Love Me for Who I Am

[liamaral]

Ok, the drama on this series is boring and stupid...

Non-binary and all gender identity issues are topics with a really great room for good drama, it just needs to go into real issues of them. But not, this is just the surface of the surface. Mogu at the begining of the series didn't even try, they were just complaining. And yes, it's hard to take a gender role on this case, but trying we could follow how much trying to take a gender role would make them suffer.

Instead, the series just make it seems like people around Mogu aren't sensitive or "bad", but they just don't know how to deal with it, because it's something new for them, and dealing with it slowly, and making the characters having a really good talk would make things sound natural. It's like the series is trying to impose "This is the correct moral lesson! You reader need to understand it!!!", and not, make the readers feel it, make the readers understand it. Just look at the comment section, people don't even understand Mogu yet because the series doesn't try to make it become understandable. (The only ones who really understand are the ones who are already familiar with Transgender binary or non-binary)

Now at the current chapter, it's back to bad drama once again, the problem right now is because they DON'T talk! And some series kinda pull the "No comunication" issue in a good way, here it's just dumb. We have characters who are open minded, characters that already did show they can understand each other, and yet, they aren't working it well in a single way, it's like they aren't even trying. Now this part about the family register, aw... c'mon, it's already 2018 and people still use it as an argument in manga, and thrown from nowhere like it? And forcing a super "evil" personality to this girl just to make her full unlikeable? This is stupid...

This is the total lack of creativity, such a good topic becoming boring because of bad writting...

 

[liamaral]

@encrypted12345 yes, based on everything the series has shown until now, Mogu is born male (male body) but identifies as neither male or female.

Intersex would be only if the body has male and female features

 

[NinjaGoemon]

@Denrick19 ... who are you?

I feel like I'm in a twitch chat sometimes. But, I'm happy at least.

 

[Hexxy]

Every new chapter of this becomes more and more relatable and I'm so happy this exists.

 

[KingMab]

I read this for the representation but you know. The writing isn’t the best and is borderline offensive ar certain times ?? ah well.

 

[Brainboxer]

@encrypted12345
If you check chapter one their gender in the school registry is put down as
“M • F” and our main character was saying “ so people like that exist too” both of which seems to be saying Mogumu is intersex.

 

[Kuki]

@Brainboxer thanks for the reminder. I went and re-read chapter one and feel less gay now.

 

[Maiorem]

@Brainboxer
Correction: In chapter 1, it was the main character's brother, Satori, who said, "Now I see. So this wasn't just a simple oversight." "In the world, there are people that exist outside the framework of being either male or female. It's not as if he's talking about some fantasy."

@liamaral
Or perhaps people don't understand because they're not paying attention to the details. Ironically, they become like the rest of the people at the cafe when they try to impose what they think they know onto Mogumo. Based on the first chapter, it could be presumed that Mogumo is born intersex, but identified as male by the Japanese government, because Japan does not legally recognise intersex, only male or female. Even for intersex Japanese to change their gender status on their family registry requires a sex change operation, hence it would be necessary for Mogumo to do that if Mogumo decides to identify as female and wants to be legally recognised as female. Perhaps if you understood a bit more about the Japanese legal system you would understand why the mention of the family registry is a huge deal in Japan with regards to intersex issues.

Mogumo is intersex, and does not identify as either male or female, because both are incorrect with regards to Mogumo's biological makeup.
Read Mogumo's lines in chapter 6 closely; Mogumo said, "The more I act like a girl, the happier it makes those around me, including you, Koto-chan... I'm... going to do my best at being a girl... If I don't act like how a girl is supposed to... it'll just cause problems for Tetsu-kun..."
In chapter 5, Mogumo preferred a more rugged pair of shoes over the pair that Kotone said are more feminine. Mogumo also started acting more feminine after overhearing Tetsu asking Suzu about the latter's homosexual orientation, as well as Tetsu's sharing of how his brother Satori was pointed at by strangers and how that has affected him, followed by Mogumo asking Ten if he is a guy and if he likes girls, to which he replied that he has had feelings for girls before. Immediately after all of that, when Tetsu invited Mogumo for lunch, Mogumo began to force themselves into becoming more feminine, like not wanting to grow taller in order to look cuter.

Try guessing the point that the author is trying to convey by having these scenes.

 

[liamaral]

@Maiorem
Sorry, I wrote a reply but I wasn't logged in, then I lost everything, so I'll do a simple and shorter version.

