Archive for the LGBTQ Category


Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 4 (おとなになっても)

June 23rd, 2021

In previous volumes of Otona ni Nattemo, we met Akari and Ayano, who met in a bar and spent the night together, Ayano’s husband Wataru, who has wondered what that means for him, and assorted family, friends, coworkers and students who have become involved in the lives of our principles. No one know what they are doing. Sure, they are adults, but…

In Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 4 (おとなになっても), the whirlpool sucks them in further. Wataru suggest a separation and Ayano agrees. Wataru’s going home to live with his parents. Akari, not knowing this, has also decided to move to give her distance between her and Ayano. At school, Ayano is playing at being a grown-up with answers for the children who have their own love triangle issues and is torturing herself on faking competent adulthood for elementary schoolers, while her own life is in turmoil.

Ayano and Akari coincidentally meet at the train station and coincidentally look back at one one another and, as the final pages of the volume are turned, Ayano suggest they go to the cafe at the station and talk….

I’m calling it – this series is Shimura Takako’s best work to date.

For years, I have said that her work reminds me of Melissa Scott’s novels – solid concepts with slightly too much emphasis on sex and gender considering the lack of conviction with which it was executed. For the first time ever, I feel that this book isn’t trying to say something – it’s a fully conceived story about people who might be real, and neither sex nor gender is the story, just part of human existence as a whole.

One does not dislike Akari, Ayano or Wataru, they are all sympathetic in their own ways. I don’t pretend to know what the future holds for any of them, frankly. I don’t even have an opinion on whether any of them ought to be together. I’m content to see where the story – which is well-drawn and well-told – goes.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri / Queer – Impossible to tell at this point. Ayano may be bi, Akari is lesbian, Eri might be ace, but we can’t be sure about anyone of them but Akari.

Overall – 8
I hope you’re all reading this story as it comes out in English as Even Though We’re Adults from Seven Seas. It’s Shimura at an absolute peak of her work and a story wholly for as well as about, grownups. Volume 1 is out, Volume 2 just came out last week, and Volume 3 will arrive in October (you can pre-order it on RightStuf or Amazon already.)





Meisou Senshi – Nagata Kabi (迷走戦士・永田カビ)

June 13th, 2021

In my recent conversation on with the folks at Manga Mavericks about My Alcoholic Escape From Reality (a conversation that will go up on their Patreon later this month) we talked a little bit about this book as well. In the comments on Nagata Kabi’s TCAF spotlight, some lovely person expressed a wish that the author’s next book is about her hugging kittens. Well…it is definitely not that. 

Having given herself recognition that her comic essays are a valid form of artistic expression, Nagata-sensei has once again turned the spotlight on herself. In Meisou Senshi – Nagata Kabi (迷走戦士・永田カビ), she  tackles some of the things we might have been asking all along about her relationship with her gender and sexuality…and how that, and her physical and mental health,  affect and are affected by that relationship.

This is not an easy book to read. If anything, it open up whole new areas of discomfort. Content Warning: this book deals with sexual assault as a child. But, as we make our way through this in her wake, we can see (more clearly than we can with ourselves) how pieces of a life make up a whole. Her discussion of how  insurmountable was the effort of filling out the questions on a dating app, really struck home with me in regards to something wholly unrelated to dating.

Once again we see the power of a comic essay. This book contains increasingly intimate knowledge of her past, and tantalizing tidbits of her present, but we know we will never know the actual person through these.  These chapters are the comic equivalent of Van Gogh’s self-portraits….a visual record of her over time looking at a mirror and drawing what she sees. Some days the face that looks back at her is more haunted than others…sometimes it is almost happy. This records allows her to explore why that might be…and expose what the roots of that haunted look is.

I am curious, for reasons that will become immediately apparent when you read this book, what her parents thought of it. Nagata-sensei’s feelings about how she hurt her family in her initial volumes are made plain in later volumes and in her TCAF interview. This volume wasn’t going to make for light dinner table conversation and yet, I got the feeling that she and her family may have struck a bargain over this and while it may not be fun, they won’t be blindsided again.

Seven Seas has announced the license of this book as My Wandering Warrior Existence, which has a projected release date in English of March 2022. If you don’t want to wait, you can read this online in Japanese on Web Action. 

Yet again, I will not be rating this book, for reasons that will become apparent when you read it.

It is compelling.

Next up, we return to the beginning, with her plumbing the depth of her relationship with food, in Meisou Senshi・Nagata Kabi Gourmet De GO!  (迷走戦士・永田カビ グルメでGO！) the first chapter of which available on Web Action.





