Bokutachi Otokonoko

90's shounen ai manga. They're weird and always filled to the brim with homophobia (whether intentional or unintentional,) zany stereotypes, and messy plots that don't always make much sense, which will put off any reader starting from the first few chapters. This is how I felt the most while reading Bokutachi Otokonoko.

Something I wanna get off my shoulders first, though, is that when I initially saw the cover art and first few pages of this, I got that vibe that I got from a lot of other 90's shoujo/shounen ai manga similar to this one; the one where the mangaka tries desperately to make "western" or "American" references and characters. The result is almost always a cringey, try-hard depiction of something that the author has absolutely ZERO idea about apart from the heaps of 80's and 90's Hollywood movies they consume and so they put these exaggerated pieces of dialogue or character designs because they think everyone in America lives like Home Alone (which, by the way, makes a small, almost unnoticeable cameo in this manga.)

I absolutely hate these kind of cliches and it's one of the reasons I find it hard to read through shounen ai manga from this era and not stop because I'm painstakingly cringing at the constant dumb attempts to make something western. The West, and America in particular, is definitely not that impressive as people think, so I wish it weren't put on such a pedestal by mangaka.

Moving on to the story itself, the plot is basically all over the place. I found myself lost at a number of chapters, not feeling that sense of smooth connection between chapters that talk about different scenarios and ideas, yet manage to stay hitched to the main plot like other slice-of-life manga. Like, I get it, one of the main characters just keeps whining about how "he's had enough of the sticks" and that's supposed to be the main idea, that he just wants to get out of his small town and go somewhere else.

But throughout the chapters, you have these new "subplots" being thrown in your face, like a character who apparently wants to get bigger and wonders why he's flabby, or a character suddenly discovering he can draw well and suddenly decides he wants to become a manga artist, a character being whisked to the other part of the world like it's no big deal and somehow adapts by selling enemas (yes, literally, enemas), and at first glance these might be normal strays from the main plot seeing as it's a slice-of-life more than anything else, but the thing is, they all feel so unnatural and disconnected from the rest of the story here. They weren't of importance and literally had nothing to do with the conclusion and just made things more crowded and confusing.

This kind of plethora of stories within a story work best, in my opinion, in gag and 4-koma manga because the stories there doesn't have a necessary goal they need to fulfil. However, in Bokutachi Otokonoko, I cannot, for the life of me, tell what the mangaka's goal was with this story. Was it to show how Tomio is clingy and doesn't want to let go of Takashi meaning he was in love with him? Was it that Takashi only wanted to leave because of a deep reason or literally just because he was bored? Was it to showcase the bittersweet sides of childhood? Or was it to show how people dealt with same-sex relationships at that time? If that's the case, then it failed to do so. It's harmfully stereotypical and contradictorily homophobic and is absolutely NOT the best example of a deeper LGBT-themed story.

Then the art. I can't say anything except it's bad. It's inconsistent and mostly lazy. Not nice to look at. It just made the story increasingly unbearable for me to read. Even the side illustrations weren't that pleasing.

Characters. Like I mentioned before, this manga is chock-full (and I mean CHOCK-FULL) of dumb, pathetic stereotypes in the form of even dumber, unlikable & unforgettable characters. You have an American mom that's a literal pedophile, an prepubescent who isn't very prepubescent (but also apparently age-regresses? it's so confusing, honestly,) a female character who was literally only in one chapter just as a tool to make one of the protagonists jealous, and a lesbian who is aggressive, ugly, and yet is the source of the only good line of dialogue in the entire manga and possibly any manga I've read thus far and I quote, "if any man ever dares to make you unhappy, I'd shove my fist up his ass so far my fingers will be tickling his uvula ♥"

None of these characters were funny or likeable to me and even the protagonists weren't all that interesting. I could maybe kind of relate to Tomio at times, but other times he was just being as big of a jackass as Takashi and everyone else.

Did I enjoy this story? Honestly, no. Ironically, I was actually pretty excited reading the synopsis for it and I had high hopes for it but by the time I finished the first couple of chapters, I wished I had spent my time reading something else worthwhile. There's really nothing good to be taken out of this manga. Even the part where one of the protagonists is seemingly empathetic with gay individuals claiming that they're free to love who they want to and that no one had any right to talk shit about them, is ruined when literally just a few chapters later he's disgusted by the idea of a gay relationship. It just made zero sense to me.

Overall, Bokutachi Otokonoko is not a good example of an LGBT story, and going by the presumption that the author is a straight female, I don't think she had the slightest idea of HOW to write an empowering and true-to-life gay story without throwing in absurd and harmful stereotypes all the damn time. That's not to say that straight female mangakas aren't able to create genuine LGBT stories that are amusing yet moving and as truthful as they can get, because while they are few, they do exist; this manga just isn't one of them. In general, though, it's clumsy, kind of an eyesore, and isn't memorable or impactful, and I don't really recommend it whether you're a fan of shounen ai or otherwise.

In contrast, I'd like to recommend two manga that are similar to this that you may enjoy instead:

1. COMPLEX - Manda Ringo (A great shounen-ai that follows the lives of two schoolboys all the way to the end of their lives, showcasing their childhood and the issues of discovering one's sexuality and the complexity of same-sex relationships in society in a truthful way--plus, the author identifies as bisexual herself!)

2. New York, New York - Marimo Ragawa (A more mature yaoi manga that follows the lives of two young adults in late 90's America, a closeted gay policeman and a man he saves who has a dark past. This manga has it all, beautiful art and an amazing storyline with a deep look into the true struggles of being gay in that period of time, with issues ranging from HIV/AIDS, coming out to parents, abuse, drugs, and prejudice in the workplace and society as a whole. It also follows along to the end of the character's lives.)

Spoiler-free. The whole manga feels like a bad trip. It's just weird, chaotic and... well, bad. Weird elements really makes you think stuff like "I wouldn't want to be this mangaka's neighbor, god knows what's in their head", it may sound intriguing for some, but it's the creepy eery kind of weird with a good pinch of cringe. And about the 'shounen ai' tag... it's like, this manga tries to be josei, slice of life, comedy, shounen ai, all at once... but fails. 'Shounen ai' is what loosely stitches this bloody mess together... or, like I said, tries to.
Art is somewhat interesting in the first volume I think... closer to the end it becomes worse, interestingly enough.
Characters... *sighs* let's not go there (there is nowhere to go).
Enjoyment... after the final chapter you end up feeling guilty for the hate crime against yourself, does it sound enjoyable to anyone. Well sometiimes there is a funny moment, but usually it's a trash kinda fun which adds to the severity of the hate crime previously mentioned.
Anyways I wouldn't recommend wasting your time on this weird garbage.

Usually, when I see manga published before I was born (pre-1995) I run a mile. Usually because the art is pretty damn rubbish (I'm a massive art freak. I love beautifully drawn manga), and I don't get any contextual references... But for some reason, I started reading this manga, and i'm so glad I did.
Despite its obvious lack of beautiful art, the story so far (up to chpt.14) has been page turning. I literally couldn't stop reading until my eyes felt like they were going to fall out. The two main characters have such amazing and captivating personalities, who don't seem to be the usual uke/seme roles.
The manga contains the perfect mix of comedy, drama and enthralling plot, plus the gradual, but obvious transition of Friends> BFFs> Bromance> Boyhood crush> Something more... is so cute and perfect. I'd recommend it for anyone and everyone, even if shounen-ai isn't your thing.