Spoilers follow throughout this review!
This second volume of I Wanna Be Your Girl continues to follow the journey of Akira and Hime. Akira is a trans girl who has been allowed to wear the girls’ uniform to school, but the mockery and backlash was strong enough that her best friend Hime decides to wear the boys’ uniform in solidarity. Hime and Akira have always been very close and they now are starting to make their first faltering steps towards other friends while learning how to still try to be there and support each other. This volume deals a lot with the pain that Akira feels around not being seen as a girl, especially by her father, who refuses to let her grow out her hair or do anything except for wear the girls’ uniform, because he thinks she’ll change her mind and wants her to be able to go back to being a boy. That scene in particular was very upsetting while being simultaneously well done. We also get to learn more about the stories of characters like Yukka, who shares her story of being bullied for being a lesbian, and Hime continues to work through her feelings for Akira and her own desire to keep moving forwards and discovering herself.
Takase does a great job of portraying universal themes of love, desire for belonging, and individuation that would appeal to any reader, while simultaneously respectfully and carefully exploring the lives of sexual and gender minorities in Japanese society. It’s a special work and it’s doing exactly what I tend to look for in manga — meaningful slice of life that highlights the humanity in every person — but it hits so close to home that it’s a stressful reading experience and I think I’m going to have to skim future volumes at the store before I get them to make sure everything turns out okay. Takase has made me care about these characters so much that if anything bad happens to them I just can’t take it! I had to flip ahead and take little breaks from how sad I would get while reading chunks of this, although the overall vibe is hopeful and supportive throughout. I just hated seeing these precious youths undergo any pain and there’s plenty of angst to go through to come, I’m sure.
Definitely recommended! There are portrayals of homophobic and transphobic bullying here by peers and adults.
