Shimanami Tasogare

STORY: With only 13 chapters, it's hard to tell exactly how this story is going to turn out or really go in depth with the 'storyline'; there is an overarching narrative with little chunks of development in between - not bad by any means, but I do wish some more things... happened. However, it is still very good. A very accurate and nuanced portrayal of LGBT issues in Japanese society.

ART: A very pretty series; outstanding use of visual motif and symbolism - slotting in the artistic metaphors extremely naturally definitely adds to the appeal of the manga.

CHARACTER: Impeccable characters. There's a spread of different perspectives; the main character, a gay boy exploring his own identity and how he feels about things and overcoming the heavy-set internalised homophobia, with the help of a few other people, providing examples for him and support and general companionship along the way. The characters are being developed in their own terms, too.

ENJOYMENT: Very high. It is difficult to find content, let alone a Japanese MANGA, with an interesting, accurate and not fetishised portrayal of LGBT characters and issues. It also explores themes that touch on some very important points, highlighting that doing something 'bad' doesn't necessarily make you a bad person - you can learn from your mistakes.

OVERALL: Very much recommend, particularly for LGBT+ anime / manga fans. Will be keeping track of this.

This manga is so dear to me since it's realistic and the main character is too similar to me. The isuues that had been dealt, emotional phase of the characters and the social life has been portrayed so well. Each character has their own issues and each of them has been told just right, no exaggerating nor sugarcoating. Also about the art, it really is amazing and the metaphores that mangaka use are beautiful. It's not even close to your typical shounen-ai/shoujo-ai manga even though it has LGBT theme. I tried my best no to be biased but honestly you should give it a try. I have to warn it touches some sensitive contents like homophobia and transophobia so just be aware (or you might end up crying in the middle of the night while looking at your phone just like me)

p.s. I rate the character 8 because none of them are flawless, and that's what makes the story even more awesome.

Hands down the best LGBT manga I've ever read. If you're a part of the LGBT community, chances are that you'll find yourself in here.

Written by the nonbinary (or Gender X, as it's known in Japan) mangaka, Yuuki Kamatani, it features a wider range of gender expression in its characters than I have seen anywhere else, all the way from the tame, pussyfooting nonconformity found in many of the shoujo greats to the straightforwardly trans narrative of Hourou Musuko. There are gays of every kind, for every age, trans and cis, masculine and feminine and neither and both, and an asexual, too. They all belong to a do-gooding club for gays, and they support each other as both friends and family.

Over the years, I have had a great deal of difficulty finding works that handle LGBT issues sensibly, and even greater difficulty finding works that I felt like I could relate to as a man. I could name quite a few fantastic yuri with groundbreaking LGBT themes, but I mean, they're yuri. They're obviously not focused on exploring, uh. Masculine themes. Yaoi is shamelessly marketed toward straight women, and bara remains ensconced in the underground world of R18 doujin, so where does one turn for recognition?

Shimanami is definitely a good place to start. Though it might immediately strike you as yaoi from the art style alone, it retains only the airy, poignant beauty of the genre, and dumps all the insensitive fetishism in favor of an audacious exploration of the average everyday gay lifestyle. It is a meticulously illustrated, anxious, elated, rambling train of thought celebrating the gay lifestyle. It is a frustrated shout into the open air, a desperate plea to be understood, a promise of compassion to everyone that is brave enough to try to understand. It expresses thoughts and feelings I have always felt somewhere below the surface but could never quite put into words. It confronts the vagueness of internalized homophobia without regurgitating unpalatable stereotypes. It even touched upon the unique and bewildering experience of being closeted in public with no way to speak out against hatred and ignorance in your company, only to find that a total stranger is willing to do it for you. That's something I've never seen done before.

Since Shimanami is a manga so devoted to the experience, it is more about the drama than the characters. I would say that each character has their own voice, and their stories carry them in a way that never makes them feel boring, but I can't picture anyone drawing 50 pieces of fan art for one of them-- If that makes sense. Their lives outside the club and the drama surrounding it aren't particularly relevant, and frankly, they don't have to be. It is maybe a yard of shallow water in an Olympic swimming pool deeper than your toes can touch. If you have even the slightest interest in LGBT lifestyles; If you are drowning in a sea of straightness, gasping for that fresh gay air; If you want to develop a more nuanced understanding of us and the way we live-- Give it a read. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Call me being too easy or whatever but I genuinely do believe that this manga is a masterpiece. From the story itself to the characters that are involved, everything about this manga is just beautiful and praise worthy.

