Oct 6, 2026 · 58 min · 11 segments
Today on Transcending Comics, we're taking a look at the incredible slice of life fashion manga, *Boys Run the Riot* by Keito Gaku! Joining us for this discussion is returning guest Charlotte Fierro…
Charlotte FierroGuest
Tomi TrembathHostZackGuest
Probably the thing that makes me think about it ... a lot compared to other queer manga I might have read is, I think especially compared to other queer or specific trans manga that are published in France, it's probably the one that is the least trying to be, like, a documentary about trans people, right? Like, it's not trying really to be didactic, I think.
I think especially compared to other queer manga that are published in France, it's not really that.
Like, it- if you, if you don't know much about trans issues, it can, like, teach you stuff, but that's very much a byproduct of what it's trying to say about transness and about its characters, and I really appreciated that 'cause I think some people...
When I was a teenager and I first started coming out, um, a friend of mine, I, I don't remember what it was called, but gifted me a manga as, like, kind of, um, a gesture of like, "Hey, I, you know, I saw this and it reminded me of you.
Maybe you'll find something in there." And I read it, and it wasn't bad, but it felt very much like, oh, I'm not the target for this because I feel like I'm supposed to be learning something, and I, I am not learning anything.
None of this is any new information, and the way it's presented isn't particularly interesting.
So I think in that context, Boys Run the Riot really felt like, um, a breath of fresh air.
... of, like, what X gender is, which I know is kind of a more specific to Japan, like, non-binary gender identity.
So, like, I, I do think this still works great for people that, like, say, you just love fashion but don't know anything about trans people.
Probably the thing that makes me think about it ... a lot compared to other queer manga I might have read is, I think especially compared to other queer or specific trans manga that are published in France, it's probably the one that is the least trying to be, like, a documentary about trans people, right? Like, it's not trying really to be didactic, I think.
I think especially compared to other queer manga that are published in France, it's not really that.
Like, it- if you, if you don't know much about trans issues, it can, like, teach you stuff, but that's very much a byproduct of what it's trying to say about transness and about its characters, and I really appreciated that 'cause I think some people...
When I was a teenager and I first started coming out, um, a friend of mine, I, I don't remember what it was called, but gifted me a manga as, like, kind of, um, a gesture of like, "Hey, I, you know, I saw this and it reminded me of you.
Maybe you'll find something in there." And I read it, and it wasn't bad, but it felt very much like, oh, I'm not the target for this because I feel like I'm supposed to be learning something, and I, I am not learning anything.
None of this is any new information, and the way it's presented isn't particularly interesting.
So I think in that context, Boys Run the Riot really felt like, um, a breath of fresh air.
... of, like, what X gender is, which I know is kind of a more specific to Japan, like, non-binary gender identity.
So, like, I, I do think this still works great for people that, like, say, you just love fashion but don't know anything about trans people.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
