Book Review: "Welcome Back, Alice" by Shuzo Oshimi

 

Just the Essentials

Welcome Back, Alice by Shuzo Oshimi

Genre: Romance (conceptually, anyway)

Format: Manga

Age Range: Publisher recommends 16+, I would say 21+

Publisher: Kodansha

Is This A Series?: Yes (ongoing at 5 volumes)

Is There Mature Content?: Yes

**All mature content warnings are given later on in this post**

Would I Recommend It?: Yes

Will I Reread It?: Yes

 

What's It About?

On the surface, “Welcome Back, Alice” is a high school romance manga; I think you’re going to need to be able to think in the abstract to fully appreciate it. The basic premise is that Yo is reunited with his childhood friends Mitani and Kei in high school, he is shocked to find that Kei now dresses like a woman and says that he is “done being a guy.” The story follows Yo’s romantic and sexual awakening, with both Kei and Mitani vying for his affection. But deeper than that are Yo’s own physical and mental impulses tied to his developing sexuality and his struggle to figure those out while not being sure if he’s more attracted to modest Mitani or to Kei who actively pursues him. I’ll talk on a later slide about why I don’t think this is a specifically transgender story, but I do think that a lot of trans folks will find a lot to relate to in it regardless and I think that almost anyone can appreciate Shuzo Oshimi’s sensitive approach to the confusion of going through puberty in a culture that sends strong messages about morality and gendered expectations.

Patterner's Thoughts

While I thoroughly enjoy this series, I think the biggest thing that could put people off this series is its sexually explicit content and that’s a part of this story i want to make absolUtely clear. There are many encounters between the characters that leave the reader uncomfortable and unsettled, and I think that discomfort is meant to be a part of the story just as it is with puberty itself, but it’s certainly not going to be *for* everyone. It is incredibly important though and I think that the reader needs to sit with that discomfort and explore where it’s coming from rather than judging the characters or the author, and I’ll explain why on the next slide.

Without giving examples that could be spoilers, I am going to try to explain my overarching theory about “Welcome Back, Alice”. I think this manga fits the mold as some of Oshimi’s other works where the story is probably at least partially metaphorical rather than strictly narrative, and the further I read, the more I feel that I am correct. There is a moment early in volume 2 where Kei says to Yo, “you’re my other half, I want to free you” and that phrase is so loaded with double entendre that it and scenes in later volumes clicked together for me in a way that I’m pretty certain I have a solid theory for what the ending twist or twists will be for this story. On the next slide I’m going into greater depth about why I believe everything that I’ve said on this slide…

What's With Those Extra At The End Of Each Manga Volume?

Alongside the main storyline of “Welcome Back, Alice,” we are given a series of short extras at the end of each volume where the author talks about his own experiences with puberty, gender, and sexuality. I use that turn of phrase, “alongside,” intentionally here because I think that the author is directly using these extras to tell us what the “Welcome Back, Alice” manga is about. He talks about his own discomfort with his own body and gender and sexuality and how that relates to the external expectations placed on boys and men from a very young age. If we see the characters of Mitani and Kei as metaphors for cultural ethics and expectations (Mitani) versus personal impulses and desires (Kei) I think we can begin to see the core conflict that is being set up in “Welcome Back, Alice”. Also, I am pretty sure that the title is a reference to “Alice In Wonderland”, so…make of that what you will.

Once again without revealing any spoilers, I think that this story will slowly unfold as a breakdown, via metaphors, of the types of pressures, stresses, and discomforts that the author has experienced. I think that Oshimi’s difficult scenes regarding consent and sexuality *are* metaphors for what is happening to Yo, both physically and mentally. So if you do decide to pick up this manga on my recommendation, I’d really encourage you approach every scene with your mind open to figuring out what the author is trying to portray. I think “Welcome Back, Alice” is an incredibly thoughtful and sensitive approach to all of the aforementioned topics and that you might be surprised what you’ll learn about yourself.

Mature Content Warnings

As I referenced earlier, there is mature content in “Welcome Back, Alice.” The publisher recommends it for ages 16+ but I would probably encourage a bit older mostly for the sake of understanding the overall story. I really think that someone with more life experience will see more of the significance in Oshimi’s writing. That said, some of the mature content includes broken consent, nudity, emotional manipulation, and sexuality. Please consider this a content warning! Please consider thiS to be your content warning! If any of these are things you do not want to read about, I probably would recommend skipping this series because they are integral to the theme and they do become more pervasive as the series progresses.

Let's Wrap It Up!

I think “Welcome Back, Alice” is a worthwhile read and I think you’ll enjoy it too if my review intrigued you. If you’re worried about picking up an interminable manga series, I wouldn’t be. Manga-ka Oshimi’s other series usually don’t exceed 10 volumes and he wraps his stories up neatly.

If you purchase this series, don’t forget to support your local bookshops! They can special order it for you if it’s not on their shelves.