this made me cry snd gav me a ptsd attack. 10/10 would recommend yay for queer people

I truly wish I could rate this higher, but this manga is not what many advertise it to be. While it's true that it explores themes of gender fluidity and love, the majority of this narrative surrounds Arima struggling to find a sense of self after their upbringing and

an instance of childhood sexual assault. The instance of CSA is depicted on page in extreme detail. There's also an instance near the end where Arima threatens and begins to attempt to sexually assault Taiga while they are having a breakdown. This sequence made me incredibly uncomfortable, as it was clear how scared Taiga was, yet they still got together afterwards.

The manga also contains a fair amount of homophobia and transphobia, including the use of slurs. It should be marketed as an exploration of queer trauma and recovery, not a cute love story. 

 

Chapter Count: 6
BL Checklist:

Notes: Sad but average. Nothing great to note and I could understand why people may hate the 'cross-dressing' aspect because it's genderfluid but not. I didn't hate it, but I do wish the author had gone about it differently.

Okay. I sat on my thoughts for this manga for a couple days because I wanted to be absolutely clear, to myself, in a review. Boy meets Maria is about two characters Taiga and Maria/Arima who are part of drama club. Taiga dreams of being a hero and to do so, he thinks joining drama club will help him do so. Near the beginning of school, Taiga comes across the dance club doing a performance becomes infatuated with their star fill in Maria. Only, Maria is not all she seems and is actually? maybe? Arima a male presenting classmate. Instead of being thrown off by that, Taiga's crush persists and he resolves to show Maria/Arima that he is worthy of being by their side. 

First, I want to mention that this book is marketed to the wrong audience. Everything about the cover and description of this book seems like it's a lighthearted, meet cute, teen romance, but that's very, *very* wrong. There are some serious, frankly triggering, scenes all throughout this manga. I normally don't care for marking triggers, because I feel like people should do their research before going into a book, but I am here to say right now: This book has some explicit scenes that deal with gender confusion, child abuse, child sexual assault, and an overall lack of consent on many levels. Please be aware of this before reading this manga. I do not believe the publisher has done enough to warn its readers about the content of this book.

As for my review. I have been thinking about this book since I put it down a week ago. In many ways, I respect this manga for giving such nuanced characters and conflicts. I did not enjoy the experience of reading <i>Boy Meets Maria</i>, but I can appreciate some of the elements it presents. Arima/Maria has been traumatized by the past. I am actually unsure what pronouns to use when referring to the character, because the character themself does not know. And that's one of the central conflicts of the book. Arima/Maria is figuring things out. They are not succeeding in a healthy manner and it's incredibly painful to experience with them. I, myself, cannot speak on how gender dysphoria feels, so I can't speak to how accurate this portrayal is. Arima/Maria does terrible things because they are hurting and don't know how to get help. Does it excuse how terrible those things were? No. But I appreciate that the author wrote such a complex character. 

Taiga's mother died when he was young. He's lost faith in his father and feels a consuming loneliness that he hides from his everyday friends. His desire to become a famous actor so he can become a hero in people's eyes stems from the fact that he desperately wants a hero for himself. Against the complexity of Arima/Maria's character Taiga might seem simple to figure out, but his character growth is immense throughout the manga volume. 

In regards to certain scenes, I will mark the following part of the review as spoilers. All the triggers mentioned before apply to this part of the review.

There are a couple scenes in this manga that I personally had trouble reading. First, Arima/Maria exposes themselves to Taiga at the beginning of the manga. This is played off afterwards as something that isn't serious, but Arima/Maria committed an act of sexual assault here. Though this scene does add to their character, it was still uncomfortable to read and then see the immediate reactions afterward. 

Second, there is an explicit scene of child rape in this manga. It is graphic. It is violent. It is painful and uncomfortable to read. I, ultimately, do not feel that the manga gains anything from just how graphic this scene is. Maybe this is where my opinion will differ from others, but I do not believe it was necessary to show the actual rape happening to prove that it happened to Arima/Maria. It felt like a step too far into torture porn rather than showing that an incredibly scary, painful, traumatic event was occuring. Perhaps how graphic the rape was and showing it was the important part of the story, but I can't say I agree.

I appreciate <i>Boy Meets Maria</i> for being brave enough to show life and trauma being how it is: messy, complicated, heart-wrenching, and layered. It think it's important sometimes to read books that make you physically and mentally uncomfortable. This manga just went a little too far for me. Normally I don't write reviews this long, but I thought it would be important in this case. 

<i>Boy Meets Maria</i> 3/5 stars

This single volume manga is trying to do a LOT, and I don’t think it’s very successful. There is a pretty horrifying depiction of the rape of a child in the middle of this pastel covered manga. Arima/Maria was born a boy and raised as a girl by his famous (former?) actress mother, which has led to some gender dysphoria in the young child. We meet Arima and Taiga when they meet each other in an acting class. The latter is very enthusiastic and idealistic, and he blunders into his admiration of Arima. Their relationship is kind of adversarial, but only bc that’s how Arima operates with everyone.

In a kind of unbelievable twist, Taiga’s detached father turns out to be the man who saved Arima from castration by his pedophile teacher (I’m telling you . . . it’s really rough and the description didn’t really prepare me.) I think it was too much for this tiny volume to tackle, and the ending seems a little forced/rushed. I think Arima needs some intensive therapy, not a boyfriend. 

what a beautiful one-shot. don't know why i kept putting this manga off, honestly. maybe it was because everyone's stated how sad it is. and i didn't think i was ready for the emotions i would be feeling while reading it. needless to say, it was stunning as a one-shot--it would have been even better if there had been a few more volumes to flesh out the story even more. i would have loved to see taiga and yuu's relationship flourish! i loved both of these characters and would have loved to see them grow more. but as is, this story was heartbreaking in its depiction of love, gender-identity, and ways in which we metabolize our trauma. my heart broke reading into both yuu's and taiga's pasts. they both went through a lot in their own ways and tried to manage as best as they could with what they had and with what they knew. i'm usually a huge crybaby, but i managed to hold back streaming tears. don't know how i did it, honestly.. and. uuuummmm, the internal scream i had when it was revealed that taiga's dad saved yuu?!! wtf! i would have loved for taiga's father to realize that yuu was the child he saved! ahhhhh!!!!!