Sensei no Shiroi Uso

Feb 19, 2019

Yautja

Not Recommended

This is what happens when teenage girls from tumblr meet r/im14andthisisdeep and feminism.

This is an incredibly self deprecating, and nonsensical scribble that reads like a manga fanfiction of 50 Shades of Grey. It's a poor imitation of the aesthetic that manga like Pun Pun or Sangatsu no Lion succeed in creating, but instead of focusing on depression like those manga, it focuses on perceived women's rights issues. This manga attempts to convey a message through what some call "melancholy bait", the general atmosphere a manga has when it tries to appeal to a mature audience and convey a message on a complicated or taboo ... topic by means of explicit realism and representation of the negative events that accompany those topics. Simply put, the manga tries to appear mature and convey some grand message of a prevalent issue in society or with humans in general, an attempt (key word being attempt) which would be admirable if it didn't demonize men and victimize women.

The actions of the characters in this manga are unnatural, no two ways about it, and serve to paint a narrative of the author's ideology. The women are children, they have no capacity for common sense, independence or emotional maturity. The manga tries to paint women as powerless victims of men and that they have absolutely no avenues to defend themselves or seek support from. The men are all villains or villains in the making; men are either a rapist, a misogynist, a womanizer, or a fool. The men are also emotionally and intellectually immature and fit all the stereotypes misandrists dream of. Regardless of gender, the characters do not behave like humans, they don't seem to think about what to do in any given case and instead act entirely on the impulse of "what would make the best story", actions that result in over-dramatic and implausible events that are overturned or contradicted shortly after.

The actions of the characters and the situations that arise in general within the manga are extremely contrived and only seem to exist to offer an avenue to convey that ideology & message, both of which are conveyed quite poorly as the author seems to have an extremely poor understanding of them, an issue which is further compounded by her poor creative writing skills and poor understanding and unrealistic depiction of basic human psychology and behavior. The story and characters constantly bend and twist to unnaturally fit the protagonist, whether that be to accommodate completely nonsensical actions, morally or psychologically justify her absurdities, or her generic platitudes & speeches instead of taking the time and putting in the effort to convey it naturally. Frankly, the entirety of the story of this manga is best described as ideological propaganda, conversion material, or a self-insert, virtue signalling, narcissistic, ideological ego stroke.

Lastly, the manga puts in no effort, it takes the most predictable roads and platitudes to justify or explain the behavior of the characters in this manga. It doesn't take the time, or put in the effort to be unique or well done. It just slaps in a couple of pages or maybe a chapter or two as an explanation for whatever soapbox the characters happen to be on at the time. It's almost masochistic and certainly narcissistic. I feel it could be described as someone trying to make a grand comment on sexism in society and biology, someone who doesn't know what either of those words mean or any of the arguments against her position.

It'd be incredibly difficult to aptly describe the ridiculousness of the story and characters of this manga further than that. I hope that's enough to scare away anyone as stupid as me, anyone who would decide to read this because of the pretty cover art. Don't be fooled like me.

Edit: According to a June 2022 interview, the author (Who married and divorced the author of PunPun) has acknowledged that she is a feminist, who was trying to convey her feminist ideas in her manga, so it seems I was quite correct about her being an ideologically driven activist with an incredibly low resolution understanding of the ideas she was trying to convey in her (not-so) borderline man-hating misandrist propaganda manga. Not a surprising revelation.

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Feb 22, 2020

photophobic

Recommended

Sensei no Shiroi Uso is what Kuzu no Honkai thinks it is.

Before I get into why I've given it a more positive review than the other reviewers have, here's a quick skim through all the reasons this manga sucks: the plot's pace is slow, there's barely any character development (apart from the mcs getting over sexual trauma), there is an inherently misogynistic atmosphere to a lot of this manga (as one of the other reviewers mentioned), and the mc does end up preaching a little bit towards the end. And, to top it off, you get the vibe that Torikai believes society is full of ...

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Jun 8, 2019

DoctorEmo

Not Recommended

What starts off as an interesting but dark story devolves into a convoluted mess of contradictory preaching.

The author tries to make some sort of nuanced statement about the relationships between men and women and the natural power struggle they're locked in, but ends up implying some absolutely horrifying hot takes such as:

Women may say they hate rape, but in reality they love it!
Trying to abort another woman's baby isn't a bad thing, because a MAN made you do it.
Women have no agency
The only way to overcome rape is to find another man. Good dick cancels out bad dick; it's math!
Emotions dictate everything, and that's a ...

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Oct 24, 2020

kagoshintarou

Recommended

The other reviewers are forgetting that this story goes on in Japan, a place where people are taught to never question the status quo and women are taught to just nod off stuff and smile.

It starts with a (very traumatized) Hara saying absurdly dichotomic statements, just in regards to how scarred and hopeless she is at the begining of the manga. The story goes on to show how she's been affected by being raped and controlled by Hayafuji, how she perceives herself as the culprit and not the actual victim, all while showing the progression of the ones around her.

This is a manga about ...

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Feb 22, 2023

MangaIsPolitical

Recommended

Trigger warning for basically everything that comes with toxic masculinity.

STORY: 6

A heavy story focusing on the relationships of a female school teacher and the persons around her. The focus is on woman/man interactions and for once dynamics of power (aka sexism) are at the center of the story.

