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Jul 25, 2020 2:43 AM
#1
| This is all very much my subjective opinion ok Seibetsu “Mona Lisa” no Kimi he. is a seinen romance manga created by Tsumuji Yoshimura that takes a unique and bold approach the idea of the gender binary is a world where people spend their childhood with sexless bodies. When they are 12 their body changes to the sex they want to become and they become a man or a woman. This is the norm of this world. Anyone who doesn’t follow this norm of the gender binary often faces discrimination in some form and in a variety of different ways. This presents to me as a very critical look at the still prevalent enforcement of the gender binary in the modern world and across all kinds of people and some cultures, and just society as a whole. This was clearly meant to have real world applications and to have real world interpretations applied to it and I think it does a good job of utilizing one of it’s core themes in a fairly sensitive way that remains largely respectful to the majority. I was intrigued with the idea of the Mona Lisa and I felt it was well incorporated into the story and I’m excited to see how this underlying symbol is explored in greater depth. That being said there are some aspects of this manga that I take major issue with. And I mean MAJOR. First up we have our main characters: Hinase Our main character is Hinase who has remained genderless thus far and has recently turned 18, making them the oldest genderless person in the world and in known history. All things considered I love this concept and I am glad to see that we’re getting a more diverse range of stories in modern media, especially in relation to gender identity because I feel like a lot of people, myself included, greatly appreciate this and relate to it on a very meaningful level. I honestly think most everyone can appreciate the message and intent behind these kinds of stories. The main storyline follows Hinase, how they feel about their gender identity and how their view has been shaped by the society they live in. Hinase is often discriminated against for being genderless and their primary physician is the male love interests brother, Azusa, who doesn’t hold such views. Hinase’s story and their feelings about their identity is beautifully represented and explored in a sensitive and considerate way. I loved Hinase because I felt a genuine connection with them and their struggle. That being said their story isn’t for everyone and some might feel a disconnect with the subtle treatment of an agender person being presented as some kind of scientific oddity, and that a major part of their identity is partially tied to their hormonal state rather than being inherently natural is a bit insensitive. I personally found little issue with this because I feel Hinase’s own thoughts were presented in a genuine way that wasn’t solely tied to their biology, even if it may have influenced it to a small degree. But in this case it’s ultimately down to the reader’s own personal interpretation and viewpoint, subjectivity and all that jazz. Shiori Shiori is our male love interest and childhood friend of Hinase and Ritsu. He is in love with Hinase and wants them to become a girl. His brother is Hinase’s physician. I will be explaining the deeply disturbing and problematic issues I have with his character shortly so bear with me. Ritsu Ritsu is our female love interest and childhood friend of Hinase and Shiori. She is also in love with Hinase and is the first to confess to them. Honestly speaking, at this point in time I find her to be the best and most fully realised character in the manga thus far. And that is including Hinase. Azusa Hinase’s physician and Shiori’s brother. He watched all our main characters grow up and is very much involved in their relationship drama. And no I’m not exaggerating when I say drama because that’s literally one of the tags. He is also the second most problematic character thus far. He is not a good person but in my opinion, he pales in comparison to his younger brother. This Man Should Have His Medical License Revoked, He Is A Danger To Society Azusa gave out personal private medical info to his brother which is very unethical and he should have his medical license revoked immediately. But it’s also revealed that he is intentionally withholding very important information from Hinase, being that their continued states of being agender is detrimental to their health and that they will likely die before they turn 20. Apparently he is communicating with someone else and has agreed to not tell Hinase because, I assume, he wants to continue “studying” a rare specimen and is interested in what decision Hinase will make, if they make one at all. So yeah, he’s a creepy guy with real bad motivations who sees his vulnerable patient as an experiment and will gladly give out their personal information to “spice things up”. Let’s just say I can definitely see where Shiori gets his personality and mentality from. But at least Azusa’s interesting. The Love Triangle A major part of this story is the love triangle between Hinase, Shiori and Ristu. Or rather Ristu and Shiori both motivated to pursue