Following up from my post on LGBT manga, this one is special to me, so it gets its own article 🙂
Few people realize that within the vast queer world, there are also subdivisions within it. Any subculture will naturally develop its own language, terms, definitions and structures, many of which can be incomprehensible to those not from it. Lesbian, gay and bisexual are widely known – pansexual and demisexual less so, and there are other orientations whose validity is probably being debated as you read these words.
I’ve always been one to pair education with entertainment – in the sense that learning can (and should) be fun. So it is with gladness in my heart that I present to you Last Gender : When We Were Nameless, a manga about LGBT individuals gathering at a sex bar named Bar California. Works like these shed light on a world which though not in the mainstream, contains within it humanity, understanding and the search for acceptance.
A word of possibly needless warning before we begin – this manga is very much NSFW, since it has graphic depictions of consensual sexual activity.
The manga features an ensemble cast of characters who all search for different things as they go throughout their lives – some search for love, some acceptance. A young wife struggles
to comprehend her husband’s infidelity. An aspiring teacher finds his narrow notions of the way the world works shattered upon happening an openly polyamorous triad. These characters
and more make up the cast of Last Gender, bound together by the mysterious proprietor of the bar, Yo.
Some of the stories are self-contained, while other characters disappear and return throughout the manga’s pages. Some of them stood out to me in particular – Amiru, an aromatic college student who leads a fulfulling, generally happy life – just one devoid of any romantic attachments whatsoever. I particularly liked how she was potrayed as alternately hurt, bewildered yet unbowed by societal definitions. As she boldly proclaims “I’m the star of my own life, and everyone is the supporting cast” – which is a sentiment that could be potentially extended to everyone. She shows how its possible to simply lead a life of one’s own as who she is, without rebelling against or conforming to society.
Others are not so lucky. A gay couple’s love life ends in sudden tragedy, and the other partner is left to pick up the pieces of his life and their relationship. Whether we like it or not, we live in a society with its own rules and strictures, and his story showcases how someone in his position wavers behind anger, self-loathing and eventually coming to terms of some kind with what has happened. The honesty in which such difficult situations are shown (as with the gender identity crisis of another patron) is one of the things that truly drew me into the work.
I’ve been studying human sexuality for a good number of years now, and Last Gender brought to attention some orientations that I have never heard of, like lithromantic. (desiring romance, yet losing romantic inclinations when feelings are reciprocated) Another character is gray-asexual, which is something I’ve come across in real life but never in media.
Works like this which focus on sexual minorities in a realistic and sympathetic light, while not sugarcoating any of the difficulties they face, are few and far between – and to my mind, worthy of at least a look if not a read.
Essentially, this has everything I want in a manga (without LGBT or not) – beautiful people, hot sex, and cutting-edge societal commentary. The simple, unadorned artwork was an initial draw for me, but it was the delicacy and nuance with which the characters’ stories were told that kept me reading (and in some cases, re-reading) it. I hope you’ll give it a chance too.