Sofie’s Reviews > Just Like Mona Lisa 01 > Status Update

oh god seeing that the impetus for this story was the mangaka basically just wanting an excuse to write a love triangle WORRIES ME IMMENSELY

okay so now we have life or death stakes for some reason
i’m already hoping that this ends with hinase continuing to exist outside of the binary and Not Dying but that unfortunately might be too much societal and gender critique to expect from a manga like this

so far shiori and azusa are the villains of this story in my mind
“your gender will be the answer to our confessions” HEY HOW ABOUT NO??? how about gender and sexuality are not linked in such a binary, heteronormative way?????? how about someone’s gender actually has nothing to do with YOU??????

(cont.)
her feelings for hinase didn’t “make her a girl”, she was already leaning that way despite what everybody else assumed. hinase saw that and wasn’t afraid of going against the status quo to make it known. and that then gave ritsu the confidence to feel secure in her choice later on

i really like how ritsu’s backstory is framed here. people were so set on labeling her as a boy and assuming that’s what she’d be bc she was sporty and athletic but she didn’t feel connected to masculinity in that way. hinase was the first person to really see her and give her the permission to move towards femininity, with which she always felt more aligned (cont.)

hinase outright saying that they don’t want to choose a gender okay!!!!!! and their hormone level changing potentially being a result of the confessions could be a really cool way to interrogate how our performances of gender can be influenced by heteronormativity in such detrimental ways. we’ve been taught to tie romantic feelings back to our own genders for some ridiculous reason and make sure they “align”

frequent doctor visits to check hormone levels and to poke and prod at their body looking for signs of a “choice” being made is actually horrifying but unfortunately makes complete sense. our performances of gender irl are so monitored especially at a young age so of course in this alternate reality that same close examination and pressure would be taken to a more obvious extreme

these back to back confessions being framed as a horrifying, claustrophobic thing in hinase’s mind gives me hope!!!!!!!!! maybe this won’t be disappointing??

my hold on this came in about a week ago but then today i saw that it’s getting an anime adaptation so how could i not take that as a sign
i have also just realized that this character on the cover looks so much like vanitas and yknow what i’m self-aware enough to admit that perhaps that is partially why i am drawn to this