#NOGIZAKA Tarou

[storiamanga]

Manga recommendations

Titolo: Gideon of the 3rd Titolo originale: Dai-3 no Gideon / 第3のギデオン Autore: Nogizaka Tarou Anno: 2015 - 2018 Target: seinen Genere: drama Volumi: 8 Editore (it): PlanetManga Ambientazione: Francia del XVIII secolo, Rivoluzione francese Tipologia: mix personaggi storici e fittizi, periodo storico circoscritto

[offbeat-manga-ships]

YUUREITOU (幽麗塔)

The Ghost Tower / Nogizaka Tarou

Complete, with 80 chapters / 9 volumes

M/M; Seinen, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Romance + lgbt, queer & ambqueer, queer character, transgender character, trans m, ambiguously genderqueer, cross dressing, genderbender, gb: mtf, gb: ftm, sub m, glasses m

SUMMARY: In the 1950s, an old woman was brutally murdered on the face of a clock tower by her adopted daughter. Two years later, the clock tower is known as the ‘ghost tower’ and it is supposedly haunted. Through an unusual series of events, a young NEET man named Amano Taichi is attacked by someone or something in the same clock tower, and finds himself bound to the clock face to be killed in the same way as the old woman. Luckily for Amano, he doesn’t meet the same fate. He’s rescued by a mysterious person who claims his name is Tetsuo.

MAL score: 7.48 AL mean score: 73% MU average: 7.6

PERSONAL SCORE: 10 out of 10

[weebsideblog]

[ducdeloire]

GIDEON OF THE 3RD CHAPTER 4: UP!

Mangadex

I’ll see if I can make the image a little sharper for the next chapter;

[mangacapsaicin]

tarou nogizaka’s the ghost tower || 乃木坂太郎の『幽麗塔』

[mangarecs]

you should read: yuureitou

Yuureitou. Oh, sweet, sweet Yuureitou. What kind of person would I be if this blog’s first post wasn’t about this hidden gem of a series?

Yuureitou is a mystery-horror manga set in the 1950s. It follows the two leading characters, Amano and Tetsuo, on their search for a mysterious treasure that’s been linked to a haunted clock tower and a gruesome murder.

Without further ado, here’s some notable points about the series!

It has a very strong trans lead and several other main characters with ambiguous sexual/gender identities. It brings these things up several times throughout the series and addresses them surprisingly well, especially the trans character.

It’s actually really fucking good. The plot is gripping and fast-paced and despite the social commentary being pretty significant, it’s never the focal point. While it’s definitely all serious and murder-y, there’s several goofy and comical scenes which help break up the tense atmosphere.

The characters. I’m not going to lie, almost all of the main characters have issues. Not writing-wise! Writing-wise, they’re very well done. But as people, they’re not the greatest. One of them is manipulative, one of them is, er, very much a sexual deviant and one of them... well, one of them is Marube. That doesn’t necessarily make them bad people but they’re certainly not the flawless role models you might hope they are.

The art is pretty great. Clothing seems slightly stiff and the realistic style can sometimes look a little ugly but boy, does it make up for it in expressions. Art style is subjective obviously but Yuureitou’s art is fairly unique and very appropriate for its genre.

Those damned covers. The bane of my existence and possibly the reason why this manga is so overlooked. There are multiple sexualised cover pages of a certain character that blatantly seems like an attempt to pressure the author into fan service. Do not be fooled and certainly don’t let it put you off reading the series.

Would I recommend Yuureitou?

Yuureitou was not what I expected at all. If you’re not into seinen/horror, I’d be hesitant because there’s a fair amount of explicit content and spooks but I’d still recommend you give the series a try. Not only is it extremely well-written and engaging but it’s the only manga I’ve read that has a trans lead and presents sexuality and gender identity the way it does.

Ultimately, yes, I do absolutely recommend Yuureitou. It’s not without its flaws (some of which I’ve mentioned, some of which I haven’t) but you’ll be hard pressed to find anything quite like it.

