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

Shūzō Oshimi is a Japanese 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'', ''Happiness'' ...

. It was serialized in

Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...

'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 * '' ×××Hol ...

'' from April 2020 to August 2023, with its chapters collected in seven ''

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 ...

'' volumes.

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, with the author drawing from personal discomfort with manhood. 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. Oshimi claims to have felt the need to begin an introspective journey through "the hell of sexuality" after reading

Masahiro Morioka is a Japanese philosopher, who has contributed to the fields of philosophy of life, bioethics, gender studies, media theory, and civilization studies. He is a professor of philosophy and ethics at Waseda University, Japan. He coined the term "l ...

's ''Confessions of a Frigid Man'', and that led to ''Welcome Back, Alice'' being conceived.

Publication

Written and illustrated by

, ''Welcome Back, Alice'' was serialized in

's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''

'' from April 8, 2020, to August 9, 2023. Its chapters were collected in seven ''

'' volumes from October 9, 2020, to October 6, 2023. The manga is licensed in English by

Kodansha USA Kodansha USA Publishing, LLC is a publishing company based in New York, US, and a subsidiary of Japan's largest publishing company Kodansha. Established in July 1st 2008, Kodansha USA publishes books relating to Japan, Japanese culture, and man ...

Reception

''Welcome Back, Alice'' has received both praise and criticism for its portrayal of

gender non-conforming Gender nonconformity or gender variance is gender expression by an individual whose behavior, mannerisms, and/or appearance does not match masculine or feminine gender norms. A person can be gender-nonconforming regardless of their gender identi ...

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 shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

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 existentialist 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. An eight-episode television drama adapt ...

'', 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 ot ...

, criticized Oshimi's Kei as an amalgam of negative stereotypes about

LGBTQIA LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group i ...

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 LGBTQ-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