Waaaaauuuuuughhhh!!!!!

Arrrgh!!!

UGH

UGh

Ugh.

Okay… I think I can talk about Torikaebaya (とりかえ・ばや ) now. Deep breath.

Volume 5 of Chiho Saito’s stunningly gorgeous, emotionally crushing version of this Heian classic begins with the worst thing possible, Sarasoju, this fine, upstanding young courtier…is pregnant. Sarasoju is, not at all surprisingly, devastated at the thought. Having decided to live as a man, Sarasoju’s life is about to come crashing down. Running away will not, cannot help, but what else can Sarasoju do?

With Sarasoju’s absence, other cracks in the life of the capital begin to expand. Shinohime’s affair with Tsuwabuki is discovered and she is cast out of her home. Tsuwabuki takes her in.

And meanwhile, in the depths of Toguu-sama’s quarters, Suiren is forced to confront feelings for Toguu-sama that cannot, will not, bring anyone happiness. When Toguu-sama seeks respite in Suiren’s arms, Suiren’s feelings cannot be restrained. As the book comes to a close, they kiss.

Auuugggh. Reading this story is like getting hot sauce in a paper cut. It isn’t gonna kill me, but it’s not making me happy, either. And yet, I can’t shake the thought that Saito-sensei isn’t going to just drop the mic and leave us unhappy. She draws shoujo manga after all. And her work is damnably beautiful. I don’t want to watch…but I can’t look away.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 3
LGBTQ – 6

Overall – 9

Deep, calming breaths.

Volume 3 of Saito Chiho’s manga adaptation of the Heian classic, Torikaebaya (とりかえ・ばや ) ended with Tsuwabuki discovering – we think – Sarasojuu’s secret.  Volume 4 begins with the meddling and slimy homosexual Shikibukyou no Miya, slimily inviting them both to an evening of poetry reading and song singing. Sarasojuu collapses and, mindful of the secret he thinks he knows about Sarasojuu, Tsuwabuki jumps to protect his friend, carrying Sarasojuu away to his room. Unable to help himself, he looks under Sarasojuu’s clothes and his suspicion is confirmed. Tsuwabuki tells Sarasojuu that he’s glad she’s a woman, he’s had feelings for her all along and they make love.

After leaving Tsuwabuki’s apartment, Sarasojuu falls into a funk that lasts for days. Sarasojuu can’t tell anyone what happened and is feeling very alone and sick about gender, sex and life.

A call to appear before the Emperor changes Sarasojuu’s attitude. Once again determined to live the life of a man, Sarasojuu appears before the Mikado and they discuss a massive engineering project  – rerouting a river. The Mikado assigns Sarasojuu as project lead, and calls to Sarasojuu, asking about  Suiren. The Mikado confirms that he’d like Suiren to be one of his women.  Sarasojuu visits Suiren, who truthfully claims a distaste for men, but the Mikado makes it moot by appearing. Suiren runs away and Sarasojuu pretends to be Suiren, but the Mikado appears to see through the trick. Suiren’s case is taken up by the Onna Touguu, for whom Suiren serves as handmaiden, who pleads with the Mikado to not have to lose Suiren from her side.

Things are super awkward between Tsuwabuki and Sarasojuu, until Sarasojuu invites him to visit what they both know is his child. Sarasojuu concocts a plan to give Tsuwabuki and Shinohime alone time, and spends that time again tortured over what life there is for someone neither truly man or woman.

We turn away from this self-reflection and for one brief moment, see Sarasojuu rising to heights of skill as chief engineer of the river project. We see Sarasojuu’s leadership qualities, and the easy way Sarasojuu  interacts with the men. For one moment, we see a happy Sarasojuu.  But, upon visiting family, Sarasojuu is called to visit Shinohime, who is pregnant again and has morning sickness. Sarasojuu also becomes nauseous and is suddenly, horribly, shocked to think that she may be pregnant with Tsuwabuki’s child, as well.

At the end of volume 3, I wasn’t yet sure whether this would be a comedy or a tragedy. Now, it looks like it’ll be a tragedy.I’m not surprised, but a girl can hope, can’t she?

We haven’t spent much time with Suiren, as a court woman’s life was much more sedate than a man’s in the Heian-kyo, but I imagine that Suiren often has similar doubts to Sarasojuu’s. There is a very sincere, very stark difference in men’s and women’s lives in this story. That both siblings have lived as their chosen gender this long is a good thing, but one just can’t see it ending well.

As always, the art is gorgeous.  And Saito-sensei is not ignoring the issues of gender and sex conflicting, even with the confines of the story setting. Sarasojuu’s internal conflict reads very realistically to me. I constantly have to remind myself to breathe as I read this manga.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 3
LGBTQ – 6

Overall – 9

I’m really hoping there’s a happy ending out there, even if I can’t see how that would possibly happen. Breathe.

Volume 5 is already available! I must read it asap.

