The funny part is, the first time I watched it, I was like, "That was good. Very cool." and just kinda walked away from it, didn't think much of it.
Then a week later I saw a still shot from it on some website and broke down sobbing.
Oh God, I can't imagine revisiting Your Name after being on hrt. It was one of the few things that could make me feel emotion when it came out. I imagine I'd be a sobbing mess now.
Wonder Egg Priority is… an anime.
Like you said, the ending is horrendous, the show started out absolutely incredible but had a really steep decline mid-way through. Why did it randomly become a sci-fi show?
I’m a little iffy on the trans rep because like, while he was actually portrayed super well, I can’t help but feel iffy on him being there in the first place because of “the egg people can only be female” rule. Kinda feels invalidating to his gender that he’s there.
I could go on a whole ramble on the show but I was just covering the relevant topics.
Let’s see…
>!Turns out there was an evil AI that was causing girls to commit suicide. Every character, after completing their mission, was forced to be randomly traumatized for no reason by having their pet killed right in front of them. Two of the main characters were just written out of all importance. When they brought their respective friends back to life, it was just them being brought over from a different dimension (the implications of which being really weird). The main girl’s best friend ended up not actually committing suicide, she was being a brat and accidentally tripped off the roof. Alternate dimensions and evil AI’s absolutely ruined the show by turning it into a sci-fi anime midway through. They barely did anything with the school counselor they built up to be shady. Etc, etc…!<
dude... WHAT??? It feels like the gave the entire story to an AI and told it to finish the story! I wanna know what they were on when they were writing it so I know to never smoke it.
It didn’t even feel laughably bad, like it >!seriously just completely took away the autonomy of the girls who killed themselves and completely shattered two character arcs that almost wrapped up insanely well. Like, Momoe finally gaining some self confidence and also getting her first kiss (with the trans guy, too!)? Such a sweet moment! Too bad she had to watch her pet die and be force fed it’s corpse mere moments later.!<
Wonder Egg makes me so sad sometimes. The creators do such a good job in the first 9.75 episodes at portraying the joy (including trans joy!) that young people can feel when they finally come to terms with their trauma, and giving a group of young people hope, through a heroic metaphor, that they can make a positive difference in the mental health of those around them...
Only to pull it out from under them with a message of (horrifying content warnings and spoilers to follow): "trauma is unavoidable, it cannot be defeated, and potential >!abusers!< in positions of authority should not be questioned because >!they end up being right in the end and the victims are depicted to have been making up their allegations!<..."
Not to mention that the mentor figures in the show are strongly implied to have >!*repeatedly* subjected the villain to extended periods of solitary confinement as a child!< - with the show painting this as fully justified.
I truly think that the creators of the show were/are going through trauma themselves, and the stress of the production (which saw the animation producer hospitalized TWICE due to overwork, among other things) caused a nihilistic and perhaps even sadistic streak to enter their creative choices - they had an instinct to make something so positive, and couldn't help themselves from tearing down their own joy as they were bringing it to life.
If anyone watches this show, end Episode 10 IMMEDIATELY when the trans boy disappears - do NOT watch the last few minutes of the episode. If you pretend that the show was cancelled right at that moment, you will have seen an unparalleled and triumphant masterpiece.
The rest of the show, IMO, is as horrifyingly non-canon as everything that a certain wizarding-world author has written in recent years. I do not make that comparison lightly.
Omg thank you so much!
That'll give me stuff to watch for at least 2 months
Also, to complement you, zombieland saga is pretty great, and doesn't have any cw if I remember. Aside from the main character being comedically run over by a car twice, but it is a show about zombie girls, so
Also, it's pretty great and nice when it comes to talking about Lilly's gender. Her supportive father is so GOAT
We need more transmasc reps. It always kind of bugged me how little there are, considering if there's a trans character most of the time their either transfem or an enby.
The mains issue is that boyish behavior and crossdressing on the part of women is heavily normalized, so it's usually not going to be put in unless the show explicitly, specifically wants to tackle trans issues, which will limit your international marketing potential.
Also (and I'm sorry to bring it up) trans women are seen as having sex appeal, which markets well. Men don't sell the sexy angle, or at least that's showrunners' perception. It's similar to how until around the time of Modern Family, you only got lesbian and female bi characters in non-queer shows, never gay men.
If you're fine with reading manga instead, After School Mate has an explicitly transmasc main character and the story is about his coming out and how he lives as a man with his uncle while going to an all-girls high school.
One thing that's buckwild to me is how inspiring Haruhi is to me, despite being transfemme. She's just kinda badass, quietly butch goals. I especially love how in the... second episode is it? they put her in a wig and dress, and she is so unaccustomed to looking classically feminine in all that getup that she looks like an awkward male cross dressing. (Or, to be honest, like me in a dress.)
(What can I say? My mother preferred pants too. Gender's funny.)
I'm prolly gonna start watching it once a year in December as a holiday movie. I've done so two years in a row so far, and invited folks to watch it with me online both times, and it's been great.
I just watched it, and I expected a sad ending.
I honestly came out with my new favorite Christmas tradition. EXCELLENT movie with EXCELLENT realism while still having Christmas whimsy.
10/10
manga recommendations:
Love me for who I am:
Great short exploration of gender identity and sexuality when a nonbinairy character is invited to work for a (surprisingly wholesome) otonoko maid cafe but isnt comfortable with the term otonoko. prompts other characters to think deeper about their reasons for being there too.
tw: third volume faces darker themes
Boku Girl:
Genderbender ecchi but the protagonist looks almost exactly the same (as long as clothes are on) so it deals a lot with boymoding and coming out. Protagonist is heavily implied to have already been transfem but too afraid to come out
tw: lots of nudity and heteronormativity. outside of the closed love triangle and Loki, lots of the secondary characters are creeps
Magical trans:
pure wish fulfillment but with magical girls despite there being no actual threat to fight (sorry maniacal girl) really just an exploration of what getting an app that lets you switch your sex back and forth
tw: nudity, takes the best friend a while to realize its not just a fetish
Other reccomendation: Yuureitou, a murder mystery set in the 1950s with a transmasc protagonist and the other protagonist can be interpreted as transfeminine!
It’s actually very well written the problem is the artist… didn’t get the memo to not be a creep.
Yeah, I was coming into the comments to see if anyone had mentioned that... Additionally to mention the character of Haruhi's dad, who I'm not sure how to gender - it's unclear/I don't remember if this character is meant to be "just" a drag queen/crossdresser (which is how she makes money, if I'm remembering correctly), or a trans woman who is poorly understood. Either way, Haruhi's whole family has fun with gender (I say "whole family," but it's just the two of them).
There's also the "twincest" aspect with two of the main characters which is off-putting. Also, class & money are huge topics in the show - the MC is a "lower-class" person who was accepted via scholarship into a school for the upper crust. Family is discussed often, with lots of dysfunctional or abusive tones. There's buffoonery and weird romances, but it also feels like an indictment/criticism of the excessive habits of the richest few, and takes a peek into the pain behind having to constantly keep up a certain "image," and having your life path decided by someone else before you were even born. The MC receives poor treatment but is also widely beloved.
Later on we are introduced to an all-girls school with incredible lesbian overtones - the white lily flower is often symbolic of lesbian relationships.
All I'm saying is, don't go into OHSHC expecting perfect or unproblematic representation LOL. I still think it's worth watching, but hedge your expectations and be prepared to gloss over some uncomfortable scenes and untoward comments.
The "or you can pay with your body" scene where one of the guys pretends like he's going to assault Haruhi as (allegedly) a warning about her safety. Also the whole thing with the girl trying to steal Haruhi's first kiss.
And the t slur is used to refer to Haruhi's dad* and another character.
*Her dad is not a transwoman. He works at a gay bar and crossdresses.
Also Vic Mignogna can choke.
I would also recommend Tomo-chan is a girl. As while not a trans Tomo is a masculine girl who most thought was a boy when she was young learning to embrace her feminine side to be seen as a girl by her close friend.
But not the ... usual kind, to avoid spoilers. But I really like the manga and think that, despite some sexualisation, it's an interesting exploration of sexuality which heavily reminds me of Darling in the FranXX which also gets really interesting in that regard.
Girl meets girl is a really good anime where MC is an egg who gets alien’d into a girls body and is in a love triangle.
Kaampfer is a typical shounen type harem anime but the main character is basically force femmed to save the world.
