Also Kotori getting a gf. Stares at Mei

That would be the absolut best.

Can't agree more

Also Kotori getting a gf. Stares at Mei

That would be the absolut best.

Can't agree more

I was hoping that would have been the end to her arc but I can wait for it to happen hopefully soon. Still hoping the current arc ends with Mogu living together with Tetsu.

Big confrontation time! Fingers crossed

This manga gives me more stress than Junji freaking Ito, and I love it. Kato's uncannily good at creating this cozy, supportive wholesome atmosphere and then just brutally flipping it with a single insensitive word or phrase. It really goes to show the fragility of whatever peaceful moments you can find while living in ways that society considers abnormal. The way the natural, easy flow of text on this page leads into the dark, imposing splash-dialogue on this page? Legitimate horror manga technique, especially with how massive and cruel the Dad seems in Mogumo's eyes. You can really tell that the home is this dark, claustrophobic, place that turns into a hall of nightmares for them when wrong pronouns and impossible standards start getting thrown around.

I admire the story's decision to go with the reconciliation route, though it doesn't seem like it'll be easy. The father's one tough bigot to crack, and many stories, particularly Western ones, would just have Mogumo cutting free and embracing their found family instead. But the desire to be accepted by families and mend bridges broken by misunderstandings is a huge part of the the queer experience- even if you've had a shitty childhood, it's quite hard to cut yourself off from your parents entirely, especially if you've got siblings that rely on you. It's an exacting, difficult position, and even if Mogumo gets accepted, they'll still have to deal with a very stressful environment, because the scars of a terrible childhood don't fade all that easily, and the road to recovery is always tough. But for that reason, I feel like this speech might actually work out, seeing as it isn't a grand solution, but simply a pathway to new experiences, which would let Kato advance the greater plot and engage with more themes. We're definitely not getting a tragic ending here, but there's still quite a few more mountains left to scale.

last edited at Dec 11, 2020 7:58AM

As soon as the dad asked if they had a pair of scissors I flipped a huge middle finger to the screen

I know it was building up to that moment but damn the whiplash still hits. It just had those heartwarming mundane moments that like yeah, dad is still dad but he's just so stuck in his views. Like yeah, that was a scary moment. I felt like I had to prepare myself for it every time. Will Mogu's talk-no-jutsu be enough tho? I do hope Tetsu sticks to his word and arrives anyway. Also that backstory for Tetsu and his sister. Props to the mom for protecting her kids eventho it must be hard being a single mom. And Tetsu being supportive of his big sister. That's the good stuff.

Not gonna lie, I was believing that the father would turn out to have changed... Then they asked for the scisors.
Fuck that guy. Where's Tetsu to save the day?

antique_cat, I'm afraid we don't tolerate such behaviour here. Take care.

(Any replies to the post in question were removed. Thank you for your understanding)

After that very brief glimmer of hope, it seems the dad is a lost cause after all... but hopefully the mom's condition will improve...

This manga feels like it's giving me the emotional equivalent of the bends. Each chapter fills me with joy and dread...

I'm enjoying it. I just know to prepare my heart before reading a new chapter.

last edited at Dec 11, 2020 11:11AM

ahh the good ol asian parenting bait and switch. At least there seems to be hope for the future!

Yeah, WTF... a man should look like a man and a woman like a woman..../s

This manga gives me more stress than Junji freaking Ito, and I love it. Kato's uncannily good at creating this cozy, supportive wholesome atmosphere and then just brutally flipping it with a single insensitive word or phrase. It really goes to show the fragility of whatever peaceful moments you can find while living in ways that society considers abnormal. The way the natural, easy flow of text on this page leads into the dark, imposing splash-dialogue on this page? Legitimate horror manga technique, especially with how massive and cruel the Dad seems in Mogumo's eyes. You can really tell that the home is this dark, claustrophobic, place that turns into a hall of nightmares for them when wrong pronouns and impossible standards start getting thrown around.

I admire the story's decision to go with the reconciliation route, though it doesn't seem like it'll be easy. The father's one tough bigot to crack, and many stories, particularly Western ones, would just have Mogumo cutting free and embracing their found family instead. But the desire to be accepted by families and mend bridges broken by misunderstandings is a huge part of the the queer experience- even if you've had a shitty childhood, it's quite hard to cut yourself off from your parents entirely, especially if you've got siblings that rely on you. It's an exacting, difficult position, and even if Mogumo gets accepted, they'll still have to deal with a very stressful environment, because the scars of a terrible childhood don't fade all that easily, and the road to recovery is always tough. But for that reason, I feel like this speech might actually work out, seeing as it isn't a grand solution, but simply a pathway to new experiences, which would let Kato advance the greater plot and engage with more themes. We're definitely not getting a tragic ending here, but there's still quite a few more mountains left to scale.

oh man i was thinking the same thing. that was done really well!

FUCKING CLIFFHANGERS IM GOING INSANE

Oh god this is going to go so bad.

It's nice that we got a bit of insight on Mogumo's dad, but... It seems he feels that he failed his family and it's trying to overcompasate but this whole shit is just making things worse? I don't know if he just tried to make a effort to understand his kids maybe his family life would be better. Oh well.

He thinks that Mogumo's gender is cause there wasn't a man not that Mogumo has a non binary brain. Also bless you Tetsu fuck him up you bi

if he just tried to make a effort to understand his kids maybe his family life would be better. Oh well.

An unfortunately common situation.

Kids aren't just something you want them to be... Say they were "just" crossdressing, it would still be the right thing to do to respect that and not try to force them to be what you want them to be.

