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Reviews tagging 'Acephobia/Arophobia'
Oltre le Onde: Shimanami Tasogare, Vol. 4 by Yuhki Kamatani
6 reviews
rupanjali's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, and Outing
Moderate: Cancer and Terminal illness
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia
spaceaviator's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
A solid queer manga series. It’s quite sweet and considerate, despite feeling a bit forcefully dramatic at times. Would love if it ever got an anime adaption.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Death, Cancer, and Outing
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia and Hate crime
marla_leonce's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Lesbophobia and Homophobia
Minor: Death, Grief, Cancer, and Acephobia/Arophobia
kayle39's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Acephobia/Arophobia, Transphobia, Outing, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Death, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Hate crime
pastelkerstin's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
3.5
The final and longest volume. As the cover may suggest, there is a bunch of good Haruki/Saki content in this and I'm happy about it because those two are some of my favourite characters in this series. Additional thoughts (some good, some bad) after the spoiler cut.
Seichiro and Tchaiko are precious and the highlight of this volume for me, besides the Haruki/Saki wedding. I really love that Tchaiko is part of the club as a gay elder and Tasuku (and for that matter, Touma) have him as an example of an elderly gay man who found happiness. His story is bittersweet in several ways, but it still leaves you feeling hopeful, which is something that was a bit missing from previous volumes.
Tasuku calling out Touma's dad was good. He's been bothering me since his first appearance and has had it coming. And it's especially relevant because Touma might be queer.
Touma being very likely queer and dealing with heavy internalised homophobia, which was the reason for his outward homophobia, was foreshadowed so heavily that it came at no surprise. It's still a trope I feel pretty meh about. I know this kind of thing really happens sometimes, but hhhh.
In this volume, Tasuku also finally talks to Misora again for the first time since the fireworks incident. Tasuku apologises and it feels genuine, even if he admits he still doesn't fully get it. Misora says about themself that they won't apologise because they didn't do anything wrong, which I disagree with personally and I think Tasuku should also disagree with, but he just lets it go. Guess even after he called out two different people for their homophobic bullshit, he still doesn't stand up for himself against everybody. Idk, it didn't sit fully right with me, even though I was hoping for Misora and Tasuku to make up; I just don't like how Misora's past comments are just fully ignored. There is another character, who also used to call Tasuku homophobic slurs, who also doesn't get called out for it in this final volume. It's Tachibana, Tasuku's seemingly only friend outside of the club, who is on the ping pong team with him. Tasuku always stays on friendly terms with him and it's like... okay, I get it, you don't have many friends, but please stand up for yourself a bit more.
Okay, so, next up on the agenda: The character of Anonymous. Some of the nuance of this character very clearly got lost in translation. So here's some background info on labels in Japanese vs English: In Japanese, the term Aセクシャル, a transliteration of "asexual", and it's shortened form Aセク (a-seku) is commonly used mean what would be "aromantic asexual" in English. Meanwhile, Japanese people often call asexuals who are not aromantic ノンセクシャル, "non-sexual", or ノンセク (non-seku) for short. Now, not every asexual person in Japan draws these clear distinctions, and some use the split attraction model instead (e.g. biromantic asexual), but yeah, as it stands, the usage of the word "asexual" in Japan is confusing to non-Japanese people who are used to seeing it used differently. Personally, I am asexual and on the aromantic spectrum but in the grey zone of the latter and I find the way the Japanese terms try to draw a clear dividing line between aromantic and alloromantic (i.e. not aromantic) aces incredibly unhelpful because where would someone like me fit? But anyways, keep this in mind as you read about Anonymous's asexuality. The manga makes very clear that she is in fact both asexual and aromantic, but only the word "asexual" is used (at least in the German translation) because of the difference in meaning outlined above. So personally, I feel like this might confuse Western readers or lead them to believe that all asexual people are also aromantic, which is not true. This is not a fault with the source material, but with the translation/language barrier, but I still wanted to mention it.
Now, with that all said, how do I feel about the ace rep here? Hmm, it's tough to say. Anonymous is the most mysterious character in this series and their whole magical realism thing never gets explained at all, but they're definitely an interesting person. They're very different from me in that they favour solitude (although not really complete solitude; after all they still formed the cat club), which is something you don't see potrayed positively in most pieces of media, but here it's shown to be something that works for them and should be respected. Pretty neat. But the story still addresses problems that Anonymous has faced for being aroace, such as alienation and people pushing them to give dating a shot because they can't imagine Anonymous living a fulfilled life otherwise. "Even when I address my asexuality, no one gets it, so I don't." is a line in this and yeah... I get that. Although I'm pretty out online, I rarely bring it up irl, because a lot of people don't get it and then proceed to question its realness and I just can't be bothered with stuff like that. Asexuality is often called "the invisible orientation" because of how rarely it is mentioned or represented anywhere. So this part felt relatable to me.