Not gonna lie, when I first laid my eyes on the cover of the manga, I figured I would just get some wholesome story and that's it but after reading the reviews, I became quite pumped up and eager to find out what this manga had in stall for me. Seeing how high the ratings are, my expectations increased and after reading the whole thing lemme just say.....

boy ohhhhh boy was I not dissapointed :D (I read everything in just one sitting)

To start, the story was just immaculate. There, I said it. It's beautiful and groundbreaking and I would never ask for a different version of it. I would be more than happy to further elaborate on that but I figured it's best to experience it yourself. ;)

Next, the art style. I don't even think I need to tell you..it's simply captivating and amazing. Words can't describe how much I love it.

Moving on, the characters.....honestly, I just love how different the characters in this manga are. They all have different personalities, stories, experiences and backgrounds but you find them to all be rather compatible with one another. Throughout the manga, you get to see how each character impacts the other and how they all mature and develop to become the people they are at the end.

Regarding how much I enjoyed reading this manga. Well, I'm pretty sure you can tell that I had a great time reading it. Frankly, I'd never thought I'd be in the verge of tears after reading something without any typical shounen backstory and what not but ohohoho did I prove myself wrong. Yea, this manga really got me like that. Just seeing what the characters go through and how they were there for each other just made me all emotional in a wholesome way.

All in all, I can definitely see why this manga is loved by many and with that, Ii would just like to say to anyone who intends to read this but is hesitating to do so, just do it. It's so so worth it :)

Vol. 1

|Character 3.5| Setting 4| Plot 2 | Art 5| Enjoyability 5|

|Overall Rating 3.9|

Kamatani does wonderful things with storytelling. I really enjoy seeing elements being so symbolic in manga. There is a point where Tasuku is talking with Haruka where he explodes into glass and it's beautiful.

The LGBT rep in this is interesting because you see a couple, lesbians, and one of them needs to be out and the other is terrified about coming out. They get into an argument over it and I see both sides. Why do you need to be out? She doesn't if she doesn't want to, but this giant stigma of being gay is true to our society. This is obviously centered in Japanese culture, but it's not so different when I came out to my mother. You fill the disappointment and Our Dreams at Dusk is doing a good job of highlighting how queer people are feeling and I feel like I don't see such a good representation of the micro homophobia.

Kamatani's art is beautiful in everyway and it just adds to the story immensely. It doesn't take anything away and grips your heart. The intense moments and the settled moments are beautiful. I love it all.

Vol. 2

|Character 4|Setting 4| Plot 3.5| Art 5| Enjoyability 5|

|Overall Rating 4.3|

With Volume 2, we see Misora-kun's identity crisis. I just really love how Kamatani shows intense emotion. It's clearly a work of art at subtly of shaking shoulder's, at terrified hands shaking, and yelling and screaming faces.

I felt like we have a little more plot here, but it's still heavily focused on character's and most of what I am reading is big character study.


Vol. 3

|Character 5|Setting 5| Plot 4| Art 5| Enjoyability 5|

Overall Rating 4.8

Kamatani's work with emotions is well done and I wish I knew emotions as well as they do. They put their characters in such tough circumstances and I love the different aspects Kamatani gives us.

All of these characters are highly flawed and I love that because, it's realistic. I love it even more when they get called out for their bullshit

Vol. 4

Character 5| Setting 5| Plot 4| Art 5| Enjoyability 5

Overall Rating 4.8

The final chapter of Our Dreams at Dusk warmed my heart and made me cry. There is good in this world and their are decent people.

I loved this series, it is very character driven and these characters are so strong. They are flawed and do stupid things. They are hesitant, ignorant, idiots. But they are human. They realize their mistakes. They try. Sometimes I think that's the best you can do is try. Sometimes you need to give people their space and just listen to them.

I am not one for setting as I don't particularly care too much. Kamatani knows so much about this setting. I enjoy their little notes about each part after every chapters. You can tell how much Kamatani loves this area. It shows in their work and I can feel these places, their energy is so vivid.

As I've stated in my previous reviews of these novels, Kamatani does wonders with emotions in the art. The shock, the bewilderment, even the epiphanies the characters have. It's all incredibly well done and Kamatani deserves all the praise I see them get.

Kamitani left the end open-ended and I appreciate that especially with such a contemporary story such as this. They left me with characters that I will miss.

