Love Me for Who I Am

[Nami-Sempai]

fuck why does this have 7.31 rating (is there away to block a gay manga like this from ever showing up in manga dex)

 

[TropicalToucan]

Aight, you guys just need to enjoy a manga for what it is. Don't like it, don't read it. I'm not big on the genderless thing either but guess what? No one cares.

 

[Pinka]

@nami-sempai you're a gay manga

 

[BraveHeartedHero]

Can't quite figure out the friends issue. Is she in love and having a sexuality crisis at the same time? Love is strange. Its blind at times and wide eyed at others.

 

[Blurp]

@BraveHeartedHero it's pretty easy to understand. Kotone is a lesbian who hates herself and struggles with a lot of internalized shit. She's liked girls since she was little, but one of her formative experiences we see in her flashback chapter is her mother saying that she can't marry another girl. This stuck with her and made her ashamed and secretive about her attraction up until she met her friend who almost seemed receptive to her interests. She even considered asking her out that Christmas, but then she realizes she has a boyfriend and that only confirms to her that she's broken and unlovable.

That's why she devotes so much time to Mogumo. Mogumo is femme-leaning androgynous which is close enough to a girl for Kotone to deal with. They're also AMAB which means that, legally, they can get married (something she points out to Tetsu in volume 2). And while she isn't invalidating towards Mogumo, she doesn't really make it a secret that she'd prefer if they were just a girl. I'd like to think she cares about them, but her supposed romantic attraction is almost entirely just her coping with the fact she can never marry another girl so long as Japanese law is the way it is with all the stigma and bigotry associated with that.

But when Mogumo starts dating Tetsu, she's forced to realize how controlling and bad she's actually been, which only serves to make her spiral back into her depression and self-hatred. Then we get to the festival in the latest chapter where, when faced with all of these people who are happy with who they are, she can't cope with it. She could join in there, but she's not at a point in her life where she can allow herself to be happy.

 

[BraveHeartedHero]

@Blurp That makes a lot more sense. I read a lot of manga so story beats tend to slip my mind if a manga isn't high on my priority list. I paid less attention to her ever since she was being bitchy to Tetsu. Don't hate her arc but not interested in her.

 

[AmarynXPalladino]

I get that the kid is messed up. But damn. Its dragging. We are what we are. You can be a penis wielding human that prefers feminine things, human with a vagina that prefers masculine shit, or just human that prefers whatever mix of both. "I'm not a girl yet I have a vagina and no cock, I'll deal with people identifying me as my biological sex, HOWEVER, I'll try to inform my friends of my gender identity so that they may treat me as such." Something you'd hear from a mature version of them. But I understand that won't happen until somewhere near the end. This is supposed to be about some immature brat who can't deal with shit like their conflicting feelings and others perception of them. The brat meets people, experiences the world, and learns to spread their wings without needing anyone's approval. Buuuuut, I drop nao. I don't like MC. Its like, the peak of weak MCs. Even worse than whiny isekai harem protagonists.

On a side note, you can't expect the whole world to know how to treat you specifically, so don't expect shit until you know they understand. They usually won't treat you like a pig right off the bat. They'll treat you based on initial information. You look like something, you're probably that something, so they'll treat you the way they'd treat that something until you somehow make them understand you're something else entirely. Plus, if you yourself don't understand, don't lash out about it in front of people that you aren't even that close with. Fuck, the MC is just... shit. Then again, they are just a kid. If they were older, they'd be extreme trash.

 

[Leviticus]

Pretty good so far (as of ch 15). It starts a little slow, but doesn't take long to find its footing. It is a good representation of the LGBTQ community presented in a manner that others can understand.

 

[smolbaka]

@AmarynXPalladino

Yeah that's sorta the problem with these types of manga

The mc is so infatuated with how he's perceived. Needs to grow out of this and just accept he's human with a penis and deal with it. And don't care if people call him a girl and just correct them without throwing a temper tantrum
Very whiney indeed.

 

[BraveHeartedHero]

Spoiler

I can't help but feel that her saying that she likes girls in that chapter would of had more impact if it wasn't in a room full of boys dressed like girls that also like boys. Its like the perfect place to say it and everyone do the saitama face with "ok".

Mod Note: Please use spoiler tags when talking about chapter-specific or future events.

 

[RhapsodyInBlue]

The number of bigots and dismissive comments this series has attracted is... sad and also sadly not surprising.

Thank you for the translations, Hachimatsu Scans!

 

[smolbaka]

"bigots" is synonymous with "this person is right and I'm angsty about how reality doesn't bend to my will" to me.

 

[Laurenmac328]

Why are you reading this if your transphobic? Do you really not have anything better to do then to angrly declare your opinion about a subject you know nothing about.

 

[ringo_juusu]

This is probably one of the most LGBTQIA friendly manga I've ever read, I hope it gets licensed eventually because it's really well written and the author gets what is going on with their characters.

 

[Lisachii]

@ringo_juusu

It already got licensed. https://twitter.com/gomanga/status/1186756567418441728

 

[ringo_juusu]

@Lisachii Thank you for pointing it out to me, I didn't realise it already got licensed.

 

[Thrembs]

@BraveHeartedHero

Spoiler

Only Ten and Suzu are guys.
Also, Dollars to donuts Mei isn’t straight. That’s gonna be a thing with the two of them. There’s been foreshadowing on that since they first met. It’s logically the next issue this will tackle. It’s all very “after school special” in the way it’s structured.

 

[smolbaka]

@forsen1337 don't worry they'll grow out of it sooner or later.

That's what I'm hoping this mogu character does. Accept that he's male before adulthood

 

[Becca0618]

I don’t know if it’s the cultural barriers or whatever, but It seems like the author hits the nail with some of these interpretations of lgbtq+ characters, but other times they just don’t quite make the mark. It’s an amazing effort though. Not a lot of lgbtq+ centered manga around right now.

 

[SolomonRex]

Why do I like this