This manga was recommended to me due to being a somber/serious portrayal of transgender issues.

That is a rare thing. I can only count two manga which I would call somber/serious portrayals of transgender issues. The rest are facetious comedies along the lines of ‘Prunus Girl’ or ‘Boku Girl’. So when I hear about such a manga, I did get a bit excited.

So overall, how would I rate ‘Claudine’? Well, it is a serious manga and it does involve a transgender man. However, I would not call Claudine a manga about portrayal of transgenderism. That’s because it never really comes up as an issue at all.

Claudine accepted himself as transgendered at a young age with little question and, with the exception of Claudine’s mother, Claudine is universally accepted and loved for who he is. He is frequently described as personable, charming, and intelligent. Even the psychiatrist hired to treat Claudine by his mother is turned to believing that what Claudine says is absolutely true. In short, Claudine never really goes through any acceptance issues or personal identity struggles. He is never ridiculed, confused, or ostracized for who he is.

Now, a manga about a transgendered man does not necessarily have to contain such issues, despite how unlikely it seems (especially when one consider the setting), but it should come up as an issue somewhere, no?

In Claudine’s case, the author makes the transgenderism an issue in Claudine’s love life. Again, though, I have to question how much of an issue it really is.

To begin, Claudine tends to fall in love with women…and he is immensely popular with women. One of them is his childhood friend who loves him to the core and is willing to do just about anything for him. The other ‘serious’ women in his life all loved him to varying degrees.

In fact, I think there was only one instance in which Claudine’s transgenderism was an actual issue, but that had a number of surrounding problems that made it ambiguous. The other love in Claudine’s life varies but was pretty standard love-and-lost type deals. Overall, transgenderism rarely comes up as an issue at all.

In short, Claudine is a fine read, but I can not recommend it if one is looking to read about LGBT issues. If one is looking for a manga about transgenderism, it’s understandable as, as I stated, those are very rare, but unfortunately, Claudine is just not it.

If you read it, read it for a short, fun story involving a unique character. That way, you’ll enjoy the manga a lot more.