Archive for the LGBTQ Category


Wandering Son Manga, Volume 1 (English)

July 17th, 2011

Wandering Son, Volume 1 is my vote for manga most likely to cause a quiet revolution without becoming a best seller.

As you know, if you pay attention to any manga news at all, Wandering Son  by Shimura Takako, is the story of two young people as they realize and deal with the fact that their gender does not match their bodies. In Volume One, we are introduced to the cast, and to the general situation in which Shuuichi and his classmate Yoshino start to deal with puberty and the disconnect they feel about their selves and the bodies in which those selves reside.

This past week I was pleased to be part of a discussion of this book at the Manga Out Loud podcast. I hope you’ll listen to it, as we discuss both the book and the anime in some detail.

The story itself is gentle…as I say in the podcast, almost tentative. This territory is difficult for many people to accept and the manga audience is not, for all that it enjoys stories of gender switching as comedy, as socially liberal as many might think. Shimura takes her time…and ours…to introduce the idea that a body may not be the right one to be in.

As a result, Volume 1 might feel a bit timid to those readers who are more used to Aoi Hana. Having just come off reading Volume 6 of Aoi Hana, I found myself a little surprised at the tentativeness of these first chapters…and then suddenly I realized that this manga is nearly ten years old. The strength Fumi shows was not born overnight and Shuuichi and Yoshino are younger than she is. After talking with the folks on the podcast, I realized what a profound revelation this series will be to people for whom this is an entirely alien discussion. And I’m utterly blown away by how deft and masterful Shimura has become in the last decade.

In conclusion, I’m going to cheat and quote Ed Sizemore from Twitter, when he said, “Wandering Son doesn’t just open up doors of perception for me, but makes me want to learn more about the real life experience of transgender people. To see world through their eyes so I can relate to them better.”

There will be no Wandering Son cosplayers, you won’t find Wandering Son figurines or headbands at conventions. But in these pages, Shimura can bring the thoughts and experiences of the transgender community to people who have never before thought about life from Shuuichi’s or Yoshino’s perspective. That is the revolution contained in the pages of Wandering Son.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 0

Overall – 8

I hope you will all consider buying a copy of the manga for your library (or request that it buy a copy, if it still has the budget to do so.) Let’s change the world, one manga at a time – starting with this one. I’ve already got a copy for my Libary. ^_^





Hourou Musuko/ Wandering Son Anime (English)

June 22nd, 2011

Many of you have, over the last few years, written in to tell me about Shimura Takako’s series Hourou Musuko, Wandering Son, to ask me when I would review it, to remind me to add it to the News Reports.

As many of you have noticed, I have not reviewed it as of yet. The reason for this is relatively simple – while Hourou Musuko is undoubtedly a masterpiece, it’s not really Yuri.

But, it *is* a masterpiece and a masterpiece dealing with gender transitioning, which is something that manga and anime typically play for laughs at best, rather than handling it with any seriousness or sensitivity. So, I guess it’s time to review this series, already. ^_^

My problem now is – I don’t know what to really say about it, other than it is one of the very finest, most beautiful anime series I have ever watched.

Hourou Musuko is not the first time Shimura has dealt with gender in a story. Her Boku ha Onna no Ko was the first time I ever encountered her work. I was not overwhelmed by any of the stories in that collection – certainly nothing in it impressed me the way Aoi Hana did. But Hourou Musuko is something amazing, even compared to that.

Somewhere after Boku ha Onna no Ko ( the cover of which has a cameo as a poster in the Hourou Musuko anime,) Shimura reached deep into herself and found a real story – a touching story – a painful and beautiful story – about two young people grappling with the fact that they are born into the wrong bodies. Hourou Musuko is emotionally gripping in a way that very, very few anime ever can hope to be. Shu-chan, the mtf heroine and Yoshino, the ftm hero, are people I would gladly spend more time with.

Art, music, voice acting was all sublime. I can say nothing but “wow” about it.

