Kyou Kara Yonshimai

[MangaDex]

 

[Solkin]

shame that it had to eventually end up rushed, but it was still a nice read nonetheless
refreshing and bittersweet

 

[octopuslines]

Was this Axed? I really think it had some good things going on about it. Rushed an all, was pretty hard on some parts, it's interesting for a quick read.

 

[Nari]

shouldnt this have a gender related tag? tho tbf genderswap and crossdressing doesnt really "fit" but it should have them nonetheless, otherwise people who like stories with trans characters cant find them easily

 

[Nami]

@Nari I made that argument in the Discord specifically when this change was made and was essentially told it didn't matter, there weren't enough of them to justify a tag, and they didn't fit under the two new tags. I guess someone has since decided to put it under "Crossdressing", which it is not, but whatever. Better than nothing.

 

[Melnyx]

Better skip this manga. Idk how it got above 7 in ratings since it is so bad.

 

[daijiobu]

This story has all kinds of messed up going on.

Spoiler

The eldest has to hold the family together while having to face her loneliness with flings. The 2nd is the MC which has issues with gender identity and how people around her respond to her. The 3rd sister has a relationship with an extremely childish and flickering guy. Seems like she has self-esteem issues. The youngest is still developing mentally but living together in such complicated situation is definitely challenging.

All in all I guess stuff do happen but this is really messed up.

 

[mirewitch]

This manga was rather frustrating for me. It was interesting reading an unambiguously trans manga, contrasting the massive volume of cross-dressing manga. But Satou-sensei seems to have gotten their information on transition from some strange/out of date sources. For example most of the discussion around transitioning is related to "the surgery." I dislike this focus for two reasons:

First, it makes it sound like surgery is the only medical option, which it isn't. For example hormones are fairly cheap, and can have a big impact on a transwoman's body without spending tens of thousands on surgery. And surgery/hormones aren't mutually exclusive; most transwomen start with hormones, and maybe get surgery later. This is particularly relevant for Kashiwa given how large a role finances play in her choices.

Second, focusing so strongly on surgery frames medical procedures as hurtles that must be cleared on the path to "real womanhood," rather than as tools to help align body and gender identity. Not all transwomen use every medical option that exists, and some don't use any of them. But they're still transwomen, and still women.

I also have problems with how this manga handles romantic relationships, including trans and nontrans couples. Its hard to go into without spoilers, but some of the relationships don't handle consent well, some have shitty views on transwomen, and some are just unhealthy. This isn't necessarily a problem - this is a drama, and a drama needs conflict to maintain interest. However Satou-sensei isn't always good at handling these poor dynamics with grace.

Overall if you're looking for a drama about trans issues, I'd recommend Bokura no Hentai, Kanojo ni Naritai Kimi to Boku, or Fukakai na Boku no Subete o over this. But if you've already read those, this is an interesting story, even though it is very frustrating.

 

[PurpleQualia]

Dropped at chapter 6. For a manga about trans people, the annoying horny teenager bigot and his equally retarded sort-of-girlfriend takes up 80% of the fucking time. The worst part is that I'm at basically the half way point of this manga and everyone acts like badly written caricatures and will throw away any pretense of serious contemplation of social issues and drama in favor of shitty jokes and slapstick comedy. The mangaka can't decide if they want this manga to be a drama piece that explores what trans people and their family deal with in Japanese society or a comedy that makes fun of trans people and "teh surgery".

Spoiler

The fact that the annoying brat who blamed Kashiwa for seducing him when he was peeping on her bathing was considered a good guy suggests the latter, however. Yes, the infamous "trans panic" defense that got thousands of transgender people killed each year was used as a throwaway gag and the character who used it was never called out on his action.

I don't intend to finish this manga in the future, but I'll go out on a limb and guess that he would eventually "redeem" himself by, *gasp*, treating Kashiwa like a human being!

Save yourself some time and effort and read Hourou Musuko instead if this subject interests you, because that manga is the Citizen Kane compared to this one's Twilight.

 

[Cae]

It would have been a 10/10 masterpiece if the author hadn't undone everything they had been building up, in the final chapter. With how chapter 15 ends on 'actually he's still going to transition, but also his girlfriend will stay with him because he'll "try really hard!" and the sister comes back because time heals all wounds' ... it's just bad. It's like all the stakes and ultimatums that were given to build up tension, weren't resolved but Thanos-snapped out of the manga purely in the pursuit of a happy ending.

mirewitch mentions how not all trans people opt for surgery, and that it's not the only answer, in which I agree the degree of certainty that Kashiwa moves towards that goal is rather close-minded and frankly down right annoying.

Ultimately, if I could rewrite the manga, I'd have rolled with a core theme of permanent consequences, The three's choice to ruin Botan's career and personal life should have left lasting consequences they have to come to terms with, and ultimately I'd opt for Kashiwa choosing not to transition and placing his/her family above her/his personal happiness, finding solace in that their younger siblings can have a better life
TL;DR the limp ending ruins an otherwise extremely interesting twist.

 

[Sommeguy]

This story is getting criticism for focusing too much on trans people getting surgery. ( @mirewitch mentioned this)

I agree that this is a problem, and hurts the story, but I thought I should give some context as to why this is such a fixation in this story/in Japan in general, in case anyone doesn't know already

In Japan you can legally change your gender, but only AFTER you get surgery. Until that point, you are legally still locked in to your birth gender... On a similar note of "gender = genitals" if you get surgery, you are forced to legally change your gender.

This pairs weirdly with the fact that gay marriage is still illegal in Japan...

This is probably part of the reason why Kashiwa's girlfriend is so against her getting a surgery, even if she is attracted to girls (which I'm assuming she is, to some extent), since that would mean they can't get married.

Basically, this story has an unhealthy fixation on getting surgery because Japanese trans culture has an unhealthy fixation on getting surgery.

That being said, this story has A LOT of problems, even though I am always happy to see trans lesbian representation.

 

[mirewitch]

@Sommeguy You make a good point about Japan's terrible LGBT laws, and how those inform the Japanese trans experience. However, I disagree that "Japanese trans culture" has a fixation with surgery. After all, Japanese transpeople are the ones advocating for those laws to be changed. If anybody has an unhealthy fixation on trans surgeries its the conservative Japanese government. And my problem with this manga is similar - it frames Japanese transpeople as the ones with a fixation on surgery, instead of framing them as victims of a legal system obsessed with controlling their bodies.

 

[Sommeguy]

@mirewitch That's a good point! It's definitely a much more nuanced situation than I described, and it is still a harmful narrative.

What I was trying to convey wasn't necessarily an excuse for the story having these problems, but just giving some background information that is kinda assumed/not explained in the manga, just to give some context as to why that's the case... This story is still incredibly frustrating to read, even knowing this context...

 

[fixmalve]

It just became interesting after the sister left but then it just ends with a really stupid rushed ending :/

 

[Ipaat]

every characters here is so frustrating, the trans aspect also just surface level stuff. the premise for the story is interesting but rest of the story and specially the ending is just meh and nothing really resolved here.