a relationship with Hinase. But this doesn’t read as your typical love triangle. Why, you may ask? The complete dichotomy between the two characters and their motivations in pursuing a relationship with Hinase are so completely different and I regularly question the intention of the mangaka in this instance, more so than probably any other manga I’ve read. Because this manga is so short and early days, authorial intent hardly has any bearing on the way the reader interprets the story and the characters. Every aspect of this story has achieved minimal progression, all the sub-plots and character arcs have just begun and there is no telling where they could go in the future given how little we have to go on. Although given the initial framing of Shiori’s actions and the reactions of the people around him, I honestly can’t tell if he was meant to be framed in a positive light of any kind. He is humanised and there are several attempts to hint at Shiori actually loving Hinase in a legitimate and meaningful way but literally everything he does works in direct contention to that idea and instead vilified him in my perspective. I think the mangaka should roll with the character they’ve created and use it as a point of contention for the other characters. Hinase will actually take offense to the horrid things Shiori both says and does, and both Ritsu and them will realise what a toxic presence he is in their lives. I’d love to see Azusa manipulate Shiori more and kind of fuel the fire even though a part of me hates it. The Best and The Worst: A Comparison (so far) As it stands: Ritsu is the best character and Shiori is most definitely the worst. He is one of the worst characters I’ve read in manga and the fact that he’s managed to evoke such passionate hatred from me in only 8 chapters is astounding. I do not say this lightly, I say this loudly and deservedly. Now to the comparing part. I’d say Shiori and Ritsu are like night and day, people sometimes like one more than the other and some like both, but that would be incorrect. Ritsu is a character capable of growth and development whereas I have not seen an ounce of change in Shirio’s character thus far. They are very different and that is a big negative on Shirio's character. The Worst I’m going to be extremely blunt. Shiori is a piece of crap who is selfishly motivated in his desire to form a romantic and sexual relationship with Hinase. He is manipulative and intrusive, insensitive and somehow believes that his actions aren’t inherently problematic and are even justifiable. He employs social pressuring around others in an obvious attempt to yet again manipulate Hinase. He apologises afterwards for what happened and being loud, and yet openly stated the very personal circumstances of their relationship to, what to the reader are complete strangers and at best acquaintances with them. He explicitly states in front of Hinase and Ritsu that Hinase’s female hormones have gone up, yet another attempt to manipulate the situation and their relationship to benefit himself, like an assh*ole, and kind of betrayed his brother’s trust in entrusting that information that he then edited, and even though Azusa should not be giving out private medical information to anyone, let alone his brother who is connected to his patient, Shiori did so in such a shitty way that it genuinely disgusts me. TO QUOTE “Hinase’s female hormones have gone up. So i think, the only thing I think that could have raised it is that the confession had something to do with it. If I put in the effort to continue liking Hinase as I have, then wouldn’t you think Hinase would get used to being a girl...or something like it, but geez, Hinase, it looks to me nothing came of the confession I said.” He has the absolute GALL to act surprised at Ritsu’s reaction to his very harmful remarks, knowing that she also likes Hinase, and he knowingly presents information in a DELIBERATE attempt to discourage her from pursuing the person he has put just so much effort into liking. BECAUSE THAT’S HOW ROMANCE WORKS IN HIS MIND, RIGHT?! I mean he does say sorry but it felt very shallow, like extremely. “I like you Hinase. I believe that you’d become a girl for me.” ICK ICK ICK Turns out that there is no genderless person who has lived past 20. This appears to be Shiori’s major push to confess his feelings to Hinase and his apparent rushing of them to choose a gender. But even then his motivations are still purely selfish and creepy. If he truly cared for Hinase beyond what they could “become” them he wouldn’t think of them as a girl. He wouldn’t think of them in terms of female pronouns. He wouldn’t purposefully manipulate public situations in an attempt to pressure Hinase. He wouldn’t purposefully mention very important and personal information out of context to fit his narrative to intentionally dissuade Ritsu from pursuing Hinase. Every time he talks about liking Hinase it is always in relation to himself. He wants Hinase to become a girl FOR HIM, not supporting them in finding out who they are. He hammers this point home repeatedly and he even states it as his main motivation. He apparently feels like he did something horrible to both Ritsu and