In this short anime, there were two scenes that really stood out to me – the scene where Yoshino gives Shu-chan her name and said that she’d take his, which was so touching I honestly couldn’t speak for an hour afterwards. And the scene during the school festival, when the kids all go into another class’s horror house, just to be able to gain catharsis by screaming.

As for Yuri. Well, the anime begins with the 33rd chapter of the story, as Shu-chan begins middle school, so I believe we skipped one potential Yuri relationship. I will, when the manga touches upon it, mention it. In the anime, however, I’d like to talk about Yoshino and Saori. They don’t really have a relationship, but by the end of the anime, there is some very tentative movement in that direction, IMHO. Of course, as Yoshino is a boy, temporarily in a girl’s body, this would not be a lesbian relationship, even if it were to exist. As Saori had some feelings for Shin-chan, who also feels he has been given the wrong body, it seems to me that any relationship that developed between Saori and Yoshino could legitimately be labeled Queer. Shu-chan has a relationship with a girl that, as Niki points out in the comments, isn’t being perceived as lesbian yet, but is clearly another Queer relationship.

Because this series is a masterpiece, it did terribly in the TV ratings for that slot. This cannot really be a surprise, precisely because everything really is on a standard curve of deviation. That means that the good will be appreciated by less people than the average – and the stunningly excellent will only ever be appreciated by a few. Nonetheless, this anime was stunningly excellent and, as I contemplate reading the manga, for the first time, I find myself frightened by it a bit. It might just be too good. I have always managed my expectations of manga and anime, and don’t want to see my ability to find balance compromised. On the other hand, I don’t want to be disappointed, either. So, I find myself in the position of convincing myself to not expect too much, but also not to let Shimura’s fully blossomed genius ruin anything else for me.

By the time I finish the manga, I fear that all that will be left for me to read and enjoy will be Aoi Hana and GUNJO.

Anyway…if you haven’t watch the anime yet, do. It’s a masterpiece.

And then buy the manga, which is being put out by Fantagraphics. Don’t forget to buy an extra copy for your library – they *need* this book.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 0
Service – 0

Overall – 9

This, more than any series I have ever reviewed here is a LGBTQ masterwork. In the future that I want to  inhabit, it will be considered a classic.





Honnou to Senshokutai, Instinct and a Chromosome

June 5th, 2011

KC Dessert is a very interesting manga imprint. A broad definition would be that it tells josei stories for older teen or college age women.This means that the stories often detail relationships, with the slight feel of “things young women have to deal with.” In the past, I reviewed KOOLS, a collection that included a story about a young woman learning to be comfortable with herself as a lesbian, a story about rape and one about relationship abuse. They were overall all well told, and well executed. KOOLS, the story about the lesbian was a particularly well-done story. Think of KC Dessert as for girls too old to read 17 magazine (meaning 17 and up) and too young to read Cosmo. That’s the closest I can come to what audience this imprint reaches.

In Hyaku-Oku Nengo no Kimi no Koe Mo, there are two such stories. Both stories feel exactly like soap operas to me. The first follows a girl as she makes her way through conflicting relationships with men, but the second, “Honnou to Senshokutai,” (translated in the book as Instinct and a Chromosome) tells the story of Nanako, who confesses her love to a schoolmate in high school only to be told that she’s disgusting and should just die already. Nanako does not die, but does take herself off to the big city, where she attends a woman’s trade college. Almost from the first second, she starts to fall for one of the lecturers, Yuri.

With just a little awkwardness at the start, they two become a couple and begin making a life together but, as happy as Nanako is, she knows that Yuri is bisexual, and cannot relax. She is positive that Yuri will walk away from her one day. After a few weeks during which Yuri is continually busy, so  they have not seen one another, Nanako tracks her lover down…only to be told that Yuri is breaking up with her to marry a man from her father’s company. She’s an only child, she explains, as she hand Nanako the key to her apartment. “Do you *want* to get married?” Nanako asks. Yuri says that she does.

