Week 8 - My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness

This week I read My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness, as well as a couple chapters of My Brother's Husband. Something I find lacking in Japanese anime and manga is positive representation of LGBT characters. I believe we're starting to see more of it today, as people are becoming more open to the community, but the anime industry is still noticeably struggling to look into it.

My Lesbian Experience was a rather depressing read, not really because it's sad and realistic, but mostly because it feels rather relatable. I'm not lesbian myself, but there are some feelings Kabi experiences that I can really associate with, such as her situation between herself and this part of her that exists only to please her parents. This is something me and a lot of other people struggle to live with, and I imagine in Japanese culture, it's even harder to deal with, since Japanese people have a lot to live up to. I can also relate to the loneliness she feels throughout her life and her struggle to get by financially.

My Brother's Husband takes on LGBT representation into an interesting direction, but I found if very enjoyable to read. I notice the protagonist isn't very comfortable being around his brother's husband, since he acts disrespectful to a gay man. What I found appealing about this manga, though, is how the protagonist begins to grow and understand his brother in law, and the scenes with the brother in law interacting with the protagonist's daughter are very cute and wholesome. However, I do wonder how the story would have played out if the protagonist didn't have a child to positively interact with his brother's husband.