Archive for the LGBTQ Category


Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 10 (おとなになっても)

February 28th, 2025

Two adult women, painted in watercolor style, embrace as they smile brightly. One, with long dark hair wears a blue and white striped sweater and white slacks. The other has short blunt-cut red/orange hair, wears a green blouse, and red skirt. There are a lot of lose strings to tie up here at Shimura Takako’s Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 10 (おとなになっても). And, while the final bow is a bit messy, everything is tied up even if it means tucking in the aglets wherever there is space.

The story began with Ayano and Wataru married. Here they will, maybe for the first and only time in their lives, speak to each other like equal adults unencumbered by expectations. They can move on freely. Wataru’s mother has a long-needed awakening. There’s no way to know if it will be good or bad for her in the long run, but as a narrative choice, it was crucial. Eri’s story goes slightly pear-shaped, but it leaves Eri out of it. She deserves an epilogue of her own.

Ayano and Akari are fine. They move through this volume lightly, almost as second thought, meeting up with other characters, collecting and tying up all those loose ends.

I don’t know how to talk about the most interesting and weirdest piece of this volume without spoilers, so consider this a warning. Our three middle-schoolers have finally, fully resolved their concerns. When it turns out one of them has written a story about all the characters in the story, the other two jump in to help. What happens is a weird bending of the story itself as they narrate the various pieces of the story…even bits they could not know. 

Was all of this always a narrative told by these three girls? I actually hope so.

I have said this very often, but Shimura’s work is always a little problematic for me. Even beyond the specific kinks/fetishes/issues/whatever,  Shimura mines queer lives for drama, but does not identify as a gender or sexual minority. Does that make the work exploitative? It kind of does, but also, there is clearly a sense of telling genuine stories that heal and promote queer joy, so maybe exploitation is not the right word. Maybe Shimura is closeted, maybe something else, but the body of Shimura-sensei’s work is pretty neck deep in queerness, which seems odd for a person who is not queer. I always want to assume the best, and just hope that this is all a desire to find interesting characters and tell uplifting stories that include queer folk.

This story is queer in a real way. Akari continues to be a lesbian role model, Ayano becomes more comfortable talking about being bisexual, or perhaps always lesbian, but sucked into societal norms. And in the end, pretty much everyone gets the ending they deserve. Whatever the motivation, in both art and story, Otona ni Nattemo has been the best work I’ve seen from Shimura-sensei and the ending being a little bendy at the end, did not disappoint.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 0
LGBTQ+ – 10

Overall – 8

 





Hitorimi Desu 60-sai Lesbian Single Seikatsu (ひとりみです: 60歳レズビアンノシングルセイカツ) , 1-3

February 12th, 2025

An older woman in a long gray skit and yellow cardigan kneels down to water plant in her apartment.Hitorimi Desu 60-sai Lesbian Single Seikatsu (ひとりみです: 60歳レズビアンノシングルセイカツ). is the newest project from Morishima Akiko-sensei. This chapter-by-chapter series looks at the lives of senior lesbians who are single.

Chapter 1 begins with Imamura Miyuki, celebrating her 60th birthday. She’s known she was a lesbian since she was young, and has had lovers, but at this point in her life, she is alone. She’s not unhappy about it, definitely the positives outweigh the negatives. When her sister has her over her parents’ to clean up a few boxes, going through them reminds Miyuki of her dear friend, a girl she now considers to be her first girlfriend. She finds something that connected them, and starts to read a book from Renon.

A round woman in a red coat sits in a wheelchair in front of a house mailbox, looking up at a bird on a flowering tree branch above her.In Chapter 2 we meet Renon. She is 59 years old. Life threw her a curveball when a year ago, on the day she planned on her big gay bar debut in Shinjuku she was struck by a truck and injured. She uses a wheelchair to get around, mostly, is a little ambulatory, but her life is less thrilling than she hoped. Renon lives with her elderly mother and appears to have few hobbies except going out and eating cake. Upon returning from meeting an old friend who is getting married, Renon realizes that she had fallen for that friend thinks about how realizing that she had fallen for her friend changed her life, for good and bad.

This chapter starts on a hard edge. Renon is not a very happy person and we can see that she has given up to some extent. Having had her hopeful gay days taken out of her plans, she just kind of…stopped.

In Chapter 3, we learn more about Miyuki and Renon’s realationship. Renon receives that loaned book back from Miyuki, only 43 years late. Upon reliving her childhood memories of how they met, Renon finds the energy to write her old friend and invite her out. It is clear they were close friends, and felt deep affection for one another. When they meet up at last, they talk of the old days, but when the new days come up, the conversation lags. Maybe they don’t have anything to say anymore? Then the conversation starts up again – they both agree that each other was their first girlfriend….which crosses the hurdle of coming out to each other. The conversation comes more freely now and Renon pours her heart out.

