Our Colors by by Gengoroh Tagame Review

Sora is a closeted high schooler whose secret sexuality is giving him panic attacks - until he meets the kindly older cafe owner, Amamiya, who’s also gay, but out. And so begins their friendship as Sora plucks up the courage to tell his nearest and dearest who he really is - but will he also tell his crush?

Gengoroh Tagame’s My Brother’s Husband was such an excellent limited series that I was really looking forward to his follow-up, Our Colors. So it’s disappointing to say that it’s an underwhelming book.

It’s over 500 pages and painfully little happens to justify its length. Sora stresses about people finding out his sexuality over and over in an increasingly uninteresting repetition, while the feeble drama comes from misunderstandings of the sort you’d see in any uninspired daytime soap.

Fair enough, I guess it’s more of a character portrait rather than a plot-driven narrative, maybe? Except it’s such an unremarkable portrait, if that’s what it is - Sora’s character arc is obvious and predictable, nor is he a particularly standout personality.

I also feel like it’s crucially flawed in its premise. Sora is a teenager who is frustrated from not having anyone to talk to about his feelings or know what he should do - except he has a smartphone. I’m pretty sure the very first place kids today (god listen to this old fogey) go to when they have a question that they can’t ask anyone is the internet. Why doesn’t he do that? Because then there’d be no bonding with Amamiya.

Similarly, Amamiya says his experience of the online world is only of sex via apps but I’m pretty sure there are sites out there for gay men looking for friendship and/or long term relationships. It’s all so very conveniently presented in this shrunken and contrived way to make the story work - it’s not great writing by Tagame. And I don’t think kids these days give each other magazine pin-ups when there’s streaming internet porn! It reads very much like an older man plotted this book, rather than someone who’s trying to put himself in the actual mindset of a 21st century kid.

Still, it’s skilfully told so it’s easy to read - despite the length, like most mangas, you’ll fly through it in no time. The art is appealing (even though Sora’s crush Yoshioka has weirdly permanently closed eyes), and, as a gay man himself, I believe Tagame’s portrayal of what it’s like to be closeted is an accurate and illuminating one. The book has a sweet message and shows you the consequences of remaining closeted vs being yourself, with some decent advice for younger readers about dating.

It’s just much too light and simplistic for my taste and I wanted more substance than what I got. Our Colors is too straightforward and forgettable because of that. A much too safe narrative to be all that compelling - colour me unimpressed.