Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare, Vol. 1

4.5/5 stars

SPOILERS AHEAD:

Summary:
After being outed to his classmates, Tasuku considers committing suicide. As he fears that this will ruin his life. After seeing someone else jump, he rushes towards them only to realize they're completely fine. After following her, he learns that her name is Someone-san. As they reach the top, she says, “You can tell me anything, I won't listen, though” This leads to him being able to voice his feelings and deepest fears for the first time. This continues to happen as he meets the rest of the group at the drop-in center.

The story goes on to focus both on Tasuku and Daichi. Daichi is a rather important character as she had a similar attitude to the one Tasuku has. Although she never considered suicide, she did her best to accept what was told to her until she could no longer handle it. Essentially, coming out in her workplace and having to leave her job leaves her with no sense of what to do next. That is, until she met Someone-san, who put her in charge of a project and let her do whatever she wanted. Follow her as she decides what to do with the space and how it became a drop-in center.

Overall, I liked seeing her growth and liked that they didn't just use it for Tasuku's character development. It was rather fast-paced, and I missed the point in some scenes. The art is rather beautiful, and I would recommend it to anyone to read it. Although I would like to say that there could be some scenes that are triggering to people who were afraid or are afraid of coming out. From experience, Tasuku's thoughts are rather accurate in terms of a person who fears the consequences that coming out can bring. From considering offing himself to doing everything in order to deny he is actually gay these all can be triggering. Still, this manga does a great job of showing us the process Tasuku goes through in order to accept himself.