翻了幾頁發現到有點眼熟的角色
才知道這與我所知的那部作品視同個作者
能看到前作（成人向同人本）的角色在本作活躍挺開心的

啊……其實我沒有很熟那部作品
看到這部台版的作者介紹寫「新人。這是他第一部作品。」時，內心也沒有反駁

期待男主角在下定決心後，與女角爭奪主角的修羅場 ( )

I like the subject matter, art, and overall plot, but I don't think I'm a big fan of the pacing. It went straight into action, very little exposition, and the plot moves very quickly. ( )

Tetsu invites his non-binary classmate to come work in his family's maid cafe, which bills itself as a cross-dressing experience with wait staff who are gay, trans, and straight wearing maid costumes. What seems like a perfect fit quickly becomes an internecine battle about gender identity as the maids clash over the inclusivity of the language in the script they use to introduce themselves to customers.

The concept and cast are intriguing but I never quite synched up with presentation. First, the ages of all the characters are ambiguous, with some being obviously adult while others are drawn as if they were elementary school students and definitely still in some level of secondary education. That ambiguity becomes unsettling when realizing that the cafe they work -- and really, the manga itself -- is obviously intended to serve as a venue for people who sexually objectify or fetishize what they perceive as guys dressed as girls. It's not a strip club or burlesque show, but it is basically an equivalent to Hooters.

There's a homophobic slur uttered by a main character and the pronouns are all over the board with misgendering that is hard to tell is coming from the characters or the writer. The original Japanese writer in an afterword states that they were unaware of the concept of non-binary people until partway through developing this series and plugged it in after some internet research to solve some plotting problems they were having with the original pitch. That feels like a math teacher working out how to do algebra the night before class. At least Seven Seas has hired a non-binary writer for the adaptation of the English version, but that leaves me wondering how much spackle had to be layered over the original work to fill holes and cover jagged ends.

I'm just going to set this series aside. ( )

Its great to see a manga that features a non-binary character among a cast of trans, cross-dressing, and cis individuals and tackles some of the questions and challenges that arise both within and outside the LGBTQ community. ( )

FukaBoku (Love Me For Who I Am) debuted today and is sitting at #1 in Amazon sales of LGBT Manga. Since I'm genderqueer and have been a manga fan for decades, I thought I should probably write something about it. To be blunt, it's impossibly cute. Like a saccharine strawberry rhubarb shortcake with adzuki ice cream. It's just cloying levels of adorable. All the characters are interesting (I've given some nicknames) and compelling in that they're all flawed and struggle with communication. It's billed as a seinen comedy/drama/romance/gender bender. I think that's accurate. Equal parts fun adventure and depressing reality check, FukaBoku tries a little too hard? It's respectful of the seriousness of its content... but it may not take itself seriously? The protagonist (if there is one) Mogumo is non-binary and honestly they're story is relatable... but the trouble is the author, Konoyama, isn't. It's clear from the afterword he simply researched them online and doesn't have personal experience with this identity. None of the other characters are ENBY and although their love interest is supportive and understanding, Mogumo is still compelled to conform. Most of the characters are Otokonoko (a Japanese cross dressing subculture), and are very serious and proud of it. At least two characters identify as Transgender At least one of the Otokonoko is gay while another is Trans and hetero. Everyone has their own complex story and struggles to relate to their peers'. All that feels realistic and necessary to describe in detail, for which I'm grateful. On the other hand, it almost fetishizes LGBT identities. Every other panel seems to want to go down a nose-pinching semiotics rabbit hole. Konoyama tries to balance it with cute boys and cuter clothes (which is bizarre and unsound). I wasn't really left feeling I liked the direction the story was headed... but it could definitely be 100% worse? I recommend Love Me For Who I Am for anyone who already has a firm grasp on LGBT identities and the pervasiveness of homophobia and transphobia in Japanese culture. ( )