Archive for the LGBTQ Category


Always Human by Ari North

June 29th, 2020

Some years back, I received an email about a comic on Webtoons that I might find interesting. And indeed, when I had a chance to check out Always Human, by Ari North, I did indeed find it interesting. I originally reviewed the webcomic in 2017.

Always Human is about Sunati and Austen, two young women who meet, fall in love and have to make the kinds of decisions all young people developing their careers and lives have to make. In a future where people’s appearance can be changed with “mods,” Austen is unable to use mods, and is unwilling to be seen as special or have her condition seen as the sum of who she is. This is a story that folks with many kinds of conditions can relate to.

Both Austen and Sunati have obstacles to overcome in their own lives, and in their relationship, but we’re rooting for them all the way. Set in a future when society does not appear to be one of those obstacles, the story lets us settle in and just enjoy the human aspect.

What really captures the reader instantly is the vibrant color palette North uses, and how the color is more than just background or tone. Tied into Sunati’s look, the color scheme adds as much depth of meaning to scenes as the words and shapes used do….something we’re used to seeing in fine art, not comic art.

When I heard it was to be made into a book, I wondered how it was going to look, since Webtoons is so specifically designed for phone consumption, with vertical format. I’m ecstatic to tell you that here in 2020, Always Human has been made into an absolutely magnificent book. North has reworked the layout completely, so the reader can be transported wholly into the story without having to adjust for the vertical layout on the print page. I love the extra touch of the hardcover book being the cover design for the webcomic underneath the dust jacket. Every detail is so well thought out.

I can only imagine how arduous a process reworking the layout must have been, so my kudos to artist North, editor Rachel Gluckstern, Rob Wall on layout  and all the folks at Little Bee, who made this a beautiful, book, a seamless reading experience and a charming story.

I picked up the hardcover and will be very glad to have this visually rich book on my shelves.

Ratings:

Art – 10
Characters – 10
Story – 10
LGBTQ – 10
Service -1 on principle only

Overall – 10

Always Human is a radiant story of love, of life and of a hopeful future.





Pride For My Queer Otaku Family

June 16th, 2020

I like this one for the feels this series made so many of us feel.

 

When Pride Month 2020 began, I was absolutely, positively sure that we would not be celebrating. I believed, from the very depths of my heart, that this Pride Month, would be about enduring, about protesting, about reminding the world that we were still here, still queer and still shouting about the same exact kind of police violence against black and trans bodies that sparked the Stonewall Uprising. I began this month on Twitter by promoting black otaku voices. I ended up following a whole bunch of amazing writers and made a couple of new otaku friends. It was only one thread, but it has become an entire skein of relationships.

This week, I was reminded that last year I posted a queer manga a day for Pride month. It was a lot of work, but it was such an amazing feeling knowing that there was so much great queer manga out there and so much of it already in English. I had thought about doing that again, but it felt totally wrong in light of the protests across this country. To some extent, these are the same protests, the same protest we have been having since the Women’s Suffrage March, since the Selma to Montgomery, Stonewall, the Women’s March and Occupy Wall Street, even. This is the march of progress, a march of defiance of hatred and violence from the authorities, of toxic masculinity and predatory capitalism. BUT – and this is a big BUT – recent protests are also very specific protests against a specific war being waged specifically on black Americans right now. This is the legacy of the slavery and violence upon which this country was founded. This is the legacy of Jim Crow and the KKK and the Lost Cause Doctrine. And I didn’t feel entirely right about obscuring the protests against police violence and with some frippery.

And then, incredibly, the Supreme Court of the United States, this week, has affirmed employee rights for LGBTQ Americans. And while the gay community has fought hard for this, frippery is also kind of our thing (as it is the otaku thing.) As a queer otaku I thought, fuck it, I’m going to celebrate Pride month somehow.

I thought hard about how I wanted to celebrate my immense pride in my queer otaku family, without stepping on anyone’s neck to do it. And I think I came up with the right way, but first I want to just tell you how proud I am of all of you. Those of you who have come out, and everything it cost you to do that. Those of you who have not and everything that it is costing you to do that. I am very proud of my queer, LGBTQ+, Gender and Sexual Minority otaku family. You are a delightful and fun and funny, you make my fandom full of glitter and joy.