I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 3

June 8th, 2021

As I said of the Japanese edition of  I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 3, “We’ve already established that all norms are off the table in this series, so the plot here is a little bit of everything – school drama, romance, socio-political drama, and some other things and then the demons arrive. From this point on the book is spinning plates and juggling balls and then an axe or two on a high-wire.”

And indeed, we are handwaved into an idyll that will be shattered, trod upon, and sliced and diced and none of it – not one word – hit me as hard as the final scene in a throwaway side story. (T_T)

Former daughter of the nobility and school villainess, Claire Francois and her wife, the supernaturally powerful and gifted protagonist of the game Revolution, Rae Taylor, are living a reasonably comfortable life. Given that this life was built in the ruins of a revolution to take down a monarchy, it’s a very sweet life. Their adopted daughters are energetic and precocious. They have jobs. Why would anyone give up all that they have carved out for themselves?

The answer is of course that Claire believes in her upbringing – that, as a (former) noble, she has standards  and serving her country is the core of her beliefs. That her country is, maybe less worthy than she hoped, is a given. Instead of rethinking society into a more equal structure, all the government wants to do is create a new kind of second-class citizen of women and queer folks. That’s only just about 100% likely.

But instead of wrestling with rich men’s refusal to share power, we head off to the Nur Kingdom. At which point, I would like to digress and discuss my personal interpretation of the country names. As I see it, they are as follows: Bauer is kind of Germany; Alpes is Austria; Sousse is Switzerland. That’s kind of straightforward.

Okay let’s do Nur. In Japanese its written as ナー, so more like “Naa”

What country might that be? Hm, I wonder what aggressive militaristic country is threatening to Japan right now. It’s not hard to see that Nur is China, and Rusha (Russia) is “north” of that.

I want to note that Frieda, who affects a fake French accent here is from Melica, or, as I think of it, ‘Merika. Because ‘Xico and Nacada (or something like that) will get a mention next book and there will be reasons. So, while this is my interpretation and not at ALL a criticism of the translation, I think of Frieda as a really annoying American. For reasons.

As I thought of all this, I realized that, in the smallest and most tedious way possible, I’m kind of in Rae’s position. I know what’s coming, but I don’t know how it might turn out, only how it has turned out, when it’s over.  So gosh, how irritating for Rae. ^_^;

In any case, as with Volume 1, Volume 3 is mostly introduction and set up and I will also say that not every question posed here will be answered in V4. Which is why I stare with longing at GL Bunko’s listings waiting for a V5 to be listed.  inori-sensei has also posted all the final chapters of this arc and her story from Claire’s perspective on pixiv fanbox and I hope that will bring up the page count enough for the next volume soon.

Now I will return to reading the manga for my fix. And waiting for V5 in Japanese or V4 in English, neither of which have a date as of yet. In the meantime, we may enjoy the sweet scenes of domestic bliss, holidays and celebrations and what will pass (for now, eff you new government) as their wedding. And that’s still not the queerest part of the book.

I mentioned that the emotional impact here for me was, rather than the childrens’ trials, the final chapter where Claire experiences a Rae who does not love her and how bereft her life becomes. That one got me in the gut.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Service – Kind of, but I’m alright with any and all of it.
Yuri – 10
Queer – 10

Overall – 10

There are STILL questions I have even after Volume 4. In the meantime, I have one question for you – what did you think of Dorothea? I adored her, as you might imagine and need a lot of fanart of her. ^_^ Sadly she’s too cool and competent (and adult /eyeroll/) for most fan artists, who seem to prefer Lily or Philene. Sigh. Poor me.





Boys Run the Riot

April 18th, 2021

Ryo has a secret and it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep it under wraps. Ryo is a boy, and yet, here he is forced to wear the girl’s school uniform and suffer from both the indignities of being perceived as a girl and having a female body. Ryo’s escape is to buy boy’s clothes and be the person he is.

When Ryo is discovered by Jin, a classmate who has a reputation as a tough, he assumes the jig is up. Instead, Jin turns out to be someone with a dream of his own, as vaguely formed as it it. Together Jin and Ryo will “create a brand” of clothing together! Ryo struggles with the idea, but eventually adopts it as his own. As Volume 1 of Keito Gaku’s Boys Run the Riot progresses, it becomes apparent that this story will be the story of Jin and Ryo gathering people who are struggling to be who they are, to be part of their brand.

I had a lot of feelings as I read this volume. I’m not unfamiliar with gender dysphoria – about clothes, particularly, and Ryo’s struggle with the girl’s uniform brought back a lot of unhappy memories for me. As a result, I found him sympathetic, but also found him very annoying and immature which…well, yes. For a long while here, Ryo is not likeable, lashing out at everyone and everything. His fear is wholly understandable, and when at last he lets Jin in, the change is remarkable.

