Mizushiro Setona - After School Nightmare, vol. 01-04 (Eng. trans.)

[oyceter]

This is possibly the oddest thing I've read all year, and I read Le Chevalier d'Eon this year.

Mashiro Ichijo has just been told that he needs to take a special after-school class in order to graduate. The classroom is in a basement that didn't previously exist, and instead of desks, the room is lined with canopy beds. It turns out that he will be entering a dream world and confronting his own worst nightmare. Several other classmates of his are in there as well, though they take different forms in the nightmare/dream world.

Mashiro's terrified that people will discover that his upper half is male, but his lower half is female, and things are further complicated when his male classmate Sou starts pursuing him romantically and when he's attracted to his female classmate Kureha as well.

As you might be able to tell from the premise, this series takes on questions of gender identity. I still can't tell if I like the politics or not; Mizushiro makes some assumptions that I keep wanting to question (why does liking Sou back mean identifying as female? what's so bad about being a woman? and I think the second is implied not only through Mashiro's fear of discovery, but also through the roles women have to play in the series so far and in the other Mizushiro series I've read). But the world is surreal and dreamy, edges bleeding together between the dream world and the real world, which seems less and less real as the series goes on.

Images that struck me: a girl so cut off that she shows up in the dream world as a body with a hole through her head and her chest instead of a face and a heart. Someone who manifests as long snaky arms, constantly grabbing and holding and winding around people. Empty desks and lockers at the school.

And the art is absolutely gorgeous; I mean to buy these just so I can have the color pages that GoComi includes.

Recommended for anyone who likes the strange and subtly creepy, particularly with a massive dose of gender identity issues.

Comments

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

Hmm, sounds interesting. I read quite a few vols. of Douseiai years ago, but I think that's the only thing I've read of hers. I really don't like her art style, though, although maybe she's changed over the years; I should take a look.

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

I am seriously addicted to this manga and waiting for each volume release is driving me slightly crazy--there don't seem to be scanlations of it at all. I adore the horror vibes and the art, and I'm dying to see 1) if the gender themes will play out in a way that doesn't wreck the series for me and 2) if my theory about Sou and his sister is correct.

It was nominated for Yuletide, too; I'm tempted to sign up just for the opportunity to request fic for it.

[the_rck]

A friend of mine who's a psychologist who specializes in gender and sexuality issues (for example, working with intersexed children and their families) told me that, at a conference he'd attended, a Japanese colleague floored people by quoting statistics about transexuality in Japan. From what my friend could recall, the statistics were very nearly the opposite of what's found in the U.S.

In the U.S., MTF transexuality is more common and more commonly talked about than FTM. In Japan, according to the Japanese psychologist, it is the opposite. Most Japanese transexuals are FTM, and FTM transexuals receive a lot more general social support and acceptance (that being relative, of coures) than the rarer MTF transexuals.

I suspect that the statistics struck my friend particularly strongly because he's FTM.

(Note: I've done no research at all to see if any of this is accurate, so it should be taken with plenty of salt.)

SOMEWHAT VAGUE POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN COMMENTS

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I can't tell what the author's politics are. Though actually, in the world of the story, being female is pretty awful in way that highlights how awful social gender roles really are, so I totally see why Mashiro doesn't want to be a girl. (But like Utena, he/she should fight the system rather than just trying to be a boy!)

I kind of hope Sou turns out to be the horrible creeping hand. I hate him and I hope the author does too, though I worry that she does not.

"Graduation" is extremely sinister.

I am not sure that any of this is really happening. It may all turn out to be Mashiro's fantasy as he's in a coma recovering from being raped (I hope that's not it). Or a dream at menarche.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

1) Me too.

2) Could it be... INCEST?!

[oyceter]

It is very interesting. I didn't quite like her art style in 1999nen 7 no Tsuki Shanghai, though I got used to it, but it's very different in this volume. Here are some preview pages if you want to take a look!

[oyceter]

Icon love! I am really excited it's in Yuletide! I hope someone requests it (hint, hint).

What's your theory?

[oyceter]

Oh that's really interesting. I wonder if there's any research connecting that with the whole creation of "shoujo" as a means for girls and women to escape the daughter-wife-mother role. I vaguely remember a lot of themes of escaping from being female in scholarship on yaoi and BL (some of it I buy, some of it I don't).

[oyceter]

2) I thought the incest was already canonical!

