Forum - View topicREVIEW: Love Me for Who I Am Volume 1
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Hellsoldier
 Posts: 754 Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol |
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Valuable information on the work. Thank you for your input. It seems clear to me that, due to the presence of trans, non-binary, and other Queer figures in the manga, the manga is LGBTQ-centered. It may be flawed, which I'm certain it is, but I'm sure it was done with the best of intentions, and a valuable read nonetheless. The more there are works expanding the knowledge of the full spectrum of Gender and Sexual Identity, the better. Trivia: My own experience observing the fandom seems to suggest that Bi women react more positively towards moe art and (a certain degree of) fanservice. It is extremely anedoctal though.
I sincerely hope this episode doesn't dissuade her from making reviews on manga again. |
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usagiumaki
Posts: 1 |
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i don't understand why it's bad that the artist googled gender things. i'm still trying to figure out things myself so i search it up online. there's no one i can talk to about this so i read it online. how am i supposed to do it right?
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 2607 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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It's not bad - but if you're writing about it, it's only a first step. Google is basic research and it gives you a good place to start from. Step two is to begin looking at more specialized sources and learning about things on a deeper level - you don't always have to start from writing (or discussing) what you know, you want to get to the point where you know what you're writing, and that means going beyond Google. I'm sorry you don't have anyone you can talk to about gender things. The author Alex Gino has some good resources on their site and their fiction is also really good. |
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kakugo complete
Posts: 71 |
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If your choice of "LGBT normalization" is lolicon teasing stuff that's fine, but while I think lolicon is harmless in and of itself it wouldn't exactly be my personal choice for making homosexuality look normal to hetero people. Look at all the stir the moe otaku-targeted ads in mainstream spaces caused during the past year. Yes I know the author is a non hetero woman but c'mon, they do look like kids.
Utena does have heavy gender themes but is far from just an "essay on gender". Ikuhara literally said he doesn't identify as a feminist and isn't that interested in it at one point on Twitter - sadly he deleted every tweet he ever made with the word "feminist" likely to avoid e-drama, but I got a Discord cap and if you want further proof the discussion happened you can search "ikuni_noise" and the Japanese words for feminist/feminism and find multiple tweets in response to his comments on the subject. 
Ikuhara's stuff is philosophical and serious in a variety of ways but also fetishy as hell; maybe it's self-projection but he comes off as a horny-ass bisexual to me. A big part of why Yuri Kuma exists was a discussion he had about boob mouse pads. That said, there's a difference between the characters Ikuhara sexualizes and the lead character THIS manga sexualizes. It's only natural that a manga with overt themes of LGBT gender identity is going to offend a lot of people, given a massive segment of the LGBT community is staunchly anti-loli/shota. |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16935 |
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My post has nothing to do with the all lives matter notion or anything of the sort. It's simply based on the rules of this forum. Rule 1 is be civil. That's why it's simple. Yes these are sensitive topics but in the end It doesn't matter who you are, what you are, what you identify as, or what the topic is. There's no excuse to act belligerent or insult others, and it's not allowed here. That is really not hard to understand. If you have further comments by all means go make them in the Feedback section. |
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kakugo complete
Posts: 71 |
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Not sure what you mean, because to me "queer" is a very politically loaded term, especially in anime fan circles. If you're saying various Kyoani employees are openly some form of "non-hetero" then... duh? At this point I'm more surprised if someone involved with otaku culture has NO form of open same-sex attraction. It's normal for female otaku to love GL stuff and for male otaku to like male x male stuff. If you're saying Maid Dragon was meant to be some serious LGBT political statement, lol. There's a manga too you know, made by a guy who's literally into horse porn. Not anthro kemono/furry horses, just straight up faved a manga of a dude screwing a female horse, and that's one of the tamer things he's into. There's a freaking huge-boobed loli in the manga. |
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EndlessEmpty
Posts: 12 |
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Hey all. Faye here (the author of the review). A few things:
1) Nobody needs any reason to be trans. If you want to be trans, you’re trans. That’s it. The reasons for why people are trans are as numerous as the stars in the sky, and every single one of them is valid, and this is one of things I adore and appreciate most about transness (I also regret leaving out more postiive, affirming aspects of being trans the manga does cover; gender euphoria is maybe one of the most important things about the trans experience, Mogumo is depicted as experiencing it themself, and I never bring that up throughout the course of the review). And in this review, I don’t make that clear. My review can be read as saying ‘there is only one kind of trans experience, and it involves intense dysphoria and emotional tumult, and that’s it’. That’s a narrative I detest, and the fact that I may have furthered it in some way and hurt people in the process disgusts me. Since the review has come out, the authenticity of my identity has been questioned and invalidated in ways that were extremely painful and destructive. As a trans person, that is one of the most horrible and terrible things there is, and I recognize and am sorry for how my review played into similar things, similar invalidations, with how I talked about Mogumo’s dysphoria. That’s not acceptable. I do not believe in that—Mogumo is valid no matter the reasons for why they are nonbinary, no matter the severity of their dysphoria—and I should certainly have been more thoughtful and considerate in how I described what I perceived to be the manga’s decentering of Mogumo’s experience. 