[none-shall-caricature-me]

(MAJOR Yuureitou Spoilers ahead)

Why doesn't anyone ship Amano x Yamashina in the Yuureitou fandom ? I shipped them so hard while reading the manga - and I mean romantically, not just platonically. They are incredibly caring and protective towards each other and fanboy over each other's moments of awesomeness. Sure Yamashina said that he's in love with Tetsuo and only thought of Tetsuo in his dying moments, and at most he got turned on by Amano's butt lol, but even then they had great camaraderie and covered for each other's weak points pretty well - Amano grew to have an innovative detective brain and an open, compassionate personality for solving very difficult mysteries and placating antagonistic people; Yamashina had resolve, practicality and consistent reliability in his detective work.

I hc that they could've worked well as a slow burn relationship - maybe it wouldn't have the fiery desire that Amano and Yamashina had for Tetsuo, but it would still be a cozy comforting romance.

Heck, even now it's not clear to me whether Yamashina genuinely wanted Tetsuo himself or if he was just drawn to the reflection of his dead childhood friend Takashi.

And even his death scene has him desiring Tetsuo but Amano is the one who pretends to be Tetsuo and cuddles and comforts him so he can pass away peacefully. So yeah, interpret that however. Also when Yamashina is rumoured to be alive, Amano especially shifts to Tokyo to look for him.

I like many moments of Amano Taichi x Tetsuo too, it's just that I preferred the buddy cop dynamic in this case.

[plantsucc]

I have not read Yuureitou, but the covers seem horribly fetishistic, drawing him super femiley and in suggestive positions, so I imagine the manga would be similar. Why do people like it? Come on guys, we can do better. Just because representation is scarce doesn't mean we have to settle for garbage like that.

I think you mean Tetsuo Sawamura. true, for a transgender character who is obviously, very vocally not comfortable being seen as a woman, the covers got pretty bad sometimes. objectifying him, drawing attention to his feminine body. this left me uncomfortable too.

(long post below, also content warning for misgendering)

however, I think it’s justifiable in a few ways? the POV, Tetsuo’s depth as a character, the author’s bias, and the genre. bear with me.

Yuureitou is primarily from the POV of a desperate virgin NEET protagonist, Taichi Amano, who starts off as... well, pretty sexist, even misogynist, and goes through a lot of character development. at one point he gets pretty severely attracted to Tetsuo and starts thinking of him as a woman. misgendering him, sexualizing him. 

which Tetsuo picks up immediately. and challenges him on his views. there have been many people in his life who have done this, he’s probably had this conversation a lot.

Tetsuo as a character is also really strong. he isn’t sexualised often. for most of the story he’s treated as a guy, framed as handsome, confident and really clever. his first appearance makes this clear.

his transition is an important plot point though. his past life is catching up to him, he’s considered a wanted criminal by the corrupt police force, and eventually, the worst of the sexualization-misgendering occurs at the end where he was almost about to do a body-switch brain-transplant with the ultimate antagonist of the story... fortunately it’s portrayed as a low moment for Tetsuo as a character, even if it’s uncomfortably sexual still. in the end, he’s a man though, and doesn’t want to sacrifice his body and possibly his life for this risky experiment.

the author, Tarou Nogizaka, is a cis straight guy (as far as I know) who doesn’t seem to have done any other LGBT works. so, not a surprise that it’s questionable at times. and yet? he did a pretty good job with most of the gay, trans, and questioning characters in this manga. while also putting gender stereotypes, and sexism under scrutiny. it’s surprisingly open-minded and critical for a manga. (for context, the panel below is from the opium village arc where Taichi and Tetsuo, in disguise, are trapped, and expected to bear a child for the village because the opium has rendered the women there infertile)

genre: it’s a murder mystery/treasure hunt that takes place in 1950s Japan, with very mature themes (sexuality, drug use, abuse, death etc), so full-frontal nudity wasn’t unexpected. it gets pretty dark, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone under 17.

all-in-all, it’s a good read. I enjoy it every time. it’s good to be critical of the choice to sexualise a trans guy this much though, you’re right. but it doesn’t ruin the story as a whole in my opinion.

