Okaeri Alice
Welcome Back, Alice

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If you think this story is transphobic or BAD because it offends your sensibilities then you're ignorant.

The characters and themes are all obviously aspects and ideas surrounding the author's own complicated relationship with gender, masculinity, femininity, love, and lust. It's painfully obvious...and also beautiful and eye-opening.

Each of the 3 main characters represents a part of the author, or at least ideas the author feels represent aspects of society's understanding of gender and attraction. I can't stand identity-based cultural commentary, I feel that today it takes up too much space when there are more important things that need attention, this made me think that maybe ... it's got some stuff worth exploring.

Androgeny, traps, young love, and confusion. With a sorta Junji Ito Esque haunting art style that really extenuates what the authors attempting to convey.

Read it because it's trying to say something, or because you're horny and this sorta stuff works for you, either way, it's very good.

As of writing this, I've read two other works by Shuzo Oshimi - "Flowers of Evil" & "A Trail of Blood".
I appreciated both for their emotive, suspenseful character art, and the palpable, ever-escalating anxiety it created. Between the two, I felt the author established a very distinct style, with an obvious knack for psychosexual drama - honest, detailed portrayals of tortured sexuality at young age, and a touch of absurdity that didn't bother me personally.
"Welcome back, Alice" is an ongoing story with many of the same features - an obsessive, loveshy protagonist, torn up by the eccentric and assertive personalities of the women that orbit ... them. But this project has not yet managed to cultivate quite the same atmosphere, and perhaps by design - since Oshimi's own comments seem to point towards it being more of an exercise of self-examination than a mood piece.
"I used to fantasise about being a girl, but that's only an escape that ignores what it's like to be a woman.
Facing, confronting and deconstructing the concepts of "lust" and the "man within oneself", I hope I manage to do some of that with this series."

So, the central dynamic within this story - that between the protagonist and his sexually-forward, crossdressing friend - seems to be the author's dramatisation of his own feelings about gender identity.
Indeed, when pressed to describe this relationship, the protagonist explains that he "want[s] to go back to when we were neither boys nor girls, before those kinds of things were instilled into our minds", and during a sexual encounter, the friend assures him that "you don't have to play the man or the woman, just be yourself".
Quotes such as these would suggest a positive regard for or openness to gender-non conformity on the author's part, but the friend is largely depicted as a source of trouble, frequently undermining the protagonist's wishes such as to appear invasive, even predatory at times, and intervening in the romance between the protagonist and a girl who attends the same school. When considered at the surface level, this depiction seems to fit comfortably into a long lineage of uncharitable characterisations of feminine men and transgender women. As the "forbidden fruit" whose hypersexuality or atypical presentation is threatening to prevelant identity. When treated as metaphor instead, it seems as if Oshimi is working through unresolved issues regarding gender in real-time, without conveying a particularly coherent message in the process.
Wanting to be a girl is no closer to escapism than being comfortable as a boy, and while our bodies and presentation may alter the way we relate to others sexually, "lust" alone does not motivate alternative expression.

Okaeri Alice is thematically about how social constructs of gender limits us from freedom of expression. It is not necessarily a work aimed at queer audiences, but anyone who is conscious of performative roles based on gender and the pressure that may come from living up to those expectations. Okaeri Alice can be fairly problematic in the way that it executes this message, and it needed more time in the oven to fully realize its message, but is nonetheless a sincere attempt at solving a complex identity issue.

The protagonist Yoh is effectively the vehicle ... for Shuzo to deliberate on his themes regarding identity and repression. Yoh does not show genuine interest in what would be considered "masculine" activities. He just does things based on what is expected of him and what his peers decide is the correct way for a male teenager to conduct themselves. This largely leads him down a path of confusion as he increasingly becomes more aware of his leanings towards homosexuality, which clashes against what he believes to be the correct way of life based on his straight edge environment. The internal conflict that Yoh feels throughout the story is the emotional backbone of the entire manga as you’re meant to empathize with his growing discomfort that he feels within a body that he doesn’t think matches his figurative soul. I found his internal musings to be very moving throughout the story as his conflict feels genuine.

