A "masculine" high school boy who comes to like AFAB transgender boy but is denial. This manga breaks down how patriarchy and toxic masculinity hurt everyone, not just women.
Kouki is realistic product of his environment. Raised under a hypermasculine patriarchal father who constantly belittles him for being physically built big but "mentally weak," Kouki carries this suffocating shame because he doesn't fit the patriarchal mold of what an "ideal man" should be. That's why his initial reaction to the talk on toxic masculinity is denial and skepticism. When it's mentioned how toxic behavior harms women, his first instinct is to think it's an exaggeration, because he's been conditioned to believe that being a man inherently means dominance, taking the lead, and enduring those exact behaviors. He's drowning in internalized homophobia and guilt just for being curious about Misaki.
Him snapping at Misaki was came from a place of genuine, terrified concern. Kouki knows firsthand how toxic male spaces are and how male bonding is so often built on shared misogyny and homophobia. So he asks Misaki Why even after experiencing all this transphobia, prejudice, and discrimination, why would you actively choose to step into a manhood that's bred by a patriarchal society? Misaki flipping the question right back and asking Kouki the exact same thing.was absolute peak writing. It forces Kouki to realize that he, too, is trapped in this exact same cage by these impossible expectations of manhood as anyone else and what it even means to be a "Man" when society's definition of one is so broken.
A "masculine" high school boy who comes to like AFAB transgender boy but is denial. This manga breaks down how patriarchy and toxic masculinity hurt everyone, not just women.
Kouki is realistic product of his environment. Raised under a hypermasculine patriarchal father who constantly belittles him for being physically built big but "mentally weak," Kouki carries this suffocating shame because he doesn't fit the patriarchal mold of what an "ideal man" should be.
That's why his initial reaction to the talk on toxic masculinity is denial and skepticism. When it's mentioned how toxic behavior harms women, his first instinct is to think it's an exaggeration, because he's been conditioned to believe that being a man inherently means dominance, taking the lead, and enduring those exact behaviors. He's drowning in internalized homophobia and guilt just for being curious about Misaki.
Him snapping at Misaki was came from a place of genuine, terrified concern. Kouki knows firsthand how toxic male spaces are and how male bonding is so often built on shared misogyny and homophobia. So he asks Misaki Why even after experiencing all this transphobia, prejudice, and discrimination, why would you actively choose to step into a manhood that's bred by a patriarchal society? Misaki flipping the question right back and asking Kouki the exact same thing.was absolute peak writing. It forces Kouki to realize that he, too, is trapped in this exact same cage by these impossible expectations of manhood as anyone else and what it even means to be a "Man" when society's definition of one is so broken.