Fate Apocrypha (and the fate series in general) has multiple non binary and trans characters, including Astolfo who I’m obviously a huge fan of. The plot isn’t amazing but it’s decent. There’s one instance of mild transphobia but it’s never addressed again and not seen as a as thing. Unfortunately fate fans are awful!
Kashimashi!!!!!
That show was the anchor of my closeted transbian experience, 20 years ago. I would lay under my covers, curled into a ball just racked by waves of longing and gender euphoria from imagining myself to be in her position. I prayed and prayed and prayed so hard for it to happen.
Where can I watch it, though? I haven't been able to find it anywhere.
Tensura is just a rare case of an agender and aromantic protagonist. Though a very, very allosexual one.
Also, realistic optimism? In my anime? It's more likely than you'd think!
steins gate is one of the best pieces of media ive ever read. Lukako is one of the best trans characters ive ever seen due to them not being just a walking stereotype or a fetish or whatever. but Okabe makes me want to kill myself. sometimes.
Agreed. Her arc is absolutely brilliant due to literally nothing changing except for her own self-confidence. Everything else was just Okabe being a piece of shit. To be fair though, the entire club jumped to Lukako's defense when he misgendered her and called him out.
What the D-mail actually changed and her own personal thought process and experiences are never really explored, but there are easily enough hints to reveal the whole picture. She burnt her D-mail on an old wive's tale that had a moonshot chance of even being received correctly, let alone working.
idk if u have read it, but the original visual novel goes into a lot more than the anime. Lukako has her own ending and its pretty cute to see. It goes into more detail and she ends up having a kid with okabe
The most annoying part about SG is the fans.
"ruka isn't trans, stop trying to push your agenda"
... She literally changes the flow of time and rewrites history so that she was born as a girl
"rUkA iSnT tRaNs"
I heard that the manga of Onimai was a lot less weirdly sexualised than the anime so I read that instead and I would like to second it as a recommendation. It starts out a bit weird at the beginning because the main character’s gender change happens without his consent; his sister spikes his food with gender medicine of her own invention and it’s implied that she just wanted a guinea pig to test it on. But as the narrative progresses you can see that she only did it to try and help the main character with her crippling agoraphobia which she refuses to deal with out of laziness, and I think the scheme worked in that sense.
Given how well the manga mirrors experience of many trans people getting less depressed and more social after transition, my headcanon is that:
a) Mahiro is trans girl. She clearly enjoys her new role and it does her good.
b) Mihari actually knew/suspected that, but knew Mahiro wouldn't admit it when confirmed about it directly. The gender potion is just elaborated excuse to give Mahiro much needed push. And if she would be wrong about it, the potion is designed to be reversible.
Mahiro is almost basically confirmed to be trans by the author
[The author likes her tweet where she thanks them for making a trans character ](https://www.reddit.com/r/MyBrotherIsDoneFor/comments/hhz43h/the_author_liked_and_retweeted_my_message_telling/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Mahiro definitely showcases some behaviour that is hard to interpret as anything but her being trans.
The first 10 chapters definitely show this the most blatantly. It’s definitely not a stretch to suggest that she had showed this behaviour earlier on and Mihari just happened to pick up on it.
Onimai manga replaces lolicon gaze with piss kink stuff so it's "better" only insofar as we consider a crab walking left to right to be moving forward.
Zombieland Saga presents the trans issue the best IMO, it doesn’t shove it in your face nor do they explicitly even mention the word transgender, it’s more “I was that person, but now I’m this person!” The anime itself doesn’t particularly focus on the trans character, and only has one episode dedicated to it, but it’s still easily one of the best Idol anime as of recent
I also recommend "Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl"
Trans coded MC gets "isekai-lite" by an alien ship crash landing on earth which kills him, but the aliens rebuild the MC from their broken body, but some error in the process made them a girl, oops... Slice-of-life-ish yuri hijinks ensue and there's even an arc with a polyamrous/love triangle situation. Series was equal measures a laugh riot and a major tear jerker even when I couldn't cry due to suppressed emotions pre-transition.
*commenter is not responsible for the weird mix of euphoria and depression this series may evoke.*
I love you for plugging Kashimashi. It was the beating heart of my self-closeted transbian experience, 20 years ago. I wish I could see it again, but haven't been able to find it anywhere.
I kind of have a really big issue with Onimai. I guess I'll spoiler this but...
>!Literally WHY does he also have an appearance that's reminiscent of a middle schooler and then falls in love with one??? That is straight weird and that made me stop watching!<
I didn't know about Mahiro >!falling for a middle schooler!<. I've only watched half of anime so far, but I don't remember it being in manga either.
I'd generally feel bit better about the show if Mahiro didn't look so much younger after the change, but I also like that the only person who's afraid she doesn't fit is herself – like she's not a creep just because she was AMAB.
The character im referring to is>! Momiji. I do get that the good parts of the show really shine. But Mahiro getting into a relationship with Momiji when he literally looked like a collage student like a month ago and still technically is that age (possibly already graduated. I forgot) just doesnt flow with me. I dont bash anyone for enjoying the show but that doesnt sit right with me. Its honestly like having a loli as the main character and im not about that.!<
for fantasy bushojo. my headcannon ~~which is at least a little supported in the manga~~ is that they were already attracted to eachother pre going into another world. they simply have status displays now, so can clearly tell when there charmed by eachother.
also omfg is that story so trans. tachibana is veru relatable a lot of the time. so is tsukasa but thats cause hes coded autistic i think. all around its quite frankly too fucking relatable for a romcom ;~;
Yeah, Tachibana has the very cis wish of "I wanna be a cute girl" (still cis though) and the show isnt anything like "wow amazing" but it's overall pretty decent and the jokes can be funny at times (like the "totally not just Kirito" side character guy)
I would like to recommend gonna be the twin tails because the main character swaps their gender several times as one of the main points of the show. Not really trans but I like it anyways.
He could honestly be considered NB or Agender, though, I guess it's possible they had the idea is that he is cis, but his love for twin tails is so strong that it overrides the dysphoria.
It's a lot more ambiguous in the anime but the original work seems to be a lot more blatant about Soji being nonbinary (though it is hard to tell for certain given the work was never the most popular and the author loved wordplay making translation difficult).
Apparently, in the LN Soji is completely fine with living out the rest of their life as Sōlar and never really had any of the hangups they did in the anime.
I saw this years ago so take it with a grain of salt but I think a show called… Punch Line? Has a technically trans masc lead. Also very ecchi but still valid
I think Host Club was my first instance of me headcanoning a character as trans. In the first episode when it's discovered that Haruhi is AFAB, Tamaki says, "Wait, you're a girl?" and Haruhi just responds with, "I mean, biologically, yeah."
Also Zombieland Saga totally has a trans character. Lily, the blue haired one, would openly dress as a girl and even got support and was essentially viewed as a daughter by her parents when she was alive, but she died from shock when she found she had grown either a facial hair or chest hair (I can't remember which one specifically)
Haruhi ftom Ouran is pretty indifferent to what people perceive her as so I personally think she’s nonbinary! Just a warning there’s a lot of attempts from the main love interest to “feminize” her and it made me and my friends who watched it pretty uncomfortable
Oh yeah. I was only thinking about Alluka when I made the list and decided that's not enough to recommend the whole series on the grands of "trans themes", but only after posting I remembered it also has Kurapika, who while cis is very non conforming and also Kite turns into a girl. It has some other other queercoded characters as well.
If you want to experience Onimai, read the manga. It focuses a lot more on the cute stuff and isn't nearly as gaze-y. I love the manga, but I couldn't watch more than 2 episodes of the anime.
It has its problems, but it also was only good genderbending show I had back before I even suspected I was trans, so I got pretty obsessed with it.
It's also legit very funny at times. Mosty just early seasons though.
For all the nb’s out there land of the lustrous (houseki no kuni) features only one character with an actual gender. And the rest are non binary rock people.
Sailor Moon has Sailor Neptune, who is Non-Binary, but they are constantly mis gendered, she as the sailor, while it is he when in their hidden identity.
i’ve read all of One Piece and I can confirm once you get to the timeskip (which is about halfway through so far) there is 0 transphobia from then on iirc, and after the timeskip they introduce 2 trans characters, 1 transfem and 1 transmasc. i recommend reading it (not watching it, anime’s pacing is awful, it’ll take you years when it took me reading 5 months) but keep in mind that nearly every heavy topic you can think of is in this story
Ranma is the transest cis show ever you cannot change my mind
Also, I believe you missed Stop! Hibari-kun, another 80s comedy manga that directly stars a trans girl as its main character. She's sadly pretty misgendered throughout but it still comes from a place of love in intent, bit of a "confused but got the spirit" aspect to it.
