#Misora Shuuji

[choujinx]

SHIMANAMI TASOGARE (2015-2018) by kamatani yuuki

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not a fox 🐰

[hakonohanayome]

Shimanami Tasogare - Yuhki Kamatani 

[liliumsmangacaps]

[assorteda]

Cute Girltober | Day 8 : Yukata

I ended up rereading Shimanami Tasogare because of this prompt. 😢

I tried to draw the photograph that Tasuku took of Misora at the fireworks festival

[snalsupremacy]

misora is the "how i look with he/him pronouns in my bio" meme

[identity-library]

Mental Health (Comics)

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DC (Comics)

Arnold Wesker/Ventriloquist (DID, Schizophrenia)

Harvey Dent/Two Face (DID)

Peyton Riley/Ventriloquist (DID)

Rhosyn Forrest/Thorn (DID)

Rose Canton/Thorn (Schizophrenia)

Roy Harper/Arsenal (Addiction - Drugs)

Thom Kallor/Starboy (Schizophrenia)

Todd Rice/Obsidian (Schizophrenia)

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M:

Marvel (Comics)

David Haller/Legion (Dissociative Identity Disorder)

Jessica Jones (Addiction - Alcohol, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)

Marc Spector/Moon Knight (Dissociative Identity Disorder)

Matthew Murdock/Daredevil (Depression, Trauma)

Robert Reynolds/Sentry (Schizophrenia, Dissociative Identity Disorder)

Ruth Aldine/Blindfold (Trauma)

Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Schizophrenia)

Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Psychotic Break)

N:

O:

Our Dreams at Dusk (Manga)

Misora Shuuji (Sexual Assault)

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[mi6sumi]

Like or Reblog if you use/save!!

[representativecharacters]

Shimanami Tasogare (Our Dreams at Dusk) Masterpost

This manga is an unusually realistic depiction of queer experiences in modern Japan without the narrative devices common in more typical yaoi/yuri stories, all conveyed with some truly beautiful visual metaphors. The depictions of homophobia and transphobia the protagonists deal with on societal and individual levels from the well-meaning to the malicious is particularly realistic. 

Despite the struggles the protagonists deal with there are plenty of moments of lightness and celebration. It focuses on a gay teenager, Kaname Tasuku, who stumbles across a non-profit lounge which is used as a meeting place by a range of LGBT+ members.

Character: Kaname Tasuku

Representtion: Gay

Their Importance: He struggles with internalised homophobia in a far more realistic way than the often melodramatic portrayal in fiction. Being part of a group full of other queer people increases his confidence in his identity and he comes out to his peers after initially thinking he would be closeted all his life. Notably, being gay doesn’t mean he’s automatically clued into every LGBT+ issue. He sometimes asks intrusive questions and unwittingly temporarily ends his friendship with Misora when he attempts to comfort them after they’re sexually harassed by downplaying the incident. While still a sympathetic character, he’s clearly shown to be 100% wrong.

Character: Misora Shuuji

Representation: Questioning (possibly gnc boy/trans woman), SA survivor

Their Importance: Misora is a sixth-grader currently questioning their gender and experimenting with a feminine presentation. The lounge is a safe space for them to explore their identity without outside pressure. As Haruko states, Misora doesn’t have to choose a label right away. This shows how many people don’t instantly know what their identity is and the lines between various identities aren’t rigid. At one point Misora is groped by a peer while presenting as female while out at a festival and furiously shouts down Tasuku for trying to downplay it and their friendship temporarily ends over it. Misora is never treated as oversensitive for this which is a complete 180 for how this is usually treated in manga.

Character: Utsumi Natsuyoshi

Representation: Transgender

Their Importance: Utsumi is an uncommon example of a trans male manga character. He is initially withdrawn from the other members of the lounge but finds connections there. In his volume 3, he is subjected to transphobia when he attends a school reunion. His ex-classmates ask him intrusive questions about his identity and one pressures him to take part in an lgbt advocacy project despite his obvious lack of interest. When he blows up at them it’s presented as a normal reaction to harassment rather than as some kind of moral failing.

Character: Saki

Representation: Lesbian

Their Importance: She’s the wife of Haruko and is a deeply caring woman who is completely comfortable in her own skin and helps the younger members of the lounge achieve this as well.

