Be-Papas

This was so not worth the read and I'm upset at every person who thought this was okay to recommend without any warnings. There were genuinely so many problematic aspects throughout this series that I thought I was going to lose my mind every couple of pages. All the unconsensual kisses, abusive situations, and gross brother sister relationships were hardly acknowledged beyond a quick slap on the wrist and don't even get me STARTED on The Adolescence of Utena. Literally what the hell was show more that? It was a culmination of all these terrible tropes but x10. Ugh. My biggest gripe with the fandom though is how I have yet to see anybody acknowledge that the only brown girl in the series is basically a slave with a pet monkey...HELLO?!?!? I'm not going to claim the authors were racists because it really could just be an extremely unfortunate coincidence but come on man. Also, idk if it was a translation issue or a me issue but the story was kind of hard to follow especially towards the end. Not only that but the ending was so anticlimactic that I had to set the book down and put my head in my hands to reflect on my life choices. I stuck with the book because of the "doomed yuri" everybody talked about but even as a lesbian I cant help but feel that the whole thing was extremely disappointing and again NOT WORTH IT!! Anthy was seriously gorgeous though lol show less

Soooooo, yeah. Utena the anime is such an iconic queer staple for baby me, and I knew the manga was problematic. That being said, the presentation of the comic is stellar. Beautiful production, obviously a labor of love and respect.

I found this book a little hard to follow, just because I wasn't entirely sure how it fit into the story as a whole. Utena as a specter who haunts her friends and former classmates pasts despite their complete loss of memory regarding her is an interesting concept, but it took a second to figure out what was going on. That being said, I did enjoy the short stories, especially the Juri story, which I felt was the standout one in the volume.

I'd recommend this for Utena fans with the caveat show more that it definitely takes an end of Madoka approach to Utena, so be forewarned. None of the characters remember who she is, except as a kind of guardian angel coming to help them create revolutions in their own lives. show less

*sigh* this was so bad. In fact the only thing I liked were the last 2 pages. It got so bad I broke out in a song and serenaded to my partner. Yes, I also don't know why. It doesn't make sense but so didn't this story. I'm tempted to give this 1 star but I did liked the art.
Part of it is because of the translation? It felt sort of clunky. I have this feeling that in Japanese I still would be lost on the story but at least I would've enjoyed the rhythm of the language used more. (I'm show more guessing that of course. Maybe even in the original language I would feel the same)

Also the person who said this had lesbian undertones... No. You scammed me. I feel scammed. I thought it would be like Yuri on Ice or Demon Diary. Or even like Kikker en Pad or Bert and Ernie. You don't know for sure but it could read that way. The ending felt like a slap in my face. I actually said out loud "Oh fuck off".

I'm so mad. I won't get rid of it though.
A) because I'm a sucker for pretty books and it looks good on the shelf.
B) it will be a reminder to stick with my gut and even though someone else likes it, I should at least find out if it's something I also enjoy.



Oh I almost forgot, I've also read volume 2 for the Manga Olympics Reading Challenge. I’ve read this manga for the prompt: 9. Fencing: Read a fantasy manga show less