Sensei’s Pious Lie (Teacher’s White Lie, Sensei no Shiroi Uso, 先生の白い嘘), 2013-2017, Torikai, Akane, Morning Two

Trigger warning for basically everything that comes with toxic masculinity (almost all at once).

STORY: 6

Meet Misuzu Hara, a high school teacher with a lot of trauma. This heavy story focuses on her relationships and on the people around her. The focus is on woman/man interactions and, for once, dynamics of power (aka sexism) are at the center of the story. The result is unsurprisingly painful, and some scenes will hurt, especially if you have experience with sexual violence.

Also, it’s really. too. heavy. Almost like if the author tried to cram a ‘best-of’ patriarchy over the 8 volumes, it’s just too much drama for the sake of it. There is so much going on that it diminishes the realism of the story. Going for less intensity would have allowed more cohesion. Consequently, I think not everyone will get along the delivery, and this tittle would have been stronger with more grounded and realistic dialogues.

ART: 6

Akane Torikai’s art is pleasant but clearly not the focus here.

POLITICAL POTENTIAL: 7

‘Sensei’s pious lie’ exposes the violence of patriarchy all across its chapters. Physical violence, rape, emotional abuse, cheating, loneliness, family pressure, trauma, incest, women pushed against each others, support from colleagues for the male aggressor.. All of this is portrayed in a realistic way and without complaisance.

FEMINISM: 8

This manga is far above the average in terms of feminism.
First, there’s a frontal description of what women are subjected to in a patriarchal society and this level of violence and realism is extremely rare in manga.
Second, the artwork is always avoiding the male gaze so even sex scenes are sober and to the point instead of the usual ‘rape is drawn to be arousing’ common in the industry.
Dialogues are rather smartly written, characters are complex, and the time spent on their background makes things quite (not perfectly) coherent. Women are doing their best at solving their issues and there is not male hero to save the day.

That being said, there’s a slight feeling of masculinism here and there, with some story elements going a bit too far with the ‘men are also victims of patriarchy’ aspect. If you are hoping for a huge scream to the face of men, you will feel that this scream is not as powerful as you would have wished for in the end.
‘Sensei’s pious lie’ ended in 2017 and in an interview the author said that she had put feminism a bit aside when she married Asano Inio (very famous mangaka) in 2018. Is it related to that feeling of tameness? Or is it because of the author own efforts or the editor’s directions in order to not alienate too many readers? I don’t know, but I’m happy for her to hear that they have divorced, especially since the infuriatingly masculinist manga ‘Downfall’, written by Asano, may in some ways refer to his relation with Torikai..

CONCLUSION: 7

It’s not everyday that a medium tackles sexism from within its own sexist industry. If you are ready to face the subject with a heavy-handed approach, don’t miss this occasion.