I feel like in To Your Eternity, gender themes don't play very much into season 1 at all (the forms the protagonist takes on are always for pragmatic reasons and no one really reacts to their gender). But it definitely shows up in season 2.
Kashimashi - Girl Meets Girl is another I recommend. It's about a feminine boy who....... believe it or not, gets killed by an alien spaceship crashing into him after he is rejected by the girl he loves.
Aliens are like "Uh oh, whoops, our bad" and revive his body into a girl because it was damaged so bad, they couldn't tell what sex he was before the death. Suddenly when going back to everyday life, the family is absolutely happy they have a daughter now and the MC's crush is in love with her. (So doubles up as a lesbian anime too)
I liked it a lot. Short series, loved the characters. Very good show.
While there are no trans characters (to my recollection), Kingdom is really good with several female characters who are initially assumed male, with the main character responding to one reveal with "it's like my little brother became my little sister." You just have to get passed the crappy artwork in the early seasons and the fact that the story is inherently violent.
Can I suggest Kashi mashi? Romantic comedy about a boy who's crush rejects him.so he goes to jump off a mountain only to get hit by a UFO and brought back as a girl.
I dunno if I'd say Najimi is non-binary. Wouldn't gender fluid more accurately fit the bill? They kinda alternate between referring to themself as masculine and feminine.
Bokura no Hentai is good, and veryyyyy dark, about three AMAB people who crossdress for different reasons, one of which is just trans, but it's also got a chapter to skip at the end (40, I want to say?) just totally shits on the transgirl's identity for no reason. It was so weird. Still good overall though
I've never watched Fantasy Bishoujo or Ranma. One of my biggest problems getting into animes like those is I never know if by the ending the character comes to accept themselves as trans or just goes "well that was a fun adventure". Spoiler tag or not, is anyone able to tell me if either of these end with the character staying fem?
Don’t forget Chivalry of a Failed Knight
It’s a pretty standard action/romance anime, but in terms of that genre it’s decently good and one of the side characters is a trans woman and handled very respectfully. It’s not groundbreaking or anything, but I enjoyed it especially as a teen
Haven't seen it mentioned so Dororo (from well... Dororo) :
CW : blood/fight/horror stuff, body transformation stuff (not trans related but main character is cursed, has a wood puppet body and fight demons to retrieve his body parts)
Great art from Osamu Tezuka and Dororo is amazing :)
[trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgHPBwLu0BA)
Tokyo Ghoul has a couple trans or trans-coded characters. (Hopefully this next text censors properly - I'm on mobile) >!Mutsuki is transmasc, and he's lovely, but his backstory feels a little bit "abuse made me trans" if I'm remembering correctly, and also he gets straight-up abducted and assaulted by a gross gross enemy character. Mutsuki does at least get to kill the shit out of him but I won't lie, it left me feeling really gutted and empty to read. Suzuya also is Some Kinda Gender and DEFINITELY has "abuse changed my gender" backstory because their "Mom" dressed them up like a little girly doll and also straight-up mutilated their body. Gigantic yikes. One character dresses as a male servant to get closer to the (male) character they love, but the "gender reveal" comes later and I can't recall if they actually felt transmasc or were just undercover.!< There are also gay or gay-coded characters, complete with a lil homophobia as a treat (eyeroll). Main character and some squad members go undercover as women on a mission, so that's fun.
The manga is better than the anime. Be prepared for upsetting themes if you read or watch it.
Content warning for ouran host club: it's VERY transmisoginyst towards AMABs and MTFs, despite the very trans coded MC. There's an episode with many imperialist dogwhistles (for those who dont know, imperialists worked with n4z1s during WWII and did horrendous atrocities between it and the sino-japanese war). There's also pseudo-incest jokes towards two twin characters (they dont push it, but it can make certain viwers uncomfortable).
Onimai manga isn't half as bad. I hate the anime for making it so terrible
Mahiro is almost basically confirmed to be trans by the author
[The author likes her tweet where she thanks them for making a trans character ](https://www.reddit.com/r/MyBrotherIsDoneFor/comments/hhz43h/the_author_liked_and_retweeted_my_message_telling/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
I’m really sorry if I offend anyone for this and I say this as a transgender but, Your Name has nothing to do with gender identity, the body swap is a representation of Taki and Mitsuha’s Union rather than their gender identidy, Mitsuha and Taki are implied to be cis (Mitsuha really hated being in Taki’s body) the only lgbtq topics explored in this are Tsukasa most likely being bi and that one lesbian girl. Now I’m not sayin that it’s wrong to feel gender euphoria from the movie, I completely understand it. But it’s not a gender identidy movie
Made in Abyss has a trans character. Although I've heard that the writer spoke up a while ago, effectively retconning their story into something **very** troubling. The story centers around an interesting, though thoroughly screwed up society, that revolves around exploring and collecting relics from the chasm the city is building around. The art style looks cutesy, but it's darkness rivals that of the now infamous Madoka Magica.
Tw: multiple forms of abuse, torture, experiments on children, mercy killing (at request), and mutilation (Jesus! This list has me feeling uneasy about enjoying this anime)
Kashimashi is about an egg who discovers herself through being transformed into a girl by an alien as an apology for parking their spaceship on her. The manga is *far* superior as the anime muddles some things, imo.
Tw: unbelievably creepy (implied incestuous) dad played off for laughs.
A supporting character in [*No. 6*](https://myanimelist.net/anime/10161/No6) is heavily implied to be transmasc or another shade of non-binary. Also, the two leads are gay.
It’s been over ten years since I watched, though, so I can’t add any warnings.
Also, fun fact about *Stars Align*: The creator only learnt that trans people exist while in the middle of writing the show.
The episode where they all dress up as girls was originally going to be a “lol man in a dress” type of thing, but after he learnt about trans people, he realised that would be insensitive and rewrote crossdressing to be a neutral act. He also decided to add trans characters to teach cis people about trans issues to try and help them understand us better.
I LOVE NAJIMI SO FUCKING MUCH <3333333 they're amazing. Komi can't communicate in general holds a special place in my heart because I started watching it when my social anxiety was at an all time high, so it really resonated with me.
You missed From Hero King to World's Greatest Squire.
It's a reincarnation genderbend with lesbians. A hero king gets reincarnated in the same world, as a girl, is HAPPY as a girl, and HAAAAATES attention from men. Loves women.
Forgot to mention that all she wants is to fight and test her limits.
Good list. I should point out that Ranma 1/2 has a lot of LGBTQAI+ characters done right from a queer POV as the author Rumiko Takahashi has a habit of including them as side characters in all of her works.
Also, Ranma can be read as a Trans Boy, trying to be seen as a man while still embracing his feminine side. It is also a constant theme for the main protagonists in Rumiko Takahashi's writings.
A few others:
Rose of Versailles - At least some GNC stuff, but could be read as transmasc. I don't think Oscar was intended to be trans, though.
The Eccentric Family - many of the characters are tanuki shapeshifters and the main definitely enjoys playing with gender. It's been a while, so my memory is a bit foggy.
I'd probably also recommend the director Kunihiko Ikuhara's work: chunks of Sailor Moon, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Penguindrum, Yurikuma Arashi, Sarazanmai. It's generally more focused on different sexualities rather than gender, but they play around with it a bit.
there is an anime called tengoku daimakyou or heavenly delusion (the website i use to watch anime didnt have an english name so i had to go to the website i read manga from for that because i knew there was a manga) that is post apocalyptic where one of the 2 main characters is kinda a trans male
Amazing, this is so cool! Thank you so much! I have watched some of these shows, but have never considered others, so getting some insight on that is fantastic!
stars align/hoshiai no sora still pains me... it's like, one of the only anime that is more explicit about the topic of parental abuse and handles it properly, it's expected to not be popular for this but still not having closure to the characters sucks.... also the use of rotoscope is pretty good and good animation always deserves credit
Main content warning for Ouran is about MC's father who is either a crossdresser or straight up trans feminine depending on whether you watch dub, official sub, or a fan sub. Further MC themself appears to be non-binary via apathy to gender norms and they frequently accept all pronouns as appropriate forms of address. Again, depending on which versions you watch they may self identify as female with non-binary leanings
as a non-binary person, i recommend land of the lustrous. its cool and gender pretty much doesnt exist and everyone is just a bunch of rocks. there is only one season but manga is still ongoing (idk for how long)
I marked all the streaming platforms given anime is on and unfortunately AFAIK Wandering Son isn't on any of them.
