The Heart of Thomas by Moto Hagio Reading Vlog! || The First BL?!?

This is the April Buddy Read vlog of 2024 with Katie. We decided to read a BL Classic as it is now available as a re-print by Fantagraphics. Pick one up if you are a Year 24 fan!
I hope you like the video, and as always, thanks for watching!
Thanks again to Katie for Buddy Reading along with me! You can find her here:
/ katiemillingt20
/ tober2000
/ @oktobernightbatts
#ReadingVlog #Manga #BL
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/ 365daysof801
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[@maeve_ever_manga]

I need this manga!! I read it years ago and I want to re-read it! 💕

[@365801]

It's so good! It's so messy! I am really glad that it is now available for everyone to buy again because I felt guilty about having it in my collection unread, when so many collectors and manga-readers were asking about it.

[@bizarreindividual4026]

My video goes up soon on this! I am so sorry I didn’t know we were buddy reading this or I so would!!!! Next time count me in anytime ❤❤❤

[@365801]

Yeah, I wasn't sure if we were buddy reading or just happened to be reading the same thing at the same time! 🤣 I loved it!

[@bizarreindividual4026]

@@365801it was so good!!! I will be sure to included you in my video now lol 😂

[@bizarreindividual4026]

So excited for all your videos coming out whenever you get around to them

[@WhimsicalPictures]

I do think it's important to divorce Juli's ultimate decision from a Christian context--by joining the seminary, he is effectively choosing to live out his days with Thomas's ghost, the avatar of pure love that he felt at the beginning of the book that he was unworthy of. I think the way this book champions a sexless, transcendent, spiritual ideal of love is part of what makes it interesting tbh--even when Hagio starts writing for older audiences and including sexual content, there's something distinctly asexual about her work.

[@WhimsicalPictures]

It was interesting to see how much the actions of the adults stood out to you. Knowing that the shoujo manga of the sixties that Hagio would have grown up with often featured fathers having the final word, it's an interesting thing to point out how flawed and messy Hagio's adults have always been. I always read her famously messy relationship with her parents into that haha, but I wonder if it was a fresh experience for girl readers in the seventies to see adults who make mistakes and hurt children just like real adults often do.

[@WhimsicalPictures]

I would die for Kaze to Ki no Uta in English but unfortunately it is seventeen volumes long and full of underage characters doing some very adult things so I doubt we'll ever get it 😔

[@365801]

I totally understand your point about Juli making that choice to live with the ghost of Thomas' love, and I think there is certainly a lot of evidence to support the connection between Juli and asexuality. I'm also asexual, and all the way through reading I was thinking "Or Juli could just be single? That's an idea!? Maybe everyone could just leave him alone." But I also kind of feel like Thomas could have as well. Personally, I struggle to be unbiased against anything within stories that have religion within them, especially Christianity and Catholicism. That is due to my personal experience and upbringing. And I 100% admit to it. Which is why going to a Seminary would not be my first choice for a boy like Juli at this time period and with his trauma. But honestly, I don't know how many other choices he would have had, if he was very determined to remove himself from the school and situation. It feels like it is the right choice for him at that time, but I'm not so sure about what would come after. It left me with questions and doubts.

[@365801]

@@WhimsicalPictures It was the lack of agency and autonomy that the children had to suffer through at the hands of the adults in the story that was the most frustrating to me. The adults were messy, and heavyhanded and deeply flawed. The children just had to react to the consequences of others constantly. It was so stressful, like they were in fight or flight mode all of the time. Which was why I had sympathy for the messy actions of the children because they were replicating and reacting to what they were exposed to. It is fascinating to think about how different generations would react to this story throughout the years.

[@365801]

@@WhimsicalPictures Damn! Those modern sensibilities! It is why we don't get a lot of things. But it would be wonderful to have a bit more from the Year 24 group.