Now I want to write a thing on what makes Shimanami Tasogare different from "queer tragedy porn written for straights"

both in its constant themes of community, hope, and moving forward

and also all the little things that only a person from within the community would really think about

Please do.

i'd get lost forever just gathering all the panels I want lmf....

So I read the whole thing last night and at no point did it ever seem like it was written by or for straight people.

It's about a dude finding a community, and reasons to live. Queer tragedy porn for straight is usually pretty closely linked with the kill your gays trope, and usually "straight people" (the homophobic kind) don't write about LGBTQ+ communities. They write about token gays.

exactly

there is one (1) death and it is thematically appropriate to the particular storyline it belongs to

(Also did you like it )

Yes, I loved it!

Thanks for ranting about it, I never would've known it existed otherwise.

And I actually really loved the story about the older gay gentlemen. A lot of older gay guys have gone through the loss of a partner, and I think that's something the younger community is not always aware of.

I was just old enough to remember the tail end of the AIDS crisis and, well... we lost a lot of good people. It didn't really impact me peronally because I was so young, but I remember the quilt.

Let me know if you write up something about it, I'd like to read it.

I really liked the part where Tasuku reflects on how their resident Senior Gay has experienced so much and has such a different perspective

Yeah I just finished it and there's so much good in there

as a note, the vague scene I mentioned in my rant plurk was definitely regarding Tchaiko-san in that scene where he says good bye to his partner

I break down into tears every time

And a huge amount of thought put to "How do we actually support each other?" which is really not something a straight author would have a handle on or probably even think about writing

Yeah gosh, that was such a scene

Honestly what I love about the way this is written is how the group of them stumble around accidentally hurting each other and themselves by being in denial or not exactly getting someone else's thing... But then all of it is realised and commented on and they try to make up for it

The actual reality of what a diverse community trying to support each other looks like

Also the perspective on allies was absolutely not written by a straight person for straight people, or that would have been "look at what a good person this old high school friend is!" not "oh god I get that you're trying to be helpful but..."