Then there's this whole monologue Anonymous gives about being basically a blank slate that can be filled with every possible option. This monologue and the previous flashback to when Tchaiko met Anonymous for the first time seem to imply that Anonymous might be nonbinary, which is why I'm using they pronouns here btw. This is another thing that I feel like might have gotten lost in translation because the Japanese original doesn't have to use gendered pronouns or titles for Anonymous, but the German translation goes for "Frau Jemand" (Ms. Someone) as a translation and uses she/her pronouns (although pronouns in German are a whole can of worms in themselves because there is no direct equivalent to they/them, i.e. no neutral-coded pronoun that is broadly understood and has a longer history tied to it. It's a long story). On another note, the whole blank slate monologue is obviously very abstract, but the "I'm black and white and neither" line still feels... not great. I'm white though, so I'm not the authority on this, but it seems kind of insensitive, especially because Japan has some serious xenophobia and anti-black racism problems.
But back to the ace rep: Tasuku says that he feels like finding out that Anonymous is aromantic/asexual made him understand why they are so mysterious, but Anonymous shuts that down pretty quickly and I'm glad they do. Because showing their mysterious, distant personality, and their possibly even superhuman self, as being tied to their aromanticism/asexuality, or somehow even caused by it, would have bothered me. But it's not. Anonymous just happens to be aroace. And they push back on Tasuku's assumption that not falling in love is somehow sad. Good stuff.
Until the end, Anonymous stays a character that is impossible to fully understand, but that is probably for the best. And while I personally prefer more grounded a-spec characters, I can't understate that their mere existence in this manga is quite ground-breaking. Asexuality is very rarely name-dropped in manga. It makes sense that it is here though because this series' author, Yuuki Kamatani, is themself aromantic asexual and X-gender/nonbinary, so the aroace rep here is ownvoices. Btw, if anyone wants to read another manga with a-spec rep, the one-shot Ano Yoru no Pool (The Pool That Night) is about an aroace boy and a boy with anxiety becoming friends and I really enjoyed it! It's short and it doesn't use the word "asexual", it just describes the experience, but it's good rep in my opinion.
Last but not least, let's talk about the Touma/Tasuku stuff: Honestly, I'm totally fine with them not being confirmed as endgame. A lot of other manga would have put in an epilogue time skip chapter about them getting together, but I'm glad not to see that cliché here. Touma clearly has some stuff to work through before he can be with anyone, he even says so himself. It's a pretty bold move to leave open whether their relationship will turn romantic or not. Personally, I feel like it might, given some time, but this story was never just about the main character getting the boy. It was about self-acceptance and finding community and Tasuku got both.
Tasuku calling out Touma's dad was good. He's been bothering me since his first appearance and has had it coming. And it's especially relevant because Touma might be queer.
Touma being very likely queer and dealing with heavy internalised homophobia, which was the reason for his outward homophobia, was foreshadowed so heavily that it came at no surprise. It's still a trope I feel pretty meh about. I know this kind of thing really happens sometimes, but hhhh.
In this volume, Tasuku also finally talks to Misora again for the first time since the fireworks incident. Tasuku apologises and it feels genuine, even if he admits he still doesn't fully get it. Misora says about themself that they won't apologise because they didn't do anything wrong, which I disagree with personally and I think Tasuku should also disagree with, but he just lets it go. Guess even after he called out two different people for their homophobic bullshit, he still doesn't stand up for himself against everybody. Idk, it didn't sit fully right with me, even though I was hoping for Misora and Tasuku to make up; I just don't like how Misora's past comments are just fully ignored. There is another character, who also used to call Tasuku homophobic slurs, who also doesn't get called out for it in this final volume. It's Tachibana, Tasuku's seemingly only friend outside of the club, who is on the ping pong team with him. Tasuku always stays on friendly terms with him and it's like... okay, I get it, you don't have many friends, but please stand up for yourself a bit more.