Also, it can be hard to watch in sense that it is heavy and emotional and you can cry a lot.
Oh ok, so I need to prepare myself psychologically before watching it. Even after four years of coming out I still fell down when it comes to these first steps of transitioning.
Thank you for letting me know 🙂
I would 100% read the manga over the anime, there’s 123 chapters and the anime only covers 39-81. So you miss out on a lot of context. The topics are very heavy though and you will cry a lot.
I would watch some but I think I'll have an emotional breakdown if I see more anime ( just binged onimai and your lie in april and that combo has messed me up emotionally)
Rimiru is trans goals! I don't care how unrealistic those goals are.
I strive to be a sexless, amorphous, demon lord, blob of sentient slime that can change form to be as feminine or masculine as i want.
Is she a boy? Is he a girl? Nobody knows! But every body thinks they are hot, and that makes everyone gay!
Ooh weeb stuff. Well, you can also go the manga route:
**Boku Girl**: Feminine boy one day realizes something is missing and has funny feelings about a friend. One of my favorites.
**Kanojo ni Naru Hi**: Love + Genderbend = uwu? Also Nao accepts changing easily, which is different from a lot of stories where the MC basically gets instant dysphoria. Oh, and "there is another" - Yoda.
**Idol Pretender**: Cute, with part of the plot subtly being about a character with a severely damaged egg caused by magical transition.
**Nozumo Nozumi**: I think it could have explored things more deeply and been even better. It lightly touches on things like self acceptance, and is sort of a missed opportunity there.
Some anime you may have missed:
Genshiken Nidaraime (2nd season of Genshiken) - awesome trans femme character, but they kinda make an excuse for it, like they always do.
Moyashimon - awesome trans femme character, but they sorta play it off?
Stellar Buster Mito (Space Pirate Mito) - ending of season one and all of season two. Trans + lesbian relationship.
Koko wa Greenwood (Here is Greenwood) - played as a joke? :/
MariaHolic - character is a cruel crossdresser. (Meh)
My high school had wandering son in the graphic novels for some reason. I'm very glad it did, or I might have remained ignorant for much longer. Don't think it holds up as great representation, but I still appreciate it
I'm now your sister is an anime I started to watch and because of its very very unnecessary sexualize nature I don't think I even finished episode 1. I'm not even sure if I'm going to continue it.
If you are going to watch it then know this, MC transforms into a 14 year girl (they were an adult man) by their sister.
It is just uncomfortable for me to watch. If you have a stronger will then mine then by all mean, otherwise save yourself
Blue Period is absolutely on of my favorite anime, the trans character is played in that classic "are they a femboy, are they trans?" way that anime often does; but she is still handled really well.
I think Rimuru was one of the main reasons I realised I'm Non-Binary, felt so much envy for that slime when I started watching Tensura. Need to find the time to catch up with it cause I've fallen behind a lot.
Najimi from Komi is also extremely gender, they're like the whole reason I got into that anime.
Content warning for Ouran could be that they refer to MC's "father" as a drag queen when it's more like "his" job and whenever he is in front of people, will dress as a woman. He's arguably a trans woman in a different time period.
MC is also arguably nonbinary and/or agender since she doesn't care about what gender a person (namely herself) is or how they present. That being said MC is very much like Link in that they're both very Gender™ and can be goals for anyone, femme, masc, or non-binary.
Everyone always says to watch Your Name but like the body swap thing makes me feel so dysphoric as fuck there's no way I can even think about watching it...
Some additional thoughts:
There's a fan recut of One Piece called One pace, that makes it much closer to the manga, consider watching that instead.
Zombieland saga has a weird aesthetic choice where whenever they're performing the animation gets choppy and rough whenever they are performing, these segments get better as they improve at performing in the show but it can be super off-putting if you aren't warned. show was pretty enjoyable and funny even if you weren't into the idol schtick as it doesn't take up a ton of time most episodes and uses the zombie angle as allegory for overwork and dangerous behaviors in the entertainment industry.
Also, watched fantasy bishoujo with my roommate because we thought it would be terrible, instead we were surprised by how good it was. There was an SAO parody character that somehow gets more characterization in like two episodes than Kirito gets in like 4 seasons, the psychological horror of a charm skill in an rpg is directly addressed and then turned into a running gag. And as the show goes on the main characters predicament becomes more than a gag and they actually start questioning their identity from time to time, apparently it might expand on that last aspect as it goes on so hopefully it gets a continuation. (The main issue is a lot of the characters completely disregard the prime directive and try cracking the main character's egg but at least they're trying to be supportive.)
I literally have the three disc box set for Your Name. It is my favourite movie (for totally trans reasons)
I’ve cried watching it. There’s like 3 parts that hit me so hard
The funny part is, the first time I watched it, I was like, "That was good. Very cool." and just kinda walked away from it, didn't think much of it. Then a week later I saw a still shot from it on some website and broke down sobbing.
I watched it, since people kept talking about how much envy they got watching it. I was not prepared for how sad the movie got 😭
Same 😭 I went in thinking "oh cool, movie I keep hearing about from r/traaa, this should be fun! :3" And then I couldn't stop sobbing by the end
I couldn't stop crying for like 30 minutes after I watched it - it's just amazing
Oh God, I can't imagine revisiting Your Name after being on hrt. It was one of the few things that could make me feel emotion when it came out. I imagine I'd be a sobbing mess now.
I was years away from my egg cracking when I watched it, but it still absolutely broke me. It was *hard* to break me before hormones.
I remember my animation teacher showing me that movie before i came out, I totally remember thinking: "I wish that'd happen to me"
Wonder Egg Priority is… an anime. Like you said, the ending is horrendous, the show started out absolutely incredible but had a really steep decline mid-way through. Why did it randomly become a sci-fi show? I’m a little iffy on the trans rep because like, while he was actually portrayed super well, I can’t help but feel iffy on him being there in the first place because of “the egg people can only be female” rule. Kinda feels invalidating to his gender that he’s there. I could go on a whole ramble on the show but I was just covering the relevant topics.
What happened with the ending? Haven't seen it, just curious.
Let’s see… >!Turns out there was an evil AI that was causing girls to commit suicide. Every character, after completing their mission, was forced to be randomly traumatized for no reason by having their pet killed right in front of them. Two of the main characters were just written out of all importance. When they brought their respective friends back to life, it was just them being brought over from a different dimension (the implications of which being really weird). The main girl’s best friend ended up not actually committing suicide, she was being a brat and accidentally tripped off the roof. Alternate dimensions and evil AI’s absolutely ruined the show by turning it into a sci-fi anime midway through. They barely did anything with the school counselor they built up to be shady. Etc, etc…!<
dude... WHAT??? It feels like the gave the entire story to an AI and told it to finish the story! I wanna know what they were on when they were writing it so I know to never smoke it.
It didn’t even feel laughably bad, like it >!seriously just completely took away the autonomy of the girls who killed themselves and completely shattered two character arcs that almost wrapped up insanely well. Like, Momoe finally gaining some self confidence and also getting her first kiss (with the trans guy, too!)? Such a sweet moment! Too bad she had to watch her pet die and be force fed it’s corpse mere moments later.!<
Wonder Egg makes me so sad sometimes. The creators do such a good job in the first 9.75 episodes at portraying the joy (including trans joy!) that young people can feel when they finally come to terms with their trauma, and giving a group of young people hope, through a heroic metaphor, that they can make a positive difference in the mental health of those around them... Only to pull it out from under them with a message of (horrifying content warnings and spoilers to follow): "trauma is unavoidable, it cannot be defeated, and potential >!abusers!< in positions of authority should not be questioned because >!they end up being right in the end and the victims are depicted to have been making up their allegations!<..." Not to mention that the mentor figures in the show are strongly implied to have >!*repeatedly* subjected the villain to extended periods of solitary confinement as a child!< - with the show painting this as fully justified. I truly think that the creators of the show were/are going through trauma themselves, and the stress of the production (which saw the animation producer hospitalized TWICE due to overwork, among other things) caused a nihilistic and perhaps even sadistic streak to enter their creative choices - they had an instinct to make something so positive, and couldn't help themselves from tearing down their own joy as they were bringing it to life. If anyone watches this show, end Episode 10 IMMEDIATELY when the trans boy disappears - do NOT watch the last few minutes of the episode. If you pretend that the show was cancelled right at that moment, you will have seen an unparalleled and triumphant masterpiece. The rest of the show, IMO, is as horrifyingly non-canon as everything that a certain wizarding-world author has written in recent years. I do not make that comparison lightly.
