Wandering Son - An Anime about Transgendered children

[Guest SerFrost]

Trigger warnings: May be offensive, and upsetting to people who are I.S., MTF, and FTM.

There are not many anime which portray Transsexuals in a positive light. Many make jokes of us, and play off the antics of alleged Crossdressers, and MTFs as a comedic ploy of sorts. It's a bad pattern, and it makes reading most non-generic manga impossible for me.

I'll laugh at a man who is dressing in women's clothing specifically for the sake of comedy. Of course I will, it's a joke. It's not meant to hurt. However there is hardly ever a distinctive line drawn between comedic crossdressers, legitimate Crossdressers, and honest to god MTFs. I've sought out manga where things like inter-sexuality and Transsexualism are key issues. Most at best are highly offensive.

I've even read a manga where the author intended to use their manga as a means to teach people about the hardships that Intersexed people face, and she completely. Missed. The point. ENTIRELY. She instead focused on enforcing strict gender roles and stereotypes, refused to acknowledge homosexuality(Going so far as to create a character who was deadset on dieing alone because he couldn't be either sex. Even though he loved another boy who loved him back.) There was even a boy who had been assigned female, and hated his body. He wanted to change it. Instead he resigned himself to live in the body that he couldn't bare to even look at, and was the cause of self mutilation. All because he was "prettier this way". It's highly offensive, and if you ever see the manga (called "Also"), stay away from it.

However I read something called Wandering Son, not to far back. It's something out of the ordinary, and explores many things, such as Transgendered children's struggle to adapt to themselves in a school setting. Relationships including same sex(Shuichi is a Lesbian), and heterosexual (Yuuki).

It's beautiful. Not only in art but, in story and emotion. It's heart wrenching and guaranteed to make you tear up when you notice things you've experienced as well. It's one of my very favorite anime.

The reason why this is in this section is because they have recently adapted this wonderful(amazing) story into an Anime! It hasn't been licensed outside of Japan, though I am hoping that it is picked up soon.

I have found the first episode on Youtube and I'd really love if you all gave it a watch. It is of course subbed(remember to turn on the Caption), but it is worth a watch. Even if you aren't a fan of anime, the art and story will speak for itself.

Episode 1 pt1

Episode 1 pt2

Please, if you enjoy I will give you the rest. Please support this when it is released.

If you are confused with age please let me explain the Japanese school system.

Yochien preschool/kindergarten (can be entered as early as 4)

6 years of Primary school (ages 6 - 12)

3 years of junior high school (ages 12 - 15)

3 years of senior high school (ages 15 - 18)

I can answer other Japanese culture related questions as well.

[Guest Aviannè_Annabella]

Okies I'm assuming that one of those "bad" series you mentioned was After School Nightmare by Setona Mizushiro, which while having some stereotypes of genderroles covers the issues of GID and/or Sexual Orientation beautifully. I've read ASN over 5 times and everytime find something that I missed about that main characters struggle with their gender, body etc. Wandering Son is a good series, I've yet to read it but I've read reviews of it as well as read a interview of the author and yes it is one of a small few series that is actually about Gender Identity and/or Sexual Orientation as a serious issue and not something to poke fun at. While I will agree there are a lot of "Gender Benders" out there that are horrible what you have to remember is that the actual meaning of the genre "Gender bender" is a series in which the main character is "force" into the role of a different gender usually as a method of teaching the character something about themselves. "Gender Bender's" are NOT intended to be classified as Trans related series, that is a serious mistake on the part of US publishers and websites like Wikipedia, Also the "Crossdressing" series again are not intended to be taken the same way as what we on LP would consider Crossdressing. Series like Hana-Kimi use that main character dressing as a boy to sneak into a boys school as a plot device to show her devotion to her goals and therefore is not the same as her being a "cross dresser"

As far as I know there are less then 12 true Trans or CD related manga/anime currently available in the US.

Wandering Son, After School Nightmare, and No Bra are the only ones that I can list of the top of my head and of these I believe only ASN is available in print. The other 2 are easily found on Scan Sites and Fan Sub projects.

[Guest SerFrost]

Okay, let me asses that.

I am not referring to the Gender Bender sub genre, but manga that exclusively covers GID and LGBT issues. Not Yaoi, Yuri, or any sexual sub genre, which utilizes aspects of those different situations as fodder for the proverbial plot train. My main focus is on the types of manga that explore the issues with serious interest.

This is something I expect to find in miniscule amounts, because manga as a whole is generally 99% non serious. That includes all underlying sub genres from shonen to ecchi, to flat out hentai. Manga is almost never used as a tool to emphasize the struggles and problems of serious issues. However I was trying to relate that even in this miniscule amount there is so much misguided misinformation that it dwindles the number down from slim to none.

[Guest Desiree G]

I'll have to check Wandering Son out, I had not heard of it before and I am glad to have seen this thread.

I had read No Bra though, and admit I enjoyed it, though I felt wishy-washy about the ending.

Soon as I see and read Wandering Son I'll probably have more to say on it. Thanks for the recommendation and otherwise getting me psyched over it.

[Guest Madison_Always]

I started reading it after you posted this thread and I am really enjoying it. It's really cute and I feel like all of us can relate to it. My one gripe is that that at times I feel like the characters act to mature for their ages but otherwise it's a really fun read =)

[Guest ballerinawish]

i have watched the pilot and it spoke volumes to me. when the main character (having a bit of trouble remembering his name) put on that blouse and was berated by his sister for it, i was bawling. but when the main characters friend put that flower in his hair. that moment was beyond touching to me. i give it 5 out of 5 stars.

[Guest ballerinawish]

i have watched the pilot and it spoke volumes to me. when the main character (having a bit of trouble remembering his name) put on that blouse and was berated by his sister for it, i was bawling. but when the main characters friend put that flower in his hair. that moment was beyond touching to me. i give it 5 out of 5 stars.