A lot happens in Volume 3 of  Saito Chiho-sensei’s Torikaebaya (とりかえ・ばや ).

Sarasojuu’s friend and peer, Tsuwabuki, has fallen for Sarasojuu’s wife, Shinohime. Alone and unable to understand why her husband does not make love to her, Shinohime falls willingly into his arms.

Both Tsuwabuki and Shinohime are overcome with shame and can’t face Sarasojuu, who is, obviously concerned and confused.

And then, Shinohime is found to be pregnant. Sarasojuu is shocked. Clearly, Shinohime is sleeping with another man, and who can blame her. Sarasojuu visits her father, proposing that Shinohime be told the truth, but he puts the cabosh on that, pointing out sensibly that, if the truth were spoken out loud, even in secret, it would spread fast.

In the meantime Toguu-sama is heading to the mountains taking Suiren with her. Suiren probably doesn’t realize it yet, but  we can see Suiren is falling for Toguu-sama, and it’s kind of cute, but of course there’s the whole gender thing complicating matters.

Toguu-sama allows Suiren to invite Sarasojuu to the mountains to accompany their party. In the mountains, the two siblings meet the master of the mountain, Yoshinomiya who instantly sees who they truly are. Returning home, Sarasojuu “forgives” Shinohime and eventually comes to believe that the father is Tsuwabuki.

In the capital, the Mikado learns of a city warehouse that is not releasing rice to the people and decides that what they need is the return of Yamato Takeru, a hero from the ancient epic Kojiki, to enact the Mikado’s will.  (As an aside, Yamato Takeru is known to have hidden by disguising himself as a woman. This indicates to me that Saito-sensei is having some fun with this story, about a boy who is a girl physically, who is playing a boy dressed as a girl.)

Sarasojuu and Tsuwabuki perform their roles and the warehouse is opened (shades of Mito Koumon there, honestly, with the officials overturning their sake bowls in shock at their appearance.) Afterwards, they are greeted by Shikibukyo-no-miya who blatantly claims Sarasojuu for his evening’s entertainment. To save his friend from this odious man, Tsuwabuki volunteers himself to be the priest’s sex toy. They return to the capital and finally, Sarasojuu is able to confront Tsuwabuki about being the child’s father. Now that the child is born, Sarasojuu offers to divorce Shinohime so Tsuwabuki can raise his daughter. They argue and, as the book comes to an end, Tsuwabuki may have discovered the truth about Sarasojuu’s body.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 3
LGBTQ – 5 This volume was very Victor/Victoria.

Overall – 9

A lot happened in this volume….and how it will turn out I have no idea. I’m on pins and needles here. I probably won’t get  to Volume 4 for months. Arrghh!

In my review of Volume 1 of this gorgeous manga version of the classic Heian story, Torikaebaya (とりかえ・ばや), I discussed the story’s history. Today, we’ll talk about the protagonists of the story.

Two children born on the same day to the same father, but different mothers – a girl, Sarasojuu, who is now living as a young man in the Heian Imperial court and her brother, Suiren who is living as a woman in the women’s quarters. They look so similar, they could be twins, and they are both beautiful. They are also, however, unsuited to the sex into which they were born, and as Volume 2 begins, both of them are passing with their father’s and his older brother’s knowledge and consent…and I want to take a moment to say, Dad’s kind of awesome, really. He’s gotta know the chances of this going well are slim. But he’s owning it. As we shall see.

Sarasoju befriends another young courtier, Tsuwabuki and they, like guys do, have contests of arms and talking smack. Tsuwabuki loves his dear friend, but Sarasoju is never able to truly relax around him. How could she? The moment she’s discovered, it’s all over. (Note: If this were a story in a modern context, I would be referring to Sarasoju and Suiren by the sex that they present as, but for the moment, since the idea that they are passing in world in which trans* people do not exist is the conflict at the heart of the story, I will continue to use their birth sex pronouns. My sincere apologies to anyone who disagrees with my choice.) To complicate matters,  Sarasoju receives a marriage offer from the Fourth Princess, Shinohime. At a very fraught discussion with her uncle and father, Sarasoju goes all in and agrees to accept the offer.

Tsuwabuki is livid at the news – how dare Sarasoju get married without telling him! They have a fight, which they heal up in the time-honored way of beating the crap out of each other and Tsuwabuki confesses that he wants to get married, too…to Suiren. Erk! Erm, Sarasoju tries to put him off, but it’s not happening.

Sarasoju takes up the position of husband to Shinohime, but their relationship is, for the moment, platonic. However, Ume-tsubo, one of the ladies of the court is convinced that Sarasoju is female and has several times tried to catch her out. She corners Shinohime and asks about the sex with her new husband…. Shinohime chalks up their lack of sex life to Sarasoju’s age, since they are 7 years apart. But seeds of discontent are sown.

