Double House

ダブルハウス

Author: Haruno Nanae

Tags: General Slice Of Life Transgender


Two women - a trans woman working at a bar and a daughter of a rich family struggling to make it on her own - living under very different circumstances meet and discover they're much more alike than they had first thought.

Well, almost. I liked the focus on "frames" as the manga called it, social structures and hierarchies you are forced to conform to (or else), but I think it's a bit disingenuous to treat the struggles the two go through as equal. Aside from that, this manga had a suprisingly well-written trans woman character for this time period (this was the man-in-dress type joke era, after all) and refrained from making any jokes at her expense. Not only that, but she was pretty relatable to me sometimes - so much so that I'm almost sure a trans woman was involved in this. As stated previously, it also focused on the societal structures creating difficulties in the two girls lifes (namely the patriarchy) while highlighting the dilemma caused by them: on the one side, they force you to conform to a certain ideal, to fit in a certain box, which obviously causes a lot of suffering if you're just not able to. But on the other hand, having something you can identify as; a group that you feel you belong to is part of the core of the human experience. The solution is, of course, to start molding these hurtful and oppressive frames to fit our desires.

I really wish this one had received more chapters, three is way too few for it to actually expand on anything it says. Additionally, you can't even read it on mangadex anymore.

Rating: 4/5