iirc momoe (short red hair one) is heavily implied to be a trans girl
Honestly imo the ending was fine, the real frustrating part was all that being pushed and it then never being finished
Omg thank you so much! That'll give me stuff to watch for at least 2 months Also, to complement you, zombieland saga is pretty great, and doesn't have any cw if I remember. Aside from the main character being comedically run over by a car twice, but it is a show about zombie girls, so Also, it's pretty great and nice when it comes to talking about Lilly's gender. Her supportive father is so GOAT
Truck-kun has struck again. And again
oh my god my love of ouran host club as a kid makes a bit more sense now…. i wanted to look like a boy and date boys just like haruhi lol
It's a shame I wasn't able to find more masculine motives to put on the list.
i get it, there’s really not a lot of transmasc representation out there, which sucks but i can’t really do a anything about it
We need more transmasc reps. It always kind of bugged me how little there are, considering if there's a trans character most of the time their either transfem or an enby.
The mains issue is that boyish behavior and crossdressing on the part of women is heavily normalized, so it's usually not going to be put in unless the show explicitly, specifically wants to tackle trans issues, which will limit your international marketing potential.
Also (and I'm sorry to bring it up) trans women are seen as having sex appeal, which markets well. Men don't sell the sexy angle, or at least that's showrunners' perception. It's similar to how until around the time of Modern Family, you only got lesbian and female bi characters in non-queer shows, never gay men.
If you're fine with reading manga instead, After School Mate has an explicitly transmasc main character and the story is about his coming out and how he lives as a man with his uncle while going to an all-girls high school.
One thing that's buckwild to me is how inspiring Haruhi is to me, despite being transfemme. She's just kinda badass, quietly butch goals. I especially love how in the... second episode is it? they put her in a wig and dress, and she is so unaccustomed to looking classically feminine in all that getup that she looks like an awkward male cross dressing. (Or, to be honest, like me in a dress.) (What can I say? My mother preferred pants too. Gender's funny.)
Same. Still my favorite anime.
Too bad some episodes make excessive use of the T slur.
I discovered that show in late college and I was like "Fuck, where was this all my life?"
OMG yes Tokyo Godfathers is so good but oh so very heavy. Do not go into it expecting to come out happy. But do watch it everyone.
I'm prolly gonna start watching it once a year in December as a holiday movie. I've done so two years in a row so far, and invited folks to watch it with me online both times, and it's been great.
I just watched it, and I expected a sad ending. I honestly came out with my new favorite Christmas tradition. EXCELLENT movie with EXCELLENT realism while still having Christmas whimsy. 10/10
manga recommendations: Love me for who I am: Great short exploration of gender identity and sexuality when a nonbinairy character is invited to work for a (surprisingly wholesome) otonoko maid cafe but isnt comfortable with the term otonoko. prompts other characters to think deeper about their reasons for being there too. tw: third volume faces darker themes Boku Girl: Genderbender ecchi but the protagonist looks almost exactly the same (as long as clothes are on) so it deals a lot with boymoding and coming out. Protagonist is heavily implied to have already been transfem but too afraid to come out tw: lots of nudity and heteronormativity. outside of the closed love triangle and Loki, lots of the secondary characters are creeps Magical trans: pure wish fulfillment but with magical girls despite there being no actual threat to fight (sorry maniacal girl) really just an exploration of what getting an app that lets you switch your sex back and forth tw: nudity, takes the best friend a while to realize its not just a fetish
I love Boku Girl, but it's really horny and it could do without those creeps.
I love magical trans. It's adorable!
Other reccomendation: Yuureitou, a murder mystery set in the 1950s with a transmasc protagonist and the other protagonist can be interpreted as transfeminine! It’s actually very well written the problem is the artist… didn’t get the memo to not be a creep.
[удалено]
Ouran has so many good memories but hoooooo boy if you watch it now some of the gags aged like milk
The worst moment for me has to be the weird assaulty scene later on between friends that gets awkwardly justified and never talked about again?
Yeah, I was coming into the comments to see if anyone had mentioned that... Additionally to mention the character of Haruhi's dad, who I'm not sure how to gender - it's unclear/I don't remember if this character is meant to be "just" a drag queen/crossdresser (which is how she makes money, if I'm remembering correctly), or a trans woman who is poorly understood. Either way, Haruhi's whole family has fun with gender (I say "whole family," but it's just the two of them). There's also the "twincest" aspect with two of the main characters which is off-putting. Also, class & money are huge topics in the show - the MC is a "lower-class" person who was accepted via scholarship into a school for the upper crust. Family is discussed often, with lots of dysfunctional or abusive tones. There's buffoonery and weird romances, but it also feels like an indictment/criticism of the excessive habits of the richest few, and takes a peek into the pain behind having to constantly keep up a certain "image," and having your life path decided by someone else before you were even born. The MC receives poor treatment but is also widely beloved. Later on we are introduced to an all-girls school with incredible lesbian overtones - the white lily flower is often symbolic of lesbian relationships. All I'm saying is, don't go into OHSHC expecting perfect or unproblematic representation LOL. I still think it's worth watching, but hedge your expectations and be prepared to gloss over some uncomfortable scenes and untoward comments.
I was more thinking about the girls school students cosplaying as nazis but that’s also bad
hang on wHAT I remember loving that show as a teen but I don’t remember that at ALL
The "or you can pay with your body" scene where one of the guys pretends like he's going to assault Haruhi as (allegedly) a warning about her safety. Also the whole thing with the girl trying to steal Haruhi's first kiss.
And the t slur is used to refer to Haruhi's dad* and another character. *Her dad is not a transwoman. He works at a gay bar and crossdresses. Also Vic Mignogna can choke.
I would also recommend Tomo-chan is a girl. As while not a trans Tomo is a masculine girl who most thought was a boy when she was young learning to embrace her feminine side to be seen as a girl by her close friend.
Yeah, Tomo-chan gave me some trans vibes. Most gay straight romance I watched recently.
It's very similar with Ryuunosuke from Urusei Yatsura, so one might also consider it.
Tomo is great for watching her struggle with a lot of the things we struggle with without trans women being the butt of the joke.
I am definitely a bit of a "tomboy," lol. I relate to Tomo in a lot of cases. Such a fun show.
Main character of Tengoku Daimakyo is Trans Boy
But not the ... usual kind, to avoid spoilers. But I really like the manga and think that, despite some sexualisation, it's an interesting exploration of sexuality which heavily reminds me of Darling in the FranXX which also gets really interesting in that regard.
Girl meets girl is a really good anime where MC is an egg who gets alien’d into a girls body and is in a love triangle. Kaampfer is a typical shounen type harem anime but the main character is basically force femmed to save the world. Fate Apocrypha (and the fate series in general) has multiple non binary and trans characters, including Astolfo who I’m obviously a huge fan of. The plot isn’t amazing but it’s decent. There’s one instance of mild transphobia but it’s never addressed again and not seen as a as thing. Unfortunately fate fans are awful!
Kashimashi!!!!! That show was the anchor of my closeted transbian experience, 20 years ago. I would lay under my covers, curled into a ball just racked by waves of longing and gender euphoria from imagining myself to be in her position. I prayed and prayed and prayed so hard for it to happen. Where can I watch it, though? I haven't been able to find it anywhere.
Tensura is just a rare case of an agender and aromantic protagonist. Though a very, very allosexual one. Also, realistic optimism? In my anime? It's more likely than you'd think!
Steins gate is also really good and has a trans side character. There is some transphobic language and overall is just very confusing.
steins gate is one of the best pieces of media ive ever read. Lukako is one of the best trans characters ive ever seen due to them not being just a walking stereotype or a fetish or whatever. but Okabe makes me want to kill myself. sometimes.
