I’m very much enjoying the wider variety of manga that’s being translated now, especially the autobiographical and LGBT+ books. These two volumes are a combination of both and I enjoyed them for different reasons. I Want to be a Wall is about an asexual woman and a gay man getting married, seemingly due to societal or family pressures. No one knows that their marriage isn’t straight but them, and the book follows them settling into married life and getting to know each other more. Their relationship is sweet and their decision to platonically support each other and be friends is thoughtfully handled. I liked that the author was respectful about both of their identities. The section where Yuriko’s past struggle with being asexual is explored was moving and reflected the intense societal pressure to be in love and get married, and the negative consequences that can have. Overall, I enjoyed this and while it can stand alone, I’m looking forward to the next volume whenever it comes out. I do hope that they explore the reasons that led to the marriage more, because this volume was mainly their back stories and I was left with a lot of questions about how they met and decided to take the step of marrying.
X-Gender is an autobiographical manga about Asuka Miyazaki exploring their gender and sexuality. It was an interesting look into the life of a queer person in Japan and the various community structures there. I especially was intrigued by all of the mixer groups and little bars, and recognizing Matsuko Deluxe was a cool moment that made me realize how much Japanese variety television I’ve watched. As a general overview, this was a solid read. I think I had a harder time with the author’s point of view, as they are a very pessimistic person and that bleaker view on life and interpersonal relationships made me stressed to read about. I was also kind of perplexed by how little internet searching they did to find anything out — everything seemed to be a surprise to them when someone else told them. I guess I just have a research focused mind, because it wouldn’t occur to me to ask a bartender some of the questions they did. Sometimes I know a narrator just rubs you the wrong way, and this was the case here. It was still a worthwhile read, just personally it was a more irritating read for me and I’m on the fence about keeping the book in my library.
