoughts and feelings.

i’ve wanted to add this song to the playlist for a long time, and now i think i might have a spot for it! so exciting!

i liked everyone enough! when i started reading it, the english translation was only up to where the anime ends, so i found it fun and happy-go-lucky and didn’t dwell too much on everyone’s characters or relationships with one another. my favourite at the time was yuzuki! i love her lesbian vibe… mika was a toss up for second or third favourite (contesting mitsumi) which is hilarious considering how devoted i am to her now. i thought shima was an ideal love interest and perfect for mitsumi — again, hilarious in retrospect; i yearn for the days when i could think about shima and not feel insane. i used to dislike ririka, but i’m completely changed my tune #ririkafan12. i don’t think i even recognised that mukai was a character that was around in the first few chapters — i remember during one reread i was so surprised that he kept popping up 😭 i was really wary of yamada for a long time (because of his interest in yuzuki) but nowadays i think he’s fun (it helps that his relationship with his girlfriend is super cute!) everyone else that i haven’t listed here i liked at the start and like even more now!

if you mean my twitter pfp, it’s from this lovely drawing @nunuushi did of mikamukai! found here: https://tinyurl.com/kirmaspfp

if you mean my retrospring pfp, it’s from the manga kieta hatsukoi!

some manga recommendations you may enjoy:

— kieta hatsukoi, a shoujo romcom in which highschooler aoki souta learns that his crush has a crush on the guy sitting in front of him, and he ends up crushing on the guy too! it’s sweet and silly, and handles its queer themes very gently. an all-time favourite of mine.

— silver spoon, a shonen coming-of-age in which hachiken navigates attending an agricultural school, and in turn realises himself and what he wants to pursue. i hold silver spoon close to me as i really resonated with hachiken’s arc. it’s also highly educational about agriculture and super fun to read, so if that’s an area of interest for you, definitely check this out!

— seasons of blossom, a manhwa split into the four seasons of the year and highlights a select group of characters from a shared cast in each season. the manhwa largely tackles the themes of suicide in a way that feels highly intelligent, empathetic and holistic. beyond that, there are also many sweet moments between the characters (the first season is honestly very lighthearted). it’s a read for the ages, i’d love to collect it if it goes physical!

— tamen de gushi, a comedic romance manhua centring highschool girl, sun jing, who is crushing on another girl, qiu tong. it’s a super fun read and the girls largely progress in their relationship together, and they make me feel so crazy. i believe the series is on hiatus currently(?) but there’s plenty of chapters to read through that are up!

— no home, the description of which i’m going to rip from imane because she said it really well:
“basically stl's unhinged cousin. it's a webtoon by wanan about a runaway kid and homeless kid who can't stand each other but somehow end up living in the same haunted high school dorms. no home has heavier themes but if you enjoy the masterclass in storytelling and character writing that stl is, no home will definitely hit the spot for you.”

— homework of the heart, which is probably my most niche recommendation here, is a slice-of-life manhwa surrounding twenty-something yi gyung jo who, unbenknownst to her, has moved into a town housed by vampires. in this town, she runs into her highschool crush who she hasn’t seen in years, and they (as well as the rest of the cast) work to untangle the time gap between their last encounters. i’m honestly not huge on vampire-media, but i really love the gentle take this has on vampirism? the art is soooo so so lovely as well (which is something i can say about all of my recommendations, but like seriously, i adore the way this manhwa looks) and it’s one that i like to tell people to read if they want something to unwind to. really really lovely! i’d love if more people checked this one out!

I’M SO SO SORRY FOR RESPONDING SO LATE!!!! i don’t know any stl-specific accounts (as in, that’s all they tweet about) but i can direct you to some of my friends that love to talk about it, especially during chapter drops! apologies in advance if you already know some of them:

imane @shinkanes — if you’re an stl fan it’s almost a given that you know imane, she’s part of the team that fantranslates the chapters and has also translated some of takamatsu’s interviews in her spare time! imane’s a shining light and i love conversing with her about stl, if you enjoy my thoughts on it i’m sure you’d love imane’s!

lila @lilatheduckk — if you love shima and deeply analytical threads you’ll love lila! lila makes insightful interpretations of stl, which manifests in long threads or beautiful fics. there’s a good chance you already know lila, but if you don’t please especially look into her works! her grasp on shima is sooo good!

saz @nyoomzz — i think saz is best known in the stlsphere for her wonderful stl art, also for being the world’s greatest yuzumika truther (i am on her side). if you also like slice of life more broadly you’ll enjoy saz’s recommendations!

witty @some_witty_user — witty my friend witty… beautiful and fun art as well as the silliest tweets known to mankind, witty is such a delight whenever they tweet. they actually made a stl picrew as well! if you like silliness and fun art you’ll love witty!