The catalyst for Yoh to find self actualization is Kei, a childhood friend who disappeared and later returned as a transgender. Kei is by far the most interesting character in the story as they work to liberate Yoh and defy the conventions of how people should behave based on appearances. Kei is, regardless of your leanings, incredibly beautiful which seems intended to challenge heteronormative ideas of how beauty should be perceived.

But interesting as this character is, they also lead into one of the more problematic issues of the manga - Kei’s method of freeing Yoh is to stimulate him to the point that he can no longer deny his true desires. This is matter of factly sexual assault and probably more damaging to Yoh than for him to navigate life “normally” under their existing limitations. To make matters worse there is another character, Mitani, who manipulates Yoh as way to affirm her own social standing. She leverages Yoh's (perceived) attraction to her to make herself feel better. So Yoh is in the middle of two forces that are pulling him in opposite directions, both damaging to his mental state. I don’t think Shuzo intends to promote sexual assault nor emotional abuse, but rather chooses the most visceral approach to make a reader question their own views regarding gender and sex. The problem is that it’s the least sensical of all possible solutions (though it does make for a lot of drama, and more intrigue). Some of this could be forgiven if characters outside of Yoh were more transparent, but we get to know so little about them as their perspective is never really shown. We are always with Yoh.

I love reading Oshimi Shuzo manga because it feels like he “gets” the adolescent perspective more than any other writer. He comes close to doing the same here, but needed more time to make this work match the quality of his others under the same subject matter.

As someone who blindly dove into this manga because I saw a cute girl on the cover ... this work has completely torn apart and reconstructed my sensibilities, and made me reexamine the idea of attraction, and how gender identity plays a part in it

I was, in order: shocked, repulsed, and intrigued. You really start to wonder what it means for a man to be attracted to a woman. Are you ever really attracted to someone purely because of their biology or their sex? Or because of some more abstract notion like "femininity"?

More concretely: although I started this manga rooting for Yui to end ... up with Yo, and hoping for Kei to fade into the background as a mere plot device to drive forward the relationship I wanted to see ... my loyalties were swiftly reversed.

Without any spoilers, the interaction, and tension, between our three main characters is pretty fucked up. But you have to appreciate that each of the characters, much like real people, are all fucked up in their own special way: The toxic and hurtful aspects of our personalities are often coping mechanisms we've developed from a past trauma. In this manga we get to see the aftermath of everyone's traumas unfold before our eyes.

Through this lens, we'll come to appreciate how, despite Yui being the woman of Yo's dreams, and despite how much we as the audience may truly be rooting for her ... perhaps she is not the best for Yo. Moreover, we realize that she would only ruin Yo if they were to stay together. And, conversely, no matter how viscerally wrong it may feel to see Kei and Yo together, we gradually understand that Kei would not only be better for Yo's sanity, but also a better physical fit for Yo. But hey, the series is still just starting and anything could happen between the 3.

But honestly, this was not what I expected at all when I clicked on the cover. And now I've basically written an essay, and my head is wrestling with a deep moral dilemma ...

"Okaeri Alice" by Shuuzou Oshimi is truly a unique manga. You don't see comic books like that very often. It is more like an experience, telling a story about gender identity, sexual desires, self-acceptance, self-esteem, puberty. All of that presented in a respectful and realistic way, as one would expect from a manga by created by Oshimi-sensei. Realism of "Okaeri Alice" becomes even more impressing when the person reading it is familiar with psychology, so a lot of emotions, reactions or situations happening to the characters of this manga can be easily detected as fine examples of certain behaviors known in the field of clinical ... psychology. There are also afterword sections that add even more depth to elements presented in this manga.

All of that is coated with beautiful art and great panelling, allowing readers to literally soak in the story. The farther we dwell into thoughts of certain characters, the more artistic the visuals become, making pretty much every scene filled with psychological content more memorable and impactful. I'm a fan of that kind of artistic methods, so I was delighted to see them in this manga. Also, we cannot forget about the absolutely stunning way of drawing expressive close-ups of characters' faces. Something well-known for Oshimi-sensei fans that will surely impress a lot of people for whom "Okaeri Alice" is the first manga created by this mangaka.

