Seibetsu "Mona Lisa" no Kimi e. (性別「モナリザ」の君へ) - Yoshimura Tsumuji
Genre - Drama, School Life, Romance
Read - volume 2 chapter 9 / volume 6 chapter 29 (7 volumes in the original)
Status - Ongoing
In this world, at the age of 12, children choose their sex. Hinase, on the eve of their 18th birthday, has yet to make a choice, and is still sexless. Regardless, they live a content life with their childhood friends Shiori(boy) and Ritsu(girl). But the "choice" is all Hinase can think about when suddenly both Shiori and Ritsu confess their love to them on the same day and request they become the opposite sex to them so they can have a relationship.
So I havent read most of this yet, I admit. But I have a lot of opinions. I think there could be so much more here in terms of world building and actual nonbinary rep. Like I have a hard time believing that any 12 year old is capable of making this decision independently. Shiori admits he chose to be a boy because that's what his brother did. So would there not just be a bunch of households with children of one gender? Or parental influence, like with Ritsu, she was really good at sports so her parents constantly bought her "boy" things and expected her to be a boy. But sike she actually wanted to be cute and chose to be a girl!
And thats where I have a problem with this. This world, where they author could have done ANYTHING, is still fundamental gendered like ours is and it defeats the point of any of the motivations of the characters. There's such a heavy reliance on gender roles in this (Shiori wanted to be cool like his brother, all the nurses at the hospital are women, Ritsu wanted to be cute so she became a girl) in a story where none of that is supposed to matter until you're 12. And then Hinase is seen as strange and is medically studied and will not live past 20 unless they choose. Also, Shiori's and Ritsu's insistence that Hinase must choose the sex that lets them be in a heterosexual relationship only is just. The author really limited themselves when they could have done anything! Not to mention Hinanse can't understand the romantic love their friends feel for them, which is not a nod to them being asexual, it's implying they are fundamentally wrong.
I don't know. Maybe some of my questions get answered and I just got hasty. But I feel like there could have been so much potential with this one. As a nonbinary person myself, I was excited to see one as a serious main character (albeit a child) where they're not just played as a pretty boy in a dress with the plot never addressing them personally aside from that. I was excited to see a nonbinary person live a normal life. I knew what I was getting into a bit, but the constant beating me over the head with "pick a side" is physically hurting me.
You know, I'm gonna keep reading this. I need the closure.
Overall
5/10
The art is nice.