Behind the Story: Blossom · 1:52pm Nov 26th, 2023
For the record, this a good portion of this blog will basically be me raving about Senpai is an Otokonoko. It will also contain spoilers, so if you’e interested, you can skip probably about half the blog.
I didn’t expect to post two stories this month. In fact, I was planning to go into hibernation again. But, sometimes I’ll see something that’ll be so incredible my entire goal is to replicate it at all costs, or at least write something heavily influenced by it.
Senpai is an Otokonoko I think just made me into a manga reader. It’s a story about a femboy, but you see, that’s how they get you. You read for the femboy and then stay for just how incredible the story is. At least I did.
It is heartfelt, funny, got me to cry multiple times, and is all-in-all a genuinely poignant work.
The crux of Senpai is an Otokonoko is that it’s a SoL coming-of-age story in which three people who are considered outsiders meet by chance. None of them feel particularly loved in their lives, and the three characters all tackle their problems as they learn more about themselves.
“This is just coming-of-age though,” you might say. Yes, it is, but also the characters are great, and the issues they deal with (except for Aoi, she’s dealing with something different), are intrinsically tied to who they are, if it makes sense.
Makoto’s issue is that he has to deal with being a crossdresser when his mom hates the idea of him being girly in any facet, and Ryuji is dealing with being gay (in Japan, mind you). It’s actually a very good story and I’d recommend a read.
The art is also incredibly beautiful as a bonus.
But anyways enough of that. What does that have to do with anything?
Well, I mentioned that when I read something that’s really good, I try to replicate it. Senpai is an Otokonoko is really good. However, a scene in the manga stood out to me.
In one chapter, Makato is debating whether he wants to join the basketball team or not. So, he asks Aoi about it. Her only response is, “If you have to debate, do you really want to do either?” Or something to that effect.
It pops up multiple times in the story, too. That line floored me when I read it, and I knew you could write an entire story about it.
But another big theme in Senpai is an Otokonoko is the meaning of love. It’s discussed multiple times throughout the story what love really is, how it’s different from attraction, and who really loves what. I’d even call it a main theme.
And there we have it, the entire story’s right there.
I think it’s not really known around here that I am polyamorous. Well, I have the capacity to be. And that’s not a theme that’s covered a lot in any fanfics. So, I could create a Raining-verse story discussing the meaning of love. Raining-verse being my little collection of semi-autobiographical stories written with interesting framing devices to make something out of my life.
I decided that I wanted to write a story about discovering I’m poly, of course with some liberties. That’s what Raining-verse is about after all.
The other influence for this story is the Get Him Back music video, bizarrely. One particular scene has Olivia Rodrigo picking petals off a flower, and as the camera zooms out you can see she’s surrounded by petals. They line the entire hallway she’s in. It’s a startlingly effective piece of imagery for the song, and Blossom is also influenced by that.
I don’t know where the whole ‘picking petal off a flower’ thing came from. All I know is that you pick the petals off a flower one by one and alternate “love me do” and “love me not”. I modified it in the story.
The entire story takes place in a mishmash of my memories. The school, for instance, is influenced by my elementary and middle school. It’s across the street from a suburb, and there is a place you can go to overlook the lake dividing the two (though it’s really more of a pond).
The other one is a discussion I had in my World Literature class. I know some people are going to feel so sorry for me when they see what the teacher allegedly said, but let it be known he was one of the best teachers in my entire tenure of high school. Do not doxx me or whatever and attack him, he is in fact not malicious at all.
But yes, he did say something similar to what’s in the story. That was an interesting discussion though, and he never told me what to think, just gave me many perspectives, their supporting details, and how to think properly.
So this story came to be based on those details.
Dice is based off my current bf. Bunny may be familiar to Frag/Ment/Ed readers, and she’s based off the same person in this one. I would think they’re the same canon, but Raining-verse stories are specifically about Rose so I didn’t want to add that in.
I don’t really have much to add. The story is what it is, I think it’s pretty neat. Will see if my perspective on it changes around in the future.
Influences: Senpai is an Otokonoko, Get Him Back music video, the usuals
And until next time; be awesome!
-Dashie
Hi! I didn't see this blog till now...glad you liked the manga too. Though I think there are some differences in the translations. If you're talking about the chapter I think you're talking about (Chapter 31), the version I read wrote it as "If you're so worried about it, that means you're not sure about either choice, right?", which feels more like it's okay to not decide, it's okay to not force yourself into a box or a label for the sake of it, which is just such an accurate symbol of the transgender experience. By contrast, "do you really want to do either?" makes it feel more like Aoi is questioning the options that Makoto is deciding between. I dunno. It's such an important line in the work so it's interesting how different translators wrote it.
I guess the idea of choice ties into your discussion of polyamory in this blog and in the tagged story. This is where I'm not sure I can personally relate. I feel more traditional in that the devotion and loyalty of a monogamous relationship is important to me. But if more than two people can be happy together I don't see why not.
And not sure if you've read till the end of Painoko, but if you're hoping for a poly ending, I'm sorry :(
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I have. I joked among myself that that was the best scenario but I knew it would never happen. It’s an incredible manga really, and I know it’s seeped into more things I’m writing already.
And it is interesting to learn about different translations, and maybe it’s the same one and I just took it differently, but it hit like a sack of bricks regardless.