Wondering how I can miss something after so many years is my daily life, don’t worryyyy
I think when I was still exploring, 放浪息子 made me good-wistiful negative, and now it makes me why-are-things-so-much-harder-than-they-should-be negative 
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I read the first chapter, so I figured I’d post in this topic. I don’t have a lot to say about the plot itself yet since I just started reading(I figure it makes more sense to comment on that once I’ve actually read a bit more), but the manga actually seems easier than I thought it would be so far, I felt like I mostly could understand what’s going on without looking anything up and I don’t think it took much more than… 15 minutes or so to read the first chapter? I was honestly thinking it would be harder, but it’s a nice surprise that is(so far) isn’t. Remembering the names is already getting a bit hard though…
It also somehow makes me want to continue reading right away… but I have other things I need to do.
I arleady feel like I’ll probably end up getting more of the series
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I kind of ended up reading the second chapter anyway. I think I’ll wait to say all that much about it until I finish the first volume though(or at least until tomorrow, it’s getting kind of late).
Also, just the first two chapters are already making me feel stuff and I’m not even sure if it’s meant to do that already.
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Just wanted to chime in that I did start reading the first couple of chapters, and not struggling too much thus far. It’s actually feeling really good to be able to read for pleasure, without too many dictionary lookups to distract me. I think I did have one or two questions, but I’ll try to put those up later today or tomorrow.
Storywise: I’m not sure how I feel about the girls’ dress-up session. On the one hand, it does seem to inspire Shuu. But on the other, it seems a bit rude (but they are children, so it doesn’t feel that bad). Also, what is Chiba’s deal? I don’t dislike her right now, but I’m not entirely comfortable with her either…
It seems it may be another week or two before I get the rest of the books, but then I should be able to go full steam ahead.
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Yes, this has been a very pleasant surprise!
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I just read chapter 11 (volume 2). It took me about a half hour I think. I got hung up on one page for a bit (but figured it out), and I looked up around 7 words, almost all from one page.
Detailed Chapter 11 Thoughts
This chapter might be my favorite so far. I got a huge laugh out of the first few pages, particularly Maho’s face on page 49. Plus her figuring out what happened was pretty entertaining. I think Maho kinda does just want a little sister.
Also, that older girl is such a creeper, asking Takatsuki to come alone next time. Not to mention her shirt…
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Which I now have done. Due to reading it on the bus, I also know that it took pretty precisely 90 minutes to read the remaining chapters… I couldn’t really look anything up though, but I feel like I managed to understand what was going on decently enough anyway.
The main thing I feel like saying about the plot is mostly just that I don’t think I’ve read anything that deals with similar topics before and it’s making me feel a lot more than I thought it would for various reasons…
I don’t really have any specific part I feel like saying all that much about otherwise though(partially because I’m typing this on my phone and it seems like it would be a pain to write a lot about specific events in the story)
Plays also either seem to occur fairly frequently in manga, or maybe I’ve just managed to read a lot of manga that do feature plays… It was nice to get some use of the vocab related to such things that I learned while reading another manga a while ago, either way.
I don’t have the rest of the series yet, but I’ll definitely get it as soon as I can.
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I don’t really know of anything that deals with the topic in such a respectful way. The things that kinda try that I could name are mostly, like, Tragedy Porn, like Boys Don’t Cry.
Anyway I’ve also picked up on a pattern of plays in queer manga 
for I guess reasons that are obvious in, I guess, hindsight, because it allows you to explore subtext in the foreground.
also apparently a lot of us “feel stuff for reasons” 
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I’m just here for the character development. 
Seriously, the main reason I wanted to read the manga was because the characters felt so “real” when I watched the anime adaption. I haven’t seen many anime where characters felt as real in both their actions and emotions as they do in 放浪息子.
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Theonlycisinthethread
Aside from being more emotionally mature than is realistic for their age, yeah, I’d agree.
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I wanted to read it for the characters, but I also wanted to read it because it seemed, at least at first glance, to handle the material in a much better way than most things seem to, both here in the US or in Japan. I don’t really have any unique feelings related to the content, though, beyond the fervent wish that people could just be… people. And that they could grow and learn about themselves and express themselves however they want at their own pace.
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Eight or so years ago, I asked, “why is the best trans narrative from Japan of all places?”
Eight or so years later and I’m still asking
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Yes, this too. It is certainly a rarity. This author in general is very good at handling these topics. I found out about 放浪息子 to begin with because I watched the anime adaption of her yuri manga 青い花. It also handles its topic in a very mature way and is pretty good (though I think I like 放浪息子 more).
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Yeah, transgenderism can be such a tricky subject to tackle. I tend to think that even when it’s handled seriously and respectfully, it’s often overdramatized and doesn’t feel “real” enough to truly connect with.
She has a yuri manga?! I really need to get my hands on that - good yuri is such a rarity~~~
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Maybe I’ll get 青い花 after finishing 放浪息子. I also want to read やがて君になる, but I’ll probably wait for that series to finish at this point.
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If you wanted to do another discussion thread for 青い花 after this one, I would totally join you. 
Okay, we’ll talk again in many months. 
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Lol, many months indeed. 
I just finished the first volume (chapter 8), but I feel like there was a lot I didn’t get so I’ll probably reread tomorrow when I’m not half asleep.
The feels though.
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Post as many questions as you need! 
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