Asako - Vol. 5 Ch. 22

[musicfreak12]

Y'know this got me thinking about my mindset personally. When I think deeply about it, I don't really hate them but I don't really like them either, I guess I'm just neutral / indifferent about it, it's just "oh okay sure you like penis or vagne, cool cool. Oh you are straight / les / gay? I'm happy for you, cool cool"

I don't like it however when people are doing PDA in front of me... Of all sexuality, straight, gay, lesbian, whatever. There's time and place for it but I hate it equally.

I am straight and I don't want to be converted into an lgbt but feel free to be whatever you want, just don't include me into it or force me to support it or hate it.

What is this then? Am I being a bigot or just an inclusive haters

 

[KimKowabunga]

Looks like asa was a all purpose predator. Boy? Girl? She dont care.

 

[fhq]

What's odd about that? If you think it's odd, you are viewing the characters not as people but as representatives of ideologies. A hetero, bi, homosexual, or trans person are all just humans with all the possible flaws a human might have. Being gay, for example, doesn't prevent one from becoming a criminal or have moral standards differing from what modern ethics would dictate as the correct ones. Not to mention in the distant past, also in the West, simply being homosexual could have been a crime, so that was the ethics of that time.

Psychologically thinking if Asako has lived a difficult life, under repression, she could easily be sensitive to the needs of other people. That's why she could recognise senpai for what he was. There was nothing wrong about that. Encouraging the vastly immature sexuality of a little kid like Masa is another thing entirely, but just like Asako was sensitive to Fujimura's troubles, she could also easily see Masa's desires. It was her flaw to go along with it, but humans can be flawed. Representatives of ideologies aren't flawed, by why would she be one?

Erm, well, you're not wrong. I think humans and, hence, characters can be good people that do shitty things or shitty people that do good things or just people being people. The oddity is that this character is a pedophile which is her main most prominent trait. Her being LGBT is secondary to her 20+ chapter characterization of being a pedophile.

The author wrote this character in this way specifically to represent a member of a marginalized community. Her being Bi or not doesn't serve (as far as we know) any narrative purpose since it seems to be a one-off beat to show the sister's growth more than anything. Also, consider how aggressive Asako's response was to the sister's bigotry. The sister isn't painted as this highly intelligent self-aware young character; she probably isn't even aware of marginalized communities let alone the delineations (or lack thereof) of sexuality and is just generally described as a big dummie and Asako's response was still as aggressive as it was. Which is ok.

The author is trying to virtue-signal. which is fine. It's their work of art and they can make sociopolitical commentaries if they want to. In fact, I think manga as a medium would be and is fantastic at exploring complex sociopolitical narratives since 1) Japan is so rigid, 2) Manga's reach extends beyond specific age, social, and racial groups, and 3) Manga functions best when they deliver cogent, compact, and self-contained narratives.

Again, the issue returns to that Asako's previous characterizations all point to her being a relentless stoic pedophile who does have cool stoic open-minded progressiveness but ultimately, still a pedophile. The author knew what they were doing and I think it just humorously backfired perhaps due to cultural differences but mostly because I think they didn't think through just how problematic Asako's character and behaviour is.

 

[Outflanks10]

This series is always so heavy and powerful and says so much in only an only a hand full of pages.
Can't wait for the next chapter.

Thank you so much Daphie's for the translation, hope you're having a good new year.
Also do you know what the hell the BB's in the first few chapters are?

 

[SuperOniichan]

I find it fundamentally odd that the character who is advocating lgbt representation and acceptance in this manga is also a pedophile.

At one time, pedo organizations were a prominent participant in the LGBT movement in its early stages. But then they were kicked out for obvious reasons. In fact, it was then that “boylovers” and the idea that pedophilia was just another sexuality were born.

personally, i don't think that's what woke is, not at all. i see woke everywhere in NA media and it irritates me. seeing open-mindedness in manga feels refreshing instead, and shows open-mindedness in a more positive light.

Woke is not synonymous with any pro-minority content by default. Wokeness is when these topics are either exploited for virtue signaling, or radicalized to the level of absolutely crazy things like promoting intolerance towards straight people or the assertion that all whites are racist by default. Saying that any LGBT content is woke is like calling anyone who is proud of their ethnic roots a Nazi.

 

[Kaarme]

The oddity is that this character is a pedophile which is her main most prominent trait. Her being LGBT is secondary to her 20+ chapter characterization of being a pedophile.

The author wrote this character in this way specifically to represent a member of a marginalized community. Her being Bi or not doesn't serve (as far as we know) any narrative purpose since it seems to be a one-off beat to show the sister's growth more than anything

We don't even know if she is bi. She might have been just majorly pissed off by the general bigotry in that remote town. Sayaka is still young, so Asako might have felt like she could still turn a new leaf. The older folks are pretty much hopeless cases. Thus Asako might have simply lied to Sayaka to teach her a lesson, that a person Sayaka liked and looked up to, might actually be someone she's "supposed" to dislike, based on her externally acquired values. Quite a strong lesson.

