As ever, this review is generally spoiler free, but I do make some specific references to content contained within the manga, because that’s just unavoidable, so if you wanted to go in perfectly blank on what the manga is like then this is probably not where you want to be right now. If you just want the score and a tl;dr on it then you can scroll down just past the last rainbow breaker.
To Strip The Flesh is a lovely little collection of short stories by Oto Toda, with just about the only connective thread between them being that they share the same mangaka. I initially came across this through a tweet at the time that it was originally announced, and it was pretty much framed as trans representation through the central (and titular) story about Chiaki Ogawa, a trans man battling with the weight of social obligations and expectations that have kept him confined to a role and identity that was never his. This main story does, in fact, take up a little over half of the volume’s pages, and the whole synopsis (at least on the edition I bought), but it would probably be something of a mistake to think that trans or generally LGBT representation is the definitive core of the collection as a whole, which is what I myself had assumed prior to reading it.
This collection goes from Watermelon childbirth panels to what I expected to be Toy Story erotica from hell to reflections on grief and the self. It’s incredibly versatile, and while I found a couple of lines to be a bit cringeworthy, each one-shot was able to strike a decent balance between being comedic and being more grounded depending on what the situation called for. Some of the subject matter, then, can be fairly difficult to read through, just by virtue of how strongly you might resonate with it. For a lot of people, parental approval is something deeply important to them no matter how much they try to push away that idea, so Chiaki’s initial inner conflict and the suppression of his true self for much of his life as a consequence of that even as he sees his father’s health deteriorate is something that’s all too real. On the opposite end of things, there’s people who don’t have an even vaguely positive relationship with their parents for a variety of reasons, and Hot Watermelon is an exploration of that kind of character from a particular angle that’s just as impactful. The basic message I took away from stories like that here is that it’s important for people to try to understand each other, and you can take steps to at least mitigate the extent to which your relationships with other people are governed by baseless assumptions (no Watermelon seeds needed!) and find greater happiness as a result.
There are panels that are incredibly visually striking, and while it’s not the best art on the face of the earth, it’s still pretty damn good. From a page we get of a frankly nightmare inducing owl, the shot of the figurine in its Full glory in David in Love, and the imagery in To Strip The Flesh with Chiaki’s body being framed in a similar (though less gory) fashion to a carcass in an abattoir. It’s readily apparent that Oto Toda is a fairly skilled artist, and reading this collection - along with Just Listen To The Song, a collaborative one-shot they illustrated for Fujimoto - makes me excited for the work they might produce in future.
Circling back a little bit, I do want to be absolutely clear that To Strip The Flesh - the one-shot - is in fact some great representation. Toda makes it a point to say in the afterword of sorts that there are people who have fairly different experiences, which is of course plain true. I also want to personally point out that some of the terms used may feel dated (such as “Gender Identity Disorder”) and that the imagery I mentioned a paragraph ago may not sit well with everyone regardless of the context, but that doesn’t really negate the value of this story. I’ve already touched on the matter of how aspects of Chiaki’s personal journey can resonate pretty strongly with - I believe - quite a few people, including myself really. But there’s also the matter that these “flaws” if anyone would feel inclined to call them that, are really just artefacts of Toda not shying away from expressing their own experiences through Chiaki and also (as the notes at the end helpfully explain) to accurately reflect Japanese terminology and discourse around gender. My only actual criticism of this one-shot is its pacing, with it jumping through fairly substantial stretches of time at the drop of a hat in ways that can disrupt its momentum at times. Other than that, it’s a good story with a really wholesome friendship and happy ending that I’m glad I took the time to read.
Overall, even beyond the main one-shot, To Strip The Flesh is an enjoyable and fairly light read - coming in at just about 200 pages - that is more than worthy of a place on your bookshelf. It’s not anything mind-blowing, but from a personal standpoint it is just refreshing to have stories that handle topics like this in a respectful and thoughtful way, and try to show you that it is possible to find happiness even through various circumstances. I’m gonna give it a solid 80/100 as a reflection of both how much I liked to read it personally and how strongly I recommend it. Also as a bit of a sidenote, you can read it with a Viz subscription if you can’t or don’t want to buy a hardcopy