liz @inumakiis — i love liz!!! i look forward to her tweets whenever new stl chapters drop, she also made some hit tweets iirc when the anime was airing (justly deserved!) i love her thoughts, i feel like they sometimes bring about a perspective i hadn’t considered before!

lena @ltejuns — my dear friend lena makes wonderful stl tweets especially about shimamitsu, i also love love love their coloured panel work, it’s beautiful! lena is always a delight to see on the timeline!

tine @egashiramika — i love especially when tine talks about the parallels between skip to loafer and kimi ni todoke, they’re super fun to read! they make a balance of silly and thoughtful tweets, if you’re also a big romance media fan you’ll really like their recommendations!

dante @dantiino — my mukai fan in crime… dante’s tweets about stl lend more to silliness, she never fails to make me smile! not to mention her wonderful art, ESPECIALLY MIKAMUKAI ART! if you’re a fan of mukai and silliness you’ll especially enjoy seeing dante on your timeline!

erin @egaoshira — when the anime was airing erin gave us the weekly gift of a mikacollage, which was a collection of screenshots of mika from every episode… i will always be indebted to her for that. erin’s a huge mika fan like me, so if you like mika you’ll enjoy seeing her! she also makes thoughtful tweets whenever there’s a chapter drop, and is just a wonderful presence on the timeline!

jenny @ultravioletjen5 — jenny’s first posted stl art included shima in the shinji chair and i just needed to follow her. jenny has wonderful art and is also super funny and thoughtful, i love what she has to say about stl!!!

nunu @nunuushi — nunu is so fun!!! their stl art is always a delight and you can tell just hoooow much they love it… i love seeing their tweets about stl whether they’re more silly or more analytical!!!!

lamb @lambcurl — lamb’s skip to loafer art is unbelievably good, i still feel a little starstruck whenever we speak to each other. their shimas especially are just the squishiest!!! i’m sure you would love love love their art!

cowla @carlota_point0 — cowla makes such endearing art and has such a rich insight and perspective on stl!!! i love especially reading their thoughts, they touch on topics that i wouldn’t necessarily think of and are just a delight to see!

kowpop @kowpop — kowpop is run by kkfvjkq and shisa, who i believe are long time stl fans! i know them best from their wonderful stl art and their mitsumi cosplays, both of which always bring a smile to my face!

joy @crumby_joy — WE’RE NOT MUTUALS but i LOVE their stl art SOOOOO MUCH, when they opened a store i literally bought out the entire catalogue!!! they’re also big on aslfua, so if you like both, you’ll really love their tweets!

WOAHHH… listening to it right now and I TOTALLY SEE THE VISION. YOU ARE COOKING. i can envision it as shima’s thought process around the culture festival arc, where his lackadaisical approach to love (“And it ain’t worth it! / Being hurt by love, is it worth it?”) conflicts with his desire to feel his emotions to their fullest (in this context, how he wants to be able to chase his dreams the same way mitsumi and kanechika can…) (“I wanna get lost in the feeling / wanna give into the night.”)

i think i ended up piggybacking on your own interpretation (WHICH I LOVE BY THE WAY!) but i absolutely see the shimavision with this one. i think the strong pep and bright energy actually really lends well to the lightheartedness of stl! the jazz rock also feels very stl-esque to me!

well, safe to say i’m adding this to the shima playlist :3c thank you so much for sending this through! i always love to listen to music, especially when you have an stl association to certain songs! thank you again!

I LOVE KANESHIMA!!! i must admit i was fairly recently introduced to the idea by my dear friend erin egaoshira... i completely agree — kanechika is very much shima's foil, someone who never gave up on his dream and relentlessly pursued it, even with the possibility of it never amounting to much. i believe it's around the culture festival arc (upcoming for the anime-onlys reading!) that shima both thinks of mitsumi AND kanechika when he feels envious of those who can pursue their ambitions without fear. in some ways, kanechika and mitsumi have very similar personalities — determined, optimistic, somewhat socially oblivious at times... it makes sense for shima to admire kanechika the way he admires mitsumi!

i love the added element that kanechika and shima have very similar dreams, directing and acting respectively, it adds more to shima's complicated feelings towards kanechika. with kanechika always being so mercilessly supportive of shima's acting, i really think there's so much you can interpret and impose upon their dynamic. to be so envious of someone who so easily gives you their admiration and support........ who never seems to second guess himself and puts his all into his craft........ I TRULY GET IT..........

added note — WOAH! the yuripoll and yaoipoll feel like a lifetime ago now..... if you voted in them, thank you so much! that was such a blast, i've been pondering on a new poll we could do just for fun, i haven't come up with anything just yet...

thank you so much for submitting your question! i find very rare moments to talk about kanechika and shima's relationship....... i stared so hard during last week's episode whenever there was a shot of shima watching kanechika's film........ perhaps we can have skip to yaoi. as a little treat.