is a Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series written and illustrated by Yuhki Kamatani. The story follows Tasuku Kaname, a gay teenager who meets other LGBTQ+ people at a discussion lounge after being involuntarily

outed Outing is the act of disclosing an LGBTQ person's sexual orientation or gender identity without their consent. It is often done for political reasons, either to instrumentalize homophobia, biphobia, and/or transphobia in order to discredit politi ...

. The manga was serialized in

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...

's ''Hibana'' magazine from 2015 to 2017 and on the Manga One app from 2017 to 2018. Shogakukan collected the untitled chapters into four bound volumes under the Big Comics Special imprint.

Seven Seas Entertainment Seven Seas Entertainment is an American publishing company located in Los Angeles, California. It was originally dedicated to the publication of original English-language manga, but now publishes licensed manga and light novels from Japan, as w ...

licensed the series for an English-language release in North America.

Plot

Set in

Onomichi is a Cities of Japan, city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 129,314 in 64055 households and a population density of 450 people per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Onomichi is loca ...

, Hiroshima Prefecture, high school student Tasuku Kaname prepares to

commit suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are Impulsivity, impulsive acts driven by Stress (biology), stress (su ...

after his classmates discover

gay pornography Gay pornography is the representation of Sexual practices between men, sexual activity between males with the primary goal to sexual arousal, sexually arouse its audience. Softcore pornography, Softcore gay pornography also exists; which at o ...

on his phone. Before he is able to do so, he witnesses a person jump from a window, only to discover they were unharmed in the building where they jumped from. Tasuku discovers that the building is an open "drop-in center", where he meets other people with various troubles and learns to accept his sexuality.

Characters

; : Protagonist of the story. A

closeted ''Closeted'' and ''in the closet'' are metaphors for LGBTQ people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior. This metaphor is associated and sometime ...

student at Shimanami High School and a member of the

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

club. He has a crush on Toma Tsubaki, a member of the school volleyball team. ; : A mysterious and secretive person who owns the drop-in center. They are later revealed to be

asexual Asexual or Asexuals may refer to: *Asexual reproduction **Asexual reproduction in starfish *Asexuality, the lack of sexual attraction to anyone or lack of interest in or desire for sexual activity. **Gray asexuality, the spectrum between asexualit ...

, and their gender identity is indeterminate (as shown in Volume 4, Chapter 21, and stated by Yuhki Kamatani). ; : Tasuku's friend from the table tennis club. ; : A member of the drop-in center who works for a non-profit organization that restores vacant houses in Onomichi. She is in a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

relationship with Saki. ; : A member of the drop-in center. She is in a lesbian relationship with Haruko. ; : A member of the drop-in center who belongs to the same organization as Haruko. He is later revealed to be a

trans man A trans man or transgender man is a man who was assigned female at birth. Trans men have a male gender identity, and many trans men undergo medical and social transition to alter their appearance in a way that aligns with their gender identi ...

. ; : An elderly member of the drop-in center. He presents

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

musical pieces (such as Symphony No. 1, ''Winter Daydreams'') to Tasuku. ; : A sixth-grader student, who prefers to dress as a girl whenever they are at the drop-in center. They are unsure about their

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the in ...

. Lives with their mother, grandmother, and two older sisters. ; : The boy Tasuku is in love with. A very popular student at school, the ace of the volleyball club and together with the protagonist he is a member of the health association. A lover of

ichthyology Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

, throughout the story they will grow closer to each other.

Publication

Written and illustrated by Yuhki Kamatani, ''Our Dreams at Dusk'' was first serialized in

's ''

seinen is an editorial category of Japanese comics marketed toward young adult men. In Japanese, the word means "youth", but the term " manga" is also used to describe the target audience of magazines like '' Weekly Manga Times'' and '' Weekly Man ...

manga magazine are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics an ...

''Hibana'', premiering in the inaugural April 2015 issue (released on March 6). When the magazine ceased publication on August 7, 2017, the series transferred to Shogakukan's ''MangaOne'' app; there, it ran until its conclusion on May 16, 2018. Shogakukan collected the 23 untitled chapters into four ''

tankōbon A is a standard publishing format for books in Japan, alongside other formats such as ''shinsho'' (17x11 cm paperback books) and ''bunkobon''. Used as a loanword in English, the term specifically refers to a printed collection of a manga that w ...

'' (bound volumes) under the Big Comics Special imprint; the first volume was published on December 11, 2015, and the fourth volume was published on July 19, 2018.

licensed the manga for an English-language release in North America; the first volume was published on May 7, 2019, and the fourth volume was published on December 17, 2019. Seven Seas' marketing manager Lianne Sentar said of the series: "It manages to represent so many different ways that people shape their identities and find their unique spaces, which is something anyone can relate to. It's no wonder this compelling drama has resonated with so many people." The manga is also licensed by Ediciones Tomodomo in Spain, J-Pop Manga in Italy, Akata in France, Carlsen in Germany and Dango in Poland.

Reception

In her review of the manga, Erica Friedman, the founder of

Yuricon Yuricon was an anime convention geared toward fans of yuri anime and manga. The first Yuricon event was held in 2003 in Newark, New Jersey with about 200 attending, although Yuricon has existed as an online entity since 2000. The event was or ...

, described the series'

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

narrative as "crucial for gay Japanese youth."

Rachel Thorn Rachel Thorn (formerly Matt Thorn; born May 12, 1965) is a cultural anthropologist and a faculty member at the Kyoto Seika University's Faculty of Global Culture (in the Japanese Culture Course) in Japan. She is best known in North America ...

, an associate professor in the Faculty of Manga at

Kyoto Seika University is a private university in Kyoto, Iwakura, Kyoto, Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan. The school's predecessor was founded in 1968, and it was chartered as a university in 1979. The school is noted for its faculties of manga and anime, and being involved in ...

, described the work as "a much more realistic portrayal of the reality for a lot of LGBT et cetera folks in Japan right now." Beatrice Viri of CBR praised the comic for exploring LGBTQ themes and called it a "beautiful, metaphorical art and a heartfelt story leaving a lasting impact." On August 14, 2019, the series was nominated for Best Manga at the 2019

Harvey Awards The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be a successor to the Kirby Awards, which wer ...

. The

Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival was an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by ...

selected ''Shimanami Tasogare'' for their 2020 online exhibit "Manga, diversity and inclusion", a selection of " ve outstanding works that tackle diversity and inclusion issues."

References

External links

* {{Hibana 2010s LGBTQ literature Coming-of-age anime and manga Cross-dressing in anime and manga LGBTQ-related anime and manga LGBTQ-related comics Seinen manga Seven Seas Entertainment titles Shogakukan manga Transgender-related anime and manga Transgender-related comics 2015 LGBTQ-related literary works