2) Regarding the bit about the ‘google search’: I’m uncomfortable with the subtext there too (and think people are right to call me out on that). To understand the particulars of that line in the review, here’s the panel in question, the one the sentence is referring to: https://imgur.com/Trq3Yko When I read this, in the heat of the moment, in context of a manga I wasn’t enjoying, it read to me like the author was casually deploying nonbinary identities for their story in a very token, insensitive way (which was also related to their presumed cisness, which I also regret), without a real depth of research (which was also an unfair assumption). I never, never intended for it to come across that I thought discovering who you were by doing research online was an invalid means of realizing you’re trans, realizing your identity, learning about nonbinary identities. I am so sorry that my writing can be read that way, and I deeply apologize for any hurt I may have caused because of that. I did research that way too, and I should have been more careful and more aware when clarifying what was particularly bothersome to me about that fact of the manga’s development. 3)This was a review of Volume 1 only. I have not read the rest of the manga and was only made known of how various plotlines resolved themselves after the review came out (such as Tetsu’s sexuality, Mogumo eventually affirming their nonbinary identity). My judgements of what I thought these story aspects represented were based solely on the framing in this first volume/things I thought the first volume did not clarify or explore. If I had known how things resolved, I imagine my response might have been a little different. But I still stand by some of my reads as they apply to Volume 1, as I was tasked to review this release and this release only. 4) Regarding the presumed cisness of the author, this was based on two things: the author’s note mentioned above, and this quote from Publisher’s Weekly: “Clear, endearing art enhances the narrative’s accessibility… Manga creator Konayama, while not nonbinary, embraces difficult conversations leading to meaningful moments…making this an appealing queer series opener for rom-com fans.” In hindsight, this was an unfair assumption colored by my dislike of the manga. We do not know Konayama’s gender, and it is wrong to assert it without knowledge. For the moment, I am comfortable with the edits me and the ANN staff made regarding Konoyama not being nonbinary (though I agree that things may have changed from when they first wrote the author’s note in regards to their identification) based on the author’s note and that quote, though if I am to review Volume 2 of this series I will leave the author’s identity out of the analysis entirely, as it does not pertain and is wrong to claim as fact without knowing for certain. 5) I stand by my emotional response to the manga, but there are things I do not like about this review. I let my poor emotional response color my reads, not allowing room for how these plot arcs might be an exploration of uncomfortable realties of the queer experience and how things might develop and improve in later volumes, in describing my issues with the manga’s framing of Mogumo I may have implicitly abetted some of the most toxic ideas about ‘who counts as trans’, and I do not like the general, inflammatory tenor of this review. There’s this...thing that happens sometimes, when you’re queer and reading, consuming something that’s about your identity. It’s a fear response, I think. When you see plotlines unfold such as Mogumo’s burgeoning affection toward Tetsu, having been burned and hurt so many times in the past by stories that do genuinely treat queer people like trash (and for what’s it worth I don’t think Love Me for Who I Am does), you can sometimes make the worst possible assumption about what it is meant to depict, what it means, because you’re sensitive to how these tropes have been weaponized and used to invalidate you and so, desperately do not want to be hurt again. I think, in part, that’s what happened here. 6) This manga was not, personally, true to my experience as a trans person, but you know what? If it’s true to yours, if you see yourself in it and love it for what it is doing, that is so incredibly valuable and beautiful. It was never my intention to take that away from people. I simply took my in-the-moment response to the manga and used it as the heart of my review. That’s all, and I apologize if my framing made it seem I was attempting to speak for all trans people, trying to make a definitive statement on what this manga was and could only be. We are not a monolith. And in matters such as these, all our perspectives are valuable and worthy of hearing out. Thank you all so much. Last edited by EndlessEmpty on Thu Jul 02, 2020 12:31 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I just think that Yuru Yuri is funny and cute with some nice pairing or shipping moments. Best to ignore bits like Akari's creepy sister. Usually it is just cute, although perhaps the occasional more dirty joke with the middle school characters perv on each other.... mostly not understanding barriers Kyoko, or with the double tsundere pair where one is totally only jealous of her endowed frenemy. At least I don't usually feel like it fetishes the fact that the whole cast are totally all lesbians that mostly just want to be friends and act like dorks. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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And I found that valuable and something no one should discount you for. Valuable to see that what is in the first volume, I after realizing my identity kind of just happened to come across a post somewhere and read chapters online. I don't know what chapters are in the first volume, but there is a particular part that I think is in chapter 5 involving shoes. spoiler[It is after Mogumo is wearing a new more girly shoes, I think they overhear Tetsu talking about being interested in Mogumo but also a little fear of how others can react to same sex relationships (not girl and goy). Mogumo tries a couple different pronouns as if to consider maybe it would be easier if they identified as a girl, but instead can only say that 'my feet hurt'. Which maybe I read too much into it but is a commentary from Mogumo that these "girl shoes" they put themself in are not a good fit, with an affirmation for the real pain they feel.] My take in that moment was like a rejection of the idea that spoiler[it would be better to take the more convenient route of just being a girl to be with Tetsu, because there feet will still hurt. Mogumo I think returns the shoes later despite thinking they are cute.] I wonder if that relates to your own thoughts about not knowing how to unpack the tropes of their gender being for their crush. My take was that it bucks it for Mogumo staying true. |