Nanako grieves, of course and, when a nice-looking guy tries to pick her up she falls apart. She tells him she’s a lesbian, to which he replies, “Yay! I like women too!” It’s all so unpredictable and goofy that she pretty much tells him the whole deal. He takes her for some food and a ride and she decides that she’ll try to have sex with him. Unfortunately for him, Nanako is wholly skeeved by the process. The guy is really quite nice and understanding about it, but eventually she has to stop him, because she just can’t do it. She leaves him, sleeping, and walks home, miserable at her loss, and realizing that she really loves Yuri.

When Nanako arrives  home, she finds a tearful Yuri curled up in front of the apartment. “I lied!” Yuri says, “I don’t want to get married. I love you!” And so they reunite, joyfully, with more promises of ever after.

Like KOOLS, “Honnou to Senshokutai” was a relatively straightforward, unadorned look at love between women, This was not a Yuri story, it is about a woman who is a lesbian and a woman who is bisexual who are in love with each other. And they live…okay, let’s just go there and say we’ll presume they live happily-ever-after. ^_^

In one sense it is a much-more realistic look at what Story A would look like. In another, it’s a great story to ‘splain a little bit about being lesbian to the clueless. Ultimately, it’s a nice soap opera where the girl gets the girl.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 6
Characters – 7
Lesbian – 10
Service – .5

Overall – 7

Many, many thanks to today’s sponsor, Okazu Superhero Katherine H for allowing me the chance to read this worthy story!





Novel: Wasurenagusa (わすれなぐさ) Guest Review by Hafl

May 25th, 2011

It’s Guest Review Wednesday, thank heavens. Today, returning Guest Reviewer Hafl is going to talk about another of Yoshiya Nobuko’s novels. As you may remember, I consider Yoshiya to be the Grandmother of Yuri and certainly one of the driving forces in the creation of Japanese popular literature for girls, what we think of as the shoujo genre. Any chance to talk about her work – which is relatively unknown in the west – is a good thing. Take it away, Hafl!

On the first glance, Yoshiya Nobuko’s Wasurenagusa (わすれなぐさ) is a tale of three schoolgirls, who become friends and learn to deal with their family situations. On second glance, it is entirely possible to read it as a story of a love triangle, and it does not even require that much effort on part of the reader.

The three main characters are Makiko, who is the ordinary girl, Kazue, who is the quiet and responsible girl, and Youko, who is the spoiled rich girl. Each of them also has family issues they must resolve before the book ends. Youko does not see the value of having a full family. Kazue is the eldest child in a fatherless household and is overly self-sacrificing. Makiko has a terminally ill mother and an authoritarian father, who wants her to completely sacrifice herself for family’s sake and wants her brother to become a scientist like him, despite the boy’s apparent distaste.

In the beginning, Makiko borrows school notes from Kazue, an act which is witnessed by Youko, who immediately starts suffering from jealousy and decides to get Makiko as her special friend. To that end, she employs such various methods as forcing Makiko to crossdress, gift swapping, summer camps, tailor-made dresses and distracting her with many different amusements. However, in the end, her spell over Makiko is broken and Makiko becomes friends with Kazue, who also helps Makiko’s father see that he cannot rule his children with an iron hand.

These are only the bare bones of the plot, which can be read in several different ways. It can be read as a simple tale of three girls becoming friends. It can be read as a veiled attack against Western decadence (It must be significant that Youko, always associated with Western clothing, wears kimono in the last scene of the book). And finally, it can be also read as a story of girl used to always getting her way, who decided to claim one girl for herself – that is the way I chose to read the book, since for me, it is the most fun way.

Wasurenagusa was written in the thirties, some ten years after Hana Monogatari and Yaneura no Nishojo and it shows. The prose style is much easier to read and there are mentions of things that would be simply unacceptable before, like Kazue ‘s father being a soldier who died in China. Even though the book is mostly told from the point of view of the main characters, there is an interruption from Makiko’s brother’s point of view and it shows that if one were to read the book “properly,” the main theme is not the relationship between the girls, but in relationships in family…and that the book’s more or less explicitly told stance on those relationships is that children must be allowed to find their own way in the world without their parents’ interference.

