After School Mate

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After School Mate – Spoiler Free – Recommended

TLDR
Story – 6,5/10 – 6,5 x 0.275 = 1,7875
Art – 6/10 – 6 x 0.2 = 1,2
Characters – 7/10 – 7 x 0.225 = 1,575
Enjoyment – 7/10 – 7 x 0.3 = 2,1
Total: 6,6625 -> 7

Story – 6,5/10
... After School Mate is a manga written and drawn by Kuon Umino.
After School Mate is the trans definition of a cute, sweet, and short manga about coming out as trans, living with your true identity, and making friends along the way.
The relationship between the protagonist and his family was particularly heavy, since it deals with transphobia at the highest level – being utterly rejected by a close family member.
The love story between Rika and Satsuki – as it clearly gains the dimensions of a love story – is, although cliché, well done. One of the fun facts about this manga is that the love story never ends up being a love story, which may also pander to the fact that dating in the trans community is very hard – or at least harder than in a heterosexual and cisgender way.
This manga also shows that coming to terms with your transgender identity is something that not only the transgender person has to do, but the others around him must do as well: this is perfectly evident in the relationship between Satsuki and Rika, as the former as to grasp the fact that Rika is indeed a man, which would render him as not heterosexual. The fact that he feels betrayed by the fact that he still sees Rika as a female is proof that sometimes, no matter how close you are to the person and no matter how you love them, it is still very hard to overcome the fact that the person is trans. This is also seeable in the relationship between Rika and his family: in fact, the mother already knew that Rica had a lot of behaviours that would affiliate her to the male side, but yet decided to launch a stark resistance to the acceptance of his son.
In this sense, more than being a story about love and friendship, It is a story about the hardships of the transgender community, both on the dating scene and on the family side. Transphobia is still rampant and is evidenced in Rika's fear of using the male pronouns with himself in school; in the same fashion, he still has to use the female uniform in school, which only contributes to his dysphoria.
After School Mate is a manga that simultaneously is able to show in a very simple way the hardships of the transgender community and to present a beautiful love/friendship story.
The ending, no matter how cute, may still be lacking for the people who wanted things to take a step further.

Art – 6/10
The art style for After School Mate is pretty average, although fully functional. The scenarios, backgrounds, and landscapes are completely average and are what you would normally find in a romance manga, being nothing out of the ordinary. Character design is also average, but the characters are easily told apart. Moreover, the cadence of the panels and the page flow are especially well done, making the story very easy to follow.

Characters – 7/10
This manga is basically focused on the two main characters – Rika and Satsuki, a trans man and a cisgender man, respectively – and their love/friendship relationship. We are given backgrounds to the characters, and they are somewhat developed for a two-volume manga, which is worthy of praise. The rest of the characters aren’t that important and are collateral to the story, although some of them – such as the uncle – play an important role in shaping both Rika’s and Satsuki’s lives.

Enjoyment – 7/10
After School Mate is a short and sweet story about a trans man. Although the trans community wasn't especially lucky when it came to good manga about them, After School Mate is an exception, even if it isn't stellar. One can read it pretty quickly and easily, with a story that is somewhat gripping for a romance manga, finding a story where one can relate to the problems of transphobia, living as a trans person, and gender dysphoria. For all these reasons, it deserves a recommendation.

After School Mate is how to write a short series. It tells an absolutely beautifull story about finding your identity and self worth.

I'll start with the best part of this series being the characters. The main character Rika is extremely likable and you really feel for him for the whole story. HE feels like an actual person and his struggles with his family are perfectly executed. The second MC Satsuki's struggles with his family are a little bit of an afterthought, but in the end they are handeled wel, though I wish they were more prevelant. All the other characters are likable (or not, ... but that's how they were intended) and they fill their purpose well. They are clearly just side characters, but they do have an actual caharcter and they are not two dimensional.

Similairly, the story is beautifully written and it fits the short series style, though the ending is a little bit ubrupt and it could have used one or two more chapters to tie the last few ends.

The art on the other hand is just good. it isn't bad by a long shot, but it does stand out with how phenomenal the rest of the series is. The character designs are good and the backgrounds are generally quite detailed, but again it just lacks a little bit.

In Short, After School Mate is a must read which is absolutely amazing and a must read for everyone. The series has no real lows and very high highs. The two main characters are splendidly written and the story is very moving. I can't recommend this series enough and I wish it had an official english release. Luckily there is an English fan translation that you can find on Mangadex and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as i did.

I'm astounded that such a modern story has such a small community and lacks some traction. But that doesn't make it any less beautiful or great; rather, it's brilliance waiting to be discovered by someone like me, who suffers from many of the same ailments as Rika-kun. I came across this recommendation by chance on TikTok and added it to my reading list after only reading one panel.
If you are new to this story, I will do my best to give it a glowing review as a fellow transgender person similar to the main character!

Rika is a transgender FTM (female to male) who longs for ... a sense of belonging. He lives with dysphoria and the sickness of being misgendered and having to present as a cis girl on a daily basis. He lives with a mother who is aware of his transgender status but pretends to ignore it out of desperation to keep her son as his biological gender. He makes an unlikely friend with a fellow troubled (cis-gendered) boy as a result of his constant arguing with his mother. This is a story about maturing, discovering one's identity, and, most importantly, finding love and acceptance.

I will recommend this story to anyone. It is so lovely and so heart wrenchingly good. Tugs on my heart strings in just the right ways. "After School Mate" がんばって~!

EDIT:
Coming back to say I’ve finished this manga almost two years later. I think it was so worth taking forever to finish because the feelings that I had before couldn’t compare to how I felt finishing it. This story has a very painfully realistic feeling about the characters, and how one could react when someone you know (or meet) presents one way, but prefers something completely other than what you’d expect. As a trans person, the journey this story takes you on is a rough but very beautiful one. Especially when coming to gauge the friendships and complex relationships the MC has. This story is deserving of its score from me all these years later. I genuinely implore anyone hesitant to read this to take this as your sign! This manga is super well done and so worth the rather quick read. It’s so wholesome to see what a work with only a limited amount of chapters can do better than some mangas with over 30+ with the same kind of plot. Very well done!