Shimanami Tasogare (Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare)

May 30, 2019

Veronin

Recommended

For most of the western world today, tolerance towards homosexuality is almost unquestionable, with gay marriage being written into law with nary a controversy. But for Japan, a country that has traditionally isolated itself from the rest of the globe, attitudes towards homosexuality are noticeably different. Though a 2017 NHK poll indicates that a majority of Japanese people are supportive of gay marriage, two years later even civil partnerships remain non-existent, and people remain heavily closeted in fear of standing out in a fiercely homogeneous culture.

It is important to keep this in mind while reading Shimanami no Tasogare. Those familiar with anime, manga, or ... Japanese media as a whole will be well aware that homosexuality is almost entirely ignored, or, if homosexual characters do exist, they are treated as a one-note running-gag-- tee-he, this character is gay/lesbian: so funny. Even Japanese television, which attempts to manufacture a vaguely tolerant image towards LGBT people by having a small handful of transgender hosts on variety shows, treats said hosts almost exclusively as comedy material. Matsuko Deluxe, most famously, for example-- most Japanese people would believe her cross-dressing and usage of female language to be a part of her character, a part of the joke rather than her actual identity. The general attitude towards LGBT people, among the younger Japanese populace, is to act tolerant on the outside, while shutting them out inside and avoiding their company so as to not stick out. For older Japanese people, outright discrimination is as ordinary to them as their hostility towards foreigners. And for children and teenagers, it is of course a reason to bully.

Shimanami no Tasogare is a statement about the reality of LGBT people in Japan. It is a touching and personal story about a wide array of people finding, and coming to terms with who they are, but it is equally the question of why these same people aren't allowed to behave themselves on the outside. Why must they stay closeted? Why can't people be free to love who they choose? They simply wish to live their life in peace without being harassed. Doesn't everyone?

The story begins with the protagonist being driven to the brink of suicide for being potentially ousted as gay by his classmates. He chooses instead to live, and eventually finds company among a volunteer group comprised of other gay people, of lesbians, cross-dressers, transgender and closeted/confused people. Nobody in this group is hostile towards society for not accepting them: they are content merely having found a space where they can make friends and be accepted for who they are. But even this is put into jeopardy by society, with regular and targeted harassment towards the group throughout the series. Sadly, such things had already been a daily occurrence in their lives before they had even joined the group. A shrug and a step forward is their only recourse.

Shimanami no Tasogare's writing is considerably subtle. There is a transgender character whose identity is never outright stated for the majority of the series, but by the time the dialogue explicitly reveals what they are, the reader has already known for quite some time due to their bittersweet conversations with old friends, hinting and nudging towards their past. There is as well a cross-dresser, though whether they truly fit somewhere in the LGBT spectrum, or are merely a puberty-stricken child fascinated by beauty, remains unanswered. It is not of much relevance. In the protagonist's own words, he wants "to live in a world where we don't have to understand each other." And that's quite fair enough.

There is some touching romance throughout the story-- particularly between the protagonist and another boy at school whom he has a crush on-- but this plays a secondary role to the two coming to terms with and accepting who they are, or even who they might be. There isn't necessarily an "and so they got together" ending, as whether or not they do was never really the point of the story. Much can instead be inferred from the manga's often symbolic imagery, with the art, stylistically simple as it may be, both figuratively and literally gouging at the characters with their fears and unrequited loves.

As somebody who is straight and even engaged to someone of the opposite sex, Shimanami no Tasogare comes recommended without reservation, a touching and courageous story despite its brevity. It is not just a story for LGBT readers to relate to, but for anyone who has ever felt alienated, or can empathise with those that have.

Because why should anyone ever be bullied for loving another?

They shouldn't.

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