In the meantime, Suiren has taken up a position with Toguu-sama, the Crown Princess and has been requested to write stories for her entertainment. He is up late one night writing when Tsuwabuki barges in and forces his attentions upon Suiren. Suiren counters with a hysterical reaction about hating men, and beans him with an inkstone. Tsuwabuki retreats, feeling like a heel. Sarasoju tries to console him by explaining that Suiren has a deep aversion to men, but Tsuwabuki has a different problem now.

Having seen Suiren, he’s decided that Sarasoju is better looking…a thought that freaks him out. Homosexuality is not unknown, but it is considered the purview of Buddhist priests and creepy dudes. He encounters Shikibukyo no Miya, a metrosexual sodomite wearing a wisteria flower in his cap, swallows his pride, and asks about homosexuality. Shikubukyo is pretty much as creepy as possible, leaving Tsuwabuki even more uncomfortable with his desire for Sarasoju than before. Unable to sleep, tormented by his own desires, Tsuwabuki sees Shinohime in her garden and again, does the unthinkable by barging in on her in her quarters as the volume comes to an end.

This description makes Tsuwabuki seem like the bad guy in the story, but he’s really not. If there is indeed a bad guy, it’s Ume-tsubo.

The question I had when I began reading this series was “Will this be a comedy or a tragedy?”. As I finish Volume 2 I am no closer to an answer, really. But now I’m annoyed as heck I didn’t just pick up Volume 3 when I had the chance!

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 2
LGBTQ – 4

Overall – 9

Saitou Chiho’s art is gorgeous, of course, and the story remains elusive as of yet. Volume 3 will have to be where we address at least one of the multiple impending crises. Yikes, but you know I’m going to read it. ^_^

The Heian period was a period of intense artistic creation in Japanese history. Like the Italian Renaissance or the Chinese Tang period; the cycle of life quality for the well-to-do hit a high and with it came the leisure and drive to create. So much of what we in the West consider “Japanese” culture flourished in that period. Mostly everyone is familiar with Murasaki Shikibu’s famous serial, the Tale of Genji. Fewer people are familiar with the ambiguously comedic/tragic/erotic Torikaebaya, which would probably translate to something like “If only they could switch.” You may recall this story from the 4th season of Maria-sama ga Miteru, in which the Yamayurikai’s school festival play is chosen around Yuki and Yumi’s uncanny resemblance.

When it was announced that veteran manga artist Saitou Chiho, the creator of the Revolutionary Girl Utena manga, would be working on a manga adaptation of the Torikaebaya  (とりかえ・ばや), I was downright ecstatic. Saitou-sensei has repeatedly shown interest in trans* characters and this manga deals not with one character or two who merely switch clothes, but who are entirely suited to the gender expectations of the opposite sex.

The story follows two siblings with the same father and two different mothers, born on the same day. The daughter is active, lively, good at sports, rhetoric and other masculine pursuits. The son is retired, shy, good at music and other feminine skills. Circumstances conspire to allow them to switch clothes – and lives.

I have not read the original in either translation or Japanese and before I even read the manga, I realized that my only encounter with the Torikaebaya was as a comedy, when the Lillian and Hanadera Student Councils had some fun with it. But, I wondered, was it actually a comedy…or a tragedy? As it turns out, we don’t actually know the answer to that. It has been interpreted as comedy, tragedy, social commentary and erotic romp by varying critics in varying ages. That actually made me more interested in it than before! We don’t know what this story is, how cool is that?

Saitou-sensei has specifically set out to treat this story as a story of transexuality. This is stated plainly on the cover and the relationship between gender roles and one’s sex is explored within. The daughter, Sarasoju is painfully aware that she really is not suited to be a girl, and her brother Suiren, likewise, really would do so much better as a girl. They switch clothes and roles and as far as I am in the first volume, their father is complicit in this, having just introduced his “son” to the Emperor.

I have not finished Volume 1, but I know that Sarasoju will play her part as a male well, but that that will not stop her from falling in love with a man, or having intimate relations with him. Her pregnancy is a major part of the original story. But she will also be married to a woman, and in one of the two versions of the tale (known as the Ima Torikaebaya Monogatari), both she and her brother end the tale in functional homosexual relationships.

I’m frequently asked for recommendations on trans* manga, and I usually don’t have much to offer, as trans folks are not well represented. This book will be going on my short recommendation list.

Ratings:

Art – 9 Gorgeous, but how could it not be? Saitou Chiho-sensei doing Heian period. Duh~
Story – 8 I’m intrigued, fearful, hopeful all at once
Characters – 8 Not bad, actually. Dad’s not a bad dude, and Sara and Suiren are sympathizable
Service – 4 Nudity, not nakedness
LGBTQ – 4 We meet them just as their self-identity is forming.

Overall – 9

Saitou Chiho-sensei’s version of the Torikaebaya may well become my go-to version of this Heian classic. Here’s hoping!

If you are interested in a garbled version of the story and a mixed bag of scholarship, here’s the Wiki entry on the Torikaebaya. It’s rather less helpful than I had hoped.