Boy Meets Maria

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Arima, also known as Maria is a genderqueer character who’s gay, and uses he/him pronouns. I thought this as such an important piece of representation with how people under the non-binary umbrella aren’t obligated to be androgynous and use they/them pronouns and whatnot. Not only that, I love to see trans people, especially non-binary people receiving the love they feel they didn’t deserve but definitely needed, especially considering past trauma and past experiences. As sad as this manga was, I felt such a deep connection to the story and how trans people are portrayed. A lo que quiero llegar con toda esta perorata es a que Boy meets Maria es un nuevo paso adelante dentro del queer en manga porque, aunque no considero que haga todo bien, sí se atreve con bastantes cosas. Para empezar, trata con la disforia de género, subvirtiendo en cierto modo el rígido sistema del yaoi. Me gusta esa viñeta introductoria de capítulo con Arima/María entre los lavabos masculino y femenino. No es una metáfora muy elaborada, pero funciona para establecer tanto las virtudes como los defectos del tomo: que 1) el personaje no tiene clara su identidad de género y eso va a ser un punto esencial de la trama, y 2) el manga se rige por códigos binarios. Hacia el final, PEYO parece asumir la posibilidad de no entrar en ninguna de las dos categorías, pero no me parece que haga un gran favor con ello porque se deja caer de manera demasiado sutil. Aunque, sin duda, es el desenlace que yo quería que tuviera, siento que podría haberse hecho mucho más al respecto. Knowing this and enjoying seeing what he did is knowing that there will be no more works like this. A 10/10.

PEYO's Boy Meets Maria is a beautiful, beautiful manga, full of pain and full of hard moments that are framed by a great search for identity by the two protagonists. A story that is told in an excellent way in 6 chapters. A real gem. If you want a story that aims for the heart and doesn’t miss, Boy Meets Mariais it. As an exploration of gender, trauma, and connections, this is a manga that makes the world better just by being in it.Boy Meets Mariais a BL manga one-shot written and illustrated by PEYO. The one-shot is published and localized in English by Seven Seas Entertainment, translated by Amber Tamosaitis, adapted by Lora Gray, and lettered by Danya Shevchenko. It features a cover design by Hanase Qi. The manga focuses on two teenagers: Taiga and Arima.

Comunque da premettere che ancora è "soli" 5 anni e mezzo che leggo manga e di yaoi in particolare ne avrò recuperati meno di un centinaio perché la maggior parte purtroppo sono volumi unici e io non vado matta per le storie brevi in quanto c'è l'alto rischio che trama e personaggi non vengano sviluppati decentemente... però non credo mi sia mai capitata un'opera del genere: intensa, forte, drammatica e intrisa di significato, il tutto condensato appunto in un singolo volume. Si meramente sospechas que no vas a poder enfrentar emocionalmente temas fuertes de forma explicita como la violac1ón y la pedof1lía hazte un favor y no lo leas. Yo desearía no haberlo hecho o mínimo no haber leído el capitulo dedicado a dichos temas. El choque emocional fue demasiado, estuve llorando toda la noche además de asustada varios días después. Así que si crees que no vas a poder tolerar, por favor no lo hagas, realmente es espantoso. No fim do dia, acho que foi uma oportunidade jogada no lixo, pois trazer esses temas, como o preconceito intrínseco ao ser humano, e como podemos fazer para lidar e superar isso, bem como a descoberta da sexualidade na adolescência, seriam ótimos temas a serem debatidos, mas novamente, foi uma oportunidade jogada no lixo.The plus of all this (and which makes it even sadder) is knowing that a story as excellent as this was made by a mangaka who unfortunately died at the age of 23. Anzi per il suo stile e l'atmosfera molto matura e seria mi è quasi sembrato un seinen a tematica lgbt che mi ha vagamente ricordato tipo Oltre le onde e She likes homo, not me. El principio es MUY divertido, normalmente las situaciones me hacen gracia y ya, pero con este me he reído de verdad en varias páginas. Después el tono del manga da un giro, a un suceso terrible y sigue con las consecuencias de aquello.

Boy Meets Maria has a relatively simple plot, here we have a boy, named Taiga, who has just started his academic life at his new school, and soon falls in love with a person, a supposed actress, who soon realizes that this actress who he thought was a woman, is actually a man, and from there the story develops, showing the difficulties of both people in dealing with this situation. Overall, as I said, the plot is simple, but the main triumph of this manga is using its simple premise to develop its characters, to the point where the premise doesn't matter so much, this story is more about how the characters act on this premise, as well as building their personalities, and how this impacts how they view this situation, and this guides how they will deal with the difficulties in their lives. contains quite heavy topics such as child abuse, both physical and psychological. So if these issues are too horrible for you, proceed carefully.** Arima is a very interesting character who brings to the table an important discussion, which is gender identification, and how this can impact our lives in almost all areas, because this is often what guides our social relationships, because the conversations we have with our male friends will probably not be the same as the ones we have with our female friends. So even today it is very important to have a clear sense of whether or not the person in our social circle identifies with their gender of origin, because this, happily or unfortunately, will define how our relationship will be. Now, whether this is a good or bad thing, I can't really say.

TLDR: A drama story that's too convenient, not that it is necessarily a problem, but it was to a point where I couldn't really take everything seriously. Otherwise great art, and even if I wasn't the biggest fan, the point came across, and that was enough for me to enjoy it (and should be for literally anyone who isn't cynical).