I tried to not spoil much of the plot, since Wasurenagusa is definitely worth reading. Personally, I would rate it to be about as difficult to read as the Maria-sama ga Miteru novels, so it is not as hard as Yaneura no Nishojo or Hana Monogatari. Or, perhaps, I have just became used to Yoshiya’s style, so I can read it more easily.

Story – 7, It is simple and without many surprise, but nicely told.
Characters – 7, Nothing special, but likable.
Yuri – Between 0 and 6, depending on how you decide to read the book.

Overall – 7, Not a must read, but still recommended.

However, this Wasurenagusa is not the only story titled Wasurenagusa that Yoshiya wrote. There is also an early story of the same name in Hana Monogatari, with the only difference being that the novel’s title is all in hiragana, while the story’s title uses kanji. Let’s take a short look at it:

Toyoko, a new girl at school, feels deeps admiration for an upperclassman, Mizushima-san, but she is unable to confess her feelings. In the end, she just leaves some forget-me-not flowers (wasurenagusa in Japanese) on Mizushima-san’s desk on her graduation day. While nobody dies of a flu epidemic out of nowhere or develops romantic tuberculosis, everybody is still sad. It is a pretty typical story in Hana Monogatari, where two girls separate without even having a proper chance to interact with each other.

Story – 6
Characters – 5
Yuri – About 3

Overall – 6

Thank you Hafl for your perspective – and for your prompt to remind me to read more of Yoshiya’s work.





Yuri Manga: GUNJO, Volume 2

April 11th, 2011

There will be massive spoilers in this review. I cannot discuss how powerful the story is or the reactions I had without them. If you object, skip to the ratings.

Today, we speak of desperation.

In my interview with Nakamura-sensei, she called GUNJO (羣青 ) a story about the “profound loneliness of a lonely person.”

In Volume 1 (上), we learned why the brunette would be driven to desperate acts, as a way to escape a life of despair and pain. She had nothing to lose. And we can understand that, we can forgive that. Abused women fighting back makes sense to us.

In Volume 2 (中), we are forced to deal with the other half of that act…executed by a woman who had everything to lose.

The beginning of Volume 2 starts with the chapter that made it impossible for me to continue to write chapter-by-chapter reviews of this story. This is when I began thinking of reading GUNJO in terms of “eating the most delicious razor blades you’ve ever had.” Each chapter hurts so magnificently, it has become my equivalent of cutting. I read a chapter to see how low into despair I can sink, how intensely I can feel their loneliness, how miserable they can make me feel. I read this every month to see if I can still summon hope.

In Volume 2, we do the most absolutely emotionally draining thing possible, we stop watching the main couple, with their dysfunctional relationship and dangerous dynamic, and take a step aside to really understand everything the blonde has thrown away. I don’t believe I’ve ever shed so many tears over a book as I did in these chapters. Watching the blonde’s ex re-create her life, find out how close they were to making it permanent (or, as permanent as possible for two gay women in Japan in the present), watching as the loss of her lover forces the ex to come out to her parents, and express how she *would* have spent the rest of her life with that woman. And then, when it all seems like she’s put it behind her and is ready to move on, we watch her give up completely…and kill herself. The blonde, who has everything to lose, has lost everything.

Then, when we think that we can put that behind us and we can move on, the ring her lover had bought her….the ring with which she was intending to propose…is given to the blonde, along with the story of her lover’s death. Now she has to deal with new loss on top of old.

But the book doesn’t end there. Profound loneliness has no cure. It wants no cure. The brunette, a woman who has run until she has been cornered by life, has new ammunition to make the one person who cares about her hurt. So she does. She batters the blonde with emotional torment until the blonde throws away the very last relics she has of her former life, 550 yen….and the wedding ring.

Ratings:

Art – 10
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Lesbian – 10
Sevice – 1

Overall – 10

There is no respite here. There is no moment when we can breathe a sigh of relief.

All we can do is feel the desperation and the loneliness of despair. And wait. For Volume 3.