ART: 6

Akane Torikai's art is pleasant but clearly not the focus here.

... POLITICAL POTENTIAL: 7

'Sensei's pious lie' exposes the violence of patriarchy all across its chapters. Physical violence, rape, emotional abuse, cheating, loneliness, family pressure, trauma, incest, women pushed against each others, support from colleagues for the male aggressor.. All of this is portrayed in a realistic way and without complaisance.

FEMINISM: 8

This manga is far above the average in terms of feminism.
First there's a frontal description of what women are subjected to in the patriarchal society of japan and this level of violence and realism is extremely rare in manga.
Second, the artwork is always avoiding the male gaze so even sex scenes are sober and to the point instead of the usual 'rape is drawn to be arousing' common in the industry.
Dialogues are smartly written, characters are complex and the time spent on their background makes things quite (not perfectly) coherent. Women are doing their best at solving their issues and there is not male hero to save the day.

That being said, there's a slight feeling of masculinism here and there, with some story elements going a bit too far with the 'men are also victims of patriarchy' aspect. If you are hoping for a huge scream to the face of men you will feel that this scream is not as powerful as you would have wished for in the end.
'Sensei's pious lie' ended in 2017 and in an interview the author said that she had put feminism a bit aside when she married Asano Inio (very famous mangaka) in 2018, is it related to that feeling of tameness? Or is it because of the author own efforts or the editor's directions in order to not alienate too many readers? I don't know but I'm happy for her to hear that they have divorced, especially since the infuriatingly masculinist manga 'Downfall' written by Asano may in some ways refer to his relation with Torikai..

CONCLUSION: 7

It's not everyday that a medium tackles sexism within its own sexist industry. If you are ready to face the subject with a heavy approach don't miss this occasion.

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Jul 24, 2021

Destroyer505

Recommended

There seems to be a lot of misunderstandings when it comes to the reviews around here. Either people think this is some next level feminism propaganda, or just straight mysoginy. It's neither.

While the story has plenty of problems - mainly the pacing and the lack of consistency going from plotline to plotline, aswell as lack of motivation that leaves plenty of characters just...existing - i think it handles most of its themes well, if a bit on the nose.

Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first: The ending is pretty rushed, and has some awkward messages(which i do not believe represent the ... author's personal views, but the character Minako in question). Some plot points could've been given 2/3 more chapters to develop, which leaves a pretty unsatisfying taste in my mouth.

The controversial(but good): This story is built on a pretty simple and basic concept, and that is: women should have control over their own bodies. This isnt a simple commentary on rape, its a commentary on objectification as a whole. At the end of the day, the manga is not saying anything aside from that. Where this can be lost in interpretation is the lens through which we see this message being told.

The characters are for the most part frustrated women. They're used to showcase the problems the author probably faced or saw some face in their lives, building this nihilistic and fatalistic view where, deep down, everyone is defined by their gender roles. Even those that try to escape it, are not able to. This doesnt go just for the men, who are in multiple scenarios rapists or wannabe-rapists. No, this goes for the women too, who repeat the mysoginy and treat eachother like trash behind eachothers back. Even the ones such as Ayaka that try to be truly independant, arent able to and still rely on a man.

Wadajima, a man who manages to fullfil his gender role easily and with a lot of success on society, also can't escape his need to impress Misato, a women.

And where one could complain this is misandrist or too ''feminist''(whatever that means these days), the manga goes out of its way to also - via Niizuma - showcase the struggles of being a man. While the professor Misuzu at first condemns and even blames Niizuma for being raped, saying a man cant possibly be a victim, at the end of the day, that was simply projection on her part.
Even her ''preaching'', saying ''its the men's fault that women suffer, who else could be at fault?'' is stated after an entire page showcasing WOMEN being terrible to other women.

The manga isnt as self indulgent as it seems(but it can be at times, definitely). It uses the traumas and fatalism of its characters to showcase how society is trash, and also how that unfairness of society made the characters in question lose the capacity to see hope and be unbiased when dealing with people. Which is why the conclusion at the end consisted of the main characters forgiving eachother and believing in hope again.

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Mar 20, 2022

blueraimo

Mixed Feelings

The Teacher’s White Lie.. more like “The One where Everyone Keeps Lying to Themselves and their Surroundings”

Okay, let me be honest, unhappy stories where everyone is miserable is my thing. But only when it’s like that for a good reason. However, in this case there is an overall air of “everything sucks and we’re all doomed to repeat our mistakes“. I did not feel anything reading this. Except for the hatred I developed for each character. I despised them all. No one’s motives/actions make any real sense and it’s all a bunch of BS to me. I don’t mind when things are left to the ...

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Dec 9, 2023

sxrpente

Mixed Feelings

I'm conflicted, because even though I didn't really enjoy the story -and I was frankly tempted to put it down more than a couple times-, at others it did seem to grasp me quite firmly. I think that the overall execution is disappointing, and that some of the messages it conveys are questionable, if not outright problematic (particularily about that one relationship). Regardless, I do feel that there's a lot of potential there that hasn't been quite tapped into, kinda like an idea that hasn't yet had the chance to develop to its full extension.

While I believe this one in particular was a miss, I ...

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Sensei no Shiroi Uso
Sensei's Pious Lie
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