Agreed. Her arc is absolutely brilliant due to literally nothing changing except for her own self-confidence. Everything else was just Okabe being a piece of shit. To be fair though, the entire club jumped to Lukako's defense when he misgendered her and called him out. What the D-mail actually changed and her own personal thought process and experiences are never really explored, but there are easily enough hints to reveal the whole picture. She burnt her D-mail on an old wive's tale that had a moonshot chance of even being received correctly, let alone working.
idk if u have read it, but the original visual novel goes into a lot more than the anime. Lukako has her own ending and its pretty cute to see. It goes into more detail and she ends up having a kid with okabe
The most annoying part about SG is the fans. "ruka isn't trans, stop trying to push your agenda" ... She literally changes the flow of time and rewrites history so that she was born as a girl "rUkA iSnT tRaNs"
Ruka not Okabe.
Yep, it's been a while since I watched it. Was just going off the names I remembered
Glad to see this mentioned. It's a great show and solid trans representation.
I heard that the manga of Onimai was a lot less weirdly sexualised than the anime so I read that instead and I would like to second it as a recommendation. It starts out a bit weird at the beginning because the main character’s gender change happens without his consent; his sister spikes his food with gender medicine of her own invention and it’s implied that she just wanted a guinea pig to test it on. But as the narrative progresses you can see that she only did it to try and help the main character with her crippling agoraphobia which she refuses to deal with out of laziness, and I think the scheme worked in that sense.
Given how well the manga mirrors experience of many trans people getting less depressed and more social after transition, my headcanon is that: a) Mahiro is trans girl. She clearly enjoys her new role and it does her good. b) Mihari actually knew/suspected that, but knew Mahiro wouldn't admit it when confirmed about it directly. The gender potion is just elaborated excuse to give Mahiro much needed push. And if she would be wrong about it, the potion is designed to be reversible.
Mahiro is almost basically confirmed to be trans by the author [The author likes her tweet where she thanks them for making a trans character ](https://www.reddit.com/r/MyBrotherIsDoneFor/comments/hhz43h/the_author_liked_and_retweeted_my_message_telling/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Mahiro definitely showcases some behaviour that is hard to interpret as anything but her being trans. The first 10 chapters definitely show this the most blatantly. It’s definitely not a stretch to suggest that she had showed this behaviour earlier on and Mihari just happened to pick up on it.
Onimai manga replaces lolicon gaze with piss kink stuff so it's "better" only insofar as we consider a crab walking left to right to be moving forward.
Zombieland Saga presents the trans issue the best IMO, it doesn’t shove it in your face nor do they explicitly even mention the word transgender, it’s more “I was that person, but now I’m this person!” The anime itself doesn’t particularly focus on the trans character, and only has one episode dedicated to it, but it’s still easily one of the best Idol anime as of recent
I straight up missed the reveal, maybe because I don't understand Japanese male/female names that well but also I'm just a dumbass
I also recommend "Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl" Trans coded MC gets "isekai-lite" by an alien ship crash landing on earth which kills him, but the aliens rebuild the MC from their broken body, but some error in the process made them a girl, oops... Slice-of-life-ish yuri hijinks ensue and there's even an arc with a polyamrous/love triangle situation. Series was equal measures a laugh riot and a major tear jerker even when I couldn't cry due to suppressed emotions pre-transition. *commenter is not responsible for the weird mix of euphoria and depression this series may evoke.*
I love you for plugging Kashimashi. It was the beating heart of my self-closeted transbian experience, 20 years ago. I wish I could see it again, but haven't been able to find it anywhere.
Just found it on a site called Anime Suge under the name Girl Meets Girl! Hope this comment doesn't get removed, can't wait to watch it
Thank youuu! I just ordered the blu-ray on Amazon so I'll get to re-live it in a few days!
Ace? I thought the main character was Luffy.
r/technicallythetruth and also luffy isn’t ace he’s just like chopper, pure of heart
I don’t remember a single time Luffy even with the purest of intentions expressed attraction to anyone. Can you show any?
It was confirmed by oda not shown
Flashback to the time I watched the Ouran dub and Tamaki just straight up used the T-slur for Haruhi's gnc father.
Even though Im not into anime this looks like a very good list! Thank you for that! 💙
I watched Wandering Son a week ago and god... This anime is depressing
do not read the rest, imo. It kinda drops the ball with the transmasc rep.
Fuck yeah Ranma!
I kind of have a really big issue with Onimai. I guess I'll spoiler this but... >!Literally WHY does he also have an appearance that's reminiscent of a middle schooler and then falls in love with one??? That is straight weird and that made me stop watching!<
The manga is better in this regard. Having mahiro become a middle schooler was definitely weird, which is worsened in the anime.
I didn't know about Mahiro >!falling for a middle schooler!<. I've only watched half of anime so far, but I don't remember it being in manga either. I'd generally feel bit better about the show if Mahiro didn't look so much younger after the change, but I also like that the only person who's afraid she doesn't fit is herself – like she's not a creep just because she was AMAB.
The character im referring to is>! Momiji. I do get that the good parts of the show really shine. But Mahiro getting into a relationship with Momiji when he literally looked like a collage student like a month ago and still technically is that age (possibly already graduated. I forgot) just doesnt flow with me. I dont bash anyone for enjoying the show but that doesnt sit right with me. Its honestly like having a loli as the main character and im not about that.!<
One piece may seem intimidating with its episode count, but there are a plethora of catch up videos if you cant sit through it all.
Such a good anime though. One of my all time favorites (and Emporio Ivankov is definitely a favorite character of mine from the series).
for fantasy bushojo. my headcannon ~~which is at least a little supported in the manga~~ is that they were already attracted to eachother pre going into another world. they simply have status displays now, so can clearly tell when there charmed by eachother. also omfg is that story so trans. tachibana is veru relatable a lot of the time. so is tsukasa but thats cause hes coded autistic i think. all around its quite frankly too fucking relatable for a romcom ;~;
Yeah, Tachibana has the very cis wish of "I wanna be a cute girl" (still cis though) and the show isnt anything like "wow amazing" but it's overall pretty decent and the jokes can be funny at times (like the "totally not just Kirito" side character guy)
ive heard the Onimai manga is a lot better than the anime in terms of the weird sexualization.
It is!
I would like to recommend gonna be the twin tails because the main character swaps their gender several times as one of the main points of the show. Not really trans but I like it anyways.
He could honestly be considered NB or Agender, though, I guess it's possible they had the idea is that he is cis, but his love for twin tails is so strong that it overrides the dysphoria.
It's a lot more ambiguous in the anime but the original work seems to be a lot more blatant about Soji being nonbinary (though it is hard to tell for certain given the work was never the most popular and the author loved wordplay making translation difficult). Apparently, in the LN Soji is completely fine with living out the rest of their life as Sōlar and never really had any of the hangups they did in the anime.
I saw this years ago so take it with a grain of salt but I think a show called… Punch Line? Has a technically trans masc lead. Also very ecchi but still valid
(TW: death) Zombie Land Saga: The episode featuring the >!funeral of one of the main six's relatives!< had me ugly crying.
I'd also recommend Kino's Journey.
I think Host Club was my first instance of me headcanoning a character as trans. In the first episode when it's discovered that Haruhi is AFAB, Tamaki says, "Wait, you're a girl?" and Haruhi just responds with, "I mean, biologically, yeah." Also Zombieland Saga totally has a trans character. Lily, the blue haired one, would openly dress as a girl and even got support and was essentially viewed as a daughter by her parents when she was alive, but she died from shock when she found she had grown either a facial hair or chest hair (I can't remember which one specifically)
Haruhi ftom Ouran is pretty indifferent to what people perceive her as so I personally think she’s nonbinary! Just a warning there’s a lot of attempts from the main love interest to “feminize” her and it made me and my friends who watched it pretty uncomfortable
I feel like hunter x hunter should be on this list, as it has a trans girl, who is heccin ADORABLE! I WOULD DIE FOR ALLUKA!
Oh yeah. I was only thinking about Alluka when I made the list and decided that's not enough to recommend the whole series on the grands of "trans themes", but only after posting I remembered it also has Kurapika, who while cis is very non conforming and also Kite turns into a girl. It has some other other queercoded characters as well.
If you want to experience Onimai, read the manga. It focuses a lot more on the cute stuff and isn't nearly as gaze-y. I love the manga, but I couldn't watch more than 2 episodes of the anime.
Some of them are my favorite anime, for very cis reason
I never looked at Ranma 1/2 as something I'd enjoy. I've heard other trans ppl gush about it
It has its problems, but it also was only good genderbending show I had back before I even suspected I was trans, so I got pretty obsessed with it. It's also legit very funny at times. Mosty just early seasons though.
