{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "canonicalUrl": "https://frankhecker.com/2024/02/07/even-though-we-re-adults/",
  "description": "In which I comment on Takako Shimura’s latest manga series.",
  "path": "/2024/02/07/even-though-we-re-adults/",
  "publishedAt": "2024-02-08T04:29:47.000Z",
  "site": "at://did:plc:77mn3ult3b72tpvtqqva6tat/site.standard.publication/3mpfmfpu4u72n",
  "tags": [
    "Even Though We’re Adults",
    "Takako Shimura",
    "yuri",
    "manga",
    "Cohost"
  ],
  "textContent": "\\This post was originally published on [Cohost. Where linked-to Cohost articles were not archived, I’ve updated the links to go to non-Cohost copies.\\]\n\nOnce again I am doing a time-delayed share of a @Goyavoyage yuri recommendation. To add to what she said about _Even Though We’re Adults_: In addition to featuring adults only (I don’t recall any teenage characters in the manga, though maybe I missed one), it’s relatively unusual in having a male character who is treated somewhat sympathetically, not as either a villain or as a mere speed bump on the road to the main characters’ happy ending.\n\n\nRegarding _Sweet Blue Flowers_, @Goyavoyage is correct that there are problematic aspects; however teacher-student relationships are not one of them. Never in the manga does a teacher (or any other adult) approach a student in an inappropriate way. And in each and every case where a student approaches a teacher that they have a crush on, the teacher quickly and unambiguously rejects them. Whether Shimura consciously intended this or not, the manga’s treatment of these incidents supports my theory that a major theme of _Sweet Blue Flowers_ is a rejection of relationships based on a hierarchy of some type (e.g., senpai-kohai or teacher-student) in favor of relationships based on equality between individuals.\n\nFinally, if anyone does want to check out my book on _Sweet Blue Flowers_, I’ve created a web version so that you can easily check out individual chapters — many of which started out as Tumblr posts. For example, see my discussion of _Maria Watches Over Us_, a series that I think, unlike _Sweet Blue Flowers_, very much advocates for and celebrates relationships embedded in an age-based hierarchical order.",
  "title": "Even Though We’re Adults"
}