[sassan2]

[litheopalescent]

Finals coming after me like-

[transangledlozengeggbutt]

[goodmangacovers]

Yuureitou 7, Tarou Nogizaka (Feb 2014)

[grellsuke]

do you have any good lgbt manga recs? i just finished shimanami tasogare and loved it

yes!!!

Authors:

yuhki kamatani - the author of shimanami tasogare! kamatani is x-gender (and ace!) and thoroughly incorporates lgbt characters into their works. the others aren’t like focused on the lgbt experience like how shimanami is, but they’re all wonderful and beautiful and have lgbt characters and i highly, highly rec them.

akiko morishima - a lesbian mangaka who i really like! she’s really good abt tackling the traditional stereotypes in yuri manga as well as writing stuff about older characters and frankly discussing sexuality and shit. she also has works that are not yuri manga-centric but iirc a good chunk if not all of them still have lgbt characters, so they’re worth checking out as well! (she does have a few works with some fuckshit in them tho, fair warning)

takako shimura - i don’t personally know what her sexuality is (tho shes a woman, i know this), but shimura is pretty well-known for her lgbt works. wandering son and aoi hana are probably her most famous, at least over here in the west! she also tends to incorporate lgbt themes into her works that don’t center on lgbt characters as well.

ebine yamaji - another lesbian mangaka! yamaji’s works are very... realistic, usually about lesbian working through things. there’s a lot of trauma and a lot of sadness in her works, as well as sexual content, and i really love her art. i haven’t read ALL of her works, but what i have, i’m enamored with. they’re sad but rarely TRAGIC.

hiyori otsu - i don’t actually know otsu’s sexuality, but she’s a shoujo ai/yuri mangaka who writes a lot of genuinely sweet stuff. her works tend to very much be on the softer side of things, even if they can be bittersweet, and i’ve really enjoyed all i’ve read by her. it’s nice to just, be able to read a simple and nice lesbian manga without any major angst or tragedy or even sexual content sometimes, you know?

Autobiographies:

honey x honey by sachiko takeuchi - a slice of life little manga about the author and her girlfriend! it is abt a decade old, which you can see some of, but it’s a really cute peek into their lives and japanese lgbt culture. there ARE sequel(s?), but i unfortunately haven’t managed to find any english translations for them. if you do, let me know!

my lesbian experience with loneliness by kabi nagata - i own this manga! i keep it squirreled away in the bottom of my desk and pull it out every few weeks or so because it’s deeply, deeply relatable to me. the first time i read this manga i sat down and cried because i felt it deep in my soul. absolutely rec!!! there’s also a sequel, my solo exchange diary.

the bride was a boy by chii - a cute little manga about a trans woman named chii, recounting her early years up to her current life, her transition and how she met her husband (+ abt their relationship). it’s super cute and sweet, and very informative!! an absolute rec!!

i was born the wrong sex! by mayufu konishi - i haven’t quite finished this one yet, but this is a highly informative manga about a trans woman heading to thailand for her surgery! it’s extremely extremely informative about every single step of the process, and the author is an absolute delight, so it’s one i’d absolutely rec.

our journey to lesbian motherhood by emiko sugiyama/koyuki higashi/hiroko masuhara - have you heard of the lesbians that got married in disneyland tokyo? this is them!!! this is their autobiographical story of, well, their journey to lesbian motherhood! it’s very good, i definitely enjoyed it - it IS a sequel to another manga by them, but i sadly couldn’t find an english translation anywhere… it’s completely understandable without having read it, though!!

fictional manga:

my brother’s husband by gengoroh tagame - this is one i haven’t read myself, but is pretty damn high up on my ‘next to read’ list. the author is a prominent gay bara author - this is his first dabbling into more family-friendly series. he’s also recently started another family-friendly one called our colors that may be worth looking into as well!

