Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by anbar
Is Love the Answer? by Uta Isaki
3.0
The story of an asexual aromantic girl in Japan who struggles with feeling like an alien who can't figure out how to be 'normal' - shouldn't she be having crushes and boyfriends like her classmates? Why does that 'normal' stuff confuse her and feel wrong? Is she a prude or somehow sick like people say behind her back? Will she really find 'The One' someday, like friends insist? - until she starts college (studying psychology so she can figure out how 'normal humans' work) and meets a professor who stuns her by saying that not everyone IS into love and romance, and asking "Why should you have to do it? Why would you force yourself to do something that doesn't feel natural?"
Soon she meets others with similar experiences, and finds out about asexuality. Is that what she is? After years of feeling defective, it turns out she's not alone - and her feelings are perfectly normal. Though even in the psych department, she finds similar peer pressures as in high school, which causes her to keep questioning herself and feeling insecure in her identity. But together, she and other new friends can help each other feel strong enough to more openly be themselves, whether they're aroace, gay or bi, fangirls, etc, and stand up for themselves against the pressure to be some idea of 'normal'.
This manga does a good job of showing a lot of the social pressures and prejudices ace and aro people face on a daily basis, and how damaging that can be, for both female and male aces/aros; it's interesting to see how the nuances are slightly different in a collective/conformist society like Japan, compared to the more individualistic North America. It also shows some of the many lifestyle choices aces might have (different forms of partnership whether for companionship, legal reasons, etc). It's a little clumsy in handling the difference between asexuality and aromanticism, but from what I've read so far that's characteristic of Japan, where the distinction between the two is not as recognized. Chika's constant self-doubt can muddy the waters as well - every time she starts to feel like a term fits her, she starts worrying whether she's 'ace enough' to call herself ace, or wondering if maybe she DOES have a medical condition so she doesn't belong as an ace, etc; it can feel self-defeating and like it's giving fuel to readers predisposed to ace/arophobic opinions, but it reflects the experience of some aces, and the tone is overall ace-positive, inclusive, warmhearted, and hopeful.
Overall I do prefer 'I Want to Be a Wall', but this is still pretty good aroace representation, which is much-needed!
Content warnings: no on-screen sex scenes, but one early scene where a high school boyfriend tries to force himself on her, there is mention of a few characters' sexual history, and one friend writes steamy fanfics (not explicitly shown, just mentioned); no violence, swearing, drugs, or drunkenness; peer pressure and occasional acephobic comments and internalized acephobia
Soon she meets others with similar experiences, and finds out about asexuality. Is that what she is? After years of feeling defective, it turns out she's not alone - and her feelings are perfectly normal. Though even in the psych department, she finds similar peer pressures as in high school, which causes her to keep questioning herself and feeling insecure in her identity. But together, she and other new friends can help each other feel strong enough to more openly be themselves, whether they're aroace, gay or bi, fangirls, etc, and stand up for themselves against the pressure to be some idea of 'normal'.
This manga does a good job of showing a lot of the social pressures and prejudices ace and aro people face on a daily basis, and how damaging that can be, for both female and male aces/aros; it's interesting to see how the nuances are slightly different in a collective/conformist society like Japan, compared to the more individualistic North America. It also shows some of the many lifestyle choices aces might have (different forms of partnership whether for companionship, legal reasons, etc). It's a little clumsy in handling the difference between asexuality and aromanticism, but from what I've read so far that's characteristic of Japan, where the distinction between the two is not as recognized. Chika's constant self-doubt can muddy the waters as well - every time she starts to feel like a term fits her, she starts worrying whether she's 'ace enough' to call herself ace, or wondering if maybe she DOES have a medical condition so she doesn't belong as an ace, etc; it can feel self-defeating and like it's giving fuel to readers predisposed to ace/arophobic opinions, but it reflects the experience of some aces, and the tone is overall ace-positive, inclusive, warmhearted, and hopeful.
Overall I do prefer 'I Want to Be a Wall', but this is still pretty good aroace representation, which is much-needed!
Content warnings: no on-screen sex scenes, but one early scene where a high school boyfriend tries to force himself on her, there is mention of a few characters' sexual history, and one friend writes steamy fanfics (not explicitly shown, just mentioned); no violence, swearing, drugs, or drunkenness; peer pressure and occasional acephobic comments and internalized acephobia