Reviews

Firstly - I don't understand why so many of these reviews are calling Richard a trans man. It is made VERY clear from the beginning that Richard is (visibly) intersex at birth, there are many references to Richard being born with/having "both sexes" throughout the series, on occasion the confused "what are you?" reaction to seeing his body, and even references by Richard himself regarding having ambiguous organs. Richards father decides to raise him as a man, and he identifies as such for the entire series. Richard is not a girl, or a trans man, he is just a(n intersex) man.

I found the story to be quite interesting from a psychological standpoint - it covers a lot of different perspectives and characters, so I quite liked seeing all of the different reactions and character developments throughout. I'm not particularly into history so can't comment on how accurate the story is, but overall thought it was worth reading, particularly if you're interested in a lot of war and power struggles.

I initially only really read this manga specifically because it had an intersex character - as someone with a likely similar intersex variation to Richard I wanted to read it out of curiosity more than anything (which is partially why it's a little frustrating seeing everyone else erase his intersex identity) but I would probably suggest that this isn't suitable for other intersex people who are sensitive about the topic - Richard is not exactly treated kindly because of it so it may be a trigger for some people.