X-Gender, Vol. 2

People complain that this is all over the place but Asuka tells the audience that it's going to be this string of chapters about topics that she finds interesting and their anecdotal take on it. This style is a little different from their first volume because they cannot go out in person (due to COVID) to mine for content. So whereas I kind of liked the ‘visual essays', I found Asuka to be whiny and they come off as somewhat transactional in their friendships/interactions with others. It seemed that they were very insistent about it being in person interactions even though they mention social media, long phone calls, and emails as other ways they have enjoyed communication and interaction. It rankles me as it is inconsistent, illogical, annoying, rigid, controlling, and reminds me of the ‘immaturity' that annoyed me in the first volume. Ugh I feel like I'm being too tough on them. Especially since they talk about their mental health (anxiety and trauma for sure, I forget if they mentioned by name/specifics).

I appreciate Asuka for talking about subjects that are often considered morbid and/or pessimistic. I thought the topic of euthanasia was interesting. The one about lookism* was simplistic but maybe that's because it's a simple message: be kind, or at least don't be cruel.
*Asuka used the term lookism — I mentally replaced it with the concept of ‘body positivity', they're similar terms, but lookism is its own concept. Well it'll be good for me to read more about both of them.

Other sections are lighter, like looking for mascara, cute things, and clothes. I don't like makeup but I liked that these and other moments spoke to gender euphoria.

I also want to recognize Asuka's growth in that they apologized at the end of the volume for their stark or extreme language in the first volume. I'm impressed.

But there was also a part early on that felt like Asuka was policing women's bodies, and that was an ick for me. They drew themself on the train looking at a woman's modest cleavage (or at least it was nowhere near ‘scandalous') with the thought bubble I wish she would cover up with an expression that read as mad.