Two girls in Japanese style school uniforms of blue, stand back to back. The wind blows their hair and skirts back as the cherry trees above them blossom.They part, agreeing to see each other again. Miyuki wanders off thinking about the future for the first time in a while and Renon finds the motivation to return to physical therapy. Maybe this reunion will spark something new for both of them.

As our favorite manga artists are ageing up (most of my fave artists are around my age – I have been following many of them for 20+ years now), it is not surprising to find that stories of older women are hitting harder for them, and me. ^_^ In her notes. Morishima-sensei says that she was wanting to write about lesbians who were single and also older lesbians, so this series came out from those desires.

Morishima-sensei is self publishing these chapters through Blic’s Cross Folio label. Blic is the same printer used by Galette Works. All three chapters are available on Amazon JP Kindle, Bookwalker JP and Amazon in English where you can get Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 in English as THE SINGLE LIFE: The single lives of 60-year-old lesbians.

Ratings:

Art- 9
Story – 9
Character – 9
Service – 0
LGBTQ – 9

Overall – 9

I hope she keeps working on these chapters. I love her art and the characters. She’s got a really solid grip on how people actually think. It’s always motivating for me to read her work. I definitely hope you’ll all take a look at this short story by an amazing storyteller and artist.





Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 8 (雨夜の月)

December 19th, 2024

A girl with reddish hair in a green striped button-down shirt sits at a kitchen table eating with a smile. Across from her, a girl wearing a red blouse with her long, dark hair tied back in a ponytail, earnestly leans across the table. Volume 7 of Kuzushiro’s school life drama finished up the school festival arc and, while it had its fair share of maid costumes and cat-eared girls, it also resolved one of Kanon’s lingering akashic ties – her relationship to her former best friend, Ayano. Both young women have changed in the days since they last saw one another and are able to start over once again as friends.

Friends. Because of Saki, Kanon is able to be a better friend to Ayano, and interact with her classmates. Because of Saki, Kanon was able to participate in the school festival. Because of Saki…

In Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 8 (雨夜の月)Kanon is very aware that, while Saki has been there for her, she doesn’t really know her friend the way she would like to. This is new to Kanon. Since she lost her hearing, she’s been very much alone inside her head, but now, Saki makes her want to learn about another person. And, as she thinks about Saki…Kanon realizes that she thinks about Saki a lot. All the time. When the teacher mentions writing for a lover, when she wants to learn how to make macarons, when she hears that Saki has an upcoming recital, but she has not yet been invited. Or when she see’s Saki’s reaction to the news that her former piano teacher will come to the recital. What is that woman to Saki?

Saki, for her part is flailing in exactly the same way. Will Kanon be more upset if she is invited to a recital she cannot hear or not? Why does she immediately think of Kanon when the music she plays is described as being “for a lover.”

The sports festival is coming up, but first Saki has this recital. And when Kanon see Saki in a vintage dress with her hair styled…well, she’s going to have to deal with that, too.

This volume never once retreats from the  complexity of human lives. Yes, both Saki and Kanon, separately, have started to give voice to their feelings, but the business of school and life still goes on. They have obligations, but also take on new responsibilities for their own desire to become whoever they are.  It’s beautiful. I don’t think I have ever rooted for two fictional characters as hard as I root for these two.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Service – We’ve seen them in yukata and maid outfits with animal ears , so more dress up? Yes.
Yuri – 6

Overall – 10

Volume 6 of The Moon On A Rainy Night is out now (and next on my to-read pile!) from Kodansha. Fireworks! ^_^

 





Ayaka-chan ha Hiroko-sempai ni Koishiteru, Volume 3 (彩香ちゃんは弘子先輩に恋してる)

September 12th, 2024

A blonde wearing an off-the-shoulder red blouse looks intimately up at a dark-hared woman in a button down shirt as they smile at one another.We left Ayaka in full “hitting on Hiroko-sempai” mode in Volume 2. In Ayaka-chan ha Hiroko-sempai ni Koishiteru, Volume 3 (彩香ちゃんは弘子先輩に恋してる), we finally get some backstory on why Hiroko is fighting so hard to not give in to Ayaka, despite her coworkers’ apparent support (or, at least, lack of negativity.) It’s not an uncomplicated situation.

