Claudine is certainly a fine manga: not great but not bad either--just fine. The art is gorgeous as always but, the story-line is quite quick and slim. In fact, it is so quick that you can instantly blitz Claude’s entire life by 104 pages (l-lol). Now, it is okay to write short stories, but it all depends on the content. Since the story is about a transgender man in mid-19th century France (perhaps, the 1930’s), this story might need to be told longer and more in-depth to make the theme of the search for acceptance more effective to the reader. The need to be long-form
...
becomes even more apparent with the reveal of the affair between Cecilia and Auguste, Claude’s father. That reveal is certainly melodramatic, but the dramatics would have been excused if we could spend more time with Cecilia and Claude and actually see Cecilia’s affair with Auguste. Without much time being spent on Claude; Cecilia; and Auguste, the reveal comes across as sudden rather than a slow-burn car crash that lets us really feel for Claude lol. And speaking of Cecilia, her and Auguste’s murder by the hands of Louis Laque, her brother, also fell extremely flat for me because again, we just did not have time spent with them. The murder would have been more extremely effective to us, the reader if we could have seen Auguste and his affairs with the Laque siblings.
It sure is a pity to see how bare-bones this manga is, for Claude is a pretty compelling character with an understanding of the tragedy that becomes even sadder by the end. Since childhood, Claude has always been well-liked by the people around him, but, as people around him constantly call him by his dead name and refer to his “imperfect body” in contrast to his identity, he has never been accepted to be a man, even by his lovers. One such prominent example would be his relationship with Cecilia. After getting over his first love with Maura, he becomes friends with Cecilia and bonds over books with her. He has become romantically infatuated with Cecilia to the point of sniffing her neck, suddenly grabbing her from behind, and then randomly kissing her (yeah uh lol), but Cecilia slaps him and rejects him because Claude is “a girl.” Claude immediately runs away from Cecilia in tears while Cecilia’s rejection repeats in his mind. Her reason for rejecting Claude is said so simply and casually yet it is enough to invalidate Claude’s identity and feelings. However, as I’ve said before, we have only met Cecilia for a short while before going to the next and final lover, Sirene. And because Cecilia shows up and leaves quickly in the storyline, her rejection though already damaging to Claude doesn’t seem to be this damaging to the reader because more time needs to be spent with her in order for the reader to feel what Claude truly feels.
And with a tragic character, there is a tragic theme: the endless search for acceptance. As you can see in the manga, Claude is very adamant about his gender identity despite being misgendered and being called by his dead name and seeks a long-lasting romance with women as proof of validation. He and Sirene would have been this case for Claude, for Claude has devoted himself “to loving Sirene” by living with her and giving her a broad education. Unfortunately, though, such dedication hasn’t stopped Sirene from falling for Andrew, Claudine’s brother. Sirene has kept this infatuation a secret from Claude knowing how dedicated Claude has been to her, but Claude suspects that Sirene might go back to seeing him as “a good friend” after falling in love with someone else. Claude’s suspicions over Sirene get confirmed after Claude sees Sirene and Andrew together. As Claude breaks down and calls Andrew “a traitor,” Andrew confidently claims his desire to marry Sirene and forgives Claude on the basis of “being a woman.” The invalidation of Claude’s feelings and identity comes across as very casual and simple again but this time from a family member, especially one that she can still trust after her father’s affair. In a way, it is a repeat of Claude’s experience with Cecilia with a cisgender man from Claude’s family snatching up Claude’s love interest on the basis of being “a real man.” However, the experience with Sirene devastates Claude more because out of all of the lovers, Claude dedicates to Sirene the most and has encounters with her since childhood. As Claude’s romances all end with failure because of his identity alone, not even the words of encouragement from the psychiatrist could help him. He claimed himself to be “an imperfect man” til his suicide. It is a pity that he cannot love him for himself if many others around him couldn’t love him for himself.
The casual invalidation of Claude’s gender identity gets even more serious when you consider the history of transgender activism in Japan. According to Mark J. McLelland in “Japan’s Queer Cultures,” transgenderism was seen as part of entertainment as seen in the “masculine women” in all-female theatre tropes, like the ever-famous Takarazuka. Since transgenderism is treated as something like a costume for cisgender people to put on as a hobby or to put on a show, transgender people do not have their identities taken seriously in Japan. Now, let’s transfer that context into the setting of mid-19th century France in “Claudine.” While Claude is well-liked by everyone, he is still treated as a girl. Therefore, the people around Claude must have seen him as an “eccentrically-dressed lady” or a “girl with a cross-dressing hobby.” So, when the people around him casually invalidate his identity and the feelings that come with the struggles of it, they infantilize him by thinking that he is a “woman with a cross-dressing hobby” but not an actual man. However, such remarks do not work, for Claude takes being a man seriously and kills himself after being invalidated for who he is in his entire life. Claude’s story may be fictional, but it is clearly very real, especially in Japan.
For this reason, “Claudine” is a revolutionary work for simply showing the struggles of a transgender man being invalidated for who he is. However, like I said before, I would prefer the manga to be a long-form series in order for us to spend more time with Claude and the people around him. Doing so could make the execution of Claude’s struggles and the theme of the search for acceptance even more powerful to the reader. After all, it gets off-putting when the story-line just blitzes past through Claude’s life. Claude’s suicide could have been more powerful if we could just spend more time on him just like how Riyoko spend more time on Marie Antoinette to make way for her execution in Rose of Versailles.
Additional reading that can enhance your experience of Claudine like I have lol:
McLelland, Mark J., Japan's Queer Cultures 2011.
https://ro.uow.edu.au/artspapers/265
Go to page 15 to see Mark's blurb on transgenderism in Japan, specifically the first paragraph about the perception of transgenderism as entertainment and to a lesser extent, the second paragraph about cross-dressing magazines.
Oct 14, 2023
Claudine...!
(Manga)
add
Claudine is certainly a fine manga: not great but not bad either--just fine. The art is gorgeous as always but, the story-line is quite quick and slim. In fact, it is so quick that you can instantly blitz Claude’s entire life by 104 pages (l-lol). Now, it is okay to write short stories, but it all depends on the content. Since the story is about a transgender man in mid-19th century France (perhaps, the 1930’s), this story might need to be told longer and more in-depth to make the theme of the search for acceptance more effective to the reader. The need to be long-form
...
Sep 24, 2023
Ribbon no Kishi
(Manga)
add
As you all know, this is not just a manga for young girls but a manga for young girls in the 1960's and the dialogue if you have the Vertical translation very much shows. If you are curious to read it, you best be aware of the dated trappings of this work, and that very much includes gender.
As a big fan of the Takarazuka Revue all the way from childhood, Osamu Tezuka wanted Princess Knight to be his experiences with the revue in manga form in the way of a "beauty in male clothing." When you read the story, you will very much see that ... |
