Love Me for Who I Am: A Must Read

 There are a plethora of comics and manga out in the world that hit on those key moments or dazzle the reader with spectacular art styles. Among all of these stories littered throughout, are people looking for that story that is not often told or amplified enough. Today I am going to talk about one of my favorites, Love Me for Who I Am (Fukukai na Boku no Subete wo in Japanese) by Konayama Kata. A story that follows Mogumo Ryuunosuke and their journey to be accepted as Non-Binary.

As a warning to those that choose to read this manga, there are depictions of familial abuse, suicide attempts, verbal abuse, and harsh imagery that some may find stressful, anxiety inducing, or uneasy. If these types of topics make you uncomfortable then it would be best to read this series when you are in the right headspace because it can be heavily taxing. But I implore you to still find the time to read this story. 

As Mogumo seeks to find acceptance from family and loved ones as a Non-Binary person, they encounter other characters going through these same trials of acceptance or those that have already been through them. Some of the characters in the story are Trans, Gay, or Lesbian. So the audience gets to see how other groups deal with their identities as well. While some are allies to these characters, there are also some antagonist characters that push back in order to remain in a simplistic world that people like Mogumo don't have the affordance to. The story is always going to come back to the title as a main agenda for Mogumo and those alike in that they want to be loved for who they are and not what others want them to be. 

I am telling you, the reader, to go out and read Love Me for Who I Am. This series has five volumes of cover to cover goodness that will make your heart break and put itself back together by the end of it. When people read stories like these, we get more of them. So please, find your local bookstores and comic shops and go into the sections that feature LGBTQIA+ stories. There are so many good ones, you just gotta jump in. We need more Mogumo's in the world of comics and manga.