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timefliesaway 's review for:
半熟女子 1 Hanjuku Joshi 1
by 森島 明子, Akiko Morishima
challenging
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Yae transfers to an all-girls school, since she doesn't like being told how girly she is, and hopes that in a place full of girls she wouldn't stand out.
The way it gets emphasized on how it's not just being told she's girly, but that she also doesn't like her body and having breasts, might be she's trans. Either that and the author didn't really know about trans identity (since it came out in 2008), or the author got caught up in gender roles. 'Cause apart from Yae hating her body, it's constantly emphasized also from and to other characters how they have to or should act as a woman, it's constantly repeated how it's an all-girls school and that they're all girls here, who are going to be a woman and then get a boyfriend to be a real woman. Very heteronormative.
It really feels like the author has never heard of queer people, (or only from homophobes that queer folks are "that kind of people"), but has a wide imagination and one day thought to herself, "what would it be like if two women were to fall in love? Is that possible?", and then wrote this, and thought this is an exclusive manga in the sea of only hetero manga. Okay, maybe not that dramatic, but still very heteronormative way of thinking.
It does get a bit less "homophobic" in the second half, as Yae is very sure that she's lesbian and doesn't take her feelings as just a game, even though others keep saying that you're not a real woman until you've done it with a guy. That's great at least, to have a character who's confident in their sexuality or at least in their feelings.
The gender roles are also very extremely shown in Chituse. She's tomboyish, and the argument is that because she has only sisters and is confident in everything she does. Now, I don't have siblings and don't know anyone who is female and also only has sisters, but I'm pretty sure that's not how it works... then again, maybe it's because she's being told by everyone else she always acts like a guy, that she thinks of herself as rather masculine and the need to act that way. Or, well, because everyone puts the gender role of a male onto her, no one also tells her that one shouldn't act that way in certain moments (like a lot of people don't raise their sons properly bc for some reasons guys are allowed to do everything they want without being told off).
Either way, she does have a nice development at the end, realizing, that while she is more masculine, she also still is a girl and likes to be treated as one from time to time.
I wasn't a fan of that lowkey sexual assault though. Apparently Chituse didn't even want to assault her, but simply thought she was wearing a too tight bra, and instead of asking, if Yae might be uncomfortable in her bra, she forced her into a toilet and told her to take off her clothes. What? Anyone would take that the wrong way.
After that, Yae does tell her that things like these could and should be approached differently, but that's when the first time the argument "she only has sisters" was mentioned. How does that makes sense? Do her sisters only have boyfriends who sexually assault them and therefore Chituse learned that that's how things work? I don't have any other explanation.
As said, there is development though, and she learns a lot from Yae, on how to basically be a normal human who respects personal space.
A bit ridiculous and I'm not really sure on how to rate it because of this.
There's also another lesbian relationship with an age gap, where one of them is 24, and a virgin, and keeps repeating on how embarrassed she is to not be a woman yet, even though she has a boyfriend. But she doesn't love her boyfriend, she knows she's in love with her female best friend, but that is one-sided and she can't bring herself to break up with him... until a girl comes along, who also has been unsatisfied with her relationship with guys and seeks a different body. They two find each other and just know, that this is what they want.
Again, I didn't like the heteronormative gender roles, but the development here too was nice. I also like the way the girl had her realization of being lesbian. She was basically just searching for the right body and hasn't found it in the guys so far. Who knows, maybe she's bi or pan after all, and only didn't have chemistry with her previous boyfriends, but still. I just like that analogy.
Will I be reading the 2nd volume? Probably, yes, mainly out of curiosity.
The only thing I'm conflicted about is the fact that the main relationship started on lowkey sexual assault. They did talk about it and all, but it leaves me a bit icky. Idk.
-05.11.23
The way it gets emphasized on how it's not just being told she's girly, but that she also doesn't like her body and having breasts, might be she's trans. Either that and the author didn't really know about trans identity (since it came out in 2008), or the author got caught up in gender roles. 'Cause apart from Yae hating her body, it's constantly emphasized also from and to other characters how they have to or should act as a woman, it's constantly repeated how it's an all-girls school and that they're all girls here, who are going to be a woman and then get a boyfriend to be a real woman. Very heteronormative.
It really feels like the author has never heard of queer people, (or only from homophobes that queer folks are "that kind of people"), but has a wide imagination and one day thought to herself, "what would it be like if two women were to fall in love? Is that possible?", and then wrote this, and thought this is an exclusive manga in the sea of only hetero manga. Okay, maybe not that dramatic, but still very heteronormative way of thinking.
It does get a bit less "homophobic" in the second half, as Yae is very sure that she's lesbian and doesn't take her feelings as just a game, even though others keep saying that you're not a real woman until you've done it with a guy. That's great at least, to have a character who's confident in their sexuality or at least in their feelings.
The gender roles are also very extremely shown in Chituse. She's tomboyish, and the argument is that because she has only sisters and is confident in everything she does. Now, I don't have siblings and don't know anyone who is female and also only has sisters, but I'm pretty sure that's not how it works... then again, maybe it's because she's being told by everyone else she always acts like a guy, that she thinks of herself as rather masculine and the need to act that way. Or, well, because everyone puts the gender role of a male onto her, no one also tells her that one shouldn't act that way in certain moments (like a lot of people don't raise their sons properly bc for some reasons guys are allowed to do everything they want without being told off).
Either way, she does have a nice development at the end, realizing, that while she is more masculine, she also still is a girl and likes to be treated as one from time to time.
I wasn't a fan of that lowkey sexual assault though. Apparently Chituse didn't even want to assault her, but simply thought she was wearing a too tight bra, and instead of asking, if Yae might be uncomfortable in her bra, she forced her into a toilet and told her to take off her clothes. What? Anyone would take that the wrong way.
After that, Yae does tell her that things like these could and should be approached differently, but that's when the first time the argument "she only has sisters" was mentioned. How does that makes sense? Do her sisters only have boyfriends who sexually assault them and therefore Chituse learned that that's how things work? I don't have any other explanation.
As said, there is development though, and she learns a lot from Yae, on how to basically be a normal human who respects personal space.
A bit ridiculous and I'm not really sure on how to rate it because of this.
There's also another lesbian relationship with an age gap, where one of them is 24, and a virgin, and keeps repeating on how embarrassed she is to not be a woman yet, even though she has a boyfriend. But she doesn't love her boyfriend, she knows she's in love with her female best friend, but that is one-sided and she can't bring herself to break up with him... until a girl comes along, who also has been unsatisfied with her relationship with guys and seeks a different body. They two find each other and just know, that this is what they want.
Again, I didn't like the heteronormative gender roles, but the development here too was nice. I also like the way the girl had her realization of being lesbian. She was basically just searching for the right body and hasn't found it in the guys so far. Who knows, maybe she's bi or pan after all, and only didn't have chemistry with her previous boyfriends, but still. I just like that analogy.
Will I be reading the 2nd volume? Probably, yes, mainly out of curiosity.
The only thing I'm conflicted about is the fact that the main relationship started on lowkey sexual assault. They did talk about it and all, but it leaves me a bit icky. Idk.
-05.11.23