wow this just went into top 10 for me. i only clicked on this bc it was a cute family bl b...

wow this just went into top 10 for me. i only clicked on this bc it was a cute family bl but i didn’t expect it to go so hard on breaking societal issues. my favorite theme/idea from each volume:

volume 1: I really loved how they portrayed different perspectives. the conflict between nao and hiro’s friend’s mom was such an interesting situation for me. The mom praising them so much to be doing such a good job on raising their son implies that it is harder to raise a child outside of the “norm”, that being having a mom. So the fact that the son is a good kid is thought of as an achievement for someone who has two dads. To Nao, it is seen as discriminatory micro aggression. And although the mom meant otherwise, it still is. Then we get the mom’s perspective. The main idea running through her head is that the “norm” is for moms to raise their kids. Because of that “norm”, moms rarely get praised because it is seen as the bare minimum while dads don’t have to put in any effort. Subconsciously she was thinking about the unfairness for all the work of child-rearing to be pushed onto women. So when she saw that two dads (focusing on the male part rather than the sexuality), she praised them not mainly for them being two dads but for being men raising a child. She still definitely had her subconscious prejudices about a gay couple raising a child and you can see that blend into her words. Nao also did have some subconscious prejudices of how she is the “norm” for raising a child and how it shouldn’t be praised (i can’t word this right so apologies if this sounds off, it’s 2 am and this was supposed to be a quick bedtime read lol. i mean to focus on the slight misogynistic undertones of women and their social “role” in families). But as she said, she was projecting and I do think she was more in the wrong. Although that isn’t the point of that theme. It was just how perspective can change the meaning of words.

volume 2: I like how volume 2 focused more on the internal struggles of being queer in a heteronormative society. It introduces a character who is gay but clearly has internalized homophobia. Because of him being raised in a heteronormative society, he sees being queer as a bad thing even though he himself is queer. It shows how much societal values can influence a person’s internal thinking and how it perpetuates these harmful beliefs. Because although he is gay, he is still continuing these discriminatory beliefs by what he says. Him saying that you shouldn’t get children involved in something like this implies that not only is being queer a bad thing but that it is something you should be ashamed of and hide. By him saying so, he caused harm to a minority that he himself is in. (ik i’m saying that he is gay like 500 times but it rlly is important to emphasize that he is harming a group that he himself is in bc of societal standards) This volume shows why these standards have continued for so long and the steps that the main characters are taking to break this harmful cycle. It’s clear that his story isn’t done yet so I’m excited to see how the author will write his growth in upcoming volumes or in a separate series!

wow 2 am ramblings go crazyyy