While it’s kinda mind-boggling to have different pronouns inside and out, once I really thought about it, it clicked.
I mean, I didn’t speak or even think in Japanese for YEARS in fear of misgendering myself. (I’d spent a few years tryharding Manly Talk after being just… weird for over a decade. Counterproductive!)
A streamer I follow still does it occasionally, and she’s been full-time for a year and a half!
52 first-person pronouns and layers of gendered language.
It’s wild to sift through and find how to express yourself.
6 years to choose “I” in Japanese, after trying a few on, talking to myself or commenting on things.
So while I think Akira is lacking self-confidence in general I think it would be good to start trying to internalise that one thing.