Archive for the LGBTQ Category


Love Me for Who I Am, Volume 1, Guest Review by Xanthippe

July 5th, 2020

Hello and welcome to a special Guest Review here at Okazu! I’d like you to welcome Xanthippe, who will be taking a look at Love Me for Who I Am, Volume 1 by Kata Konayama, from Seven Seas! I’m thrilled to have this review and I hope you will be as well.

Before we begin, I want to quickly note that this title has been polarizing and there have been some inappropriate comments made by fans of this series on other reviews. Therefore, I want to let you know that all comments to this post will be moderated. You are very welcome to state your opinion of this series, to comment on the substance of the review. Comments about the reviewer or any criticism of their person will not be allowed. I know Okazu readers understand this, but if you are new here, please take a look at our community standards before commenting. I welcome your thoughts. Xan, the floor is yours!

I’m Xanthippe, and I make comics about trans stuff. You can find my work at https://comicsbyxan.com/ and https://pandorastale.com/

Historically there haven’t been a lot of manga dealing with trans people, but two that I think about frequently are Stop!! Hibari-kun! from 1981, and F. Compo from 1996. Both are slice-of life comedies featuring a bland-as-biscuits male lead thrust into the mysterious world of trans people, and in both stories said male lead holds himself back from pursuing someone he is obviously attracted to, because they’re trans and he doesn’t know how to deal with that. There’s a superficial “will they or won’t they?” hook, but reading them as a trans person, you quickly get the feeling that they probably won’t.

These series show us trans characters from an outsider’s perspective. They’re surprisingly progressive for their time, though both still have plenty of problems. Trans people are used as a spectacle: the shocking twist, a source of comedy and drama. The mangaka appear to be working from a position of relative ignorance on the topic, and so there’s a sense in which these series end up working in spite of themselves. We get likeable, identifiable trans characters seemingly by accident, because you know deep down that catering to trans members of the audience wasn’t the goal here.

Love Me for Who I Am feels like it belongs to the same stable. It’s a modern manga and consequently feels a lot more progressive and respectful in its portrayal of trans people. The cis male lead is actually comfortable with his attraction to his trans co-star, for one thing, and there’s a lot less mining of transness for humor. But the outsider’s perspective is alive and well, and while we’re no longer being used for jokes, there’s something just a little bit fetishy in how the trans characters are presented. Like Hibari and F. Compo before it, I liked it a lot, but there are some caveats.

The main setting of the series is Café Question, a maid café whose gimmick is that the wait staff are all crossdressing boys. Tetsu, our cis male protagonist and the brother of the café’s owner, notices his lonely classmate Mogumo, who is assigned male at birth but wears the girls’ uniform at school. At his invitation, Mogumo comes to work at the café, but a conflict emerges when Mogumo explains that they’re not a crossdressing boy – they can’t be, as they are neither a boy nor a girl.

It’s proposed that the café could easily adapt their gimmick just a little bit to make room for the nonbinary Mogumo, but this provokes the ire of one staff members in particular, Mei, who is very invested in the “crossdressing boy” identity and finds Mogumo and their lack of gender perplexing. In what’s absolutely my favorite section of the book, Mei comes to accept that she’s a trans woman, her previous bluster having been a consequence of the deep denial she was in. While the overall story is centered around Tetsu, Mogumo and the beginnings of a relationship between them, Mei’s story is what stands out in this volume, at least for me. Mogumo gets the most focus, but by the end of the volume they’re still a bit of a cipher and it’s hard to get a handle on their personality.

Rounding out the café’s staff we have Suzu, who originally got into crossdressing to impress his boyfriend; Ten, who just enjoys cosplay, and the café’s owner, Satori, who’s a trans woman. She’s the character I most enjoyed: I can’t tell you how satisfying it is to have the wise mentor and most competent character of the bunch be an openly trans woman.

This is all to say that Love Me for Who I Am works best when it’s an ensemble piece about its various characters figuring themselves out. Almost everyone here is some variety of queer, so it’s striking how little these kids know about queer topics. Whether it’s general confusion about Mogumo being nonbinary (Satori has to explain the concept to the rest of the staff), or Mogumo innocently dropping a homophobic slur, it’s clear that they’re only just learning most of this stuff.

On the one hand, this would seem to indicate that the characters have some growing to do. But this is where that outsider’s perspective becomes a problem again. I don’t know the mangaka’s gender or if they’re trans or not, though they state that they didn’t know nonbinary people existed when they started work on the story (which, for a story about a nonbinary person? Yeah, not ideal). Regardless of their gender, this feels like a story from an outsider’s perspective, and so I can never quite let my guard down. Is Tetsu misgendering his sister out of ignorance, or is this an oversight on the part of the creator? I want to believe it’s the former, and if this was a story by someone I knew to be trans I probably would, but instead I’m constantly bracing myself for something to be handled badly.

Which is a shame, because for the most part the book clears these hurdles well. At one point Mogumo wonders if things would be easier on Tetsu if they were a girl, which leads to some experimentation with their gender presentation. This isn’t quite resolved by the volume’s end, though there are moments here and there that indicate Mogumo really wouldn’t be happy just being a girl. All in all, it’s a fairly tactful exploration of an experimental phase that a lot of trans people experience, but when Mogumo first wondered if they should become a girl for Tetsu’s sake, it set off some alarm bells to be sure.

And then there’s the art, which is well done and all, but there are times when the characters are presented in a way that feels objectifying and, to be honest, porny. The actual content of the book gets no more explicit than a single panel of Mogumo with their shirt off, but… I mean, look at the cover art. Just look at it. The mangaka used to draw femboy porn and it shows. It creates a weird atmosphere because the story is innocent enough, but that art style makes it feel like it could turn into porn at any moment.

It might seem odd for me to dwell so much on the book’s flaws while saying I liked it, but those flaws are frustrating because they drag down a story that’s genuinely nice and sweet with a presentation that sometimes makes you worry that someone might be looking over your shoulder and judging you. I recoiled slightly at the sight of the cover. I cried when Mei tentatively asked her coworkers to refer to her as a girl. I wish I could have one without the other.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 7
LGBTQ – 9
Service – 7 based almost entirely on art style

Overall – 8

I’m 39 years old – the same age as the Stop!! Hibari-kun! manga. I went through most of my life with very few positive portrayals of trans people to look to, so I’d latch onto anything half-decent. I adored Aoi from You’re Under Arrest, even though she was a minor character at best, and not always treated particularly well when she got her moments in the spotlight. Point is, I’m used to making compromises with my media. I’m used to accepting imperfect handling of trans characters because those perfect stories so rarely exist. Love Me for Who I Am is a book with its heart in the right place, a surprisingly gentle tale of queer kids learning to be themselves, and I’d recommend it, provided you can tolerate the occasionally skeevy art style. I like this book, though I wonder if perhaps I like it more for what it could be than for what it is.

Erica here: I cannot express how excellent a review this is. I’m so very grateful for this, Xan and I hope to have you back again soon!





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!