On Twitter I have started a new thread:

So if you are a queer otaku and have a thing you want shared (except for fansubs or scanlations, because please don’t,) jump on that Twitter thread and I will RT and share! If you just want to say ‘hi’ in the comments, that’s fine, but I will ask straight allies to please be mindful that this is a party and today is not the time to talk about you, your allyship or the dismal state of LGBTQ rights elsewhere. We know. We’re working on it and right this second, in the middle of all the stupidest dystopian plots colliding in a maelstrom of hellish news, we’re taking a day off.

So…almost unbelievably, happy Pride month, my beloved queer otakus. I’m so very proud of everything you’ve accomplished. ^_^





She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Final Season

June 8th, 2020

It seems a million years ago, when She-Ra and the Princesses of the Power began, but no. ^_^

Through 5 seasons on Netflix, we’ve watch Adora and her friends form an alliance with the other Princesses of Etheria to combat the evil Horde, which sounds exactly like what one might have expected of a series called She-Ra and the Princesses of Power…but there was so much more than that baked into the story.

Teamwork and Leadership. Obviously, we expect that from a kid’s cartoon, even now…maybe especially now, after decades of anime that focuses on the power of many over one. This cartoon delves into how hard it is to keep a team working, how a good team leader really needs to understand the skills their team members bring to the plate and find a way to utilize them. Hordak isn’t actually a bad leader…especially Hordak Prime, who fully understood that the way to build a team is to make people feel included.

Trauma. That Hordak’s rule was not so much a team as a cult made it pretty clear that there is a fine line for cults of personality/celebrity, and it takes some strength to break free. For my money, Wrong Hordak (along with Peridot and Lapis) is some of the best writing in the last few years – not everyone joins the resistance for the right reasons and even if they do, they sometimes need to work through a lot for a long time. Trauma is real and healing is ongoing. You just know Wrong Hordak will wake up screaming some nights and Catra will have a hard time every once in a while. Mara’s story is a story of trauma. Bereavement is a repeated theme which makes a lot of sense for a series centered around a war.

Betrayal. Scorpia’s whole story is one of betrayal. Her grandfather capitulated to the Horde, and betrayed their family. Catra treated Scorpia with contempt and left her behind. Entrapta was betrayed – she thought – by the Princesses, and she betrayed Wrong Hordak. Adora was betrayed by Lighthope, Glimmer felt jealousy and betrayed by Bow…. and Bow was unable to address his fear of betraying his fathers. And so on.

Representation. I commented on Twitter that, in the post She-Ra and Steven Universe world (for which I still owe you a wrap up review,) all children’s cartoons are going to have to just be amazing. Never again can a network argue with a straight face that representation “doesn’t sell.”Along with racial diversity in characters, there was age, and sexuality and gender diversity, varying body types and sizes. Which is not to say it was perfect. Upon reflection, we can’t think of a disabled character in She-Ra. (Yes, I know that other cartoons have some…I’m reviewing this cartoon right now. If I’ve forgotten someone in this cartoon, please do jump in. I’ll be glad to be wrong. ^_^)

In terms of queer representation, the creative team pulled out the stops. Netossa and Spinerella are already an established couple when we meet them and they are really cute about it. Bow’s dads are a dignified middl-aged couple, as well. Double Trouble is notably non-binary, voiced by non-binary voice actor Jacob Tobia. And of course, there’s Catra and Adora’s 5-season long gavotte around their feelings.

And in all this, characters deal with many other emotional states, both positive and negative. When I wrote my initial review, I found some of the Princesses annoying…as we were lead to. As their stories unfolded, their characters filled out and developed into some great characters.  Some of these story lines work well, others are occasionally  facile, but generally it had some remarkable scenes. Excellent characters who were complex and nuanced, rather than bad OR good. Overall a very good series.

My only – really only – complaint about the series is the shadows that were drawn across their faces. It often looked as if they were wearing a mask. It reminded me very much of the band of light in the characters’ hair in Vision of Escaflowne, which I also found horribly distracting. I shouldn’t be seeing one artistic quirk constantly in every scene to the point of not being able to not notice it.

Ratings:

Art – 7 That face thing is a point off
Story – 8 Twisty and good, avoiding childish morality
Characters – 9 Full developed, often funny
Service – 1 I mean, everyone looks good dressed up, but that dress on Scorpia and the untied tie on Catra were on point. ^_^
LGBTQ – “perfect world” 10, in which people just are and that’s not the issue ever

Overall – 9

I do wish, though, that there had been a post-series Princess Prom episode. ^_^

 





Bloom Into You, Volume 7

May 11th, 2020

If Bloom Into You were a movie, this would be the part of the movie where, instead of hastening towards the climax, as American movies do, the characters would spend the next half hour moping, then run halfway across town to finally see each other, but Bloom Into You isn’t a movie, so while Touko and Yuu do exactly as described above, there is a different person for us to follow while they mope.

