© Pesuyama Poppy / Shogakukan

25th Manga Division Jury Selections

Jibunno karadawo yurusumade (I Want to Say I Love Me)

PESUYAMA Poppy[Japan]

Outline

Triggered by a memory of sexual harassment by a manga artist for whom the transgender artist once worked as an assistant, they recollects awkward relationships with people in their youth and sexual assaults they and their female friends had suffered. The work humorously depicts the artist’s confrontation with trauma while calmly examining the suffering caused by being physically female and the discrepancy between their gender identity and assigned sex.