Hinase, clearly revealing that it was in fact on purpose. But apparently everything is justified because he doesn’t want Hinase to die. Here’s a wild idea! HOW ABOUT YOU F*CKING TELL HINASE THAT THE CONTINUED STATE OF THEIR BODY WILL KILL THEM INSTEAD OF MANIPULATING AND FORCING THEM INTO THE GENDER BINARY SOLELY BECAUSE IT BENEFITS YOU?!?! He completely ignores Hinase’s gender identity, their gender nonconforming identity. Yes, pronouns aren’t tied to gender identity but the fact that everyone else refers to them using gender neutral pronouns, the fact that Ritsu used he/him pronouns and apologised, then corrected herself and made an effort to adjust her mentality; and the fact Shiori thinks of them and refers to them using she/her pronouns and never even ONCE just asks Hinase what they prefer but just goes ahead and goes by what HE prefers is terrible. He invites Hinase over to study and it is very clear he is looking at them in a sexual manner. At several points we see him looking down Hinase’s shirt or looking at them through a sexual lens. He even thinks of “pushing” them down and making a move but apparently he’s too much of a coward to sexually assault someone he claims to love but still constantly objectifies, manipulates and even shames them for appearing sexually appealing to him and then proceeds to criticise their not at all provocative wardrobe because he found it attractive. I guess in his mind Hinase shouldn’t at any point potentially appear attractive to someone else in any capacity, despite the situation in which he found them attractive being unique to him and only him because Ritsu certainly doesn’t appear at all sexually motivated in her attraction to Hinase and although she may in fact feel that way, she just doesn’t feel the need to sexualise everything the person she loves does because she’s attracted to them as a person and doesn’t view them as an object. Hinase doesn’t experience sexual desire and as such there is an extremely low probability of them liking someone beyond friendship. And they don’t have an understanding of romantic feelings either. Keeping this in mind just further adds to the already massive amount of points against Shiori because taking everything into context I would argue that 60-80% of his motivation is sexually driven to some capacity which isn’t inherently a bad thing mind you. But for a character who claims to have Hinase’s best interests at heart and is doing everything out of love for them, I don’t see any real displays of love here. He doesn't attempt to understand Hinase or empathise with them and so much of his moments revolve around his attraction to them. I know that if Azusa is willing to share private medical information about Hinase, then there is no guarantee that he hasn’t done it before. If Shiori actually cared for Hinase he would have taken the time to learn more about their physiology, their mental state, the impact of their state of limbo and how that affects the way they think and interact with others. He could’ve just asked Hinase if they would ever consider sexual intimacy at all, which obviously they can’t because they don’t have sexual organs. Which just becomes a tad bit creepier when you think about it for too long. I think he very much wants to “win” the decisive war against his “friend” for the possession of their shared love interest and will use any means necessary to win said war. The Best At the beginning of the series, Ritsu initially asks Hinase to become a guy for her so that they can be together just as Shiori did, which in any case is just a selfish and insensitive thing to do. Except of course Ritsu admits that it was a sh*tty thing to say, it was said in the heat of the moment and she felt she couldn’t find the right words to articulate what she wanted her relationship with Hinase to be. She directly apologises to Hinase instead of stip-stepping around the issue and most importantly, she makes an effort to avoid repeating her previous comment in any capacity. Ritsu feels genuine remorse for her actions and what she said and takes the time to consider how it affected Hinase. She acknowledges she said horrible words in the heat of the moment and she regrets them. She likes Hinase for who they are and even admits she would be fine with them staying as they are. Ritsu genuinely doesn’t care a whole lot about gender because they like Hinase for themselves and NOT for who they could become according to her own personal preferences, even if it does influence her mentality to a degree, but she takes the time to actively reassess her own thinking as it happens. Ritsu tells Shiori that he shouldn’t be rushing Hinase to make a decision, then he ignores her saying he WILL hurry and pressure Hinase into being a girl. Whereas Ritsu has taken the time to address her behaviour and the negative effects her behaviour had and could continue to have on Hinase because she wants to be a better person, Shiori outright ignores her comment and continues to push his agenda on Hinase in an attempt to shape them to suit his own personal tastes, and he is so incredibly selfish and motivated he even finds a way to justify his actions, of which are blatantly biased and unapologetic about