But here, in one panel, is what 100% sold me on this series. During a photoshoot for their brand, Jin is hamming it up for  the camera. Ryo asks, “Don’t you have any shame?” and Jin responds, “Why would I?”


BOOM. That is your lesson, right there.

We’re not stupid, of course – shame can absolutely be something other people create for us. In these first pages, however, shame is what we make for ourselves, by fearing to be ourselves. And that, my friends is the lesson I have spent a lifetime teaching people. Why should you be ashamed? If someone tries to shame you, they are the problem.

Again, we’re not children, we can understand that at least part of Jin’s answer here is cis privilege. But before we get angry at Jin, assuming he’s never been shamed, let’s think about him a little more clearly. He’s a big guy, not good in school, a tough – the kind of kid that school systems are designed to spit out into a life of petty crime and little hope. He’s probably never had a single teacher that even wondered if there was a spark of creativity and intelligence there. He’s probably been shamed. He simply doesn’t care. Why should he? Why should we?

And then Boys Run the Riot finds it’s own legs, as Ryo and Jin shamelessly embrace their creativity and newfound partnership. How Ryo will deal with the rest of his life is, as of yet, a mystery to me. As long as “no shame” is the mantra embraced here, I’m willing to see it through.

The art is both extremely good and extremely ugly in places, which seems like a specific stylistic choice. Ryo’s breakdowns are painful to watch, but as he starts to feel like there is a goal, he grows in strength and clarity. Jin’s long-limbed easy-going enthusiasm is infectious and goofy, but there’s an intensity to him that I expect we’ll explore in later chapters.

An interview at the end of this volume confirms what I assumed – that Gaku-sensei created this story because he wasn’t finding work about, by or for trans men. The notes at the end also say that the entire localization team on this series is trans, which pleased me no end on several points. One, how awesome for us and the team that there are enough trans folks in the industry to have a whole team; how wonderful for the creator and the readership that this book will be treated with the care and sensitivity it deserves – and how awesome that Kodansha put all of that into practice.

Ratings:

Art: 7 Hard for me to like, but it soars in places
Characters: 7 Same, but that, I think, is the story
Story – 7 as a place to begin. If it develops as I hope it might, it has room to grow
Service – Sort of? I’m going to reserve this score until next volume
LGBTQ – 10 but also not. We all know that coming out is a long process

Overall – 8

Thank you very much to Kodansha Manga for the review copy.  You can read the first chapter of Boys Run the Riot for free on Kodansha. Do give it a try. It’s long past time we have a fresh, hopeful look at life as a trans man.

Boys Run the Riot, Volume 1 by Keito Gaku will be available at the end of May on Amazon, RightStuf, and bookstores near you. There does not seem to be an ebook edition of this available at the moment. Volume 2 is slated for a late July release (you can pre-order on Amazon, RightStuf).

Two openly queer media in 3 days here on Okazu. It’s a good week. ^_^ Read this and let me know what you think in the comments!





Queer Japan Movie

March 28th, 2021

Tokyo Pride 2016. It was my extraordinary pleasure to be able to speak at the Tokyo Comics Showcase, where I presented my Brief History of Yuri. One of the folks there was the lovely Graham Kolbiens, who talked to me about a movie he was working on about queer life in Japan. When the Queer Japan Kickstarter launched, I was thrilled to be able to back it. As a result I have just been able to see the full Queer Japan movie and it’s absolutely fantastic.

The movie takes a look at queer life in Japan through the eyes of a number of folks – activists, club and bar owners, a politician, a plethora of artists. Life in Japan as sexual and gender minorities is presented from their perspective. Each perspective is unique. Each perspective is beautiful.

The cinematography here is pure arthouse, which suits the locations and the circumstances. And yet, these people let you into their homes, and their work and their lives. The movie provides a range of experiences from full on spectacle balanced with the every day; dressup party photoshoots with sitting in a comfy bar in Okinawa; from butoh dancer to business owners. Queer Japan is a priceless archive of these queer stories told by people whose voices aren’t heard much in the west. And it gives us any number of places to visit and art to see next time we’re in Japan. ^_^

According to the Queer Japan website, the movie is on video on demand and DVD in the US and Canada. If you or anyone you know wonder, what queer life in Japan is like for real, outside of Yuri and BL entertainment, I strongly recommend watching this movie.  I’ll now have something I can suggest to watch when someone asks me what queer life in Japan is like!

Ratings:

Overall -10

Queer Japan is an intimate look at Japanese queer lives told in their own voices.