- For most of the parts I disagree with you;
- The only character I think that was done properly was the trans girl because whe follow the whole development, and it became quite easy to understand and relate;
- I don't think that was the case with Mogu because the only good part of development was now at chapter 6 because:
* The story makes the reader think like the ones around Mogu, the pages of Mogu dressed as a girl are flashy and fluffy, and this was done to make it stronger that not only the other ones, but the reader as well was doing wrong feeling happy with the scene (the ones familiar with Mogu's conditions could catch the problem early on because it was obvious this would only make Mogu sad);
* Mogu's character design doesn't help, the only male thing on Mogu are the shoes and socks, everything else is really girlish. This itself wouldn't be a problem, but it doesn't work well with the first chapter where Tetsu sees Mogu as "clearly a guy" and that they would be great "crossdressing". This way the series impose a lot of information, and it never shows to the reader the "process", how things became like that, it wasn't shown what have lead to the point where it was like that, making Mogu hard to be related to;
* Making Mogu relatable was important, those who are familiar with non-binary would grasp it easily, but for other ones? It was simply too confusing;
* Chapter 5 was lazy, it was drama based on misunderstanding, misunderstanding itself isn't bad, and one can argue that it at least served as purpose of making Mogu's drama at chp 6 work a little. But the same thing could be achieved if the series simply did go deep into Mogu's feelings since earlier at the series, with good focus on what was going on on Mogu's mind. The way it was done was simply an overused trope.
- The family register is a problem the because the way it was used as well, because:
* Yea, it's complicated on Japan, but that's not the issue, what is bad is the girl showing up all cocky and this girl (that is mostly a random character) throwing "You can't be with Mogu because of the family register, but I can, this will make Mogu happier, I'm superior yadda, yadda, yadda", and THIS way of using the family register is stupid;
* A good suggestion for this, that would work waaaay better... Is Mogu and Tetsu talking with each other and Mogu feeling bad, saying things like "I fear we will not be able to be together because of the family register that says I'm a boy... I didn't want things to be like that, why can't I be like everyone else? Why things have to be harder... I just want to be who I am...". Get the point? Instead of throwing the family register into a 3rd party trying to create problems, the author could do the two characters to talk and feel about it... mutually, this would make their development as couple way better. It seems like the author keeps trying to pull momments of both of them together away and away. They are supposed to be and stay together, they need to talk, they need to have a real relationship. This way the drama would work, again, the way things are being done is just super lazy. It's basic plot strategy with almost no originality

Well, I said a lot of things on my previous comment, but I lost it... I believe this summarizes most of it

 

[Maiorem]

@liamaral

- The only character I think that was done properly was the trans girl because whe follow the whole development, and it became quite easy to understand and relate;

Who are you referring to by "trans girl"? Satori?

- I don't think that was the case with Mogu because the only good part of development was now at chapter 6 because:
* The story makes the reader think like the ones around Mogu, the pages of Mogu dressed as a girl are flashy and fluffy, and this was done to make it stronger that not only the other ones, but the reader as well was doing wrong feeling happy with the scene (the ones familiar with Mogu's conditions could catch the problem early on because it was obvious this would only make Mogu sad);

Sorry, without any reference, I don't know what you're referring to when you say "I don't think that was the case with Mogu". I pointed out the significant developments in chapter 5 which should not be ignored. Furthermore, the developments in chapter 5 pertain not only to Mogu's eventual behaviour, but also the background of a few of the supporting characters.
When you say "the ones around Mogu" I'm afraid you would need to be clearer, because Kotone and Tetsu are not the only ones around Mogu, as the rest around Mogu are oblivious to Mogu's struggle and depression.

* Mogu's character design doesn't help, the only male thing on Mogu are the shoes and socks, everything else is really girlish. This itself wouldn't be a problem, but it doesn't work well with the first chapter where Tetsu sees Mogu as "clearly a guy" and that they would be great "crossdressing". This way the series impose a lot of information, and it never shows to the reader the "process", how things became like that, it wasn't shown what have lead to the point where it was like that, making Mogu hard to be related to;
* Making Mogu relatable was important, those who are familiar with non-binary would grasp it easily, but for other ones? It was simply too confusing;

In chapter 2, Mogu told the class that their full name is Ryuunosuke Mogumo. Japanese names ending with -suke are typically male names, like -son in Western names. Perhaps the translator should have pointed this out to non-Japanese.
I think you're overstating the importance of making Mogu relatable. Can an able-bodied person ever relate to a character who has lost their legs? I highly doubt it. Satori already stated that in chapter 1, that even the staff of the cafe wouldn't be able to imagine what it's like to be in Mogu's position based on their own feelings.

