by Shou Arai
Translated by Massiel Gutierrez
2.5 stars
An interesting read about gender, aging, relationships, and living as an intersex person. Arai works in various topics including sex, age differences, culture, and gender expression. It was especially interesting to learn about some of the intricacies of living as an LGBTQIA+ person in Japan such as what word to use to refer to your partner and changes in societal expectations at different time periods. A mix of personal stories, advice, and reflections about gender identity and expression.
The flow was a bit hard to follow at times. Arai doesn’t go too much into his background in this book, likely because he has done so in his previous books. But as far as I can tell, this is the first one published in English so I was missing all that background and the nuances of his journey. This made reading it a little confusing at times. May help to watch the No Gender! The Queer Life of an Intersex Manga Artist documentary first.
Still, overall it was an interesting read. Cute art style. Does include nudity and sex scenes.
Reading this does make me want to watch the documentary.