When Hiroko was a newbie, she too had a supportive sempai in the workplace. Rumors of their relationship forced Chinatsu to leave in order to protect Hiroko’s career. Hiroko is still haunted by those days and watches her colleagues and bosses to see if they express the kind of homophobia she remembers destroying Chinatstu’s career. Weirdly…she isn’t seeing it in among her peers who generally seems to be accepting, curious or shockingly uncurious. A few of the older bosses express dismissive “it’s a phase” commentary, which Hiroko takes as a reminder to not hope too much for happiness.

But Ayaka, still convinced that she is not gay, just gay for Hiroko refuses to be stopped by the specters of Hiroko’s past. The ending of the manga differs a little from the live-action, and feels a little more authentic, as Hiroko finally puts her fears to rest.

Much like Cheeful Amnesia, this is not a series one takes seriously, but it takes itself – and it’s audience – more seriously than the former, taking time to address and resolve some issues. The main concern of homophobia in the workplace is absolutely handled with a handwave of “or, what if there wasn’t any?” Frankly, that’s a handwave I can get behind.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 10
Service – 2
Yuri – 7
Lesbian – 9

Overall – 8

In the end, this story is cute, silly, over-the-top and both very gay and kinda not all that gay, somehow? In the final pages, the story addresses a major “thing” (imagine me flailing my hands as I struggle to fin the right word here) that does NOT happen… then it does. Hiroko and Risa are definitely gay, Ayaka is still working on being in love with Hiroko. One hopes that she’ll wake up one day and say. “Oh, wow, I am gay (or bi or pan…).” In the meantime this series ends with the kind of happily-ever-after that eludes most people in real-life office romances, which is how we know that it is a fun office romance fantasy.

I know Black & White: Tough Love At The Office by Sal Jiang is intense and not for everyone. I think this would make a good license  that is funny, a little poignant, and ultimately satisfying.





I Want To Be A Wall, Volumes 1-3

August 4th, 2024

by Eleanor Walker, Staff Writer

I Want To Be A Wall explores the fake marriage between Gakurouta, a closeted gay man with an unrequited crush on his childhood friend, and Yuriko, an asexual woman who’s a big BL fangirl. Can this odd couple find something in this unconventional relationship?

Volume 1 opens up with Yuriko and Gakurouta entering their new life as newlyweds and figuring out living together as a married couple. In an attempt to understand his new wife’s hobby, Gakurota starts exploring Yuriko’s BL collection, much to her embarassment. Our odd couple though, are better at communication than a lot of other married couples, and state their boundaries in a healthy way to each other. We then hear the stories of their respective childhoods and the origins of Gakurouta’s crush on his childhood friend Sousuke.

Volume 2 tells us the story of how our odd couple first met. Both sides were pressured into finding partners by their respective families, (arranged marriages are still relatively common in Japan compared to the West). The two of them get to know each other, gradually find themselves more comfortable with and opening up to each other, then Gakurouta proposes the marriage of convenience to Yuriko. The rest of the volume is devoted to them getting to know each other a little more, figuring out how to live together and going on a pilgrimage together to visit a limited exhibition of one of Yuriko’s favourite manga. The two of them are clearly happy with each other, but since that happiness isn’t conventional, is it real to anyone else in the story?

Volume 3 takes us to Gakurouta’s grandmother’s house (she raised him), Yuriko meeting her for the first time and the elephant in the room, grandchildren, comes up once again. It’s this volume which really asks the big questions, and challenges the assumption that a conventional heterosexual marriage and kids are the instant and only key to happiness.  One bit I really didn’t like about the series is the surprise introduction of Sousuke’s girlfriend at the end of the previous volume. I felt she created unnecessary and over the top drama which didn’t fit with the tone of the series. Other conflicts which come up, like the risk of Grandmother finding out that the marriage is fake seem much more plausible and fit into the story better.

Overall, this series is a good reminder that just because a relationship isn’t conventional, doesn’t mean it’s not happy. Everyone’s definition of happiness is different, and maybe society would do well to remember that rather than persecute those who live their lives outwith the expected social norms.

“What’s the point in having a system where people who actually need a marriage can’t have one?” It’s also great to see more positive asexual representation out there. At just 3 volumes, it’s a worthwhile addition to your queer manga collection.

Ratings:

Art – 6. Some faces and perspectives are a bit off, but not enough to detract from enjoying the story.
Story – 8  It’s enjoyable to see them care for each other in their own way, and a nice reminder that “normal” isn’t always best.
Characters – 7  All lovely except Sousuke’s girlfriend who just felt overly fake and melodramatic.
Service – Non existent
LGBTQ+ – 10. Two people who don’t fit into conventional society supporting and caring for each other as best they can.

Overall – 8