The cast is not crowded. The story focuses on a several characters. Few of them are the main ones, receiving obviously the most attention and "screen time", although what I find as really nice about this manga's wriring is that the line separating "main characters" from "side characters" is thin enough to give justice to pretty much all of them. At least equally to the time they had in the manga itself.

Even though I generally enjoyed reading "Okaeri Alice", there are two things worth of mentioning that I did not like in particular, and which have greatly affected my final score given to this manga.

First of them is the length. While the story is complete and the main element of it were wrapped up pretty well, I couldn't stop thinking about how it would've been grand to see more chapters of this manga. They would surely allow to flesh out more the story itself, but more importantly - they could give more depth to few characters that were interesting, but felt to be treated more like plot devices than actual characters.

Second thing is scenes containing lewdness and erotism. I'm not against seeing that kind of stuff. Also, we are talking about a seinen manga, so it shouldn't be a problem at all by default. However, many of them (mostly in the first chapters) felt forced in "Okaeri Alice", resembling more a typical fanservice from mediocre hentai manga than actually meaningful moments from a manga not focused strictly on showing spicy scenes. Sexuality and gender identity are surely sensitive topics requiring respectful approach and seriousness. While their core elements were presented in a rather respectful way, such additions felt pointless to me and out of place, unnecessarily reducing the seriousness of the story. Sure, later on there are no such elements, but was it necessary to include them in the first place? That's the question. If we add to them the length of the whole manga, we might think about whether it was really necessary to include that kind of scenes, instead of, let's say, more interactions between the characters.

Nevertheless, "Okaeri Alice" is totally worth of reading. It's really a well-written story, with great looking art style and original concept. I definitely recommend it. Of course, it's not for everyone, due to themes present in the story. However, if someone is a fan of good stories, filled to the brim with psychology, social elements and realism, then "Okaeri Alice" might be something at least worth of checking out.

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.

This review will be both in portuguese and in english

Have you ever asked yourself what makes you attracted to someone? Is it because they have some genitals instead of others? or is it because of the way they act?

The story is about a group of friends that after years apart, they come together, but something is different: Kei Muroda, who used to be a boy, is now a girl.

first of all, I need to clarify some things: one, this author is not for everyone, his works always have something to do with sex, gender and sexuality, and second of all, I need to clarify what ... those terms mean:

For centuries, many societies have enforced the notion that a person is either a man or woman based on their physical characteristics. This idea conflates sex and gender, which is incorrect. Sex and gender are not the same.

In general terms, sex refers to a person’s physical characteristics at birth, and gender encompasses a person’s identities, expressions, and societal roles.

A person may identify with a gender that is different from their natal sex or with no gender at all. The latter identity is often referred to as nonbinary, but this is an umbrella term that covers many identifications.

A person may identify and express their gender in different ways.

Gender identity is how a person feels internally, while their expression is how they present themselves to the outside world. For example, a person may identify as nonbinary but present as a woman to the outside world.

And thats the case for Kei Muroda, who now presents as a woman but for what I noticed is probably a nonbinary person

Okaeri Alice is a manga that treats on how gender roles and expectations affect how we act and persue love and affection of others

It's an overall great read, I'm exited to see where it is going from now on

08/10

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Esta resenha será em português e em inglês

Você já se perguntou o que o faz sentir atração por alguém? É porque eles têm alguns órgãos genitais em vez de outros? ou é por causa da maneira como eles agem?

A história é sobre um grupo de amigos que depois de anos separados, eles se juntam, mas algo é diferente: Kei Muroda, que era um menino, agora é uma menina.

em primeiro lugar, preciso esclarecer algumas coisas: primeiro, este autor não é para todos, suas obras sempre têm algo a ver com sexo, gênero e sexualidade e, em segundo lugar, preciso esclarecer o que esses termos significam:

Por séculos, muitas sociedades impuseram a noção de que uma pessoa é um homem ou uma mulher com base em suas características físicas. Essa ideia combina sexo e gênero, o que é incorreto. Sexo e gênero não são iguais.

