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House of 1000 Manga - Otomen

On the one hand, Otomen is a fairly familiar thing, one of the thousands of gender-bendy manga that flirts with gender and sexuality without ever committing to words like “gay”, “trans”, etc.

you could almost be forgiven for thinking this was just a bishonen manga about hot guys, but the story's good too. It takes a few volumes to get going, drifting aimlessly with generic manga plots like seasonal stories (a Christmas love story, a summer beach vacation so we can see the characters in swimsuits, etc.) and random crises to give the characters a chance be heroic (a wild bull going on a rampage, a fire, the traditional bullies). But endure the early volumes, because around volume 5 it gets really good and stays good ‘till the end.

this is a 16+ book

Why do you say older teens? VIZ suggested it for teens period.

Yes, there's a dearth of manga that deals with trans/gay issues, but straight cis people can be gender-bendy too.

Franky, the message that all men, no matter how straight or cis, have feminine aspects that society requires them to suppress, and that happiness requires flouting societal expectations of gender and embracing that femininity, is a very valuable one that needs to be expressed more often and with more visibility.

katscradle wrote:

Why do you say older teens? VIZ suggested it for teens period.

Ahhh, you're right! I'm all the more impressed they used the F-word then. >_>

I am getting My Little Monster and Say I Love You, where both are already past the 10 volume point in Japan, but I've only got 6 and 5 volumes (respectively) sitting on my shelf.

I am getting My Little Monster and Say I Love You, where both are already past the 10 volume point in Japan, but I've only got 6 and 5 volumes (respectively) sitting on my shelf.

Ali07 wrote:

I am getting My Little Monster and Say I Love You, where both are already past the 10 volume point in Japan, but I've only got 6 and 5 volumes (respectively) sitting on my shelf.

Those are both pretty good, especially "Say I Love You". You may also be interested in checking out Kimi Ni Todoke, High School Debut, and Lovely Complex; these are the best shoujo series i can think of (except if you don't want one set in a japanese high school, then check out Basara; it kicks serious butt)

My Little Monster is complete in Japan at 13 volumes

Jason Thompson wrote:

On the one hand, Otomen is a fairly familiar thing, one of the thousands of gender-bendy manga that flirts with gender and sexuality without ever committing to words like “gay”, “trans”, etc.

But why should it? None of the characters are gay, and with the exception of *spoiler*, who is is important as a motivator but mainly a bit part in themselves, no-one is trans either (although, yes, the story doesn't explicitly use the word trans for that character, even though the story is pretty clear that they are). This is quite straightforwardly a story about straight cis people who are not gender-normative, and there is no reason why being gender-non-normative has to be an aspect of being either gay or trans. Yes, there's a dearth of manga that deals with trans/gay issues, but straight cis people can be gender-bendy too.

Franky, the message that all men, no matter how straight or cis, have feminine aspects that society requires them to suppress, and that happiness requires flouting societal expectations of gender and embracing that femininity, is a very valuable one that needs to be expressed more often and with more visibility. And that message would be lost if Asuka and his fellow otomen were trans.