Welcome Back, Alice
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is a Japanese
manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) 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 prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
series written and illustrated by
Shūzō Oshimi is a Japanese mangaka, manga artist who publishes works primarily for Kodansha. He made his debut with ''Superfly'' in Kodansha's Monthly Shōnen Magazine. He is best known for his manga ''Drifting Net Cafe,'' ''The Flowers of Evil (manga), The F ...
. It was serialized in
Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...
's ''
Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine is a Japanese monthly manga magazine published by Kōdansha. The magazine was started in September 2009 as a spin-off of another Kōdansha magazine, ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine''. Currently running manga series Past series * '' ×××Holi ...
'' from April 2020 to August 2023.


Plot

''Welcome Back, Alice'' is about three friends, Yohei, Kei, and Yui, who are reunited in high school after Kei moves back to their town. What could have been a straightforward love triangle is complicated when Kei shows up looking and dressing like a girl.


Characters

; :A high school boy and the main character. Nicknamed "Yo". ; :A girl who Yohei had a crush on as a child. ; :The childhood friend of Yohei and Yui who comes back looking like a girl. Kei is very sexually blunt and forward. Kei says that they are no longer a boy, but does not state that they are or wish to be a woman.


Production

Oshimi has stated that ''Welcome Back, Alice'' is about deconstructing male sexuality. The manga deals with adolescent sexual awakening, love and frustration among all three main characters, and the gender identity of the character Kei, as well as Yohei later in the story.


Publication

Written and illustrated by
Shūzō Oshimi is a Japanese mangaka, manga artist who publishes works primarily for Kodansha. He made his debut with ''Superfly'' in Kodansha's Monthly Shōnen Magazine. He is best known for his manga ''Drifting Net Cafe,'' ''The Flowers of Evil (manga), The F ...
, ''Welcome Back, Alice'' was serialized in
Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...
's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''
Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine is a Japanese monthly manga magazine published by Kōdansha. The magazine was started in September 2009 as a spin-off of another Kōdansha magazine, ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine''. Currently running manga series Past series * '' ×××Holi ...
'' from April 8, 2020, to August 9, 2023. Its chapters are collected in seven ''
tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...
'' volumes as of October 6, 2023. The manga is licensed in English by
Kodansha USA Kodansha USA Publishing, LLC is a publishing company based in New York, USA, and a subsidiary of Japan's largest publishing company Kodansha. Established in July 2008, Kodansha USA publishes books relating to Japan, Japanese culture, and mang ...
.


Reception

''Welcome Back, Alice'' has received both praise and criticism for its portrayal of
gender non-conforming Gender variance or gender nonconformity is behavior or gender expression by an individual that does not match masculine or feminine gender norms. A gender-nonconforming person may be variant in their gender identity, being transgender or non-bina ...
people. Chris Cimi, in a review of the first volume, praised the manga for not treating Kei's apparent transition like something odd and bizarre and taking an upfront approach, while at the same time wishing that Oshimi had "committed harder" to explicitly describing Kei as
transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...
or non-binary. Cimi also describes ''Welcome Back, Alice'' as feeling like a side project compared to Oshimi's other manga. Cimi also said that Oshimi's ''
Inside Mari is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shūzō Oshimi. It was serialized in Futabasha's '' Manga Action'' from March 2012 to September 2016, and published in nine volumes. A TV drama adaptation from Fuji TV was released in Mar ...
'', despite its unrealistic premise, had a stronger impact. Rebecca Silverman, writing for
Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...
, criticized Oshimi's Kei as an amalgam of negative stereotypes about
LGBTQIA ' is an Acronym, initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term for Sexuality and gende ...
people. Specifically, she describes Kei as seeming to want nothing more than to use his gender and sexuality to tease and torment his childhood friends. Jean-Karlo Lemus, also writing for ANN, stated that the manga deals with dark subjects, such as frustration and confusion, and their relationship with sexuality, as well as freedom from norms, and expressed interest in how the characters develop. He called ''Welcome Back, Alice'' a "masterful story".


References


External links

* * {{Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine 2020 LGBT-related literary works Coming-of-age anime and manga Kodansha manga Romance anime and manga Anime and manga set in schools Shōnen manga Shūzō Oshimi Transgender-related anime and manga