* Chapter 5 was lazy, it was drama based on misunderstanding, misunderstanding itself isn't bad, and one can argue that it at least served as purpose of making Mogu's drama at chp 6 work a little. But the same thing could be achieved if the series simply did go deep into Mogu's feelings since earlier at the series, with good focus on what was going on on Mogu's mind. The way it was done was simply an overused trope.

I'm not sure what misunderstanding in chapter 5 you're referring to. The idea that Tetsu is Mogu's boyfriend? It is indeed a trope, but it's not overused if it's realistic. Some tropes exist because they can be easily related to, and this is one of them. You talked about going into Mogu's feelings and what's going on on Mogu's mind, but that would change the reader from being a simple observer to an ideal observer. The weakness of the ideal observer is that all ambiguities are removed, and the observer is free to pass judgement at any given moment. In my opinion, that makes this story about Mogu far more boring, and might even be preachy, because it would tell the readers what they should actually do given such and such a situation.

- The family register is a problem the because the way it was used as well, because:
* Yea, it's complicated on Japan, but that's not the issue, what is bad is the girl showing up all cocky and this girl (that is mostly a random character) throwing "You can't be with Mogu because of the family register, but I can, this will make Mogu happier, I'm superior yadda, yadda, yadda", and THIS way of using the family register is stupid;

Mostly a random character? This girl has been living with Mogu, and is someone who Mogu described in chapter 3 as the only friend Mogu has ever had. For intersex people in Japan, the family register issue is a major one. You can't call it stupid just because you can't relate to it. Don't forget that you're most likely not the target audience of this manga in the first place.

* A good suggestion for this, that would work waaaay better... Is Mogu and Tetsu talking with each other and Mogu feeling bad, saying things like "I fear we will not be able to be together because of the family register that says I'm a boy... I didn't want things to be like that, why can't I be like everyone else? Why things have to be harder... I just want to be who I am...". Get the point? Instead of throwing the family register into a 3rd party trying to create problems, the author could do the two characters to talk and feel about it... mutually, this would make their development as couple way better. It seems like the author keeps trying to pull momments of both of them together away and away. They are supposed to be and stay together, they need to talk, they need to have a real relationship. This way the drama would work, again, the way things are being done is just super lazy. It's basic plot strategy with almost no originality

Absolutely wrong. You need to stop creating your own story and inserting it into the author's intended narrative. Kotone had to tell Tetsu those things rather than Mogu because Mogu can't tell them to Tetsu themselves. Mogu's unwillingness to tell others how they actually feel is part of their character. Mogu can tell those things to Kotone because Kotone isn't just some random character, but "the only friend [Mogu has] ever had." The purpose of the story is to delve into the character of Mogu, not making Mogu and Tetsu a couple.

 

[Kuki]

@Maiorem @liamaral It great how this series has finally spawn some interesting and meaningful discussion rather than the previous "SJW the manga" by some peoples.

 

[Hexxy]

Mm, I agree. This series is a good way it seems to bring up these issues and educate.

 

[Denrick19]

@NinjaGoemon Who are you?..

Sometimes I feel like i'm on tumbler, But at least i'm happy

 

[noguza]

Really liked your analysis @maiorem

 

[Maiorem]

Thanks @noguza

 

[Maiorem]

Reviewing the translation, there are a few key things I need to point out:
[ol][*]The term translated as "girlyboy" is 男の娘, or Otokonoko. It covers all men who dress as women and does not concern gender identity or sexual orientation. This is actually significant in chapter 2 when they discuss dropping or retaining the label 男の娘 because Suzu, Ten, and Mei each have different reasons as to why they dress in female clothing.
Suzu:

Spoiler

Suzu initially dressed to look like the kind of girl that the guy he likes was into, and eventually found it to be fun, so he doesn't mind dropping the 男の娘 label. By the way, Suzu's story is actually one of Konayama Kata's previous works, the hentai doujin Kimi Dake no Ponytail, and its sequel, Kimi Dake no Ponytail 2. There's also Kimi Dake no Ponytail 3 which is non-H and is a prequel to the first two, and introduces the cafe and Sacchan, Ten, and Mei, although only Mei was identified by name.

