Bentornato, Alice, Vol. 5

おかえりアリス [Okaeri Alice] #5

by Shuzo Oshimi

Mitani tormenta Yohei intrappolandolo in una spirale di giochi erotici che ne accendono il desiderio. Il ragazzo si dibatte fra la tentazione di cedere alla compagna di scuola e il ricordo delle sensazioni provate sotto la doccia con Kei.

Genres: Manga, LGBT, Queer, Comics, Romance, Japan, Drama

192 pages, Paperback

First published October 7, 2022

About the author

Shuzo Oshimi (押見修造, Oshimi Shūzō) is a Japanese manga creator.
Drawn in a realistic art style, his comics tend to be psychological dramas exploring the difficulties in human relationships and often touching on disturbing situations and perversions.
Oshimi debuted in 2001 with the manga series Avant-Garde Yumeko, appeared in Kodansha's 'Monthly Shōnen Magazine.' Most of his works since then have been published by Kodansha and Futabasha.
Among his first successes the single volume manga Sweet Poolside (2004), later adapted into a live-action film, and the series Drifting Net Café (2008–2011), also adapted for TV.
Oshimi reached international acclaims with The Flowers of Evil (2009–2014) and Inside Mari (2012–2016), both adapted into successful anime. Other notable works are Blood on the Tracks (2017–2023) and Welcome Back, Alice (2020-2023) .

Reviews

[daph pink ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sensei This is the limit; I'm not sure what else will occur, but I doubt you can drag it out any longer than chi no wadachi. Mitani, girl what the hell are you doing, there is practically no fucking plot, and the characters are superficial, acting edgy for no apparent reason.

[Keiko, the manga enthusiast ♒︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sensei, I love you but this is slowly killing me—seriously maddening, I think I'll lose my mind here. I hated Mitani, like full on bad blood because she's really annoying the hell out of me, but her parting chapter was heartbreaking that I felt a little for her. But still, her full-on manipulation is enraging that I'm literally glaring at each panel. I swear, this girl's obsession is way out of control. Another prevalent Oshimi characteristic we'll never get tired of.

Gosh, seriously this is driving me insane. I need all the chapters—I need the full story like right now!! Kei's eyes is set only on Yo. It will never ever change lol, my bl heart is screaming with that. But ehem, this is not bl. Go find yourself a healthy boy love comics somewhere; you will not be satisfied with this one. But I'm telling you, Yo and Kei's chemistry is fricken good.

I NEED VOLUME 6 LIKE ASAP. PLEASE!

[Urbon Adamsson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The love triangle just became a love square. 😅

I don't feel this series is that much different from "Flowers of Evil", even though it has its own unique take on sexuality, but in the core, it's pretty much an identical concept.

I would read Oshimi's story all day long.

[giada · Rating 3 out of 5]

honestly yo kind of deserves being tortured like that i cant believe he keeps fumbling two bad bitches and they let him do that

[Irene ➰ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Xosé M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este tebeo está lleno de secretos. Algunos dolorosos, otros placenteros. Casi todos, sin embargo, son esas dos cosas a la vez.

03.06.24

Las viñetas funcionan como espejos en los que se miran los personajes, página a página, enfrentados entre ellos y consigo mismos.

Hacia las identidades que cada quien procura para sí se siente una cantidad exactamente igual de indiscernible de repulsión y deseo. En el fondo palpita lo contrario, no ser ni una cosa ni la otra . Pero, ¿cómo?

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yui won the "worst person" competition
But also the authors notes are genuinly so interesting

[Sylvia Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do feel super bad for Mitani, but what she’s doing *ain’t it*.

I feel even more bad for Kei… this series is so engrossing

[Jessa Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW!! I was not expecting that ending!! I can't wait for volume 6 to come. 🩵

[Avery · Rating 5 out of 5]

me: this volume is so bori-
Oshimi with a shovel: B*tch you thought

[leti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leer este manga a la vez que los textos del cuerpo vivido y demás está siendo una experiencia

Mitani es la mejor y Ren non binary lesbian icon 👍 dios mío son todos una panda de transas increíble

[sofka]

i'm tired

[Sai Fighter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review for the whole series:



This is such a wild read. This series absolutely has to be paired with the author's notes that appear at the end of each volume. It puts a lot of stuff into context.

The "romance" in the series is so back seat to literally everything else going on in the manga. This isn't about a love triangle between childhood friends, this is about Oshimi's own struggle with what it means to be a man. Kei and Yui are not people, they are the two paths of masculinity that Yohei has to choose from. Kei is the ambiguous agender/gender queer departure from strict social expectations that are required to be masculine in the world. Kei represents freedom, an escape from gender all together. This is desirable but not an easy choice to make. Yui is the path of traditional masculine gender identity and masculine sexuality. Things that happen to Yui and Yohei are basically direct translations of Oshimi's own sexual trauma around masculinity. And this struggle between the two paths is represented by a love triangle, which i think its pretty powerful and brilliant.

Then there is Yohei themselves, who is struggling with gender and body dysphoria. Kei and Yui also seem to represent Yohei's struggle between his sexuality and his gender desires. There is a REALLY intense scene during the final volume that just blows my mind and feels like the perfect physical manifestation of this struggle for Yohei. It was honestly amazing.

