Ok So I Got The Furuya X Wayama Lhc Collab Book, And This Image Immediately Stood Out To Me.

Ok so i got the Furuya x Wayama lhc collab book, and this image immediately stood out to me.

Initially, since Raizou has been (heavily,) (blatantly,) implied to be a transgender girl, my gut went in that direction, since its specifically two schoolgirls that are shown.

And i know that the lhc's whole thing was catching a girl, but these are... not the age they were aiming for (they're elementary school kids, as indicated by their hats and bags), so that interpretation's out the door.

But, another option my mind went to was; "Well, randoseru's are expensive, and lhc takes place around war times. So perhaps it's not about the fact that it's girls wearing them, but about the price. And even though those bags aren't really used by middle schoolers, it could be a longing for something you couldn't have back then."

The artist's comments also seemed to support that theory;

古屋/Furuya: "I used to really want a backpack like that—I’m still playing out this longing scene."

But, eh... when i was looking into the history of school uniforms in Japan (for something else) I also stumbled upon this;

and i went. no way-

And yup, turns out my gut feeling was right.

Red randoserus, especially around the time lhc takes place, were exclusively meant for girls.

...which is also making me reconsider what Furuya meant with that comment... because I didn't know he was guy until just now. but let's not get into that right now-

Anyhow, tldr;