Sleep Is For the Weak

PG-16, maybe?, for adult themes; informational review

The fact that this series exists is proof of how talented Fumi Yoshinaga is. She’s a lady who made herself famous largely on Boy’s Love titles and titles with strong themes of promiscuous homosexuality (for example, Antique Bakery), but now she’s writing a men’s serial in a men’s magazine about the exploits of a pair of gay guys in their 40s. And from what I understand, straight men here AND in Japan love her, even if she fills her pages with references to and even pictures of lovely menfolk getting it on with other lovely menfolk whilst their eyes fill with tears of happiness. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how we define “cross-over success.” Everyone loves Fumi Yoshinaga, no matter what gender, preference, or walk of life.

Since this manga is a seinen, I’m not expecting it to be as heart-wrenching as her usual work - seinen is usually more distanced than manga for women, and I’m sure she’ll respect that and refrain from having her boys squealy or whatever. But from what I’ve read so far, it looks like she’s trying to tackle some of the issues gay men face in real life, specifically the subtle stuff that manga can’t usually handle - the hetero-biased world simply not understanding where a homosexual is coming from, resulting in support from others coming off as largely superficial. There’s a great scene where the main character, Shirou, tries to explain to his mother over the phone that being gay isn’t the same as being transgender, no matter how many “educational” shows on transgenderism she watched in order to better understand her son. When Shirou’s boyfriend says his own mother kicked him out of the house when she found out he was gay, Shirou snarkily answers, “You got the easy way out.”

Happily, this manga has already started going down the route of presenting excellent commentary on gender relations, something seinen isn’t usually good for. When a neighborly woman finds Shirou intimidating, he tells her she’s gay, and she instantly relaxes around him - which is a really apt representation of the subtle discomfort many women have around strange men whom they know could be attracted to them. (This phenomenon is also cleverly represented in Wild Adapter.) Of course, then the woman instantly fetishizes him, joking to her husband about how he “Shouldn’t be too nice to Shirou or Shirou will fall in love with him,” and Shirou rolls his eyes. And his mother wonders why he doesn’t bother coming out at the office.

This manga is already shaping up to be a subtle but brilliant Fumi Yoshinaga gem. Also - like Antique Bakery, this series has a strong focus on food. The gratuitous descriptions and images of what Shirou cooks are downright pornographic.

Initial impression: Read it. Duh. (Lianne)

Trackback URI | Comments RSS