On the other hand, maybe Asako had gone through a lot in the past due to LGBT reasons and that's what caused her to become so angry and take it personally. Hard to say, since this is a mystery story.

In either case, it's not what I'd call haphazard writing. Certainly it could have been foreshadowed, but how? There wasn't much in the story that could have been used for it. We merely knew she's rather free-spirited sexually since she even messed with a kid like Masa. If her past is really heavy, maybe it broke her mentally so much she did what she did. Or maybe she merely is a terrible person. In that case she should be foremost considered a terrible person, not someone who represents anything reasonable, no matter what else she happened to be.

 

[ZixuanX]

FIVE MONTHS FIVE MONTHS IT FINALLY DROPPED ONE CHAPTER

 

[Doutorfunga]

Friendly Public Service Reminder: Children cannot be lgbtq or trans (they're fucking kids leave them alone) and should never be given HRT(yes people can sometimes have too much or too little, but no amount of estrogen will make a man grow ovaries) or put through gender reassignment surgery (medical castration).

Are you fucking stupid?

 

[AnonymousContributor]

personally, i don't think that's what woke is, not at all. i see woke everywhere in NA media and it irritates me. seeing open-mindedness in manga feels refreshing instead, and shows open-mindedness in a more positive light.

the comment to you replied to was obviously a joke comment making fun of incels/tatetards/a certain subset of the weeb/otaku community

 

[AnonymousContributor]

@princess_daphie Typo on page 24, Tokyo is misspelled

 

[Ina93]

Thx for the new chapter. I can’t wait for more

 

[fhq]

We don't even know if she is bi. She might have been just majorly pissed off by the general bigotry in that remote town. Sayaka is still young, so Asako might have felt like she could still turn a new leaf. The older folks are pretty much hopeless cases. Thus Asako might have simply lied to Sayaka to teach her a lesson, that a person Sayaka liked and looked up to, might actually be someone she's "supposed" to dislike, based on her externally acquired values. Quite a strong lesson.

On the other hand, maybe Asako had gone through a lot in the past due to LGBT reasons and that's what caused her to become so angry and take it personally. Hard to say, since this is a mystery story.

In either case, it's not what I'd call haphazard writing. Certainly it could have been foreshadowed, but how? There wasn't much in the story that could have been used for it. We merely knew she's rather free-spirited sexually since she even messed with a kid like Masa. If her past is really heavy, maybe it broke her mentally so much she did what she did. Or maybe she merely is a terrible person. In that case she should be foremost considered a terrible person, not someone who represents anything reasonable, no matter what else she happened to be.

I mean, the author wrote her as a person who, if she was lying, would be an absolutely terrible way of engaging with this subject. If she was lying, then the author fucked up by having her lie about being LGBT, undercutting the very vivid and obvious sociopolitical commentary they're making with this chapter.

Free-spirit sexually = pedophilia? I don't know about that. I think she's just a pedophile. Having a tough past, however tough it is, doesn't validate being a pedophile lol. Trauma does not validate being a piece of shit. I certainly hope you don't extend the same empathy to criminal rapists who may or may not have been sexually abused when they were younger.

Dawg, just because you want to think of these as real complex human beings, they aren't. They're characters written by a real human being that is juggling about 6-7 different characters (per manga that they're writing), their own psychologies, and their respective relationship dynamics. As deep as you want this to be and as far down as the rabbit hole may go, it doesn't go that far.

 

[Eggsburst]

Thanks for another chapter!

 

[Eggsburst]

I had a cousin who's gay.

When he was acting girly, he'd be put into a sack, and then tied into to a tree. After that, my uncle would beat him up like a pinata. Those were the days...

Holy fuck, that's grisly

 

[Eggsburst]

Friendly Public Service Reminder: Children cannot be lgbtq or trans (they're fucking kids leave them alone) and should never be given HRT(yes people can sometimes have too much or too little, but no amount of estrogen will make a man grow ovaries) or put through gender reassignment surgery (medical castration).

Friendlier Public Service Reminder: whenever you become self aware and understand that boys are expected to act one way and girls are expected act another way, you can experience gender dysphoria, and whenever you begin to feel attraction, romantic or sexual, is when you can begin to figure out your orientation - and if it happens when you're young, that is fine and normal, because most people begin developing crushes in childhood, as well as being herded into gender roles. While I personally think that waiting until adulthood to go under the knife for any gender reassignment surgery might be advisable, hormone blockers exist to give yourself time to decide on your self concept.

 

[Eggsburst]

Y'know this got me thinking about my mindset personally. When I think deeply about it, I don't really hate them but I don't really like them either, I guess I'm just neutral / indifferent about it, it's just "oh okay sure you like penis or vagne, cool cool. Oh you are straight / les / gay? I'm happy for you, cool cool"

I don't like it however when people are doing PDA in front of me... Of all sexuality, straight, gay, lesbian, whatever. There's time and place for it but I hate it equally.