"Shimanami Tasogare" is a story littered with impressionistic imagery and mature emotional clarity. It's strange since I have gotten so use to the rather trite way in which many other manga tackle queer characters. "Acceptance" and "coming out" are the only themes usually ever explored. This manga seems to weave a more delicate commentary on identity generally, and how that can be relevant to both ourselves and others. My personal favourite vignette was of the trans-man and his female school friend and the cringing/cloying overt-acceptance. Kindness can be it's own sort of insult, but one that is harder to rebuke. A rather refreshing experience all round.

simply amazing.

as a nonbinary queer person myself, i really enjoyed this manga and i've really been wanting to read something like this for a long time and i'm sure many other folks in the lgbtq+ community have too. since it's pride month, i decided to finally read shimanami tasogare.

the way the story handles homophobia, ignorance, gender identity, involuntary outing and many other topics is something that really resonated with me as it shows very real problems that a lot of queer teens, like myself, face.

the reperesentation is really nice too. i wont spoil who these characters are, but there's a trans male character and an asexual character, which is really nice to see as they don't get a much rep in the media. it's just really nice to see them being represented.

the art and character designs are really pretty too. i dont have much to say about it. i just like the author's art.

there's so many reasons why i love this manga - most of which i cant even form cohesive words for.

i think part of the reason why i appreciate this manga so much is because the author is x-gender and asexual. it's so nice to see an lgbtq+ focused manga written by an lgbtq+ author. it really makes it all the more special.

anyway, read shimanami tasogare

Heartbreaking, heartwarming, just heart. A beautiful whimsical short series about love and acceptance.

The collection of well realised, complex, unconventional characters and their stories sucked me in very quickly. Finding out each of their backgrounds and philosophies was fascinating, old man Tchaiko and the boy Misora especially, I fell in love with the characters and falling in love with made me feel like I'm just hanging with them at the drop-in center.

The fantastical metaphors are some of the best I've seen in any story. The shape shifting, gravity defying, Anonymous might be the obvious example, but not the only one. Tasuku breaking through a metaphorical wall drawn as a physical one was genius and one of the best moments in the series, the hospital flying scene almost made me cry.

It's a must read and a quick one at that.

Maybe I am a little biased here but this story holds a special place in my heart.

This is a story about high school student Tasuku Kaname and the people around him as a part of the LGBTQ+ community. As a bisexual Asian woman that is living in the more liberal part of the world, my head and heart hurts thinking about how to live in such an oppressive world like Japan. As a part of the LGBTQ+ community, I think almost everyone can feel themselves as Kaname himself when he sees the rejection from the world for being who he is. It hurts me when my beloved mom casually throw out homophobic comments and it hurts when everyone around me told me that my religion does not accept me.

I have grown past that and become stronger and gotten so lucky that I have people that loves me and that is why I love Shimanami Tasogare so much because that is what is about. It's about Tasuku Kaname and his found family of the LGBTQ+ communityj to foremost love and accept themselves before loving the world before them and finding happiness.

It is a slow build with realistic characters that are both wholesome and so very human. We are shown how easy it is for society and their cruel words to push someone to the edge but we are also shown how it can strengthen people (wholesome lesbian couple!!!).

So far, it touches the gay, lesbian, transgender part of the community. Maybe we'll see pansexual, aces and aros and so many other representatives. Combined with this there is also the background theme of magic that is keeping them all in one spot. That magic would a woman called anonymous who would listen to all your stories but would never ask. A grounding subject that makes everything in this manga magical and tells me that all my problems would not and should not be the end of the world.

Combined with absolutely gorgeous art and then the wonderfully written and lovable characters that all have their ups and downs, I personally don't see why anyone can't at least read one page.

I finished this manga around six months ago and let me tell you not a week goes by where I haven't thought about this story. I'm an avid manga reader (even though I don't really log my readings on MAL), and my usual taste goes towards epics like Vinland Saga, fantasy like FMA, and death matches like Gantz. However, this story has somehow become my favorite thing I have ever read in this medium. Even though I am not a part of the LGBT+ community, I was still able to relate to what characters were going through. I found myself in all of these characters whether it be the alienation, the sadness, the melancholy, and even the joy. It is the only manga that has made me cry which I think is a plus.

What is shown in the story are things that everyone has felt in their life and this story portrayed it on a level that has never been touched before personally. Not to erase the plights that are brought up that are specific to the LGBT+ community. I will never know what the fear is like to almost be outed or be afraid of what my parents would think if I brought a girl home to meet them as my significant other. The story had such a way of portraying these situations where characters, whom I wouldn't typically see myself in, stick with you and effect you.

This manga is truly something special. I think this is a story truly anyone could find something out of. I would, with no hesitation, recommend this to anyone.

Lol just to add, I will still cry thinking about the old man and his partner at the end of volume 4. That shit got to me like no other, dude.