Welcome Back, Alice - Vol. 7 Ch. 40.5 - Afterword

[MangaDex]

 

[LoliShinobu]

I ain't reading all of that.
I'm happy for u tho
or sorry that happened

 

[Awtm]

God, I hope oshimi learns that transitioning is a thing someday

 

[xyzzy]

God, I hope oshimi learns that transitioning is a thing someday

I mean, given how stigmatized being trans is still, both in Japan and in the west, I can understand his hesitation.

I hope that one day, people can just transition without others yelling that they’re some sort of pervert or that they’re disturbing the “natural order” of the world.

 

[rckvnka]

You see, sometimes when I see cute girls, instead of wanting to be with them, I want to be them. It's frustrating indeed, knowing you can't do anything about it. But for me, just using a cute anime girl profile picture is enough to heal my helplessness, lol.

Anyway, aside from what he said, I must admit that Sensei is one of the most honest mangakas I know. It's not easy to say all those things for sure, because people will judge you.

Thanks a lot for the translation. I can't wait to read Oshimi-sensei's next work!

 

[Jexzer]

Too long didn't read.

 

[J0hnnyJoestar]

God, I hope oshimi learns that transitioning is a thing someday

He is aware of that, he wanted to be born as an actual girl instead. This is an afterword from his another manga 'Inside Mari'

 

[Kaios]

I mean, given how stigmatized being trans is still, both in Japan and in the west, I can understand his hesitation.

I don't feel like it's an hesitation but more like a blind spot. He talked about gender roles but nothing about transness. It's so weird to me, like what is going on

 

[pataponaccount]

The man will write and draw mindfuck crossdressing manga instead of going to therapy

 

[FinaruVictory]

Kinda feels like he's fixating on and trying to address symptoms that a lot of men experience in modern society without recognizing the root cause. Many men have grown up not feeling valued on a personal level. Not living up to the expectations of others and feeling abandoned or merely tolerated. Feeling inadequate when he looks to his peers who are seemingly able to function normally. Falling far enough behind that human/male behaviors feel alien. A lack of emotional connections as they grow up, leading up to their own internal admission that they don't truly belong, leading to a feeling of guilt for merely existing.

Oh, I'm not talking about me btw lmao this is about a friend

 

[jengosupa]

God, I hope oshimi learns that transitioning is a thing someday

i don't know, it seems to me he was focusing on sex and and his obsession with it and his sexuality. if he really went researching stuff like men's societal roles and gender-related discourse, he's probably already aware of transitioning, and yet he didn't mention it here.
"Is there anything that deeply articulates the inner pain of men, especially when it comes to issues surrounding sexuality, from a male perspective?"

 

[xyzzy]

I don't feel like it's an hesitation but more like a blind spot. He talked about gender roles but nothing about transness. It's so weird to me, like what is going on

The thing is that whether we want to admit it or not, we’re making that blind spot.

I mean, whenever we get a character who even slightly challenges gender norms, a bunch of chuds will immediately pour out to say that there’s no way their favorite character could possibly be anything but cis.

 

[icezone22]

God, I hope oshimi learns that transitioning is a thing someday

I didn't get the impression that he was implying that he wanted to be a girl, and the only phrases that would imply that are quotes from a book that he didn't write. Maybe he just identified with those specifically because they alluded to his relationship with sex rather then his relationship with his gender, but idk and it would be wrong of me to act as if I actually know how he feels.

 

[liquid_2]

i just want to give oshimi a hug

you'll figure it out honey, one step at a time...

 

[smolbaka]

Author gots a lot of stuff to deal with. But I think saying he should transition is like a bandaid solution to what he got going on.

 

[k9744]

come here shuzo i'll give you a hug

 

[Kaios]

The thing is that whether we want to admit it or not, we’re making that blind spot.

I mean, whenever we get a character who even slightly challenges gender norms, a bunch of chuds will immediately pour out to say that there’s no way their favorite character could possibly be anything but cis.

Yeah but he talked about a lot of possible reasons behind his discomfort, but we didn't even get an acknowledgement in the likes of "yeah I've seen that trans stuff and it's not what I feel" which would be fine too.

 

[Amphguy]

Not to try and impose anything on the author, but the experience that they are describing in the afterwards chapters in this manga sounds a lot like what I've heard from some nonbinary people. The author says he wants to quit being a man, but that full on femininity felt more like a temporary solution.

 

[dracomoriarty]

I like to think that I'm fairly knowledgeable on gender/sexuality (being part of LGBTQ+ myself) while still being able to look at these issues objectively without being caught up in "sensational" ideas like: having pronouns/labels for every possible variation of gender/sexuality, or having to heavily modify your body just to be comfortable in your own skin.

That said, I really can't tell for sure what Oshimi's trying to deal with (in his own life, not his works). All of his "after-words" in this series and others just contain a whole lot of nothing. I'm not sure if it's because he has too many issues that are interwoven, making them too complex to properly explain/express; or if he has some simple issue that he just really really sucks at explaining/expressing and is overcomplicating it. Still, I think it's the latter, so I'll try to give an (somewhat surface level) interpretation of his mentality anyways:

• It all started because he became disgusted by his own sexual desires due to societal norms telling him to be. And he happens to also dislike how he looks or looked due to puberty. Both of these combined caused him to want to be clean/pure/beautiful.
• As such, he wants to be a female, because he associates those ideals with the idea of "femininity". From what I can tell, he thinks this because he viewed women as completely holy/perfect/clean.
• But then again, this contrasts with how realistically girls and women have been portrayed in some of his works: they're not perfect and clean by default.
• Still, even if he recognizes that, he still places "femininity" on a pedestal due to how unattainable it is to him (both physically and mentally). He wants to actually be a woman because he thinks there's some hidden secret he will never know about due to having been born a man (spoilers: there isn't). And if he had been born a woman, everything will just click and he'll be happy (which is just way too idealistic).
• But besides all of the above ideas, something he strongly believes is that societal norms can be really toxic. He also wishes for people to treat individuals as the complex individuals they are, rather than treat them as neatly-wrapped packages with labels perfectly describing what they are. These are expressed quite strongly in this manga. (These are just valid ideas and not an inner turmoil like the ones above)

To summarize: the societal norms regarding being a man have made Oshimi deeply unhappy from a young age so he wants to not be "a man", but he can't (for reasons he can’t articulate).

My answer to his dilemmas (and it’s possible this is too narrow-minded) is: he’s overcomplicating things. He just needs to recognize that there's nothing inherently wrong with sexual desires; it's not inherently better or worse to be a woman; and societal norms aren't always "correct". Feel free to like what you like (if it doesn't actually harm anyone) and act however you want (if it doesn't actually harm anyone). Life is really not as deep as many people make it out to be, and Oshimi is just stressing over nothing.

 

[zips]

L, G, B, T, Q and + all at once? Amazing.

I'm a trans woman and he's eggy as fuck and living in a society where it's a lot more terrifying to approach transition and a lot fewer online spaces to explore those feelings.