I am straight and I don't want to be converted into an lgbt but feel free to be whatever you want, just don't include me into it or force me to support it or hate it.

What is this then? Am I being a bigot or just an inclusive haters

Well if it is simply as you say, then you're someone who has the rare ability to mind their own business.

Ultimately, it depends on what you mean by support. If support to you includes something like legalizing gay marriage, or allowing doctors to accommodate gender transition, then your lack of support means that you wouldn't want those people to have the freedom to do those things, which would make you bigoted.
If support to you means that you wouldn't want to do something like attending a gay wedding, the next question would be if you would or wouldn't go to a straight wedding. If you wouldn't go to either, you might be a miser, but you wouldn't be a bigot. If you would go to a straight wedding but not a gay one, you might be a bigot, but perhaps a tolerant one if you'd still prefer that they be able to get married even if you wouldn't want to be there.

 

[Kaarme]

I mean, the author wrote her as a person who, if she was lying, would be an absolutely terrible way of engaging with this subject. If she was lying, then the author fucked up by having her lie about being LGBT, undercutting the very vivid and obvious sociopolitical commentary they're making with this chapter.

I might be remembering wrong, so maybe I should reread this, but I seem to recall Asako isn't her real name either. She was depicted as a pedophile before this bi revelation and trying to get a trans person to live a little bit happier life, so chronologically it doesn't matter anymore what sort of sociopolitical commentary she makes.

Free-spirit sexually = pedophilia? I don't know about that. I think she's just a pedophile. Having a tough past, however tough it is, doesn't validate being a pedophile lol. Trauma does not validate being a piece of shit. I certainly hope you don't extend the same empathy to criminal rapists who may or may not have been sexually abused when they were younger.

Cambridge dictionary: "free-spirited: doing what you want with enjoyment and pleasure, and not feeling limited by the usual rules of social behaviour" <- I just went with that.

I'm not extending empathy to anything, but a victim of a domestic violence is statistically more likely to end up doing it themselves. That's just how it often goes. Tough life can break people, make them unhinged in certain situations. Though we don't exactly know why Asako did what she did. I have feeling she wouldn't have done anything if Masa hadn't kept approaching her. So, she's possibly not an active predator.

Dawg, just because you want to think of these as real complex human beings, they aren't. They're characters written by a real human being that is juggling about 6-7 different characters (per manga that they're writing), their own psychologies, and their respective relationship dynamics. As deep as you want this to be and as far down as the rabbit hole may go, it doesn't go that far.

The more value you can give to the characters of a fictional work, the more you can enjoy the work. If you are only reading something superficially, not bothering to consider how living humans (or other creatures) might behave in a similar situation, why even bother reading anything beyond gag manga or such?

 

[AnonymousContributor]

We don't even know if she is bi. She might have been just majorly pissed off by the general bigotry in that remote town. Sayaka is still young, so Asako might have felt like she could still turn a new leaf. The older folks are pretty much hopeless cases. Thus Asako might have simply lied to Sayaka to teach her a lesson, that a person Sayaka liked and looked up to, might actually be someone she's "supposed" to dislike, based on her externally acquired values. Quite a strong lesson.

On the other hand, maybe Asako had gone through a lot in the past due to LGBT reasons and that's what caused her to become so angry and take it personally. Hard to say, since this is a mystery story.

In either case, it's not what I'd call haphazard writing. Certainly it could have been foreshadowed, but how? There wasn't much in the story that could have been used for it. We merely knew she's rather free-spirited sexually since she even messed with a kid like Masa. If her past is really heavy, maybe it broke her mentally so much she did what she did. Or maybe she merely is a terrible person. In that case she should be foremost considered a terrible person, not someone who represents anything reasonable, no matter what else she happened to be.

Remember that her name is Miyuki, not Asako. Everything might be a lie.

 

[danbellucci]

I find it fundamentally odd that the character who is advocating lgbt representation and acceptance in this manga is also a pedophile.

It's not odd at all when you learn about queer theory.
It's basically baked into their ideology

 

[musicfreak12]

Well if it is simply as you say, then you're someone who has the rare ability to mind their own business.

Ultimately, it depends on what you mean by support. If support to you includes something like legalizing gay marriage, or allowing doctors to accommodate gender transition, then your lack of support means that you wouldn't want those people to have the freedom to do those things, which would make you bigoted.
If support to you means that you wouldn't want to do something like attending a gay wedding, the next question would be if you would or wouldn't go to a straight wedding. If you wouldn't go to either, you might be a miser, but you wouldn't be a bigot. If you would go to a straight wedding but not a gay one, you might be a bigot, but perhaps a tolerant one if you'd still prefer that they be able to get married even if you wouldn't want to be there.

I never got invited to a gay wedding so idk. But if somehow one of my close friend invite me into one then I'll come or not come based on the circumstances not because it's purely a gay wedding

So I guess for now I'm a tolerant bigot 🤷‍♂️