Character: Ilya Tchaiko

Representation: Gay 

Their Importance: Older gay characters are still uncommon so having a significant character who is an elderly gay man who’s been in a loving relationship for several decades and has a social circle full of other lgbt people is a pleasant twist. Unusually he isn’t regulated into a mentor role though he’s still a supportive friend. Instead, the considerably younger Anonymous gives him some vital advice in the climax. Also, he has a great taste in music! 

Character: Anonymous

Representation: Aromantic Asexual

Their Importance: Anonymous is the mysterious and stoic leader of the lounge and provides funding. She presents herself as cold and uncaring, sayingg: “You can tell me anything. I won’t listen, though,” but it quickly becomes obvious this is not the case. In the final volume she explicitly describes herself as asexual and notes how isolating this can be when living in a traditionalist culture that expects her to be married when she has zero interest in this kind of relationship.  She succeeds in finding a way to live a happy and fulfilling life in isolation while still finding a way to keep a connection with people like her. There aren’t many aspec characters who get to live life on their own terms like this or get character depth. (Note: in Japanese, asexual is often used to refer to asexual and aromantic people interchangeably). 

Thanks to anon for the write-up!

[tanenigiri]

Review #4 - Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare (Volumes 1 and 2)

Japanese title: しまなみ誰そ彼 (Shimanami Tasogare)

Story and art: Yuhki Kamatani

English publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment

Number of volumes: 4 (complete)

A moving story about the realities of diversity.

[CW: Discussions of suicide and homophobia]

(This review contains story spoilers.)

Unfortunately, we still live in a time where relationships that don’t follow heteronormative standards are frowned upon, with the extent of that frowning varying from country to country. There’s a lot of complicated dynamics at play in Japan’s LGBT culture that I’m very much unfit to talk about, but at its core, it’s still something that isn’t widely accepted by society.

It’s something that’s always in the back of my mind when I get into a new BL series - how the narrative deals with the fact that the main relationship that defines the story is one that isn’t “the norm.” I was surprised that the four shows that introduced me to the genre - Given, Sasaki and Miyano, Classmates, and Umibe no Etranger - all largely tackled this within the context of the protagonists figuring out their sexual identities. Only Umibe no Etranger brought in the social and cultural aspect, and even then, it was still within the context of developing Shun’s character rather than being an external conflict.

And I think that’s what made Our Dreams at Dusk stand out for me among all the manga I’m covering for this project - how this rejection by society is not only brought up and used to flesh out the characters, but is ultimately fundamental to the narrative. This is, of course, largely due to the fact that this isn't a BL story in the strict sense of the category, though it still shares several elements and themes with all of the other series in this project, which is why I still wanted to cover it. But how the very first thing we see in this story is a suicide attempt from the main character - and how this is driven by his being outed in school - sets a very different tone from all of the other manga I’ve read.

Fortunately, Tasuku’s suicide attempt remains solely as an attempt, as a series of events finds him into a drop-in center owned by a mysterious figure with an equally mysterious name. The center turns out to be a safe haven of sorts for LGBT individuals, and it’s his experiences in the center that help Tasuku come to terms with everything he’s been bottling up.

(I’ll talk about my thoughts on Someone-san in a future review, as for now I want to focus on the spotlighted characters of these first two volumes - Tasuku and Misora - and their respective journeys about their sexualities.)

For Tasuku, he gets a very helpful mentor figure in Daichi, one of the regulars in the drop-in center who is later revealed to be in a relationship with another woman named Saki. This proves to be an incredibly helpful experience for Tasuku, as seeing an LGBT couple simply existing gives him the push he needs to accept that what he aspires to have - a relationship with another man - is not only valid but attainable.

That’s not to diminish Daichi and Saki as mere plot devices though - this volume already introduces the main plot of their relationship about a possible future marriage and how Saki isn’t ready to come out to her family just yet. I’ll talk about this more when I review one of the future volumes, but I wanted to mention it here since I do want to highlight how the story doesn’t just use this plot to further Tasuku’s, but really plants the seed for something meaningful down the line.

I also have to make a special mention of the art - its vividness really adds to the strength of the story’s themes. Doubling down on just how mysterious Someone-san is, there are several imagined, almost fantastical scenes here that really add to how Tasuku is coming to terms with his feelings. It amplifies just how life-changing this whole situation is for him, and it makes for great visual metaphors .