Em termos gerais, sexo se refere às características físicas de uma pessoa no nascimento, e gênero engloba as identidades, expressões e papéis sociais de uma pessoa.

Uma pessoa pode se identificar com um gênero diferente de seu sexo natal ou sem nenhum gênero. A última identidade é frequentemente referida como não binária, mas este é um termo abrangente que abrange muitas identificações.

Uma pessoa pode identificar e expressar seu gênero de maneiras diferentes.

Identidade de gênero é como uma pessoa se sente internamente, enquanto sua expressão é como ela se apresenta ao mundo exterior. Por exemplo, uma pessoa pode se identificar como não binária, mas se apresentar como mulher para o mundo exterior.

E esse é o caso de Kei Muroda, que agora se apresenta como uma mulher, mas pelo que percebi é provavelmente uma pessoa não binaria

Okaeri Alice é um mangá que trata de como os papéis e expectativas de gênero afetam a forma como agimos e perseguimos o amor e o carinho dos outros

No geral é uma ótima leitura, estou ansioso para ver o que acontecerá de agora em diante

08/10

To be honest, I decided to read this cause I saw a pretty girl on the cover. Thinking this was one of Shuzo Oshimi's works, I thought ahead that it would try to make me feel weird and disturbed while reading it. And now that I have caught up on the few chapters, I would say that I enjoyed it, while also proving that statement true. As far as I know, transgenders aren't exactly that represented in anime other than cross-dressing or gender-bending. I thought that this manga would try and give a message about the point of view of a transgender but instead, it ... decided to talk about the thing that I have been thinking ever since I was a little boy. Why do we have to conform to gender norms and whatnot? What's up with people saying to "man up" or comparing your capabilities to your sex? What's so wrong with playing with female characters in games? I've been thinking ever since what it would be like to be the opposite gender and what does it mean for me if I am thinking stuff like that? I don't know what route this manga will end up in but right now I sure am looking forward to more.

these character doesn't question their own action but rather question their own feeling. I do get why the protagonist approach things such surreal disturb way from witnessing a traumatic disgust sight of seeing his friend making out of his crush. Which cause him to have conflicting feeling toward the both of them. Having his feeling being held hostage from both of them. Overall it sound like a really good premise but how do they approach those conflicted feeling.

Because it just comes out as kei being a manipulative, sadistic, selfish heterophobe dude. Who only wants that man cooch. Also she doesn't even bother to question ... her own action of why she would would cuck kei if she already knew that youhei has feeling toward kei. Is she actually in love with youhei or is it just for personal gains or is she contradicting her own feeling of her fear of betrayal and abandonment from being lied from a platonic kiss?

How does this ties to trans right? I get it using the "psychological" theme while trying to philosophically explain what love actually mean. It overall not convincing for the character not having any moral basic or the main character resentment is just a plot device for him being an enabler. How does she feel any intimate feeling toward youhei if she only know him as the third wheel by only knowing him from kei. The introduction of the premise could've been articulated by adding some in depth character development arc per 20 chapter. I do hope this manga turns around because i do see potential on it, regardless this isn't going to be an overall good manga but i just want this manga to have a significant notice to be known as.

Good art with good feature, structure, proportion 8 head figure and aesthetic that conveys the story pt well. Lucky if this didn't have the artistry being replace with mainstream industry style. I would've give no chance toward this manga

** Contains Spoilers**


Welcome Back Alice is a manga about a young man named Yohei, 'Yo' for short, and his entry towards his new life in high school. Feeling as though he had been betrayed by his bestfriend Kei for kissing the girl he had a crush on, Yo has taken it upon himself to finally confess to that very girl he's liked since Middle School "Mitani Yui". What transpires next is brought with reunions and loads of drama, filled with a lot of sexual scenes.

