I'm gray ace, and while I don't feel like this represents my personal experience especially closely, I can see how other ace people could feel it matches them accurately.
While I don't want to speak for aromantic or demisexual people, I also wonder if Takebe might resonate more for them than she did me.
The confusing thing about asexuality as compared to most other sexualities is it's a term that stands for a very wide range of experiences. It's difficult to define the absence or near absence of sexual desires, and oftentimes it comes with some minutiae or caveats that can be very different for different people.
Personally, it took me a very long time to really figure it out for myself, which I think would certainly have been easier if it was something people were given more of a chance to even know exists.
(Actually, it was only after seeing the term "gray-ace" on these very forums that I began finding out there's even a term for what I feel lol)
With that in mind, I'm very appreciative of people's readings of asexuality in this manga (and others), regardless of what the author may or may not have intended.
also fwiw I don't think there's a strong reason to give this an asexuality tag. There might be an ace protagonist, or perhaps two, but the work doesn't concern itself with that.
edit:
That's what happens when 90% of "yuri" in eastern media is just fetishized queer baiting. It breaks my poor queer heart if that's the case. Ace people just aren't represented nearly enough despite being 5% of the population. Either way, it was good and I'm optimistic in my mind!
Let's not pretend western media is much better at writing stories about queer people. Most of the time they can't even write stories about non-white people. :P
It's more like "that's what you get when the writers for all media disproportionately represent the majority" lol
I know three different ace people who recommended this for being very true to their experience - they're the entire reason I read it. So...I dunno, I think it's better to just take the good and roll with it, rather than go too much into things we really have no idea about
That's my general philosophy. I've found that speaking for other people tends to result in me sticking my foot in my mouth out of well-meaning ignorance.
last edited at Mar 2, 2022 8:09PM