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A review by sucreslibrary
After We Gazed at the Starry Sky by Bisco Kida
0.5
man it is so fucking disappointing to put ur hopes into seeing good rep of ur relationship and then reading some of the worst depictions and contrived writing possible. even without the piss poor depiction of how to treat a partner who uses a wheelchair, the romance moves way too quickly and feels extremely shallow. the characters are almost nonexistent and the way they're characterized is an ableist trope that continues to be a thorn in my side.
the wheelchair user, subaru, lives in a small bubble. he has been too afraid to try new things (his whole life i guess? and even with his parents help and encouragement he chose not to do anything?). that all changes when he meets his ablebodied love interest, tougo, who upon their first meeting pushes subaru in his chair without asking AND takes subaru OUT OF his chair entirely and sets him on the floor (subaru is paralyzed from the knees down and cannot walk) without even talking about it with subaru at all. and the whole time subaru is blushing and giggling about it. it was very disturbing to read.
after that, tougo springs a trip on subaru and proceeds to lecture him about how he's seen tons of other disabled people out and about and subaru just needs to get over his fears and go on the trip (which includes flying in a plane for the first time). subaru listens to him and then we kinda just hard cut to him being on the plane and oohing and aahing over it. ive flown with my wheelchair before and its a fucking terrifying experience. it is extremely common for wheelchairs to be damaged or destroyed by airlines. there are a lot of procedures one has to go through that most people would never consider. and i guess the mangaka didn't think about it either cause none of this is touched on whatsoever! in fact, there is very little ableism shown throughout the manga. the bigger problems are always subaru and him needing to be lectured by his ablebodied partner that obviously knows so much more than he does. and we're supposed to see this as romantic!
any time there could be an issue with how society is literally structured to be inaccessible, it's brushed over. this is meant to be fluffy, so i guess the mangaka didn't want to deal with any of that. they just wanted to depict a very gross relationship w/ a mixed ability couple instead. literally subaru could have just had an anxiety disorder but otherwise be ablebodied and the story would hardly change. and i get it, talking about this shit sucks, and some disabled people just want to immerse themselves in a romance where that isn't a thing. but, sorry, i'm not one of them and i don't think this work should get a pass because of that. the entire thing felt extremely ignorant to the lives of wheelchair users and came across very offensive because of that.
im just rlly fucking tired of picking up these manga with disabled characters, hoping for something good, and instead getting shitty stereotypes and poorly-written characters from people that seem very ignorant to how disabled peoples lives are structured.
the wheelchair user, subaru, lives in a small bubble. he has been too afraid to try new things (his whole life i guess? and even with his parents help and encouragement he chose not to do anything?). that all changes when he meets his ablebodied love interest, tougo, who upon their first meeting pushes subaru in his chair without asking AND takes subaru OUT OF his chair entirely and sets him on the floor (subaru is paralyzed from the knees down and cannot walk) without even talking about it with subaru at all. and the whole time subaru is blushing and giggling about it. it was very disturbing to read.
after that, tougo springs a trip on subaru and proceeds to lecture him about how he's seen tons of other disabled people out and about and subaru just needs to get over his fears and go on the trip (which includes flying in a plane for the first time). subaru listens to him and then we kinda just hard cut to him being on the plane and oohing and aahing over it. ive flown with my wheelchair before and its a fucking terrifying experience. it is extremely common for wheelchairs to be damaged or destroyed by airlines. there are a lot of procedures one has to go through that most people would never consider. and i guess the mangaka didn't think about it either cause none of this is touched on whatsoever! in fact, there is very little ableism shown throughout the manga. the bigger problems are always subaru and him needing to be lectured by his ablebodied partner that obviously knows so much more than he does. and we're supposed to see this as romantic!
any time there could be an issue with how society is literally structured to be inaccessible, it's brushed over. this is meant to be fluffy, so i guess the mangaka didn't want to deal with any of that. they just wanted to depict a very gross relationship w/ a mixed ability couple instead. literally subaru could have just had an anxiety disorder but otherwise be ablebodied and the story would hardly change. and i get it, talking about this shit sucks, and some disabled people just want to immerse themselves in a romance where that isn't a thing. but, sorry, i'm not one of them and i don't think this work should get a pass because of that. the entire thing felt extremely ignorant to the lives of wheelchair users and came across very offensive because of that.
im just rlly fucking tired of picking up these manga with disabled characters, hoping for something good, and instead getting shitty stereotypes and poorly-written characters from people that seem very ignorant to how disabled peoples lives are structured.