Okay, so, next up on the agenda: The character of Anonymous. Some of the nuance of this character very clearly got lost in translation. So here's some background info on labels in Japanese vs English: In Japanese, the term Aセクシャル, a transliteration of "asexual", and it's shortened form Aセク (a-seku) is commonly used mean what would be "aromantic asexual" in English. Meanwhile, Japanese people often call asexuals who are not aromantic ノンセクシャル, "non-sexual", or ノンセク (non-seku) for short. Now, not every asexual person in Japan draws these clear distinctions, and some use the split attraction model instead (e.g. biromantic asexual), but yeah, as it stands, the usage of the word "asexual" in Japan is confusing to non-Japanese people who are used to seeing it used differently. Personally, I am asexual and on the aromantic spectrum but in the grey zone of the latter and I find the way the Japanese terms try to draw a clear dividing line between aromantic and alloromantic (i.e. not aromantic) aces incredibly unhelpful because where would someone like me fit? But anyways, keep this in mind as you read about Anonymous's asexuality. The manga makes very clear that she is in fact both asexual and aromantic, but only the word "asexual" is used (at least in the German translation) because of the difference in meaning outlined above. So personally, I feel like this might confuse Western readers or lead them to believe that all asexual people are also aromantic, which is not true. This is not a fault with the source material, but with the translation/language barrier, but I still wanted to mention it.
Now, with that all said, how do I feel about the ace rep here? Hmm, it's tough to say. Anonymous is the most mysterious character in this series and their whole magical realism thing never gets explained at all, but they're definitely an interesting person. They're very different from me in that they favour solitude (although not really complete solitude; after all they still formed the cat club), which is something you don't see potrayed positively in most pieces of media, but here it's shown to be something that works for them and should be respected. Pretty neat. But the story still addresses problems that Anonymous has faced for being aroace, such as alienation and people pushing them to give dating a shot because they can't imagine Anonymous living a fulfilled life otherwise. "Even when I address my asexuality, no one gets it, so I don't." is a line in this and yeah... I get that. Although I'm pretty out online, I rarely bring it up irl, because a lot of people don't get it and then proceed to question its realness and I just can't be bothered with stuff like that. Asexuality is often called "the invisible orientation" because of how rarely it is mentioned or represented anywhere. So this part felt relatable to me.
Then there's this whole monologue Anonymous gives about being basically a blank slate that can be filled with every possible option. This monologue and the previous flashback to when Tchaiko met Anonymous for the first time seem to imply that Anonymous might be nonbinary, which is why I'm using they pronouns here btw. This is another thing that I feel like might have gotten lost in translation because the Japanese original doesn't have to use gendered pronouns or titles for Anonymous, but the German translation goes for "Frau Jemand" (Ms. Someone) as a translation and uses she/her pronouns (although pronouns in German are a whole can of worms in themselves because there is no direct equivalent to they/them, i.e. no neutral-coded pronoun that is broadly understood and has a longer history tied to it. It's a long story). On another note, the whole blank slate monologue is obviously very abstract, but the "I'm black and white and neither" line still feels... not great. I'm white though, so I'm not the authority on this, but it seems kind of insensitive, especially because Japan has some serious xenophobia and anti-black racism problems.
But back to the ace rep: Tasuku says that he feels like finding out that Anonymous is aromantic/asexual made him understand why they are so mysterious, but Anonymous shuts that down pretty quickly and I'm glad they do. Because showing their mysterious, distant personality, and their possibly even superhuman self, as being tied to their aromanticism/asexuality, or somehow even caused by it, would have bothered me. But it's not. Anonymous just happens to be aroace. And they push back on Tasuku's assumption that not falling in love is somehow sad. Good stuff.
Until the end, Anonymous stays a character that is impossible to fully understand, but that is probably for the best. And while I personally prefer more grounded a-spec characters, I can't understate that their mere existence in this manga is quite ground-breaking. Asexuality is very rarely name-dropped in manga. It makes sense that it is here though because this series' author, Yuuki Kamatani, is themself aromantic asexual and X-gender/nonbinary, so the aroace rep here is ownvoices. Btw, if anyone wants to read another manga with a-spec rep, the one-shot Ano Yoru no Pool (The Pool That Night) is about an aroace boy and a boy with anxiety becoming friends and I really enjoyed it! It's short and it doesn't use the word "asexual", it just describes the experience, but it's good rep in my opinion.
Last but not least, let's talk about the Touma/Tasuku stuff: Honestly, I'm totally fine with them not being confirmed as endgame. A lot of other manga would have put in an epilogue time skip chapter about them getting together, but I'm glad not to see that cliché here. Touma clearly has some stuff to work through before he can be with anyone, he even says so himself. It's a pretty bold move to leave open whether their relationship will turn romantic or not. Personally, I feel like it might, given some time, but this story was never just about the main character getting the boy. It was about self-acceptance and finding community and Tasuku got both.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia
f18's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Death and Terminal illness
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia, Cancer, Hate crime, and Medical content
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