gwennie-chan posted:
co-main character
I'm sorry, but Akira was never main character. She was always only supporting character to Hime.
It's rather clear Akira was the deuteragonist, that's why she's on the cover and most of the story follows the interaction between Hime and Akira. How the mangaka brutally just throws her out is hideous and I can't stand it.
I think the characters were treated pretty similar in that regard. The manga is more of an aangst-based "this happens, then this happens" coming of age rather than a slice of life. Once the characters have fulfilled their purpose (either it be coming to terms with who they are, their feelings, or their views), they're all usually sidelined. Take the lesbian character for instance. Once she explains her standpoint and her "interesting-thing-about-her-that-stands-out"(from a manga/writer standpoint) she becomes irrelevant. Once Akira's sense of self was worked out and then her relationship turmoil was sorted (I use the term relationship for all types in this scenario [romantic, friendship, self, etc.]) she was backburner-ed. Same with momo and cute-girl. It's pretty common in manga that doesn't have a direct main character (or a large cast) for them to be put on the backburner after their "use" is complete. This being because side characters are usually meant for the main character's growth in writing and when you try and make too many stories around characters at once or keep them all equal in plot-importance, the story can easily get messy or boring. It can be done right obviously, it's just incredibly hard and something that takes a lot of writing to master (I still suck at it and end up having characters mysteriously disappear for a bit after they've used up their "interesting points").
Now I wouldn't say that it's a good thing, but it is a consistent thing in manga and writing in general; despite how easy it may LOOK, it's not easy to keep an equal focus on multiple characters in writing without continuously adding drama or added plot points/individual struggles. If you took out the LGBT aspect and made their individual plot points something random, it would seem like most other multi-focal manga, right? It's a common thing, especially in media with a short-run time.
I 100% understand that we're grasping onto any positive representation we can get (especially with manga in general being pretty bad at repping actual LGBT+ stuff [I love yuri don't get me wrong, but it's sooooo not representative of lesbian stuff as most know and acknowledge] and trans rep in general is horrible especially with other genres/tags like "trap" polluting the system [and the misuse of the term "crossdressing"]) but I don't think it's right to pin this as a horrible manga just because it made mistakes.
In my opinion; it was honestly one of the best representations I've read in manga (which isn't saying much, but still) despite it's storyboarding issues. The consistency with pronouns, the intrapersonal turmoil, and the insightful and open-minded look on things (even outside the LGBT+ theme) was refreshing. It felt less like they were using LGBT+ stuff as a plot point (even though it obviously was) and more that they were actually trying to educate as best they could, which I can appreciate.
@Other people
Also, I'm a very gay woman and het stuff usually isn't my thing but I was kind of hoping she would get with the guy in the end. Not sure why everyone is mad about this. Bisexuals exist. It's not like the plot was super het, half the story was a girl having feelings for another girl. You don't need to get mad when something is not 100% pure yuri. He seemed like a very cool and well-fleshed out character (for how short the manga was) and the fact that people are getting mad that she ended up in a "het" relationship is indicative of their character. Honestly if you're that mad that the character is male then you're no better than the people who get mad when a "straight-seeming" character on a show ends up with a member of the same sex. If you're using lack of rep as an excuse to hate a het relationship then you're just a sad person. If you're using the excuse that it was "out of nowhere" when it obviously wasn't you sound exactly like straight people when they say a gay couple was forced and "came out of nowhere". Chill the fuck out.
Yeaaaaa sorry this is so long, i'm pretty high haha. Also I'm not @ing you directly for the later points Gwennie. Just didn't want to double post. Also I say all of this with no malice or desire to start drama and I respect your opinion and agree with some of what you say. This is all just my opinion and observations.
last edited at Oct 2, 2020 3:53AM
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