whispered words by takashi ikeda - it’s been a good long while since i’ve read this, but i really enjoyed this when i was younger! (has it already been almost 8 years since it ended?? i feel old) it’s about two lesbians who are best friends - one of which is secretly in love with the other. unfortunately, she’s very much not her friend’s type. :( i vaguely remember some kind of weird crossdressing shenanigans with one character, tho, so tread lightly with that.

koimonogatari by tohru tagura - if you liked shimanami, this is also probably right up your alley! it’s a very realistic manga about a boy finding out that one of his classmates is closeted and gay - and he promptly decides to tell no one because he’s not an asshole, which leads to him being one of this boy’s main confidants. it realistically deals with the homophobia that gay people face, as well as the main character’s slow realization that he’s not necessarily straight, either (or at least, that’s my hypothesis - it’s still ongoing!!). i really enjoyed it.

lonely wolf, lonely sheep by fuka mizutani - two women with the same name, same birth month, and same injury end up meeting by complete coincidence at the hospital. i genuinely adore this manga and all it is. despite it only being one volume long, it deals with heavier topics such as depression, self harm, homophobia, and iirc even suicide. it’s really, really good though and i wish all the best for them.

kono koi ni mirai wa nai by morihashi bingo - i recommend this one tentatively, as the last two chapters are not yet translated (as of 1/11/19), but i enjoyed what was there. despite the label as BL on many sites, this story is actually about a trans woman (tho there is also a gay man in the manga!). the note left off on the most recent chapter, chapter 10, was a very uplifting note that she is not alone and that how she feels is completely, utterly normal, and i have hope for the last two chapters! the art’s really pretty, too, and the metaphors. but again - who knows what could go down in the last two chaps. fingers crossed!

i hear the sunspot by yuki fumino - PLEASE read this one. this manga is about two college-aged young men who end up meeting when one LITERALLY stumbles across the other. kouhei, one of the boys, is hard of hearing - and the other boy, taichi, starts taking notes for him in class in exchange for lunch, and thus begins a friendship that will blossom into romance! it absolutely gets in depth on the hoh/Deaf community in Japan, and is definitely informative - and the guys are just genuinely so sweet (as well as the other characters!!!) and I wish them all the happiness. it’s STILL ONGOING so like, warning on that, but i’m really enjoying it so far. i think there’s also a movie based off it!

cirque arachne by nika saida - this one has some sexual elements to it, so fair warning on that, but i really enjoyed it! it’s a single volume manga about two acrobats that fall in love. the art was cute and i genuinely liked the characters, quite a lot. would definitely rec.

yuureitou by tarou nogizaka - i have not actually read this manga, but it’s another that’s amazingly high up on my to read list. it’s a supernatural horror manga, and the main couple is a trans man and a cis man! i’ve heard good things about it - from people i know personally, as well as just in general - and it’s one i can’t wait to check out.

ohana holoholo by shino tarino - i FEEL like this one is completed, but if it is, the translation isn’t done. either way, i did love what i read from this! ohana holoholo is about a bi woman raising her son along with her ex-girlfriend and their neighbor, nico. it’s really good, one that i HIGHLY recommend, and one of the woman is implied to be trans, too! (fingers crossed they explicitly state it please please please-) overall, i absolutely rec it, please check this out!

no. 6 by atsuko asano/hinoki kino - who HASN’T heard of no. 6? no. 6 is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the government is, well, the government. it involves two young men working to take it down alongside others and they fall in love. and one of the other characters is non-binary! ...honestly that’s probably the best i can describe no. 6 because WOW is it a wild trip. it’s a wild trip that i highly, highly recommend though! you want gays taking down the government alongside killer bees and a magical bug goddess? this is the manga for you. please read it.

asagao to kase san by hiromi takashima & bloom into you by nio nakatani - two shoujo ai manga centering around high schoolers that i haven’t actually read yet, both of which recently got animated adaptations!!! i have heard genuinely fantastic things about both of them (ESPECIALLY) the latter, and bloom into you is actually next on my reading list. they absolutely sound fantastic and i can’t wait to read them!!