In Shuzo Oshimi fashion, the art style is impeccable. The way he is able to capture the facial expressions and emotions ... through his art I feel is unmatched by any mangaka today.


We only know so much about the characters presented to us thus far, Kei is a trap who apparently has always looked at Yo as his "Other Half". Mitani Yui is the girl Yo has always liked but has been met with it unrequited, and the last is Yohei. A first year who seems rather confused about his sexuality, and who he is as a person.


I highly reccommend this manga as it is very Unique in it's grittiness, and is unwaveringly itself even if it's to it's own detriment at times.

As someone who like Kei, doesn't feel like they fit into the boy or girl category, I really enjoyed reading this.

I think it general gets the right idea when it comes to how it explores gender, sex, and relationships. The general idea being that our freedom of these things is often held back by society, culture, others, and ourselves.

It definitely isn't something that I would suggest is very deep. It's also a really trashy romance/ecchi manga, a genre which I personally love. However, while it's a trashy manga I don't think it completely butchers these topics. I have no clue where the author is ... going to end up but at i'm enjoying the ride so far.

I was expecting a trainwreck but I ended up liking it and most surprising to me was getting emotional at times. I think at first the plot of this manga may look pretty dubious but I felt that the relationship between Yo and Kei ended up being supremely sweet.

Also would like to stress that I love Kei and think they're the most well-put together character among the cast. These characters are indeed absolute teenage trainwrecks and I don't think Kei's flaws are given to them because of transphobia. Once Kei felt like they could let their guard down, Kei did say that they were worried they came on too strong. A lot of things about this manga are uncertain and easily look like red flags at first glance but I personally feel the show handles them well relatively so.

The reasons why Kei left so quickly as a kid and came back looking much more girlier and right now lives by themselves....wtf the real story is there I could never tell you. One wrong move by the author could spiral you into trainwreck territory, but the manga has done well enough so i'm not really worried.

As for all the ridiculous shit that happens and why trashy romance / ecchi like this works; A wise man once said: Once you realize the story runs on hentai rules it makes perfect sense.

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.

So far, my feelings about "Okaeri Alice" are mixed. While I can't say I like how the manga begins, it eventually starts displaying some interesting ideas as it progresses.

Specifically, the first 20 chapters are hindered by clichés and uninteresting dialogue. They establish important details but overall fail to stand out, and end up feeling like a prolonged exposition. I do think this part could have been presented better.

Admittedly, I read the afterword of Volume 5 before reading the manga itself. I think it makes the beginning a lot more interpretive, but also highlights the lackluster writing. On one hand, it makes it clearer that Kei, ... who initially appears as some sort of an antagonist, is rather meant to be a source of conflict, which represents the author's own struggle with gender and sexuality. They act as a catalyst for the concepts that will appear later in the manga. On the other hand, when interpreting, I wouldn't want to rely this heavily on the author's words outside of the story. The may provide important context, but I'd rather have the story speak for itself. I can also see why people may think these chapters negatively portray a gender non-conforming characters, though I personally don't think the intention was to target any specific identity.

The pace is picked up significantly after chapter 20. The story diverges into two distinct plot lines, both of which delivering much more remarkable messages.

--- [Light Spoilers Ahead] ---

The portrayal of Yo's and Yui's relationship greatly subverts the typical romantic plot line. The manga depicts sex as something dark, rather than as a gesture of love, and shows how it can be used for manipulation and control. Although this portrayal of sex is often associated with non-consent, the manga displays something even stronger - a "forced" sense of consent, in which the characters use sex to prove themselves as a man or a women, and even as a form of revenge on another person, while the intimacy is completely gone.

Simultaneously, the story focuses on Kei and Ren, the hardships each of them faces with their body and identity, and the way in which they find comfort in each other. Chapter 28 is by far my favorite from this manga so far, and is nothing short of beautiful. It delivers an extremely powerful message about body positivity and self-acceptance. While there is still some awkwardness present, both characters share it, and they use the situation to convey a positive perception of one-another's body. This relationship is not explicitly sexual or romantic, yet it feels very intimate.