it even though yes he did supposedly feel “guilty” about it. Ritsu genuinely cares for Hinase and takes the care and effort to be considerate of them and their gender identity. She takes the time to consider her thoughts and feelings about how she thinks about Hinase and makes a conscious effort to adjust her thinking, her language in reference to them and even in consideration of their interests that might not align with what she had initially wanted them to because she knows from experience how uncomfortable it is to have someone restrict what you can and cannot like based upon their own perception of you. Because she does not believe that people should feel forced to choose one way or the other or even at all. She herself has experienced this where when she was younger she felt pressured by her parents and the people around her to choose being a boy. But Hinase is the one who acknowledges her true wants and feelings, and how she actually wants to be a girl despite everyone expecting her to grow into a boy. That one act by Hinase gave Ritsu the courage to be herself and proudly declare it despite the pressures she faced. They, as a potential couple, have a wonderful backstory and genuine connection. Ritsu can understand Hinase and sympathise with them, and has communicated that they would would happy to be with Hinase in any capacity, whether they remain genderless or make a decision, and even if Hinase just wants to stay friends. Ritsu would be happy with any of these outcomes because she loves Hinase, genuinely loves them but of course she wants to be special to Hinase which I completely understand and sympathise with. The Finale To compare Shiori to Ristu is to compare a gross, manipulative turd who will deliberately twist crucial information in a way that fits his narrative and a selfish assh*le whose motivations are completely skewed, to a genuine and heartfelt character capable of remorse and self-reflection who repeatedly reassesses her motivations in wanting a relationship with Hinase that is also considerate and respectful of them, and their gender identity. Shiori, throughout every instance he is shown, displays a deeply disturbing viewpoint and self-narrative that feels to me like a “nice guy” except 60% worse. Ritsu is a thoughtful and compassionate person who actively engages in character growth but she is still flawed. Unlike Shiori, Ritsu recognises her flaws and doesn’t try to justify them but instead considers the effects on her character and how this could influence her interaction with the person she loves because she doesn’t want to hurt them. Shiori appears to have no such consideration for others and will deliberately and dare I say maliciously, hurt the people closest to him and justifies it in such roundabout and disingenuous ways that I’ve actually begun to doubt if he’s truly capable of genuine remorse. He justifies imposing his agenda and ideals on the person he “loves” but this is ludicrous if his character was meant to be likeable or relatable in any way because if he truly actually loved Hinase for themself and didn’t want them to die, he would have told them. He is literally using the potential death of his love interest to force a gender on them that he wants for himself in an attempt to paint himself as some kind of righteous savior and it is deplorable. There is not one aspect to this character that is in any way redeemable in my opinion and I would even label him as a sociopath because any attempt to write him as a morally “white” is already tarnished. He is not good, his motivations are purely selfish and the only interesting arc I can see for him is to have the Hinase realise how terrible he is and for Ritsu to finally take a firm stand and call him out on all his bullshit. Hinase deserves to have someone like Ristu who is so willing to accommodate them in such a tumultuous period in their lives. I could not forgive the mangaka if they choose to have Hinase end up with Shiori because it would be a blatant slap in the face to what I feel is the majority who don’t like this character but can't quite put their finger on why, and I feel like it would legitimately ruin the entire message that I believe the mangaka is trying to portray and has so far done a wonderful job. I know it sounds harsh and unforgiving of me but this is all my opinion and you are free to disagree with me. I feel as though Hinase is underdeveloped thus far so I can’t definitively say anything about their character but I loved their character. As a narrative convention I love this kind of setting and I will continue to follow this series. I did love the art, I thought it was beautiful. But it didn't make up for all the issues I had with the story and characters in general which is why I didn't feel the need to delve into that amongst other things. |
Jun 20, 2024 10:46 AM
#2
| Thank you for the heads up lol guess I'm gonna drop the manga, the whole "oh but theyll most likely die if they turn past 20" made no sense and I read somewhere that the ending ended up having 4 routes instead (Shiori-M!Hinase, Shiori-F!Hinase, Ritsu-M!Hinase, and Ritsu-F!Hinase), which is baffling lmaoooo |
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