An Honest Identity Story: Shimaname Tasogare

Synopsis

Tasuka Kaname  was but a regular high school boy. That is until one day he is discovered to have gay porn by his classmates and this results in him entering into a panic of being outed as gay. Convinced that his life is over, he makes the decision to end things only to stop in shock as he discovers a woman jumping out of the window of a nearby house. This results in him discover the lounge, a place owned by Anonymous, the woman he saw before and who is unharmed. This marks the start of Tasuka’s journey into acceptance and discovering himself as he learns from the other people of the lounge who have their own troubles.

The Good

There are more and more stories that take on a more interesting look into stories involving LGBT characters and this is one of them that gives a more poignant look. With this story the reader will find themselves taken on a journey with a dark beginning a heartfelt look into the character and some interesting visual symbolism of the character’s emotions and thoughts to  multitude of things.

One of the things that makes the story so well is how much was given to Tasuka in terms of development. It was highly interesting to see how he slowly changed through the people at the lounge and through himself. What’s more, we don’t just see his story but the story of different other characters as well. It’s interesting to see how the story takes of different mentalities to the different situations of the people and the way that most of the story went about it was so human as well.

The art is also a large factor in drawing in the reader into the story. The way that it works the character’s expressions and the way that it uses its visual work makes it a great visual story as well. Overall many parts of this story just brings a lot of thought provocation and heartfelt moments.

The Bad

There are moments when the manga goes a little too poignant, but for the most part is’ really the drama work that could have been done better. Personally there were too many confrontation and yelling scenes and it seems that one of the character’s story was cut off because of it. It would have been nicer to see a more heartfelt discussion of things, but at the same time it could also signify that not everything can end peacefully.

Still, there are moments when the drama can be a bit much and the development of some of the characters could have been done better, mainly with Tasuka’s love interest. It just seems his buildup could have been done better and the way that he ended up confronting Hiroshima seemed a little out of the blue as even in previous chapters we see certain scenes involving him but it seemed very vague on his part.

Then there is the mysterious Anonymous, in the first half, she seemed like this integral side figure that touched the characters’ lives in different ways. But the way she was built up, in this writer’s opinion could have been done better.

Conclusion

There are a lot of heartfelt moments and there were a lot of thought provoking moments with the work. However, it is that the manga takes the reader on a journey with the character what makes it so enjoyable. The story is solid and so was the character development; the drama work and the build up of other characters could have been better though. For the most part, it is a dramatic work that has a solid character structure but not the best handling in hindsight.

Rating: 8/10