Re: SOMEWHAT VAGUE POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN COMMENTS

[oyceter]

I can't quite tell either, though 1999nen and Mely's reports on Mizushiro's other manga make me seriously doubt that it will end as a feminist critique. And I totally see why Mashiro doesn't want to be a girl either, but right now, I'm leaning toward the author thinking that the solution to that is being a boy, as opposed to being a feminist.

And I keep wanting Kureha to do a lot more, particularly given her fear of men. Also, I can't help think that the amount of passivity each character has correlates with their gender (Sou = male and very active and aggressive, Mashiro = both and somewhat active with Kureha and more passive with Sou, Kureha = female and very passive).

Hee! I, um, am a little disturbed that I find Sou/Mashiro really hot.

Graduation freaks me out! I don't think any of it is really happening either, and I think this is one of the few series where "it was all a dream" isn't a cop-out as an ending, just because the entire thing feels so dream-like.

There totally needs to be a crossover between this and Mulholland Drive. It would drive people insane just reading it!

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I'm still not a huge fan, but it definitely looks like she's improved quite a bit (no surprise, since Douseiai was like six or seven years ago, at least). I'll have to take a look next time I go to Book Off.

Re: SOMEWHAT VAGUE POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN COMMENTS

[the_rck]

I find myself wondering if graduation isn't some sort of rebirth. Everyone seems to be addressing issues that somehow have them trapped. Of course, getting and using the key doesn't seem to depend on resolving those issues exactly...

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

I don't know how good your Japanese is, but the Japanese Wikipedia article on yaoi is really interesting. Apparently one of the biggest early theories on the phenomenon was that its fans were all FtM (though that's been abandoned now). I thought that was an interesting leap to make, as I don't think there was ever a similar theory for slash.

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

I don't know if severely insane theories need spoiler text, but just to be safe:

[/cracked-out theory]

[seaya.livejournal.com]

This sounds interesting...

Do you think it will ever be an anime?

[jiawen]

Let me know if you're interested in info about TS/TG folks in Taiwan...

[ah-chan.livejournal.com]

Also, I can't help think that the amount of passivity each character has correlates with their gender (Sou = male and very active and aggressive, Mashiro = both and somewhat active with Kureha and more passive with Sou, Kureha = female and very passive).

Slight spoilers!
The set up does feel like that initially, but oddly, while Mashiro ends up being the most passive in his quest to be male, Kureha actually becomes much more active in their relationship. Sou on the other hand, while active with Mashiro, is scarily passive when it comes to his sister. (My 2c from having read the raws of vo5-6 in japanese, and trying to actually not spoil anything.)

why does liking Sou back mean identifying as female?

Actually, I think that's more Sou's assumption that because he like Mashiro, Mashiro must be a girl, and Mashiro following on that if he likes Sou he must be a girl. I'm desperately hoping that Mizushiro will turn that firmly on its head, and that Mashiro ends up accepting that maybe he/she is both female and male.

.......And-then-Sou-has-to-accept-that-too. I feel so guilty over kind of liking Sou/Mashiro, because Sou behaves apallingly! (Someone give me a mallet!)

And the colour pages are indeed absolutely gorgeous! Soft, and deceptively simple looking, but the colours are just vibrant.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Congratulations. This is the first time I've ever put manga on my to-read list.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I honestly could not recall if it was explicitly canonical, or if I just assumed there was incest.

Incest: the new giant flying walrus!

Re: SOMEWHAT VAGUE POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN COMMENTS

[oyceter]

Ooo hrm. (spoilers for v. 4 and Haibane Renmei): Graduation is now reminding me of the Day of Flight in Haibane Renmei, only, you know, way creepier and less cathartic.

[oyceter]

I have no idea! I don't have a good sense of how popular it is and how companies pick what will be made into anime. I'm guessing not though...

[oyceter]

(avoiding looking at the spoilers right now, but will check once the next few vols. come out!)

Ha, yeah, Sou is totally mucking with Mashiro. Though I did get the sense that Mashiro also came into it thinking that if Sou were attracted to him and if he were attracted to Sou, he must be female. I keep wanting to yell at them "Or you could be FTM self-identifying as gay or bi!" and "Threesome!"

I feel so guilty liking Sou/Mashiro too! So skanky! And yet...

[oyceter]

WHOO! Really looking forward to what you think.

[oyceter]

I am jealous you have a Book Off nearby! There's something about the paneling in the manga and the character designs that I love; I caught myself just staring at Sou or Mashiro's profiles a couple of times because of the jawline.

[oyceter]

Ehhhh. I suspect it will be hard for me to go through Japanese academese...