But yeah, the fact that they are like that as tiny kid when everything around them is pushing them to be a "boy" should be a clue that maybe, just maybe, this isn't for once about you (not your failures real or imagined either).

All of the comments on this new chapter so far, including many of them on the previous few since the father was introduced don’t seem to understand much about Japanese culture, especially the role of the “first son” and the “duty of the father.” Both of these with come up through the chapter are very important aspects of Japanese family life, not to include the traditional “nadeshiko” housewife that Mogumo’s mother takes the role of. The problems the father goes through in these chapters, and in turn the issues he raises with Mogumo are direct reflections of this culture, which are seen in the father’s upbringing, obviously having an abusive, traditionally oriented father himself. The idea that it is the fathers purpose to raise his son to become a father just as himself is also a major part of Japanese family culture. All in all, I think most of the people here are missing the point a bit. The father’s character is meant to be a characterization of outdated and traditional aspects of Japanese family life and expected gender roles than just one specific case of a bigoted father figure. In this sense the reconciliation attempt and these last few chapters are needed in an attempt to dissect and accurately critique this culture. These chapters serve to give understanding of the culture the father has grown up in, and how living up to his duty as a father is just as important to him as personal identity is to Mogumo.

The father being abused and smacked around by his old man, conforming out of fear, and then tossing back beers with him while chatting about how stupid kids are these days is an uncomfortably realistic stuff. I've seen so many bigoted, pseudo-gruff, wannabe badass dudes going, "Kids are so soft these days, my dad kicked me in the head once a day and I turned out fine.", and they're this close to realizing that there's a cycle of abuse, but admitting it would be to indict the toxic way of life they've been taught to lead. At middle-age, they can't deal with the realization that they might be a part of a rotten system, and rather than trying to make productive changes in the present, they just try and pull their own kids into the same binaries to 'justify' their own suffering. It's not that it was 'normal' at the time- kids feel like shit when you smack 'em around regardless of the period or culture. And the more they speak out, the harder they get kicked down. Here's hoping that Mogumo can reach out to any dregs of empathy left within their father, and make him realize that they're not so different, and can both try to heal and improve.

last edited at Jan 8, 2021 10:49PM

All of the comments on this new chapter so far, including many of them on the previous few since the father was introduced don’t seem to understand much about Japanese culture, especially the role of the “first son” and the “duty of the father.”

I see nothing in the comments to indicate posters weren't already aware of it. We just don't condone it.

Tradition isn't an excuse for abuse. Being abused isn't an excuse for being an abuser. We know full well what his purpose in the story is, and hate him for the kind of person he is, despite Mogumo's best efforts to communicate that the cycle of abuse has to end.

All of the comments on this new chapter so far, including many of them on the previous few since the father was introduced don’t seem to understand much about Japanese culture, especially the role of the “first son” and the “duty of the father.”

I see nothing in the comments to indicate posters weren't already aware of it. We just don't condone it.

Tradition isn't an excuse for abuse. Being abused isn't an excuse for being an abuser. We know full well what his purpose in the story is, and hate him for the kind of person he is, despite Mogumo's best efforts to communicate that the cycle of abuse has to end.

Yes, I understand that. However, I feel that in hating the father, there is a lot of the underlying critique on the breath and pervasiveness of Japanese family culture and how it is forced upon people like the father which is missed. You definitely are not supposed to condone what the father does and how he acts, but to hate his character simply because he was raised in a culture and environment where he knew nothing else I feel makes you disregard what his character truly represents, and what the manga is trying to say through him. As someone who studies Japanese culture, trust me the father is far from the only one over there like that. If you go to any department store in Japan there will a sign labeling "girl's toys" and "boy's toys," kitchen utensil isles are marked as "mom's dining room." This is a issue which permeates throughout the entirety of Japanese society, and many people like the dad are brought up into this culture knowing nothing else, and believing that following conformist gender and family roles are simply the natural state in which all people should be to thrive in society. I'm sorry you disagree, but I feel that casting it off as just "tradition isn't an excuse for abuse" causes you to miss the point that the father never made a truly conscious decision to be that way, he was raised in society in which he physically could not be any other way.

Hating a bigot for being a bigot is allowed, it doesn't matter if he has reasons that he is a bigot and a bad father.

I'm going to do myself a favor and not read most of the other comments because I can feel bad vibes radiating off of them, but after skipping over this one every time I saw it update, I finally binge read it all in one sitting. And oh, I'm so glad I did.

I probably shouldn't be able to relate to Mogumo by most standards. I'm NB, but I'm solely attracted to women, and I'm AFAB, and I've never even CONSIDERED being as open about it as they are, but somehow I just felt this. Resonate with me. This didn't sugarcoat anything either, it had some language that maybe made some people uncomfortable, but sometimes that's how it is -- mostly referring here to Tetsu referring to his sister, who was pretty clearly a trans woman from the beginning, as his brother for a few chapters...but then he began to refer to her as his sister! So fucking heartwarming.

Like I said not reading a lot of the comments but, I'm sure some people may have complained about this being unrealistic in terms of how progressive people are, like Tetsu and his friends, but honestly I don't care. I think trans people and the LGBT community as a whole still needs cute stories like this that tackle hard issues but still have joy and SOME happy outcomes for the characters.

Very excited to see where this goes. Also, I love Ten-chan so much it physically hurts.

last edited at Jan 9, 2021 1:09AM

He must have been working 80 hours a week to go from looking like a fresh 21-year old to a deeply wrinkled 55-year old in the ~15 years since Mogumo was born.

last edited at Jan 9, 2021 3:32AM