The concepts shown in this part of the mange are outlined even more by the harsh contrast between these two plot lines.

The manga definitely has a lot more dark themes to show, but I do hope that it also focuses on the more positive elements that were displayed in these chapters. Overall, "Okaeri Alice" is a mixed bag, but also highly intriguing. Right now, we can only wait and see how it continues.

This manga blew me away. Not a lot of manga portrays sexuality in a way that is as realistic as the way it is in Okaeri Alice. You can tell there is lived experience dripped into this manga, and that is one of my most favorite parts about any sort of media I consume. It's passionately real in all its beauty and ugliness. I sighed in frustration, laughed, gasped, yelled at my screen, and was even brought to tears. It’s wild, it’s annoying, it's biting (like it's got teeth), it’s both love and lust. What are these feelings and what differences do they have?

On ... the negative side; it's very fast-paced, like dizzyingly so, with a lack of buildup before the next scene, and very sexual for a high school-based manga, which is something I wasn’t expecting. Every character has major flaws that can become borderline creepy, such as manipulation, coercion, and malicious jealousy. The main character is indecisive and extremely anxious (hell, would make me nervous too). It's definitely not for everyone.

But it's also intensely intriguing, thought-provoking, relatable, and beautiful. It's addictive. The emotions are palpable. I read it in one sitting and I was holding my face in my hands each chapter because holy shit, and what the fuck?

At one point it even felt like a horror with how Kei was kinda... creepin'. Their gaze was making me sweat. Also, just to point out; there is sort of a love triangle and it’s a mess. I kinda want to slap a bitch just thinking about it. Yo (main character’s nickname), my guy, please break one of their hearts because they will not stop coming after you unless you do something dire, dude (if you hurt Kei though I'm going to be pissed). They are all childhood friends. The struggle is real.

As a trans person myself, I will say that there are a few things that feel like strange choices of portrayal for the genderqueer Kei, but overall, it’s nothing compared to how much I have grown to love Kei as a character, which is wild, because in the beginning I didn’t like them much. I liked Mitani instead. Now it’s the opposite. I don’t like Mitani anymore. Shit happens.

Did I mention that Kei is so gorgeous. I am just as down bad as the author, Yo, and pretty much everyone else in the manga. Kei is just too damn hot. Okaeri Alice gives a whole different meaning to the sentiment, “I love a woman who can just kill me.” If you're not into a character like Kei, you're not going to like this manga. Quite obviously.

I recommend Okaeri Alice to anyone and everyone to at least try it out. It might open your mind a little more towards new and different horizons and ways of being. I haven't read anything quite like this before. It invites us to be unashamed of our sexuality, whatever form it may take.

I expected Okaeri Alice to be a deep dive into gender identities and prepubescent chaos, with a touch of sexual exploration. What the mangaka instead delivered was a perverted, superficial piece of media that makes you feel like you just ate a portion of mouldy, fuzzy yoghurt.

The mangaka is confused with his own sexuality, as he states in the bonus chapter 4.5, and that's exactly what you can expect from this manga. Just a confused man with very problematic and vivid sexual fantasies.

He has not grasped the concept of transgender and non-binary people, so he's trying to cover it up with lots of masturbation ... scenes and other sexual fantasies. His characters are so painfully one-dimensional that it physically hurts while reading.

Everyone is horny and confused – that's it. That's literally all there is to it. There is no other dimension to these characters other than "I'm so horny!! Oh, who's this new guy?"

A lil boundary overstepping here, a lil sexual assault there – Okaeri Alice reads like a textbook on "How to sexually molest and assault for Dummies". What's worse is that he depicts all these things as just innocent explorations among young, troubled teens. In the real world, anyone with social intelligence would probably steer clear of things like randomly tongue kissing your friends.

Read this manga at your own cost. (The main form of payment is healthy, active brain cells.)

