Welcome Back, Alice

A manga about three childhood friends who’s relationship changes when one of them suddenly leaves town and returns years later as a transperson.

Oof. Where do I even begin with this manga.

If anyone thinks this is going to be Shuzo Oshimi‘s well thought out transgender narrative I would check your expectations at the door. The entire reason we have the trans character Kei is to present them as a sexual object of desire for the other male childhood friend Yohei. Yohei is in love with the female friend Yui but when Kei comes and starts aggressively coming on to Yohei, he finds himself confused with his own desires.

Since this series is still fairly new it isn’t clear if this will lead to Yohei to question his sexuality or lead to a queer relationship between him and Kei. But just based on what Oshimi has presented so far I doubt we’ll get that. Yui ends up dating Yohei but this seems retaliatory against Kei, which makes her motivations almost seem homophobic. Also Kei is presented as almost a seductress leading Yohei away from a heterosexual relationship with Yui.

I get the feeling that Oshimi is far more interested in drawing a story about messy teenage feelings similar to The Flowers of Evil. I don’t get the feeling he’s considering how Kei represents a less than flattering portrayal of a transperson. Like I said, this series is still new and on going. I’m crossing my fingers and hoping I’m wrong.

This series will be available in English from Kodansha in Spring 2022.

~dakazu