seven days by rihito takarai/venio tachibana - a two-volume manga about two high school boys. every week, a boy named seryou goes out with a different girl - he treats them very well, showers them in attention, and then promptly breaks up with them at the end of the week because he didn’t fall in love with them. out of curiosity, his upperclassman, shino, asks him out one week - and thus begins their seven day romance. i really loved this, i really really did.

tamen de gushi by tan jiu - it’s an on-going webcomic about how two girls, qui tong and sun jing, meet and fall in love. the characters are all absurdly fantastic, from the two girls to all of the supporting characters around them, and it’s an absolute TREAT to read. i would highly rec it, there’s some lovely shenanigans in there.

last but not least, i highly rec manga written by the year 24 group. this group was a non-formal group of female mangaka in the 1970s that really revolutionized and influenced the shoujo manga genre. many of their works are considered classics today, with works such as kaze to ki no uta, claudine...!, the heart of thomas, and shiroi heya no futari among them. a lot of their works really dug in and examined sexuality and gender, and you can find some of the original shounen ai, shoujo ai, and trans manga among them. i’m a sucker for the classics, and i highly recommend them. i honestly could have listed every single of one these mangaka in my recommend authors list, but decided it was just easier to promote the group as a whole. the best for last, you know?

hope this helps, anon!

[caainhurst]

some worthwhile lgbt representation i have seen in manga

i thought it might be nice to have a list of lgbt manga made by and for the lgbt community. this means that it avoids yaoi (mlm manga made by and for women), yuri (wlw manga made by and for men) and otokonoko (stories about men-crossdressing-as-women made by and for men). i’m sure my list isn’t perfect, but it’s a starting point.

multicategory

shimanami tasogare by kamatani yuuki (gay male protag, young gnc/transfeminine person, married lesbian couple, trans man, and many other lgbt people) (a beautiful 4-volume manga about a lounge where lgbt people come to be themselves. kamatani is themself nonbinary.)

if you read nothing else on this list i highly recommend shimanami!

lesbian and wlw

love my life by yamaji ebine

a report on how i was so lonely i visited a lesbian prostitute by nagata kabi (and my solo exchange diary, its sequel, which i could not find a scanlation for even though [because?] it’s been released in english)

lemonade by shioya teruko

ohana holoholo by torino shino (two bisexual women raising a child together)

octave by akiyama haru

pieta by haruno nanae

collectors by nishi uko

gay and mlm

my brother’s husband by tagame gengoroh

one thousand and one nights by okadaya tetsuzoh

mentaiko is a man in a relationship with another man, but his manga are either underage porn or porn with misogyny, so his work... isn’t recommended.

i have also found that tsukumo gou is a man in a relationship with another man, but as he mostly draws underage porn it’s also not really recommended.

trans people

yuureitou by nogizaka tarou (trans man protag, genderfluid protag) (this one is a little weird bc the book and chapter covers often sexualize tetsuo and make a big deal out of his afab figure, yet the story and interior artwork treat him with respect)

claudine...! by ikeda riyoko (trans man protag) (it’s from the 70s, and the bury your lgbts trope is in full effect)

wandering son by shimura takako (trans girl protag, transmasculine/nb protag)

bokura no hentai by fumi fumiko (trans girl protag, crossdressing gay man protag)

double house by haruno nanae (trans woman protag)

brave new world of love by yamada nari (trans girl protag - one of two stories that i could verify was made by an actual trans person)

the bride was a boy by chii (trans woman protag - second story of two that i could verify was made by a trans person)

feel free to add on!

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤

[ducdeloire]

GIDEON OF THE 3RD CHAPTER 5: UP!

Mangadex

I also fixed up some typos with chapter 4 that came from translating at 5 AM. I scaled down the pages of this chapter a little bit to make it a tad less blurry, as well.

[mangacapsaicin]

tarou nogizaka’s the ghost tower || 乃木坂太郎の『幽麗塔』