Okaeri Alice
Welcome Back, Alice

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

Gender. What a thing, ain't it?

This was one of the most stressful things I've ever read, not only because of the intensity of the story, but every other element present. One of those you can't speak about without mentioning the art, and the direction of everything.

By itself, it's a love triangle: The shy, introverted kid with the goal to speak to his long-lasting crush. The girl attracted to somebody else, but then, that somebody else, is a non-binary, trans girl that was male presenting when this girl liked them. And the triangle goes back to our shy kid.

Easy on paper, extremely complex in ... execution. This isn't the typical version of it, but more of the author using everything they've learned throughout the years for the manga medium, in a personal art piece. An examination on gender norms, on sex, sexuality, on love, and how complicated it can get beyond the average gender spectrum. It sounds self-indulgent from that, but it's just a great story in general. An intense, sexually charged story that constantly made me recoil at the page turn.

Finished it in just one day, all due to an art style that doesn't entirely focus on the dialogue. It's a visual, expression filled, self-identity nightmare, that constantly bombards you with soul crushing panels. It's the ideas that it portrays, and the pain on each face that reacts to every idea. You don't just buy the story, you feel it, right beneath your skin. I don't have quarrels about gender, as portrayed here, but it isn't just a story for that audience, it lets the reader find empathy in what they read. By far, one of the greatest LGBTQ+ cast in media. The heart, soul, and boldness to represent the concepts blasts through the page, and destroys you on the inside.

It shows the empathy on the situation, and it can also tell you all about how messed up highschoolers can be with love. The self loathing, the infidelity, the hormones, and the problems of identity, all with a touch of enough self awareness to fill the entire atmosphere with guilt over every single action taken. Hard balance, between gender, and true, gritty storytelling. It's got so much sex on it, far more than I was expecting in a story about highschoolers, but it's this author we're talking about.

It's disturbing, heartwarming, and very direct with its message, which at the very ending, felt a little too straight to the point. I get that, with these themes, you really have to be honest and spell it out. I've seen my fair share of failures in media literacy. As a modern manga, the themes must be center stage, even if for me, that detracts from the experience.

8/10. What a solid series. With some beautiful messages about self identity. Yes, it does shove the themes down your throat at the end. Not the best, but it doesn't destroy everything that came before. It's just a little on the nose.

If you have read Aku no hana before, you kind of know what to expect from this author. This time, Shuuzou Oshimi decided to explore the topic of gender dysphoria and gender as a whole in a natural way by using inexperienced and imperfect characters while truly capturing that awkward phase of early transition and how wrong can it go when you lack some kind of support group, specially one that knows about being transgender.

It has some erotic moments that are mostly forced or non consensual, filled with awkwardness and uncertainty. I understand how this is a complete "no-no" when reading content, specially because ... there are nudes drawings, but it's not in a way that it felt like "porn". Hell, these scenes don't last more than they should at all. These scenes always somehow detonate an important plot point one way or another and serve to develop "Alice" as a character and how much she's struggling to find her identity.

A lot of people have called this transphobic and gross for making the trans character engage in non consensual sex and that the manga doesn't know enough about trans people and while I understand where this comes from, I don't entirely agree with the latter. Oshimi's works constantly attempt to explore the human mind in a way that's understandable for the circumstances the characters are featured in. It's not like he randomly goes "ah yes, this person is trans so they will rape someone" but more of a "this *person* went through this, this and this. I don't find it weird that they're desensitized to the whole concept of consent because of all they went through. Their pursuit of trying to understand gender and themselves more makes them act this specific way, but not in an aggressive way, more like a rose that ends up hurting others due to the lack of carefulness in the way they've grown".

Would this manga be much better without the non consensual sex scenes? Yes.
Are they necessary to the plot the author had in mind? Sadly yes
Does the author fetishizes rape? No
Would I prefer if the exploration of gender went another way? Absolutely.

Okaeri Alice is not bad by any means and is able to communicate a meaningful story, but it definitely could of have been done in a much better way.
While I personally enjoy reading cathartic stories, I feel kind of guilty for enjoying Okaeri Alice and there's something in my head that makes me feel conflicted when I try to talk about how much I like it or how much I dislike it, hence why I'm giving this a "Mixed Feelings" recommendation because I truly don't feel like I *liked* it but also don't feel like I *disliked* it but it definitely wasn't neutral. It was an interesting read with an engaging story with gender being a main topic but.. no more than that.

The story is about as bland as can be with most of the plot points being your average teenage drama love triangle story, if you guessed at what the plot beats are, you'd probably be right the majority of the time. The characters themselves are simple and as average as you'd expect from a teen romance manga but with the added "twist" of one of the characters being trans and that is where the problems start.

The character of Alice feels less like the author wanted to portray a trans character as a means of having something different and unique to their story and instead almost ... feels like they made a character trans for no reason other than being divisive. Alice is portrayed as a shitty, manipulative, predatory, and sexually and emotionally abusive person who feels more like the author putting as many negative character stereotypes of a trans woman as he can think of into a character. If I was told that the author consulted with an actual trans person about any point in this story, i'd call that a lie.

That's not even mentioning the bland as cardboard main character and the annoying and manipulative third wheel to the love triangle. Not a single character in this story is likable.

The art is alright at least. Nothing special but I guess you need to give it at least some credit for not looking as terrible as its story is.