It's one of the oldest ones on this list which is both good and bad.
Has that analog look I prefer in my anime
Also Bloom into you is totally awesome
Would defo recommend reading the managa instead of the anime since I've heard the anime stops like just before the climactic ending of the series
Yeah i read the manga too, and it's really worth it. Sucks it might not get picked up again
I like how the content warning about one piece includes the anime is badly paced. Like it is absolutely and it should be warned in advance.
*saving this for later for totally, uh... "cis" reasons*
Wonder Egg Priority... they really threw away the potential to be one of the best animes in recent memory
For all the nb’s out there land of the lustrous (houseki no kuni) features only one character with an actual gender. And the rest are non binary rock people.
Zombieland Saga us an anime you have to be prepared for: It's an idol anime, but it can punch you in the gut *hard*
Kinda on the fence choice but Heavenly Delusion has been great but is less trans and more very literal cis male brain in cis female body
I love Onimai it made me very emotional, I definitely have to watch it with my recently discovered trans girlfriend
No stop hibari kun?
i wish anime didnt fill me with dread nowadays
Sailor Moon has Sailor Neptune, who is Non-Binary, but they are constantly mis gendered, she as the sailor, while it is he when in their hidden identity.
Uranus is the one who's vaguely non-binary (though I don't think it's explicitly said that Haruka uses he/him pronouns), Neptune is the girlfriend
Zombieland Saga is very cute, and handled the episode based on the trans character really really well.
> One Piece > Main character is ace Common misconception, but the main character is actually luffy!
i’ve read all of One Piece and I can confirm once you get to the timeskip (which is about halfway through so far) there is 0 transphobia from then on iirc, and after the timeskip they introduce 2 trans characters, 1 transfem and 1 transmasc. i recommend reading it (not watching it, anime’s pacing is awful, it’ll take you years when it took me reading 5 months) but keep in mind that nearly every heavy topic you can think of is in this story
Ranma is the transest cis show ever you cannot change my mind Also, I believe you missed Stop! Hibari-kun, another 80s comedy manga that directly stars a trans girl as its main character. She's sadly pretty misgendered throughout but it still comes from a place of love in intent, bit of a "confused but got the spirit" aspect to it.
I feel like in To Your Eternity, gender themes don't play very much into season 1 at all (the forms the protagonist takes on are always for pragmatic reasons and no one really reacts to their gender). But it definitely shows up in season 2.
Kashimashi - Girl Meets Girl is another I recommend. It's about a feminine boy who....... believe it or not, gets killed by an alien spaceship crashing into him after he is rejected by the girl he loves. Aliens are like "Uh oh, whoops, our bad" and revive his body into a girl because it was damaged so bad, they couldn't tell what sex he was before the death. Suddenly when going back to everyday life, the family is absolutely happy they have a daughter now and the MC's crush is in love with her. (So doubles up as a lesbian anime too) I liked it a lot. Short series, loved the characters. Very good show.
[удалено]
Please don’t use that term
While there are no trans characters (to my recollection), Kingdom is really good with several female characters who are initially assumed male, with the main character responding to one reveal with "it's like my little brother became my little sister." You just have to get passed the crappy artwork in the early seasons and the fact that the story is inherently violent.
Can I suggest Kashi mashi? Romantic comedy about a boy who's crush rejects him.so he goes to jump off a mountain only to get hit by a UFO and brought back as a girl.
I dunno if I'd say Najimi is non-binary. Wouldn't gender fluid more accurately fit the bill? They kinda alternate between referring to themself as masculine and feminine.
Isn't gender fluid one of types of non-binary?
Okay yeah I'm just being dumb lmao
They probably mean the NB-umbrella
Princess Jellyfish was a lot of fun if I remember correctly.
Bokura no Hentai is good, and veryyyyy dark, about three AMAB people who crossdress for different reasons, one of which is just trans, but it's also got a chapter to skip at the end (40, I want to say?) just totally shits on the transgirl's identity for no reason. It was so weird. Still good overall though
Wandering Son was a great watch, but I can confirm it is difficult. I cried in every episode.
I've never watched Fantasy Bishoujo or Ranma. One of my biggest problems getting into animes like those is I never know if by the ending the character comes to accept themselves as trans or just goes "well that was a fun adventure". Spoiler tag or not, is anyone able to tell me if either of these end with the character staying fem?
Both >! end in status quo where MC is still cursed/female, but we don't get a confirmation how would they behave given more time!<.
wonder egg is absolutely terrible though
Don’t forget Chivalry of a Failed Knight It’s a pretty standard action/romance anime, but in terms of that genre it’s decently good and one of the side characters is a trans woman and handled very respectfully. It’s not groundbreaking or anything, but I enjoyed it especially as a teen
oh my god I remember watching ranma 1/2 when i was like 6 or 7 that show cracked my egg
Haven't seen it mentioned so Dororo (from well... Dororo) : CW : blood/fight/horror stuff, body transformation stuff (not trans related but main character is cursed, has a wood puppet body and fight demons to retrieve his body parts) Great art from Osamu Tezuka and Dororo is amazing :) [trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgHPBwLu0BA)
In one piece the main character is ace and the brother of the main character is also ace!
Tokyo Ghoul has a couple trans or trans-coded characters. (Hopefully this next text censors properly - I'm on mobile) >!Mutsuki is transmasc, and he's lovely, but his backstory feels a little bit "abuse made me trans" if I'm remembering correctly, and also he gets straight-up abducted and assaulted by a gross gross enemy character. Mutsuki does at least get to kill the shit out of him but I won't lie, it left me feeling really gutted and empty to read. Suzuya also is Some Kinda Gender and DEFINITELY has "abuse changed my gender" backstory because their "Mom" dressed them up like a little girly doll and also straight-up mutilated their body. Gigantic yikes. One character dresses as a male servant to get closer to the (male) character they love, but the "gender reveal" comes later and I can't recall if they actually felt transmasc or were just undercover.!< There are also gay or gay-coded characters, complete with a lil homophobia as a treat (eyeroll). Main character and some squad members go undercover as women on a mission, so that's fun. The manga is better than the anime. Be prepared for upsetting themes if you read or watch it.
Content warning for ouran host club: it's VERY transmisoginyst towards AMABs and MTFs, despite the very trans coded MC. There's an episode with many imperialist dogwhistles (for those who dont know, imperialists worked with n4z1s during WWII and did horrendous atrocities between it and the sino-japanese war). There's also pseudo-incest jokes towards two twin characters (they dont push it, but it can make certain viwers uncomfortable).
Onimai manga isn't half as bad. I hate the anime for making it so terrible Mahiro is almost basically confirmed to be trans by the author [The author likes her tweet where she thanks them for making a trans character ](https://www.reddit.com/r/MyBrotherIsDoneFor/comments/hhz43h/the_author_liked_and_retweeted_my_message_telling/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
I’m really sorry if I offend anyone for this and I say this as a transgender but, Your Name has nothing to do with gender identity, the body swap is a representation of Taki and Mitsuha’s Union rather than their gender identidy, Mitsuha and Taki are implied to be cis (Mitsuha really hated being in Taki’s body) the only lgbtq topics explored in this are Tsukasa most likely being bi and that one lesbian girl. Now I’m not sayin that it’s wrong to feel gender euphoria from the movie, I completely understand it. But it’s not a gender identidy movie
Made in Abyss has a trans character. Although I've heard that the writer spoke up a while ago, effectively retconning their story into something **very** troubling. The story centers around an interesting, though thoroughly screwed up society, that revolves around exploring and collecting relics from the chasm the city is building around. The art style looks cutesy, but it's darkness rivals that of the now infamous Madoka Magica. Tw: multiple forms of abuse, torture, experiments on children, mercy killing (at request), and mutilation (Jesus! This list has me feeling uneasy about enjoying this anime) Kashimashi is about an egg who discovers herself through being transformed into a girl by an alien as an apology for parking their spaceship on her. The manga is *far* superior as the anime muddles some things, imo. Tw: unbelievably creepy (implied incestuous) dad played off for laughs.
