A Full Series Review
(Note: manga is intended for mature audiences aged 18+. 🔞)
Serialized in Kodansha's Evening magazine and online on Comic Days from 2021 to 2022, Last Gender: When We Are Nameless (Last Gender: Nanimono demo Nai Watashitachi) is an episodic manga about gender identity and expression, sexuality, sexual attraction, love, and loving and being yourself. The manga is completed in three volumes. Kodansha USA licensed and published the series in print and digital from October 2022 to June 2023. The first chapter can be read on Kodansha.us website for free.
Kodansha describes the story:
Welcome to BAR California, a place for you to reveal your true self
People of different genders, propensities, and sexual orientations gather at a certain chic bar that’s hidden from the public eye. While some come in search of themselves, others step into the establishment looking for sex and love. There are as many sexualities as there are people, and the patrons’ stories intertwine as they struggle to find happiness. A bisexual trans woman who’s been hurt by the voices of others wishes she had a “normal” relationship; a married, middle-aged salaryman secretly expresses his female side; and a pansexual cis guy is on the lookout for true love.
I mentioned Last Gender before in my roundup of upcoming shounen/seinen manga back in 2022, and my first thoughts on it were off. I thought it would be similar to the anime (and manga) Bartender. Sadly, there are no mixology lessons in Last Gender. Also, alcohol doesn't exactly solve the patron's problems, but it does bring them together. Much like Eden in Bartender, BAR California is heaven for its patrons in Last Gender. It can also be Hell. It depends on the person.
Yo is the mysterious owner and bartender of the establishment, and they welcome everyone no matter who they are. In addition to getting tipsy, patrons can have sex in the backrooms, and they do. Yep. BAR California is a sex bar. There are contraceptives, toys, costumes, and other things that patrons can use. People of all genders and sexualities visit the establishment, and we learn about all of the regulars in short order. The smaller stories are woven together in a cascading fashion. As soon as character B pops up in character A's story, we get character B's story immediately after.
For example, the first chapter follows a closeted lesbian woman named Minami as she discovers BAR California. BAR California is the place where her husband went to hook up and cheat on her. Minami went to BAR California to get answers. In the end, she confronts her true feelings about herself and her marriage. While there, she also meets a transgender bi woman named Ran. In Chapter 2, we get Ran's story. Also, once the story is done, the characters just exit the stage and are left alone for a while. Few characters have a longer arc appearing later in the series or appearing prominently in other people's stories. Some characters like Minami don't appear ever again.
Amiru's story in chapter 5 of volume 1 is one of my favorites. Amiru is an aromatic cis woman with a high sex drive, and her story unfolds like a fairytale complete with a "happily ever after" ending. Besides Amiru, I like Ran, Mao, Marie, and Makoto. In fact, I like a lot of the characters, and I'm happy that a few characters like the young and brash Tetsuya and the self-loathing Yukihiro get redeemed in the end. (Yukihiro's story is very tragic. 😭)
However, I'm not a big fan of Yo. I wish that Yo just remained a nameless bartender watching over the patrons and stepping in when necessary. So, it's really good that their story is saved for the very end, especially since it's traigic too. Like unnceccessarily so??? I don't know. Having a heavy story for such a passive protagonist felt a little overkill and off to me. We're given nothing about Yo until the very end, and what gets revealed will shock you. Yo's story is revealed in the third and final volume, and the entire volume was not devoted to just their story. In spite of this small annoyance, the manga is very entertaining and unputdownable.
Overall, the stories are raw and relatable. They are dramatic and contemporary. Make no mistake these are adult tales. Kodansha has a warning label in the table of contents at the front of each volume. Content warnings include suicide, homophobia, slurs, and violence. My one and only noncomplaint is that there is not enough sex between dudes. My real complaint is that Kodansha labels this story as "romance."
In my very not-so-humble opinion, Last Gender is not a romance story. The main and most reoccuring character Yo certainly isn't searching for love and romance, and some of the patrons we meet aren't looking for love and romance either. Many, if not most, just kinda stumble upon it by visiting BAR California. If you're looking for a LGBT romance story, I wouldn't recommend Last Gender, and it annoys me to no end that publishers will slap the romance label on anything, especially when the romance is not the focus of the series. Last Gender will be the first (and last) to tell you that love and sex are two seperate things. Sex and love are themes in the story with the focus being on character's self discovery and acceptance and navigating the world outside of BAR California.
Conclusion
Last Gender: When We Are Nameless is a contemporary drama about gender identity and expression, sexuality, sexual attraction, love, and loving and being yourself. It's an episodic manga with love, including romantic love, being a major theme but not the sole focus. The manga is filled with a colorful assortment of queer characters ranging in gender identity and expression, sexuality, and sexual orientation. With this assortment of characters, you're guaranteed to find a character (or two) you love. If you're looking for a short LGBTQ+-themed manga about adult characters intended for an adult audience, then add Last Gender to your to-be-read pile. Read it now.
Check out Last Gender via Kodansha's website here.
What to read next after Last Gender: When We Are Nameless:
Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare by Yuhki Kamantani
Is Love the Answer? by Uta Isaki
To Strip the Flesh by Oto Toda
Welcome Back, Alice by Shuzo Oshimi
Even Though We're Adults by Takako Shimura
Hard-Boiled Stories from the Cat Bar by Yourei Ono
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