If Love Me For Who I Am’s non-binary maid is reporting for duty, then our non-binary host is recording a podcast about it!

That’s right, we’re reviewing the first volume of a newly released series on the show this time! We haven’t spotlighted a lot of new releases recently, but we had to make an exception for this exceptional manga exploring gender and the LGBTQ community in Japan in a way we’ve rarely seen. Joining us to discuss the series is someone who’s basically become its ambassador on MangaTwitter, Ashley Hakker from Anime Herald! Ashley helps us dig into each of the series’ fantastic cast of characters, core themes, and beautiful artwork, exploring what makes it such a sweet, one-of-a-kind story!

We also spend some time discussing a topic close to LumRanmaYasha – the recent #FUCKSVA initiative – and why the School of Visual Arts needs to make long overdue changes to make its campus a safe learning environment for students. It’s a more serious topic sandwiched in the middle of two relatively more light-hearted parts of the podcast, but again, we’re committed to having conversations important topics affecting the community on the show and advocating for change, so we hope you also look into what’s going on at SVA and help the students there fight for a better education too. 

We’re also committed to spotlighting the great work people are doing in our community, and since our review was on the shorter end this time, we had the opportunity for a special-sized community Shout-Outs segment spotlighting over a dozen awesome articles, podcasts, and videos to check out! So enjoy this podcast and check out Love Me For Who I Am as well as the work of all the great people we recommend in this episode! 

PODCAST BREAKDOWN:

00:22 – Intro & Patron Shout-Out

Love Me For Who I Am Discussion w/Ashley Hakker

05:15 – Introducing Ashley, Love Me For Who I Am, & Advocating for Niche Series
08:22 – Don’t Judge a Book By Its Cover?
11:30 – Gender Representation & “Otokonoko”
15:11 – Japanese Queer Culture in Manga Narratives
17:30 – Who is Kata Konayama?
19:10 – Authentic Relationships in LMFWIA
20:15 – Tetsu’s Burgeoning Queerness
23:00 – Satori and Japanese Gender Pronouns
26:18 – Mei and Self-Identity
29:54 – Where are the Parents?
30:51 – Mogumo and Liking Cute Things
34:37 – Ten and Gender as Performance
36:36 – Suzu and Expressing Both Feminine & Masculine Traits
39:12 – Kotone, Heteronormativity, & Inter-Community Conflict
42:50 – Misunderstandings & Micro-Aggressions
45:35 – Conflicts & Consequences
46:57 – The Title: “Who” vs. “What”
49:45 – Release Schedule & Availability
52:50 – Queer Culture in LMFWIA
54:35 – Ashley’s Efforts to Promote the Series
58:30 – The Art & Background Details
59:53 – Fanservice?
1:00:50 – Mogumo’s Fashion Sense
1:02:30 – Mentor Figures
1:03:15 – Cultural Differences
1:03:49 – Unique Experiences
1:08:27 – Community Call-to-Action: #FUCKSVA 

1:16:33 – Community Shout-Outs! 

1:36:03 – Future Plans & Wrap-Up

Enjoy the show, and follow us on twitter at @manga_mavericks, on tumblr at mangamavericks.tumblr.com, and on Youtube! You can also follow the hosts on Twitter at @sniperking323 and @lumranmayasha. If you’d like to help support the show financially you can pledge to our Patreon and receive some awesome rewards like our Patreon-exclusive Bonus pods! If one-time donations are more your speed you can donate to Colton’s Ko-fi here and LumRanmaYasha’s Ko-fi here, and if you want to support LumRanmaYasha’s art and other projects you can donate to their personal Patreon. Don’t forget to also like and subscribe to us on Youtube and iTunes and leave us reviews to help us curate the show and create better content!

LINKS:

Black Lives Matter Organizations, Charities, Petitions, & Fundraisers:

Music Featured:

“Love Me For What I Am” by Lobo
“Love Me For What I Am” by The Carpenters

About The Author Siddharth Gupta

Siddharth Gupta is an illustrator, animator, and writer based in Minnesota. They graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Animation from the School of Visual Arts, and have worked on projects for the University of Minnesota and the Shreya R. Dixit Foundation. An avid animation and comics fan since childhood, they've turned their passion towards being both a creator and a critic. They credit their love for both mediums to Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball, which has also defined their artistic and comedic sensibilities. A frequent visitor to their local comic book shop, they are an avid reader and collector, particularly fond of manga. Their favorite comics include The Adventures of Tintin by Herge, Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed, and pretty much anything and everything by Rumiko Takahashi.

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