Love Me For Who I Am

[ozaline]

Yesterday the Digital Version of the manga FukaBoku/Love Me for Who I Am, came out in English from Seven Seas entertainment. It's very good, I'm already deeply invested in this comic. The cover is a bit off putting to some people though so let's take a quick peak under it, because this book should not be overlooked.

The story begins with a boy seeing his male assigned female presenting classmate, Mogumo, writing a Tanabata wish for friends who understand them. He takes Mogumo to a crossdressing cafe run by his older sister, who is trans.

Mogumo is initially excited to meet people who they think are like them until they told of the cafe's ritual to identify themselves to the guests as a crossdressing boy (otokonoko), Mogumo is very uncomfortable with this, and tells them they're not a boy.







Satori, the trans woman who owns the cafe explains a bit about non-binary people to the other workers. There is talk of dropping the intro proclaiming themselves to be an Otokonoko, most of them are fine with it, but Mei fiercely defends it. Eventually she reveals this is because she wants to be a girl, but feels that it is only a selfish wish and she's a boy, and that that word allows her permission to be herself.



"Our concerns are different, yet they're sorta alike too. Maybe we can be friends after all."



I've only got into this title, but from friends who have been following it for a while I know it gets quite a bit into LGBT culture, even has them visit Tokyo Pride. It's rare for a manga to get so into actual queer culture, so I'm excited to keep reading it.

Comments

[commodus]

Jesus Christ. If you're going to show a character basically naked and floating around like that, at least make them an adult.

[ozaline]

Added an NSFW tag just in case, but I think this is pretty clearly metaphorical and not there to be sexy.

[alicemacher]

Also, presentation and context count: her nudity in that panel is neither explicit nor erotic. I really don't see any problem with it.