Manga Review: My Solo Exchange Diary Vol. 1 By Kabi Nagata is a Queer Manga Dream Come True

The Manga That's Here, Queer, and Dear To LGBTQ+ Folks

By Ghia Vitale

​Kabi Nagata (or Nagata Kabi) is a mangaka who creates autobiographical manga. She’s the ultimate TMI queen becaue she’s known and loved for including intimate details about her actual life in her manga. Warning: This review mentions mental illness, self-harm, and ED recovery, so proceed with caution!

 
My Solo Exchange Diary Vol. 1 is the sequel to My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness. I consider My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness to be one of the best manga books I’ve ever read and turns out, this second book is no different in that regard. As such, it’s no surprise that I was very excited to read this eagerly-awaited sequel that Seven Seas published on June 5, 2018. I was happy to learn that Seven Seas is the same publisher who released the Nagata Kabi’s first manga because I like seeing this series continue.

Much like the first manga, Kabi is still the protagonist and it's still set in Japan. But unlike the first manga, there’s a twist in the narrative of this sequel manga: It focuses entirely on what Kabi describes as a “solo exchange diary.” For those who don’t know, an exchange diary is a notebook that friends share and write in. After one person is done writing in the exchange diary, they pass it onto another person. 

In Kabi’s case, she maintains a solo exchange diary because she writes to herself instead of another person. She’s clearly addressing some version of herself in each entry, but that version of herself could exist in the past, present, or future. This manga follows her entries into that solo exchange diary as a way to follow her progress in her life. These entries also describe Kabi’s journey towards finding self-acceptance and acceptance from her family along with love. She also deals with the repercussions of her first manga becoming a hit and more people finding out that she saw an escort for intimacy.

As you know, this manga is autobiographical, so it’s already based in reality. But there’s another realistic component to it: In an interview with Pixivision, Kabi Nagata admitted that her keeping a solo exchange diary is “a habit from middle school.” She keeps a diary in this manner for different reasons:

“I’m able to tell what kind of person I am with a solo exchange diary,” says Nagata. “I even had different aliases and sexual preferences and had these different personalities converse with each other.”

Clearly, keeping a solo exchange diary has proven to be a fruitful creative and expressive outlet for her. No wonder she based her entire second manga off of the “solo exchange diary” concept! Sure, keeping an exchange diary with yourself is a unique concept, but she’s not the only person who finds catharsis in writing to herself. Personally, I write love letters to myself and have even written about how others can write self-love letters to themselves. I write self-love letters to myself not only because I’m autosexual and autoromantic (sexually and emotionally attracted to myself), but also because it provides a good opportunity for reflection and building confidence. Kabi isn’t writing love letters to herself, but she is using her manga as a way to reflect and gain more insight into her existence.

I love how Kabi is such a relatable character. I’m not a lesbian, but I’m queer and I'm attracted to women and femmes, so I relate to Kabi in that way. I feel like a lot of other members of the LGBTQ+ community can also relate to Kabi. As I mentioned in my last review, most of the portrayals of queer women in manga are highly sexualized and obviously designed to satisfy The Male Gaze. But Nagata’s manga isn’t like that at all! In fact, it’s easy to relate to Kabi because she’s a young introvert who’s trying to gain independence and establish herself in life. Kabi isn’t a lesbian sexpot whose entire life consists of fan service shots—she’s a shy, sensitive mangaka with very little to no experience in the realms of sex, relationships, and dating. My Solo Exchange Diary Vol. 2 gives you the satisfaction of seeing changes unfold in Kabi’s life that connect her to those realms of life.

At the same time, Kabi is also relatable because she experiences mental health problems such as depression, sleeping too much, self-harm, and eating disorder recovery. Her mental illness is part of what makes the story so realistic. Many people are afraid to open up to others about their experiences with mental health issues due to the stigma that society places on mental illness. Fortunately, Nagata is brave enough to share her story with the world in manga form so we can see things more from her perspective.

In other words, you don't have to be a hardcore otaku to enjoy this manga. I can see how this manga appeals to a lot of different demographics, especially young queer people who are trying to find their place in the world.

Needless to say, I look forward to reading the third manga in this series, My Solo Exchange Diary Vol. 2. Below are some Amazon affiliate links where you can purchase the first, second, and third books in this manga series. Quail Bell gets a percentage if you buy one of these books through our links, so we’d really appreciate it if you’d bless us in that way! If you haven’t read My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness yet, I highly suggest you buy a copy and get crackin’ before reading the sequel. If you’ve already read the first manga and loved it, I think you’ll also love the second manga in this series, so I highly suggest checking it out!