In Bloom Into You, Volume 7, Sayaka confronts her final boss, the fear inside herself. Happily, she doesn’t do it alone, because Sayaka has an adult role model to speak to, happy day! Miyako takes Sayaka on a reconnaissance mission and for the first time, Sayaka gets to talk to someone like her, and see what life can become. Fortified by the knowledge that she is choosing to do what she wants to for herself, so she can grow from it, Sayaka finally confesses her feelings to Touko.

…And the movie resumes, with Yuu and Touko running across town to see each other and finally have their own moment.

I’ve never been terribly invested in Yuu and Touko as a couple, not because I don’t like them, or because they shouldn’t be together, but just because this story was always presented to us as a Yuri romance. Yuu and Touko were fait accompli from the beginning. But Sayaka was a delightful – and meaningful – addition to the story.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8 The Sayaka parts are a 9
Characters – 9 They’ve developed into people now
Service – 1 Really not this volume, but we’ll talk again in V8.
Yuri – 7
Lesbian – 9

Overall – 9

As always, the technical for this are fabulous, Jenny McKeon’s translation does something specific I don’t want to spoil, but that I really liked in the climactic moment between Touko and Sayaka. Adaption, editing and lettering are all top notch, which means you’ll never notice them, but kudos to Jenn Grunigen, Julie Davis and CK Russell and I’m thrilled to see a proofreader, Danielle King. Do take a look at the credits for this volume, because IMHO, this is best of breed. You as a reader get to how many people it takes to get this book to you. I think it’s important that you understand that every book is a village.

I would love a side story about Touko and Yuu learning that Riko-sensei was gay all along. In the meantime Volume 8 is up for pre-order, with an August release date and Volume 3 of Bloom Into You Regarding Saeki Sayaka will be headed our way in the autumn. I can’t wait for you to read it!





I Am Not Okay With This

April 12th, 2020

Netflix’s series I am Not Okay With This, an adaptation of Charles Forsman’s graphic novel of the same name, is…interesting. Good interesting, but interesting rather than entertaining, for me.

It begins with a young woman in a white shift, covered in blood, running from what sounds like police sirens. The voice over starts, “Dear Diary….Go…Fuck Yourself.” And from that point on, I did, indeed, binge-watch this story of Sydney, a young woman whose entire already crappy life is turned upside down by even more circumstances beyond her control than usual. At fifteen, Sydney is angry and frustrated by life, and as a result she’s an asshole to people who are probably only actually a little annoying.

Sydney’s got problems, as most people do. She’s hauling around a lot of anger at a father who killed himself, and she’s secretly in love with her best friend, something she comes to understand as the story plays out. But her friend is not in love with her. Instead her best friend is going out with a star of the football team who kind of tries to not be a jerk, honestly.

Unfortunately for Sydney, she’s also beginning to manifest powers of manipulation….powers driven by her anger, mostly. Explosively violent powers. And so, as the season ends, we come full circle to the beginning, with Sydney, running away from sirens in the background.

Sydney’s sexuality is part of the story and it takes her a longer while than it takes us to figure out where her interest lies. But whether it will ultimately be a good thing is still way up in the air as the season ends.

The biggest hurdle in the story is not the horror of it all, or even the tedium of school life, which is thoroughly explored, but that Sydney herself is just not a particularly nice or interesting person. Her “good” column is mostly filled up with Sydney’s genuine affection for her little brother. That said, Sydney is fantastically acted by Sophia Lillis, who captures every single annoying, awkward, self-absorbed quality of queer adolescence competently. The rest of the cast is likewise excellent, with special shout out to Wyeth Oleff as Stanley Barber, Sydney’s confidant and would-be boyfriend.

Ratings:

Acting – 10
Story – 9
Characters – 8 Exceptionally well portrayed
LGBTQ – 4 Sydney figuring it out is a thing
Service – 2 a little dress up

Overall – 8

If you’re looking for a happy teen drama-comedy, this is not the teen drama you’re looking for. If you’re looking for a queer lead paranormal/horror story, a lesbian Stranger Things or had a fondness for the teen drama of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, I Am Not Okay With This will probably scratch your itch. Whether a Season 2 will happen we don’t know, but it does appear that it’s being considered, if not actively made yet. The comic ends with finality, so if there is a S2, it will be going in a different direction.