Kimi no Tame ni Sekai wa Aru - Ch. 6 - Jewel of You

[SuperOniichan]

@Pokari Personally, I see this as a continuation of the old perception of bisexuality as a straight vs gay trait in one person. You know, when in the old days most of your straight friends expected you to find a partner of the opposite gender "and finally forget about these perverted tendencies", while your gay friends would be very upset about your straight relationship, seeing it as internal homophobia and giving up your "true identity". As a result, even in the 10s, many media still view bisexuality as a stage of bi-curiosity before finding of true sexuality.

One manga even talked almost openly about how the MC "became a lesbian" when being canonically straight, she discovered own bisexuality and chose another girl as her first and only partner at the moment. That is, according to the author's logic, perhaps if a man becomes her next lover, then she will "be straight again" lol.

In general, if you are bisexual, then people simply do not respect your sexuality, demanding that you finally support this or that camp, so as not to be accused of "perverse traits" or internal homophobia.

 

[Pokari]

@SuperOniichan:

I do sometimes wonder if Japan is still in the worse stages of this (though a lot of the manga I read is of variable vintage so maybe—hopefully—my perception is a little out of date?). Some BL manga gets even more outlandish on the "what bisexuality?" thinking: My favorite peak absurdity has been the ones where any character who has ever shown any interest in women, is described as being "straight" by... by the man they're currently intimate with (a label which may stick around even if the relationship becomes well-established, love is sworn forever repeatedly, torrid bedroom scenes are had, etc. etc.). A classic line being something along the lines of, "I know you love me dearly, but... You're straight, I can't trust you!" It's bizarre and outlandish and I've kept wondering if there's a common translation nuance error or something. _{But, it feels much more like an extreme case of "you can only be one!"}

But yeah, people get really weird about bisexuality sometimes for how simple a concept it is. (Not that I don't get some of the reasons behind it, but they're dumb.)

To be fair, though—I didn't think this particular story was particularly bad on this front. Mostly this felt to me more like a "friend holding a torch gets jealous of interloper, steals romantic interest back" plot than necessarily some "actually I guess I'm gay so, uh, ignore that guy" thing. (Though it can be read that way. And it would indeed have been received worse with some genders swapped, almost certainly.)

 

[SuperOniichan]

@Pokari Well, if even the simplistic understanding of bisexuality is ignored, then what about more complex questions like the Kinsey scale? Many writers seem to have no understanding of how human sexuality works at all, portraying responses to organ stimulation as evidence of the characters' sexuality or libido. You know, all those famous "you enjoyed it" or "your dick says different" and so on. Not to mention things like situational homosexuality.

Yeah. I didn't dig deep, but the plot in this story was pretty harmless. Many yuri resolve this issue with lesbian rape and toxic phrases like "you see, you love me!", But MC was very tactful. Personally, I believe that such issues should be resolved with the utmost honesty and respect for each other. Of course, she may fear that this will destroy their friendship or lead to a homophobic reaction from her friend, but in my opinion this is better than being in a closet for years and constantly feeling pity and self-loathing.

 

[JohnJRenns]

@SuperOniichan LOL i am not really going to engage with your argument (not cause i think it's wrong or anything, biphobia is a pretty serious thing) but someone accusing me, a gender non-conforming Korean person who literally lives in Asia, of not understanding Asian norms about heteronormativity because of "insensitive Western culture" is the funniest shit i've had to read in awhile. not really your fault you assumed i was a westerner though. but that gave me a great laugh, thanks for that, lol

 

[SuperOniichan]

@JohnJRenns hah, I read shit like "Asian characters are more close with each other than common in Western Culture, so they are gay" so often that I'm used to it. Many western folks are culturally insensitive even to Victorian fiction. My apologies if you are a real Asian person, however, this does not negate the fact that matching rings are indeed common among platonic friends, at least in Japan.

 

[JohnJRenns]

@SuperOniichan nah no problem dude. i mean if i saw two women wearing the same ear ring and holding hands, i don't know, i guess my assumption would be to suspect something in between them! lol. the stereotype spread amongst Asian people is more or less that westerners tend to be more physically comfortable with their platonic friends, hugging and kissing and all that. but an emotional connection between the same sex can be much stronger and not necessarily looked down upon in Asian culture. this is especially true of sapphic relationships, perhaps also because of the cultural norm that women can be more open with each other than men can be with each other. (women are "there for each other")

historically, homosexual relationships were not that frowned upon in Korea or Japan. i would say the recent conservative attitude against LGBT people is largely western influenced, though Confucianism certainly didn't help. there are some very interesting books out there about it but i'm not sure if there is much material available in English, i'm sure you can find it though. i guess that doesn't have anything to do with this anymore

 

[SuperOniichan]

@JohnJRenns Well, as I understand it, traditional Asian culture perceived homosexual relationships in a similar way to the ancient Greeks, that is, something like the maximum form of brotherhood / sisterhood and camaraderie. For example, in both Greece and Japan, you can find the institution of the relationship between an older man and a younger man as educating true masculinity. I would like to say the same about Sappho and the Class S, but as far as I know, this was intentional, as many of the latter's author were directly inspired by her and the Greek culture of sisterhood as the platonic love of innocent maidens. Modern society has become both more open and more homophobic, which is why it is quite difficult for modern people to understand the nuances of this.

It looks even more difficult for me as a Russian person, because thanks to the unique combination of patriarchal homophobia and Slavic openness, modern Russian culture manages to combine both a complete approval of female non-sexual intimacy and ridiculous prejudices like the association of a handsome man with a gay. For example, our medieval religious books described lesbian sex as female group masturbation, lol.

 

[Memuusenpai]

I like the style of this author, some, if not, most, make you believe that love will not be consolidated, but in the end they end in a relationship or the beginning of it.

It seems that a lot of people say that the ending is vague, or that she was rejected and Fuwako is selfish for wanting to have her around, even though she has that Date-san, but no.

It is evident that Fuwako thought that Arisa also loved Date, but with that kiss she told her who she is in love with, when she returned she already knew how inconsiderate she was, they both acted in panic, but from what I could understand and using the analogy of the jeweler Like her feelings (sexuality too), it is implied that she will already be sincere with her feelings towards Fuwako, since she knows them, or when she finds another girl, that the latter does not, because both do not want to get lost.

This drama was Arisa's fault for not being sincere, since everything they did is how they are best friends, so Fuwako, if it weren't for the jeweler incident, she would never have noticed on her own.

For me they end up together without the intervention of that thing (Date), which ruins this manga for me, and at some point Fuwako will reciprocate those feelings towards Arisa, who will wait because he loves her so much.

 

[SBDee]

After I found out that she childishly threw away my earring, it would have been "adios. never talk to me again." lmao

 

[CatrACAB]

I think the ending is ambiguous, especially putting aside the lens of authorial intent. And I do do that, fuck authorial intent.

I like this story a lot, whether you interpret Fuwako as straight or bi, I think the ending is really beautiful.

 

[NerdyNicky]

This story is so intense and I love it a lot. It has great development und strong characters for this few pages.

 

[nemo1234]

Makes me cry every god damn time

 

[wlftchtr82]

PAIN.
But that's how life is sometimes.