Kitai Fuku ga Aru

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A serious, cool-looking woman wishes to dress in Lolita fashion. "Kitai Fuku ga Aru" is a deeply personal manga about self-discovery and acceptance, written by mangaka Tsuneki Netarou, who draws from lived experience, despite being male. It’s about how one person’s courage can inspire another, setting off an incestuous cascade of self-actualization. Some of it does feel like the perfect storm, but there’s a clear emphasis on writing everyday scenarios of stepping out of the comfort zone and celebrating small wins along the way. This keeps the “be yourself” story grounded, making it feel like an honest push to try something new in your own ... life.

"Kitai Fuku ga Aru" reminds me of Mochizuki Minetaro’s "Tokyo Kaido," which is about a hot-shot rare disease specialist who decides to abandon his job, his patients, his wife, and his newborn to become a crossdresser. Having read both, I find Tsuneki’s approach more memorable and impactful than the absurdist tone in "Tokyo Kaido." The inclusion of apparently real Lolita brands and thoughtful references, like a humiliated character comparing himself to Don Quixote suddenly realizing his enemies were only windmills, creates a tangible bridge, layering in an authenticity that brings the story closer to our own.

By resolving some conflicts in unexpectedly mundane ways and allowing characters to deliver highly specific, detailed monologues, Tsuneki perhaps exposes some of his own history and vulnerabilities. This willingness to get personal is admirable and gives the story’s internal conflicts a quiet power, even if he may not have been dressing in Lolita himself.