If you are looking for a tasteful manga about gender, teen troubles and romantic/sexual exploration, I recommend you the manga "The Gender of Mona Lisa".

The Topic the Author conveys in the Manga is something which really opens your mind about Gender Norms, The Person does not get to decide His / Her Gender and just gets put on a boat expected by society to act in a way they approve. Not being able to fit in you really don't know what to do. That is not the main focus however.

The Main focus is how Yo is going to handle his desire for Lust with Kei and wanting a Genuine loving relationship with Yui. As expected both of them fail and he needs to stick to 1.

On the other hand ... Kei is a interesting character. He has not accepted totally that he is indeed a Girl / or totally rejecting his male self.

Possibly the weakest work I've read from Shuzo Oshimi. While it incorporates the very timely and important themes of self loathing, bodily alienation, and the experiences of adolescents who are confined by societal expectations on how they should conduct themselves and express their sexuality based on our sex and established genders, the way Okaeri Alice tackles and subsequently 'resolves' these themes is too hastily paced, and just way too in your face that it almost reads like an authorial fantasy of how his adolescence should've went. While there is plenty of adolescent anguish, the manga generally lacks the thematic nuance and thoughtful narrative pacing that ... Shuzo Oshimi's works are known for.

Other than that, what is largely lacking from this conversation is the interaction between the characters' inner conflict with the world and structures of our society. Okaeri Alice really places a much greater emphasis on the love triangle and sexual toxicity between the leads that it neglects to make interesting commentary on how people's gender and sexual identities are confined and restricted by the structures and spaces around us. A point that is very important when dealing with such a theme. This absence makes for a rather hollow conclusion that feels insular, lacking the emotional impact that the author seems to want to impress on readers.

Still, the manga does provide good and interesting insight about adolescent gender and sexuality. It also very competently depicts bodily self-loathing and poses interesting questions such as how one may be able to attain liberation from one's birth sex and become a happier individual content with themselves.

Shuzo Oshimi only does one kind of manga, coming-of-age stories. If you've read his previous work then this manga can be summed up as 'Shuzo Oshimi does trans', and I wouldn't really be oversimplifying. There's no unique story to tell here, the whole plot is blindingly obvious and the characters largely fall into his usual teenage archetypes.

It's difficult for me to tell if it's offensive, and I truely believe the intentions were good at least, but it feels weird that Alice is so awful (at least early on). That isn't my main gripe though. That would be that the story is so, so similar to ... previous works by the same mangaka. I feel as if this would be better served as a blog, twitter chain or at least written in the autobiographical style, like Nagata Kabi.

Simply put, this isn't worth buying.

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.

Do you guys remember when people used to eat spoonfuls of cinnamon? When they thought at first, "Hey, you know what, it can't be that bad," and then they are utterly proven wrong and start choking? Yeah, that's how Okaeri Alice makes me feel. Every single time I try and swallow it, I start gagging. I cannot properly portray just how angry this manga makes me.

No, I am not angry because there is sexual assault and transphobia in this manga, or that the mangaka is portraying a transgender person as a horrible person. It's the fact that the mangaka has no clue what he ... is doing. Okaeri Alice doesn't understand itself.

Okaeri Alice is a mess of obnoxious pretention that doesn't have a single idea what it's trying to tell the audience. It is not a psychological deep-dive into the mind, it is a bowl with a bottom that stops your fork prematurely. The characters are built off of about three traits, like a family of Sims. They have no depth. A weirdo is a weirdo and a pervert is a pervert. They are nothing more than objects to move along the story... but they don't even feel like part of the story in the first place.

The manga is so terrible and off the mark that there isn't even a hilarity to it. It's painstaking. With a disrespect to how people actually act in the real world, it's disturbing. Once again, I am not saying that transgender people in the real world can't be dangerous and terrible, but Okaeri Alice takes it as the fact that Muroda is the kind of person she is, BECAUSE she is transgender. Simply put, that is not how it works.

The only strong point of this manga is the art: good on that, Sensei. Other than that, please, for God's sake, put down the pen. Okaeri Alice is embarassing.