With that out of the way, this series is going to make you uncomfortable. This manga has sexual assault and dubious consent. I would not say it is full blown rape but its uncomfortable for sure and its suppose to be. There is also self harm in the form of self mutilation. Even with all of this, the manga really made me think about my own gender experience, and while I don't really identify with Oshimi's struggle, this was still such a good read. I literally binged it in like 2 days. Recommend if you can handle it.

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yohei and Kei get together to reminisce on their friendship from years before. Yohei shares his recent experience with Yui. Kei is glad for him and congratulates him for becoming a man. (Like it's that easy...) Then Kei tells Yohei to decide who to be with in the end.

True to her word, Yui offers more o' the good stuff to Yohei. He still feels dirty about it because he can't get Kei out of his mind. Yui never lost her feelings for Kei, not even after being rejected from the kiss they shared. She can't reveal her feelings to anyone and constantly feels out of place. Really, now, does this story not have one healthy relationship?

Meanwhile Kei accepts to model for Ren. It turns into both of them revealing that they don't like their bodies. But each of them likes the other one's body. Hearing this from someone else is therapeutic for both of them.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because it is Oshimi, it gets increasingly intense between all the main characters, to the point of madness. Mitani is manipulative, as is the girl from Flowers of Evil, and the mom in Blood on the Tracks, so it seems increasingly horrific, like a train wreck of emotions/desires/acts. but really all of them--Yo, Kei, and now a fourth person, Ren--all are intensely exploring what they are to each other while "using" each other in certain ways.

A continuing element of this series is an afterword at the end of each volume where Oshimi talks about his own messed upo sexual awakening that also still seems like he is lost in the dark. This is NOT to my mind meant in any sense to be "erotica," as no one seems to be enjoying all this exploration across and within genders. I should mention that Oshimi continues to be a great artist in this series, conveying all the beauty and anguish of the story. But for some readers, it might all be too graphic. But it does feel like it conveys the overwrought e

[AsianMerr · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only reason this is a two star instead of a one is Ano. Her feelings are expressed in this volume here and IT’S NOT FUCKING WEIRD AT ALL!!! It’s probably the best thing I’ve seen in this series so far AND IT’S ONLY 5 PAGES. Everything else tho is weird or too far. Stripping her against her will and then she is just okay with it, Yo getting CUT UP AND TORTURED AND HE DOESN’T LEAVE MITANI IS SO STUPID!!! One of the other things I hated is that we spend half of the first chapter of this story with Kei and Yo as kids so when Kei comes back the feeling they have don’t feel real or warranted BUT IN THIS VOLUME WE GET FLASHBACKS ON HOW THEY WERE AS KIDS!!! WHY DIDN’T WE GET THIS AT THE BEGINNING!?!?!? It literally makes no sense cause they would say Mitani would hang out with them all the time and we didn’t get that to start with BUT IT’S HERE IN THE FLASHBACK!!!! MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!!!

[france · Rating 2 out of 5]

oh. This is painful to watch, and honestly i feel like i’m gonna start crying. Mitani basically abuses Yo because she knows Kei likes Yo and Mitani likes Kei. At this point, i have no clue what the plot is ab, but i don’t like this kind of ‘revenge’ thing going on. Also, Yo has no clue who he wants, Kei is in pain and i’m really sad ab that, but at the same time, this ‘relationship’ between Kei and Yo started because Kei was forcing herself onto Yo. 😐 this manga it’s stirring up my guts

[Des Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Down the hole we go! Mitani opens up her dark side, and the apparent joy of the last volume is replaced with another beast. Still struggling to see the point of it all, though Kei's scene with Ano was actually quite revealing and substantial. The author's afterword is also very candid, and this is all still enjoyable as a peek into their mind.

[Estrella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Espero que el volumen 6 tenga algo más de sentido, no siento que tenga una trama ni nada. No se quien me cae peor si Mitani o Yohei.. Ya abandoné la de Rastros de Sangre después de 10 tomos leídos, sino remonta para mí en el 6 creo que será un no para mí

[cecilia chan · Rating 5 out of 5]

See this manga in a bookstore in bsn and read it during my flight to Japan, the line and the art are brilliant and amazing, like literature like poems. How can we just give up the binary about sexuality just be a person not girl nor boy

[Roman Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two things:
1. I find it ironic that the two songs in my playlist while I was reading this were, Mayonnaise by The Smashing Pumpkins, and Get Down, Make Love by NIN.
2. Chapter 28 fucking nailed Dysphoria.

[Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am loosing my mind waiting for new chapters, as a queer person I love love love the direction this is going!!!

[-moonprismpower- · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mitani is straight up abusing Yo. It’s disgusting. I’m only reading more of this to see her get hers.
I really thought that Kei was going to be the “villain” of this story…

[min · Rating 5 out of 5]

i guess my addiction to reading manga is back.

[Misty Burrows · Rating 1 out of 5]

terrible comic but the author's notes sure are something

[任煦涵 · Rating 2 out of 5]

No one’s as disappointed as me.

I hate the mc and I hate Mintani

As for kei, I adore them and am only reading for that reason.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

gender, am i right ladies??

[KarleeXx0 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mitani is just unhinged..

[Karoline · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐

😳

[Kesa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mitani is a manipulative abuser.
Also Oshimi's afterword is not surprising at all. Inherently male.