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kyokun703
 Posts: 2505 Location: Orgrimmar |
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Thank you for your clarifications here and your original perspectives on the manga. I'm sorry your identity was belittled and I hope you feel better soon. |
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Ashley Hakker
Posts: 115 |
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Hi, just a polite correction here but you actually got that backwards; Mogumo doesn't take the feminine shoes, they take the cute shoes. Kotone specifically even says 'But wouldn't the feminine ones go better with your uniform?' but Mo takes the stupid ugly cute shoes. Mo isn't wearing feminine shoes for Tetsus sake, because they passed on the shoes entirely. Mo likes cute things, Mo is very 'Cute ≠ Feminine'. And the Cute ≠ Feminine is frequent throughout the manga with Mo's choices, with the exception of when they try to briefly be more feminine in the next couple chapters following that |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18188 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I'd be careful about making too many assumptions in that direction. While the anime fan community has long been more inclusive than most, there's a big difference between tolerating something's existence and liking it. For instance, I am a male otaku who tolerates BL because hey, different stroke for different folks, right? I've got my own predilections, you've got yours, we've both got titles focused on our respective tastes, so everyone's happy. I'll even give BL titles a fair evaluation in Preview Guide entries. That should not, however, be interpreted as me liking BL in the slightest. I am certain that I am far from alone in this sentiment, too. |
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yuricon
 Posts: 145 |
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You are allowed to not enjoy a manga *and* your emotional reaction and review in that context is completely valid.
You are also allowed to review a manga as you encounter it, and do not need to have read ahead. Your review was of this volume. Your reaction was to this volume. Everything you said in that context is also perfectly valid. Don't let anyone bully you into needing to have read more to "understand." The story is serialized and most other readers will also encounter it this way. This response is gracious and heart-felt and, Faye, from one reviewer to another....you're a fine reviewer. Cheers, Erica |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 2607 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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I wholeheartedly and emphatically agree with everything Erica said, and most especially with this. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23769 |
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Your question is at the heart of the appropriation discussion that is currently forming one of the most significant movements in arts and entertainment in North America and Europe. (Note: as I posted earlier I am making no more comment about Love Me for Who I Am, what follows is just a rumination on the topic of appropriation in general.) There are no hard and fast rules, but based on my own personal observation, I think we are moving to a situation in the West where, if an author is setting a story and situation in a very specifc cultural context, they will need to be from that culture or else face substantial public backlash. As a recent example, I'll point to the novel American Dirt which was written by a non-Latina woman and involves the story of a Mexican woman and her son fleeing into the US as illegal immigrants. The author got a massive advance (natch) and there was a lot of hype surrounding the book. But then a backlash hit because the author was not from the culture being written about. I'm totally setting aside any commentary about the quality of the work or how accurate or non-accurate it may be in its representation of Mexicans because, for the most part, quality is irrelevant in the appropriation context. It's just that the appropriation becomes even more egregious if, on top of everything else, the autnor screws up representations of cultures, people, etc that they are not part of. I think we are headed to a point in the West where if a story is substantially set in a certain culture, publishers, studios, broadcasters, etc simply will refuse to have anything to do with the work if it is not written by somebody from that culture, which I fully support. Misrepresentation is obviously one potential outcome of cultural appropriation, but other bad consequences are "crowding out" of culturally appropriate creators. For example, let's say a Latina author comes forward with a proposal that involves Mexican undocumented people entering the US illegally... the fact that American Dirt covered that ground makes it harder for that author to get their project off the ground because "its already been done." Look, I'm only scratching the surface of all the myriad issues surrounding the issue of appropriation, but I guarantee you, the movement to ensure appropriation is stopped or lessened is going to be THE main focus of Western arts & entertainment for the foreseeable future. Anime, because it's obviously created (mostly) in Japan is largely going to be untouched by the appropriation discussion since it is currently not a big topic in Japan (that I am aware of, I'll be happy to learn otherwise if somebody has details). |
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