Adults In LGBT+ Manga Are So God Damn Important12 Days of Aniblogging, Day 12someday, together, we’ll shineIt’s been a really good year for That Official Gay Shit. My Solo Exchange Diary was translated and the first volume was published. Shimanami Tasogare concluded, and was soon picked up for an official release starting in May 2019. Bloom Into You got an anime and it’s soooo good (more potent than the manga, even). The Bride Was A Boy was released stateside as well. In short, U.S. manga publishers finally realized that their readerbases were very interested in LGBT content, prompting a sudden wave of publishers trying to license every gay thing they could get their hands on. I’m not complaining in the slightest! It feels good to be serviced, and I can finally support some of the stuff I really like. And now that that’s out of the way, I can pivot to my topic: the value of adults in LGBT manga. It’s hard to be young and realize that you’re gay or trans. Figuring stuff out early can feel like somewhat of a curse, as now you’re forced to either confront yourself or bottle it in and suffer for a while longer, this time knowing exactly why. Of course, confronting yourself also eventually entails confronting your family, which is anywhere from stressful to an outright dangerous prospect. This is why so many LGBT stories contain found family elements – in the wake of unhelpful or unsupportive parents, it’s important to have someone you can look up to just the same. These adult characters have walked down the same hard path as the protagonist. They’ve made it to the light at the end of the tunnel, having transitioned or found love. Even if they’re still young professionals, they still have worlds of experience more than the protagonist, and just want to support them with maternal warmth and guidance. I’m really mostly looking at women for this writeup, simply because I crave that sweet sweet Mom Energy.I’m going to start with Shimanami Tasogare because it provided the opening picture for this post. Also, this is definitely the LGBT manga with the highest Supportive Adult : Confused Teen ratio. The Cat Clowder community is mostly grown-ups, with our gay protagonist and a trans middle schooler being the only school-aged denizens. There’s Anonymous, the mysterious vaguely supernatural owner and patron of Cat Clowder, whose aid comes not from her words but from the space she provides for everybody. There’s Chaiko and Seichirou, two older men who have been together for 30 years, providing the affirmation that this isn’t just a phase and that this kind of love can last a whole lifetime. And then there’s Haruko and Saki. Two young and fairly classy lesbians, their relationship is what opens protagonist Tasuku’s eyes to the fact that gay people aren’t just a distant fairytale. Throughout the course of the manga, they get engaged and come out to their parents, which provides somewhat of a roadmap for Tasuku to come out to others as well. They’re funny and thoughtful characters, and Cat Clowder wouldn’t be the same without them.that’s wife city!Up next we have the transgender classic Wandering Son. Protagonists Shuuichi and Yoshino are elementary schoolers with Big Ol’ Gender Problems. Shuuichi in particular, as they strongly desire the coveted Girl Items such as headbands and dresses and being parsed as female. Shuuichi ends up meeting a trans woman by the name of Yuki. Having been there, she immediately recognizes Shuuichi’s Gender Shit and takes a liking to them, hanging out every once in a while in the early parts of the manga. Yuki’s lifestyle displays a bright future to Shuuchi, that it’s possible to transition and live as a woman in a happy relationship. This is all good stuff! Less cool are the parts where Yuki acts in a predatory nature towards Shuuichi and Yoshino. It’s never quite clear if it’s being played as a joke or not, and either way it feeds into some rather damaging and dangerous stereotypes. Also not cool is the way that Yuki just kinda disappears from the story at some point, leaving Shuuichi without a strong role model. Enter Years of Gender Suffering, stage right. Seriously, the high school parts of Wandering Son are real depressing. Wandering Son is considered quintessential trans manga, but it’s ambiguous and complicated for me. Had I found it while I was still super vulnerable and gender questioning, I’m not sure how much it would have really helped.trans culture is crying in the bathroom…Bloom Into You… this one’s a lot less complicated for me. It’s the sweet yuri that makes my heart all fluttery and fluffly! Yuu and Touko’s relationship seems to be going well enough without the need for any gay adult guidance. It’s Sayaka who bears that particular kind of suffering. She’s hopelessly in love with Touko but will never let herself confess that love, for fear of rejection and losing the friendship they have together, which provides just enough closeness to satiate her for now. You know, typical gay girl problems! (auugh) Thankfully, she manages to find a Gay Mom figure in the form of Miyako, a café manager who’s dating one of Sayaka’s teachers, Riko. You see, Miyako and Riko understand Sayaka’s secret helpless love situation – they’re living with deep secrets of their own, keeping their relationship hidden from the world. Miyako gets to tease Sayaka about her crush in a way that shows how much she really cares, and understands how hard it is to be a lesbian, much less one with hidden feelings. A girl’s heart is full of mysteries and love and warmth… best to clutch it tightly!auuughAnd finally we have Collectors, which is something of a hidden gem. It’s a 4koma manga starring two women in their 20’s with drastically differing spending habits. One only ever buys books, and the other is obsessed with fashion. Despite this, maybe even because of their endless bickering about their differences, the love they hold for each other really shines through! It’s really nice seeing manga specifically from an adult lesbian perspective. So much manga focuses on teens finding support through side character adults, which is, but I’m glad that there’s also this manga whose primary goal is to depict gay adults. Definitely check it out if you can, it’s short and fulfilling. The art isn’t spectacular, but there are some interesting body types between all the women (book girl in particular helps me alleviate some of my face/shoulder/clothes dysphoria)an ideal relationship, tbhSo that’s that! So much manga is youth centric that even in LGBT+ manga it’s hard to find adult perspectives, but I’m glad I’ve at least found these series. Sometimes, you just really need an older lesbian to reassure you and show you the ropes and god please I need that mom energy so badly aughghh
Dec 25, 2018 • Subscribe
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