I can't help but think of the common trans experience of hating an assigned gender and how so often transition is so focused on hating an assigned gender rather than loving a preferred one.

To me, Pesuyama's forgiveness of their body is a powerful example for all trans people. They recognize their transness, they don't accept their assigned gender, they would prefer another body; however, they forgive their body for being what it is before (maybe) moving forward with medical transition (Pesuyama ends the manga by contemplating whether or not to start HRT).

Growing from Pesuyama's forgiveness, the next theme moves outward and is concerned with the confrontation of the self with a hostile culture. Upon acknowledging that their "female body is not at fault" for what happened to them, Pesuyama must confront the society that allowed their sexual assault and marginalization to be normalized. They argue that evil is rather banal and that abusers are, for all intents and purposes, "normal" people who are allowed (and taught and incentivized) to act in particular ways.

The original assault is amplified by a hostile culture, as people online diminish, deny, or criticize the fact that Pesuyama is speaking out. The term used to describe this is "second rape."

After staying quiet for 7 years, Pesuyama decides to pursue retribution against her abuser. When speaking with a lawyer, the lawyer mentions that the case probably would have been thrown out 7 years prior, but in the modern day, they had a solid chance to win. This leads Pesuyama to reflect on the importance of cultural progress, the people who fight for it, and the MeToo movement in particular. Pesuyama concludes that these changes are inherently political (rather than individual), and that people need to be protected legally, not just culturally as the dominant liberal ideology would imply.

Finally, one very interesting aspect of the manga is the differing perceptions of trauma and abuse. Pesuyama confronts their abuser and receives his side of the story. It's interesting to see how Pesuyama imagined their abuser's thoughts, how the abuser interpreted his own actions, and how Pesuyama argued against the abuser's justifications.

Pesuyama also talks with a friend who was sexually assaulted often but seems unphased by it. This leads Pesuyama to doubt themselves, thinking that they are simply weak. Eventually, they stop comparing themself to others and tries to move on with healing at their own pace.

There's also an interesting throughline of using art as a method of healing along with the particular details of Pesuyama's therapy, but I won't go into those here.

While I experience dysphoria with my body, I also found myself hallucinating dysphoria where it wasn't because I felt like I was "supposed to" in order to validate my experience with gender. I largely have mixed feelings about my body. Pesuyama talks about their experience with make-up and how they loved watching make-up tutorials because looking feminine was always just so much easier than looking masculine. However, they decided to stop because, despite looking good in a traditional sense and enjoying the process, it kept them from presenting the way they actually wanted to. I largely feel the same way about my facial hair. I always had trouble with the idea that when I look at myself in the mirror with a beard, that I think I look good. "How could I be trans if I feel this way?" It's just so much easier for me to look masculine. I literally have to do nothing, and I can be a handsome man. But... It keeps me from presenting the way I really want to present in the world.

So... I forgive my body and all my weirdness. It's not my fault I was born the way I was, and there's nothing wrong with me. I will continue to change my body, not out of disgust but love.

Part of it is also like, the trans-coming-out is an automatic freebie offer for max sympathy, to my brain anybody coming out as trans is a lovely smol bean who should be defended at all costs from cisnormative society and I will want to kill their entire family in minecraft if they don't fuckin fall in line. Plus, a lot of the coming-out-early-transition stories are fucking suffering pits, so there's that too. Imagine my shock that Us is actually pleasant and affirming and cool! (I was recommended it on this basis)

Diana and Sara are just cute really, I don't think stockings are as hard to get into as Diana makes em out to be, but the scene is cute, and the whole book is like that. I love to see a coming-out story that mostly just involves a loving partner helping her girlfriend slowly poke her way out of the closet. I was like, first time skirts, makeup, oh yeah I member. Sure any relationship that survives a transition has to be rad as fuck.

I was surprised that I kind of liked Sara as much as Diana if not more, though? She is a dopey cissie but she's great actually, "FUCK THAT! THE FUCK KINDA BULLSHIT IS THAT?!" is an awesome moment that tells you early on this is gonna be cool. Plus Us has the bit where trans people are occasionally inadvertent fuckin SOCIAL AGITATORS (or very advertent agitators, watch out) and sometimes cause "cis" "het" people to question their shit and realise or become considerably funnier genders or sexualities. I think that's cute, mood.

This has been good for me, I've needed to decompress from [ridiculous absurd book you've nevet heard of that couldn't possibly exist] for a long time, and Us was that for me. It could even be a good one to throw at cis people you know, I think. Happy to have enjoyed it ❤

Us pairs well with: Wallsocket by Underscores (like most things) Reddishness by Girls Rituals ULTRA PARADISE by Angel Electronics