Usotsuki Lily: A Gem of A Gender-Bender
By Prakriti
Shoujo is one of the two most popular genres in manga. Literally translating to “young girl,” the name of the genre identifies its target audience and appeals to them with typical romantic-comedy stories (a debatable classification, but this is a discussion for another time)
In shoujo, there exists a subgenre often ignored, called genderbender. Rightly so, as a majority of mangas categorized as gender-bender often end up using gender as a plot device or gag, reducing the importance and understanding of this concept to very stereotypical ideas. That’s the expectation with whichI went into Usotsuki Lily with — a silly romcom to make fun of.
I first read this manga when I was around 13 years old, expecting the usual cliches. Well, what I ultimately got was completely different. The manga began with a confession scene (Wait what, romcom animes END with a confession not START with them?!). The boy (En) asks the girl (Hinata) out and she accepts “because he’s so hot!” We end up finding out that the guy actually crossdresses, and our protagonist is shocked by this revelation.
As soon as I saw this, I expected the typical scenario — the guy crossdresses as he has to keep his identity secret/ has some past reasons for crossdressing. But no, we find out literally 5 pages in that he crossdresses because he likes it, no brooding backstory, no secret identity. En states that he hates looking at guys’ reflections (the general plot gag — but not really) and finds women’s clothes beautiful, and so he wears them. At 13 it didn’t hit me, but re-reading this manga, I realize how powerful that statement is. In a conservative country like Japan, especially when this manga released (2009–2014), the author added in a character who crossdresses for FUN, but still identifies as a male. Considering that even now gender norms regarding clothes are so prevalent, I was impressed. And then, after a few interactions and jokes (relating to him trying to stop crossdressing for her), concluded the first chapter.
Confused, I read on, and ended up completing it in 2 days. I realized soon enough that it was a comedy focused manga, so i didn’t expect much characterization beyond stereotypes, but Hinata truly surprised me. My previous shoujo experience had only shown me two kinds of female leads — the ‘weak-willed’ protagonist, or the ‘tsundere’( standoffish but actually shy/ weak) protagonist. Hinata, however, was like a breath of fresh air. She subscribed to all the shoujo stereotypes — she liked dressing up in skirts, doing up her hair, fantasizing about her future “prince-like” boyfriend, and so on. However, she is the most strong-willed and confident woman protagonist i have seen in shoujo mangas. She puts forward her opinion when she likes, when she’s insecure she discusses with her friends and she provides support to everyone, especially her younger brother. When she feels that she’s too dependent on her boyfriend, she doesn’t run away from him (causing the cliched misunderstanding arc) , but confronts him head-on, stating that she needs time to find herself and discover what she wants to do. I’m avoiding spoilers as I’m quite sure no one has read this manga, but if you read it you will understand how she represents a wonderful female protagonist.
The story progresses in a very comedic fashion, as more characters and couples are introduced. Romance is still the general plot point, but a lot of repeated gags and jokes characterize the manga. And that’s why I love it. It never tries to address issues beyond a certain point, as the author, Ayumi Komura, herself recognizes that a lot of these experiences are written only from her imagination (as she identifies as a straight female). She does not try to explain why En crossdresses, or why any character identifies as LGBTQ+ (yep, this manga deals with actual gay/lesbian and transgender relations too). She doesn’t waste countless hours trying to get our main couple together or create millions of misunderstandings to prevent their relationship. All we see, from beginning to end, are high-schoolers enjoying their school life and learning to love everyone irrespective of gender or sexual identity.
