Boys Run the Riot 1

I'm trans, a trans male, and this is the best thing I have ever read. It hit so close to home, I was crying throughout the whole book. You can tell that the author is trans, as they portray everything so accurately. Please buy it and read it for yourself. I love this book so much. I can relate to the main character on a personal level, and although he's straight, (I'm gay) we still have so much in common. Please buy this I am begging you. If you want to try to understand trans people, this is the right way to do it.

Beautifully paced and drawn, Boys Run the Riot, by trans mangaka Keito Gaku, draws on the artist’s personal experience as well as the experiences of a number of collaborators to tell a powerful coming of age story. Ryo is a second year high school student facing the world on his own, with friends, enemies, the school system and even his mother trying to force him into society’s artificial gender system, that is, forcing him to be a girl regardless of what he knows to be his personal truth. Then Jin, a tall and massive, irreverent transfer student comes into Ryo’s life, and through a shared love of fashion as a way of expressing their inner selves, Ryo suddenly finds he’s no longer alone.Keito collaborator’s includes Banksy-esque work by artist Shintaro Wein. A multi-volume series picked up for an English language release by Penguin, this manga is clearly a labor of love by an entire team, from designers to editors, and the effort pays off.The art is integral to the narrative, and there are entire worlds of anxiety and beaten-down yearning in close ups of Ryo’s eyes, strategically placed both in the flow of the story and in the composition of page layouts, speaking to us beyond the capacity of words. The quality of the art points to an artist who has found his voice, with skillful use of digitally altered backgrounds overlayed with Keito’s own mark-making and guided by his own sense of artistic style.There are moments of tension between the characters where conflicts between the claustrophobic norms of society collide with the urgent needs of the protagonists for a space to simply be who they are. Fashion plays an integral part in this conflict; in a stultifying, gender-oppressive system of values, the clothes a teen chooses becomes a weapon against Japanese heteronormativity. The overall message of Boys Run the Riot is a simple, and by any objective, rational measure, and easy one: make space for individual differences. But those who are in love with their complacency, those lazy moralists who gasp at any perceived threat to the fault lines in their shaky identities, want only for others to cater to their slacker idiosyncrasies, passing them off as society’s “common sense.” We need new stories, and a lot of them, for the riotous celebration of differences called for in this pitch-perfect manga.

CW: Transphobia, Bullying, Violence/Fighting, Misgendering.This manga was fantastic! This is a powerful story about a teenage trans boy named Ryo. He meets a new transfer student in his class, Jin, and they both start a fashion company together. They do this so that they can use their creativity to both find their voices and shout it out loud. This manga is for the people who have felt like an outcast, who long to be accepted, and who are still working on themselves and their dreams. Never give up, and always run your riot proudly.

Boys Run The Riot is off to a great start! It’s about two high schoolers trying to start a clothing brand and is very similar story wise to Bakuman. One of the characters being trans creates an additional layer to the storytelling that allows for some unique and interesting situations.The artwork is fantastic and the pacing is excellent!

This managa is absolutely amazing, and honestly heartwarming and inspirational. It's very hard finding Mangas about this kind of stuff and I'm glad to ever come across this. The art and story telling is amazing and I highly recommend anyone to read this.

I'm so glad I gave this one a try. While the art is very good, the writing.... the storytelling.... the characters are phenomenal. There's something here for anyone who knows what it is to stand out from the pack.... faced the choice between trying to fit in and go unnoticed or be your authentic self proudly and fiercely. The experiences are relatable and so true to life. Great stuff!

I pre-ordered this book and I was surprised to find out it arrived earlier than expected which is awesome. The story is authentic and I really like the dynamic between the characters Ryo and Jin who is a great friend and ally. This was a great read and I can't wait to see how the story develops in future volumes.

I was really excited to receive this book. When I opened it up sadly it was damaged. In the front you could see a bad tear. When you flipped through the colored panels you could see more tears. Overall the story is really amazing touching on some topics that many could learn from. Art is beautiful.

Sweet, thoughtful, and an enjoyable read whether you are a fan of fashion or not. Interested to see where the story goes!

Great story

Brilliant manga, whether your affected by the issues raised in the story or not the characters are fun and engaging and the art is great

When I bought this book I had just come out as bisexual and was suspecting I could also be gender-fluid but was unsure if what I was feeling was what transgender people experience. So I have asked around on twitter for a good introduction into the topic and someone recommended this book. As I was always a manga kind of person I decided that I would give it a try.Originally I was not sure what to expect, actually I was sure that this would be a waste of time, then I started to read and I was shocked. The book showed situations which I have experienced almost the same way, may it be the awkward stares after having said something in the wrong gender person or the sudden urge to hide any kind of literature I was reading about transgenderism when someone entered my room. The insights the author gave into the feelings of the main character I instantly recognized as very similiar to my own especially the feeling to have a different gender on the insight than on the outside.As of today I have left my closed and am out and proud as bi and transgender (genderfluid) person to my family, friends and work.In my opinion this book gives a good insights into the live of a transgender person and is a good basic for someone who is starting to question his gender/ may suspect to be transgender.

The representation in this manga is so important, and relatable too. Being young and different is never easy, but when you find friends whom you can actually be yourself, things get a little better.