Welcome Back, Alice - Vol. 7 Ch. 39 - Welcome back

[Yanako]

What is this? End of Evangelion?

End of Alice

 

[AntiFolk]

is this what gay sex is like?

 

[hydrator]

I am the only one who dislikes that at the end of the day, Kei seems to not be transgender?seems he transitioned becuase Youhei is Straight more than he felt like a woman.

Really confused why people are agreeing with this read of the story. Kei has been saying that he's neither a man nor a woman as early as chapter 4, and unless the epilogue really drops the ball, that never changed? The whole setup for this (in chapter 36) was the four of them wanting to escape the artificial construction of "men and women" together, Kei and Yohei leading each other out of it and inspiring Ren and Mitani to follow.

 

[Grischa]

is this what gay sex is like?

Not really usually people just put dick in ass. But maybe I have been doing it wrong... It's nice all the non bisexuals are missing out.

 

[Hangnekoneko21]

welcome butt 😆

 

[Hangnekoneko21]

no homo

 

[leeng1]

So regular gay sex then.

gay sex is overated

 

[Pouco-chan]

I am the only one who dislikes that at the end of the day, Kei seems to not be transgender?seems he transitioned becuase Youhei is Straight more than he felt like a woman.

Yes, it is. You read 39 chapters and didn't get the idea of the thing? It's not about being lgbt, fella.

 

[keen333]

i've been following this one for a while, it sucks that is coming to an end.

 

[mlgduck01]

I am the only one who dislikes that at the end of the day, Kei seems to not be transgender?seems he transitioned becuase Youhei is Straight more than he felt like a woman.

It seems almost certain that at the least, Kei is gender queer or nonbinary, which while not trans, is also certainly meaningful. Kei reflects one facet of the mangaka's exploration of gender and meaning in the sense of believing that the "grass is always greener on the otherside," and that by crossing over to this other realm (so to speak) one can find some kind of meaning. Yo seemed, before, to be caught in the inexorable pull of cisheteronormativity with what's her face ( I forgot and I don't care to look it up/ mitani?) and Kei's exploration of this other side. In the end they find that this meaning, whatever it is (and I think it's deliberately hard to define because it's highly individual and unique) can't be found outside themselves, but from within. It's a sweet ending.

 

[hydrator]

It seems almost certain that at the least, Kei is gender queer or nonbinary, which while not trans, is also certainly meaningful. I will express some disappointment myself but I think it makes sense for the direction the manga was going.

As I said, I do not understand this disappointment. Kei's genderqueer identity was established in chapter 3, he was never going to be a woman. While Kei's feminine presentation is definitely an exploration of crossing over to the other side, it is, in fact, represented specifically through him rejecting the illusion of the gender binary.

You'll note that while Mitani's angst is about expectations placed on her as a girl, Kei's is almost purely about others' understanding of him and his desires. There's no shattering of the illusion of idealized femininity for him (for Yo, the grass did turn out to be greener once he joined Kei on that lawn), he never was a woman, and one of the things he causes through his mere presence is crack Ren's egg because she is also nonbinary.

 

[mlgduck01]

As I said, I do not understand this disappointment. Kei's genderqueer identity was established in chapter 3, he was never going to be a woman. While Kei's feminine presentation is definitely an exploration of crossing over to the other side, it is, in fact, represented specifically through him rejecting the illusion of the gender binary.

You'll note that while Mitani's angst is about expectations placed on her as a girl, Kei's is almost purely about others' understanding of him and his desires. There's no shattering of the illusion of idealized femininity for him (for Yo, the grass did turn out to be greener once he joined Kei on that lawn), he never was a woman, and one of the things he causes through his mere presence is crack Ren's egg because she is also nonbinary.

you've worded this really nicely, and I agree quite heartily with the way you've explained it. I feel like i was missing some key stuff coming to this most recent chapter, and your notes have certainly given me charge to revisit the series from chapter one just for the retrospect. Thanks for the insight!

 

[muteprophet8726]

Will we ever find out who Alice is?

 

[Rodnap]

I am the only one who dislikes that at the end of the day, Kei seems to not be transgender?seems he transitioned becuase Youhei is Straight more than he felt like a woman.

They were never MtF, just... not "male"