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A review by ember_is_gay
It's Not Like It's a Secret by Misa Sugiura
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
i was super excited for this, I thought it would be a cute little YA lesbian falling in love story with an appropriate amount of drama (like coming out) but there were just so many issues. and issues that never really got addressed.
there was a lot of racism, that the main character was called out on but never really seemed to address, and really kind of expected everyone to forget and move on. like she couldn't see the issue with what she had said or done. i could understand her lack of awareness as a character coming from a predominately white area to a diverse area, but she didn't seem to want to listen or grow. i can appreciate that this is an important issue, especially racism between minority groups, but i do think if it was something that wanted to be addressed to should have pulled more of the focus and have been addressed well. for example, the resolution of sana's racism didn't seem to be that she grew and researched and understood; i have seen others mention that this may have been because of the amount of storylines that were going on that there was a lot to attempt to resolve. i think dropping one of the other storylines to focus on this storyline would have been a lot better so that it could be fully fleshed out and addressed.
the racism from side characters was also not at all addressed aside from small internal comments from sana. what could have been a learning experience was just ignored.
the amount of homophobia and lesbophobia from sana's friends was ridiculous. again, there wasn't really any resolution to this, her friends didn't apologise, sana didn't call them out. it was just accepted. again this could have been a result of trying to resolve multiple storylines, but i think there should have been an appropriate resolution; sana calling them out, explaining, them growing or her cutting them off for not understanding her. like, the literally told her she should date guys despite being a lesbian because she might actually be bi, or she might not have found the right guy yet. and sana just went with it (which then caused a massive issue with the one person who was actually kinda a good friend to her). her friends pressured her into kissing a guy (which she had already done and hated) and then encouraged her to cheat on her girlfriend with him, which she just did. i am not sure if we were supposed to think that sana was questioning her sexuality more than she was written to be, which is fine, people figure their stuff out at their own pace. but she seemed so sure in her identity up until then and seemed to be doing it just to please her friends (weird, and she should have ended the friendship). it just felt generally lesbophobic for a literal lesbian character to go along with cheating on her girlfriend with a guy; like are we not past this stage at this point. if you are going to have characters make this suggestion, at least make it clear that it is not okay for them to do that.
i do think if the cheating hadn't happened i would have been more onboard with sana and jamie getting back together, because what we did see of them was cute, and sana trying to resolve their relationship at the end was sweet. however, i just think the cheating storyline ruined it for me and it wasn't super believable that they got back together because of a couple poems.
also the thing with the dad was just another storyline that was a lot, but at least that one felt resolved and everyone was on the same page and okay and they all spoke about what was happening.
overall, the rep was there and it could have been so good, but honestly there seemed to be too many storylines and too little resolutions, and a lot of unnecessary lesbophobia that was harmful; it was a horrible storyline and the author seemed to think it was acceptable.
the racism from side characters was also not at all addressed aside from small internal comments from sana. what could have been a learning experience was just ignored.
the amount of homophobia and lesbophobia from sana's friends was ridiculous. again, there wasn't really any resolution to this, her friends didn't apologise, sana didn't call them out. it was just accepted. again this could have been a result of trying to resolve multiple storylines, but i think there should have been an appropriate resolution; sana calling them out, explaining, them growing or her cutting them off for not understanding her. like, the literally told her she should date guys despite being a lesbian because she might actually be bi, or she might not have found the right guy yet. and sana just went with it (which then caused a massive issue with the one person who was actually kinda a good friend to her). her friends pressured her into kissing a guy (which she had already done and hated) and then encouraged her to cheat on her girlfriend with him, which she just did. i am not sure if we were supposed to think that sana was questioning her sexuality more than she was written to be, which is fine, people figure their stuff out at their own pace. but she seemed so sure in her identity up until then and seemed to be doing it just to please her friends (weird, and she should have ended the friendship). it just felt generally lesbophobic for a literal lesbian character to go along with cheating on her girlfriend with a guy; like are we not past this stage at this point. if you are going to have characters make this suggestion, at least make it clear that it is not okay for them to do that.
i do think if the cheating hadn't happened i would have been more onboard with sana and jamie getting back together, because what we did see of them was cute, and sana trying to resolve their relationship at the end was sweet. however, i just think the cheating storyline ruined it for me and it wasn't super believable that they got back together because of a couple poems.
also the thing with the dad was just another storyline that was a lot, but at least that one felt resolved and everyone was on the same page and okay and they all spoke about what was happening.
overall, the rep was there and it could have been so good, but honestly there seemed to be too many storylines and too little resolutions, and a lot of unnecessary lesbophobia that was harmful; it was a horrible storyline and the author seemed to think it was acceptable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Lesbophobia and Racism