Giniro no Genders

As I was looking through manga that I could read, I saw this peculiar manga. I thought that art was pretty mediocre, but I didn’t really mind that. What really caught my attention was that the manga had the word “Genders”. That word isn’t normally used in any Japanese titles from what I know, and that was pretty much the first time I saw it in a manga title. So I checked, and lo and behold, it was a manga about the LGBT+. Reading through it, I realized that this is one of the only manga that I’ve read that focuses on the sexuality and gender aspect in regards to the LGBT+ community. And it did a lot of things right.

This manga explored four of the types in LGBT+: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender. While I would have liked it if they explored more sexualities and genders (pansexual, asexual, intersex, gender fluid, etc.), I know that would be too much to ask, as it is hard for people to accept all of them in one go, so I know it would take time for them to accept us. We just need to go one step at a time.

There are 5 main characters in this manga, Gin Fujigaya, Asa Nakamichi, Yuki Ogara, Akira Sumon, and Seiji Toyohara, all of which have different sexualities and genders. The main protagonist, Gin, has a hobby of crossdressing and posting selfies online, which is how the story started. As he continues to pursue this, his hobby, he starts to meet other people, like Asa, Yuki, Akira, etc. With each having different sexualities and identities, they continue to explore who they really are, and shape what they would do in life.

One of the things I liked about this manga is how the characters were able to properly explain who they are, what they identified as, and who they liked. They were able to properly find themselves, even though their journeys might have been rough. Gin was my favorite one. He is heterosexual, but he loves to crossdress because he think he is prettier doing drag than his regular self. Because of this, he and some of the other main protagonists question his gender, and some suggested that he may be transgender. After reflecting on his actions and thoughts, Gin came to a conclusion: he’s straight, and he is definitely a cis guy. I loved how he didn’t make a big deal out of it, and that he was able to accept that there was a possibility that he could have been transgender. Also, if there’s one thing to remember, it’s this: CROSSDRESSING DOESN’T MAKE YOU TRANSGENDER. You can just love crossdressing, but still be straight. Crossdressing isn’t mutually exclusive to one’s sexuality. Anyone can crossdress if they desire to, and there should be no problem with that at all.

Another thing I liked was that some of the characters already knew who they liked and what they were at a young age, and they were able to accept it. Even if other people disagreed and shunned them, they were able to wholeheartedly accept their identities and beings, which is something I want the LGBT+ community to be able to do. We need to be able to be true of ourselves without being rejected by others saying that “it isn’t normal” or that “it’s sin”. It should be normal to know your identity, and what you like, since it shapes who you are and what you want to do for the rest of your life.

This manga isn’t perfect, and there are a bunch of mistakes and things I found that I didn’t like. The main problem for me is the title of the manga itself. Yes, gender is also explored in this manga, but the main thing that was explored was their sexualities. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, those are sexualties and not genders. Transgender itself isn’t a gender either, but a gender identity. For clarity, sexuality refers to which of the genders you are sexually attracted to, while gender identity is the gender you identify as. I understand that the author might not have gotten the English word properly as a Japanese, so I can forgive it. But I hope future authors won’t make this same mistake again.

Another thing I disliked is the character of Seiji Toyohara. He was portrayed as obsessive and a bit psychopathic, which made him a toxic character. Since the LGBT+ community is still ostracized by a lot of people, if one bad apple is revealed to the public, the whole community will be painted in that light, making it harder to properly show who we really are. I feel like some people who will read this will incorrectly connect that Seiji’s personality is how most of the people with the same sexuality act, so they will be seen in a bad light. I’m glad that Seiji became a better person by the end, but hopefully people would know that obviously not everyone is like him, and that we all have our own personalities and ideals.

The art is pretty mediocre, it’s not a masterpiece, but it isn’t garbage either. It’s just smack in the middle, which I can forgive, as the focus of the manga is to help educate those who are still uninformed of the LGBT+ and how we think.

So with these things in mind (and other things that I couldn’t find the words to write), I gave this manga an 8. But honestly, with everything in the manga alone, I would have given it a 7, or even a 6. So why did I give it an 8? The reason is that the author is a hetersexual male. Heterosexual. I was shocked that he was able to write this kind of manga. He said in his afterword that while he was writing the manga, he had to read LGBT books to be able to properly understand how his characters were thinking, and that he had to consult and meet LGBT people to delve deeper into who they are. This made me really happy. I really liked how the author of the manga worked hard in order to write a story that doesn’t focus on people like him, and how much he studied and consulted on the subject in order to give life to the characters in the story. The author's intentions and actions are the reason why I gave this manga an 8. I hope other authors will follow in his footsteps if they decide to write manga focused on the LGBT+ community. And while this manga focuses on the LGBT+ aspect itself, I also want to see manga/anime that just has an LGBT character that isn’t there for drama, but someone who’s just there. A character that just continues to live their normal life, just like the way straight characters are able to do in manga/anime. I hope I can see something like that soon.

Now with all that’s said and done, I know that there will be people that still wouldn’t be able to understand us. Their mindsets and lifestyles might be different, and that’s okay. Everyone lives differently, sees life differently, thinks differently. One manga wouldn’t be able to instantly change the mindset that you have, and it won’t make you automatically give you all the knowledge about us. That’s why we ask you to study and consult about this topic. To make you understand us better. But I know even after all that, there will still be people who can’t, or won’t understand. If that’s the case, then there’s a quote I’d for you all to read, and it’s something that reverberates through the whole LGBT+ community.

“You don’t have to understand us, but we want you to acknowledge us.”

We exist. We’re alive. We’re human. We’re here, and we’re queer.

It is a good story over all. But it is confusing some plot lines, and this is my personal bias (because of being trans myself) but the trans issues did not developed as it promised in the beginning.

I would recommend it to any LGBT+ person but if you are struggling with gender issues, don't read it expecting some way to figure out some way to say something o f yourself.

To cisgedered heterosexual people: if you are an ally and you enjoy LGBT+ content, read it. If you are not an ally, just pass this manga, you are not going to enjoy it, but i still recommend it if you want something that may change your mind.