While the first volume ends on a relatively positive note - Tasuku finally vocalizing that he is, in fact, in love with another man - the second volume shifts this narrative quite drastically, even if it portrays something fairly similar. Volume 2 sees Tasuku trying to take on the same mentor figure that Daichi assumed for him for another regular in the drop-in center - Misora, who Tasuku finds out is having a completely different experience in figuring out his sexuality. The younger boy likes to dress up as a girl whenever he’s in the drop-in center, but beyond that, his sexual identity still seems to be in a flux for him.

Tasuku understandably can’t wrap his head around this - it wasn’t long ago, after all, when he was first exposed to other LGBT individuals - but he is still determined to help Misora in any way he can, as he's recently realized that having understanding people around him was important in figuring out their sexuality. This ultimately backfires, though, as he’s unable to realize the impact of his words when he and Misora attend a festival near the end of the volume. It leads to a very heated exchange and an ultimate falling out, with Misora revealed to not having visited the drop-in center since the incident.

After this, there's a rather poignant moment between Tasuku and his original mentor, as Daichi tells him that even if Tasuku wants to help Misora figure things out, the only person who can ultimately do so is Misora himself. Tasuku might’ve felt like it was the help of Daichi and everyone else in the drop-in center that led him to accept his sexuality, and while in many ways it is, it was ultimately a leap that he himself had to take. Misora isn’t ready to take that leap just yet, so when Tasuku gives him the opportunity to jump, it leads to a lot of misunderstandings.

It’s these explorations of different facets of the LGBT experience and the nuances between the characters’ dynamics that make Our Dreams at Dusk such a compelling read for me. The discrimination and other disgusting actions that both Tasuku and Misora face may have been uncomfortable to read, but they were ultimately integral in fleshing out their own journeys. And even if these two volumes establish that these journeys are markedly different, they both relay the same feeling of contentment - by the end, I felt really proud of these two characters taking very brave steps in figuring out their respective identities.

Random thoughts I couldn’t fit elsewhere:

While it’s admittedly a straightforward metaphor, I do like how this group of LGBT individuals runs a nonprofit that focuses on breaking down old structures and rebuilding it, both with pieces that remain from the old structure and with brand new pieces that they themselves create. It may be somewhat cliche, but it’s a powerful image nonetheless.

One less straightforward metaphor is the triangle house - the story really likes going back to the idea that Tasuku still hasn’t figured out what to do with one of the places that Cat Clutter is renovating. I thought that this was going to be a parallel to Tasuku’s self-discovery of his sexual identity, but he’s still very much undecided when he’s already voiced out his feelings for Tsubaki. But after rereading Volume 2 (and with the knowledge of what happens in later volumes), I think it’s pretty fitting that he’s still deciding what to do with it, as it now becomes a more satisfying parallel to Tasuku’s development as a volunteer of Cat Clutter.

It pains me not to mention him at all in the review above, but my favorite character in this series is Utsumi. I swear I’m gonna make it up to him when I review Volume 3, as I find his story to be among the most interesting in the series - probably on par with the one between Tasuku and Tsubaki - but I at least want to mention that he has a really fun dynamic with Daichi in these early volumes.

Thanks for reading! Our Dreams at Dusk is the first manga I’m covering for this project that I’d call "BL-adjacent." To be honest, I went into it thinking it was a BL since that’s how it was labeled when I bought it, so it left me with a much broader view of what these kinds of manga can cover. It’s also opened the door for me to other manga with LGBT themes that don’t necessarily follow the typical BL conventions, and I'll be covering some of them for this project too. In any case, I have two separate reviews lined up for Volumes 3 and 4, and they’ll be posted later this month.

[tomoyoo]

[choujinx]

SHIMANAMI TASOGARE (2015-2018) by kamatani yuuki

[mayoiayasep]

mmmm

yuka and misora should meet

[hakonohanayome]

Shimanami Tasogare - Yuhki Kamatani

[liliumsmangacaps]

[transcharacters]

Character: Misora Shuuji

From: Shimanami Tasogare

Gender: Trans girl / Transfeminine

Why: Misora is questioning, and heavily implied to be a trans girl (their indecisiveness on their gender is a plot point), with hints that they experience dysphoria despite insisting they’re a cis boy, and being euphoric when they are complimented when dressing up femininely. They’re referred to with they/them pronouns in the official English translation, reflecting the fact they don’t know what they are yet.