Ten:

Spoiler

His hobby is cosplay, so he doesn't mind dropping the 男の娘 label as long as he can wear cute clothes, but he wonders how they could explain the cafe's concept since the 男の娘 term is the easiest way for guests to understand.

Mei:

Spoiler

He thinks it's their duty to inform the customers that they are actually boys and doesn't want the label 男の娘 to be taken from them.

[*]In chapter 1, the traslator has Mogu say, "You guys shouldn't be making up your mind about my gender!!" However, the term Mogu used is 性別, which can refer to either biological sex or sociological gender, but the default is usually the former. It is the same term that Suzu uses in chapter 2 when he said to Mogu "What sex you are doesn't matter!" This applies also in the resume (more on this next) that Mogu handed over to Satori where there is a 性別 section which Mogu left as M・F (男・女 in the original; the "・" acts as a punctuation for "or" in certain Japanese contexts like this one). Bear this in mind anytime you come across the term "gender" being used in the translation, since the concept of a sociological gender is still not quite as accepted in Japan.
[*]It may be a bit hard to see, but Satori was reading from Mogu's 履歴書 (rirekisho, which is a sort of resume/CV that is used in Japan for applying to any kind of work) when he told the others that "There are people that exist outside the framework of being either male or female" as opposed to the school registry that @Brainboxer presumed.
[*]In chapter 2, Mogu introduced themselves to the class by saying "百雲…龍之助です" which the translator unfortunately missed out two things: 1. While 助 (-suke) itself is a masculine indicator, 龍之助 (Ryuunosuke) is a very masculine given name, literally meaning "assistant of dragons", so this should be noted somewhere for non-Japanese; and 2. Mogu was hesitating when announcing the given name since it is quite obviously masculine and thus led everyone to see him as a boy. Even the girl who told the other boys off referred to Mogu as "Mogumo-kun" where "-kun" is a suffix usually reserved for boys. That was also what led Tetsu to initially see Mogu as a boy.
[*]I find it unnecessarily annoying that Ten's dialogue is translated as though he simply replaces every instance of "me" or "my" with "meow". What he usually does is to end his sentences with various forms of にゃ (nya, which is the onomatopoeia for a cat's meow in Japan) which he refers to in chapter 4 as his 語尾 (meaning suffix, translated as "inflection" in keeping with the way his lines are translated).
[*]At the end of chapter 5, the translator made Kotone say that Mogu is depressed. I think this is not a good translation for あの子は悲しんでいます, which simply means, "That child is being sad now." There is an important difference between sadness and depression; a depressed person may not necessarily be sad, and vice versa. Depression is a mental illness that might require psychiatric intervention.[/ol]

 

[Denrick19]

I'm glad people are enjoying this but I really think this is a shit series with a shit lesson (Even with out the far left propaganda)

I have something better for people who want a story like this but the MC isn't a total whiny jack ass.

https://mangadex.org/title/31656/giniro-no-genders

 

[Hexxy]

@Maiorem I don't find Ten's dialogue to be too particularly annoying with the meows coming up so often, just since I suppose it's a way to translate that and get across the idea that he's being in-character.

The thing that irks me the most is that the translator isn't using they/them pronouns with regard to Mogu, though this isn't as much an issue in Japan as pronouns work totally different in Japanese, but it's a way to at least get this particular idea across without defaulting to he, unless the raws do specifically use 彼 ( I haven't checked since I've been a little busy but I assume most of the time they refer to Mogu using their name or just context).

That said, these are interesting things you've brought up since I haven't delved into the raws myself to check on the accuracy or anything like that.

 

[Eligma]

I kinda wanna rate this but the rating is 6,66 and I don't want to ruin it :/

 

[Elbow]

No such thing as girlyboy. Only boys, girls, traps/reverse traps, tomboys (girls with masculine traits) and femboys (boys with feminine traits). You can twist and turn things and come up with whatever unique gender you'd like in your headcanon, but these terms pretty much cover 99.99% of the population other than the rare individual who actually is a genetic mix between the genders and not a peoplekin from Tumblr.

Trap is actually a compliment mind you, since the label itself implies that you're doing a good job dressing like the other gender because people are ''falling'' for it. Someone calling you a trap is saying you look like an attractive female, just own it.