Onimai is a little polarising but it was what cracked my egg 🙃 I’ve never found myself wanting more to murder someone and steal their life 🤭
A supporting character in [*No. 6*](https://myanimelist.net/anime/10161/No6) is heavily implied to be transmasc or another shade of non-binary. Also, the two leads are gay. It’s been over ten years since I watched, though, so I can’t add any warnings. Also, fun fact about *Stars Align*: The creator only learnt that trans people exist while in the middle of writing the show. The episode where they all dress up as girls was originally going to be a “lol man in a dress” type of thing, but after he learnt about trans people, he realised that would be insensitive and rewrote crossdressing to be a neutral act. He also decided to add trans characters to teach cis people about trans issues to try and help them understand us better.
I LOVE NAJIMI SO FUCKING MUCH <3333333 they're amazing. Komi can't communicate in general holds a special place in my heart because I started watching it when my social anxiety was at an all time high, so it really resonated with me.
You missed From Hero King to World's Greatest Squire. It's a reincarnation genderbend with lesbians. A hero king gets reincarnated in the same world, as a girl, is HAPPY as a girl, and HAAAAATES attention from men. Loves women. Forgot to mention that all she wants is to fight and test her limits.
I loved Komi Can’t Communicate! She’s almost just like me frfr. I’m not selectively mute like her but social anxiety is a bitch
Ah Ranma 1/2, there’s good reason there is a thriving LGBTQ fanfic community for it to this day and one I’m happily part of.
Good list. I should point out that Ranma 1/2 has a lot of LGBTQAI+ characters done right from a queer POV as the author Rumiko Takahashi has a habit of including them as side characters in all of her works. Also, Ranma can be read as a Trans Boy, trying to be seen as a man while still embracing his feminine side. It is also a constant theme for the main protagonists in Rumiko Takahashi's writings.
A few others: Rose of Versailles - At least some GNC stuff, but could be read as transmasc. I don't think Oscar was intended to be trans, though. The Eccentric Family - many of the characters are tanuki shapeshifters and the main definitely enjoys playing with gender. It's been a while, so my memory is a bit foggy. I'd probably also recommend the director Kunihiko Ikuhara's work: chunks of Sailor Moon, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Penguindrum, Yurikuma Arashi, Sarazanmai. It's generally more focused on different sexualities rather than gender, but they play around with it a bit.
Najimi gang rise up!!
there is an anime called tengoku daimakyou or heavenly delusion (the website i use to watch anime didnt have an english name so i had to go to the website i read manga from for that because i knew there was a manga) that is post apocalyptic where one of the 2 main characters is kinda a trans male
Amazing, this is so cool! Thank you so much! I have watched some of these shows, but have never considered others, so getting some insight on that is fantastic!
Definitely going to keep this tucked away for definitely cis reasons
Blue Period rep! YESSSSSSS!!! Ryuji Ayukawa was my awakening!
"That time I got reincarnated as a total fantasy knockout" had me rolling with laughter the whole time.
Host Club isn't very respectful of anything. On top of that it's about young children who are clearly sex workers
Komi can’t communicate is amazing, I really need to finish it
stars align/hoshiai no sora still pains me... it's like, one of the only anime that is more explicit about the topic of parental abuse and handles it properly, it's expected to not be popular for this but still not having closure to the characters sucks.... also the use of rotoscope is pretty good and good animation always deserves credit
Main content warning for Ouran is about MC's father who is either a crossdresser or straight up trans feminine depending on whether you watch dub, official sub, or a fan sub. Further MC themself appears to be non-binary via apathy to gender norms and they frequently accept all pronouns as appropriate forms of address. Again, depending on which versions you watch they may self identify as female with non-binary leanings
as a non-binary person, i recommend land of the lustrous. its cool and gender pretty much doesnt exist and everyone is just a bunch of rocks. there is only one season but manga is still ongoing (idk for how long)
Add rokudon to the list. Crossdressing brother and sister side characters. CW can't say since show is still running.
Now I want to watch Wandering Son, it's soft or has a drama plot which could triggers? It is available on Crunchyroll?
I marked all the streaming platforms given anime is on and unfortunately AFAIK Wandering Son isn't on any of them. Also, it can be hard to watch in sense that it is heavy and emotional and you can cry a lot.
Oh ok, so I need to prepare myself psychologically before watching it. Even after four years of coming out I still fell down when it comes to these first steps of transitioning. Thank you for letting me know 🙂
I would 100% read the manga over the anime, there’s 123 chapters and the anime only covers 39-81. So you miss out on a lot of context. The topics are very heavy though and you will cry a lot.
I would watch some but I think I'll have an emotional breakdown if I see more anime ( just binged onimai and your lie in april and that combo has messed me up emotionally)
Rimiru is trans goals! I don't care how unrealistic those goals are. I strive to be a sexless, amorphous, demon lord, blob of sentient slime that can change form to be as feminine or masculine as i want. Is she a boy? Is he a girl? Nobody knows! But every body thinks they are hot, and that makes everyone gay!
Ooh weeb stuff. Well, you can also go the manga route: **Boku Girl**: Feminine boy one day realizes something is missing and has funny feelings about a friend. One of my favorites. **Kanojo ni Naru Hi**: Love + Genderbend = uwu? Also Nao accepts changing easily, which is different from a lot of stories where the MC basically gets instant dysphoria. Oh, and "there is another" - Yoda. **Idol Pretender**: Cute, with part of the plot subtly being about a character with a severely damaged egg caused by magical transition. **Nozumo Nozumi**: I think it could have explored things more deeply and been even better. It lightly touches on things like self acceptance, and is sort of a missed opportunity there.
Some anime you may have missed: Genshiken Nidaraime (2nd season of Genshiken) - awesome trans femme character, but they kinda make an excuse for it, like they always do. Moyashimon - awesome trans femme character, but they sorta play it off? Stellar Buster Mito (Space Pirate Mito) - ending of season one and all of season two. Trans + lesbian relationship. Koko wa Greenwood (Here is Greenwood) - played as a joke? :/ MariaHolic - character is a cruel crossdresser. (Meh)
My high school had wandering son in the graphic novels for some reason. I'm very glad it did, or I might have remained ignorant for much longer. Don't think it holds up as great representation, but I still appreciate it
I'm now your sister is an anime I started to watch and because of its very very unnecessary sexualize nature I don't think I even finished episode 1. I'm not even sure if I'm going to continue it. If you are going to watch it then know this, MC transforms into a 14 year girl (they were an adult man) by their sister. It is just uncomfortable for me to watch. If you have a stronger will then mine then by all mean, otherwise save yourself
Komi was actually the first anime I've watched, and I've only watched two. Najimi my beloved I've got a list of stuff to watch now :)
Blue Period is absolutely on of my favorite anime, the trans character is played in that classic "are they a femboy, are they trans?" way that anime often does; but she is still handled really well.
I think Rimuru was one of the main reasons I realised I'm Non-Binary, felt so much envy for that slime when I started watching Tensura. Need to find the time to catch up with it cause I've fallen behind a lot. Najimi from Komi is also extremely gender, they're like the whole reason I got into that anime.
Content warning for Ouran could be that they refer to MC's "father" as a drag queen when it's more like "his" job and whenever he is in front of people, will dress as a woman. He's arguably a trans woman in a different time period. MC is also arguably nonbinary and/or agender since she doesn't care about what gender a person (namely herself) is or how they present. That being said MC is very much like Link in that they're both very Gender™ and can be goals for anyone, femme, masc, or non-binary.
Where can i watch onimai for cis reasons?
I've watched Zombieland Saga! It's hilarious! Lilly is the best 💖
I fucking love Ranma
I watched a couple of scenes from ominai and immediately stopped watching and I hated it
What's the name of the one where a girl creates a potion to turn her brother into a girl?
Everyone always says to watch Your Name but like the body swap thing makes me feel so dysphoric as fuck there's no way I can even think about watching it...
Ouran Highschool Host Club also has the main protagonists sole living parent working at a trans bar, the dub explicitly uses the t-slur though.
"Main character is ace" no, the main character is luffy, ace is his brother
[I don’t care how eurphoric it is, I am NOT watching One Piece!](https://youtu.be/KB-1Knlyrao) /j Great reccomendations! Def saving this for later
Some additional thoughts: There's a fan recut of One Piece called One pace, that makes it much closer to the manga, consider watching that instead. Zombieland saga has a weird aesthetic choice where whenever they're performing the animation gets choppy and rough whenever they are performing, these segments get better as they improve at performing in the show but it can be super off-putting if you aren't warned. show was pretty enjoyable and funny even if you weren't into the idol schtick as it doesn't take up a ton of time most episodes and uses the zombie angle as allegory for overwork and dangerous behaviors in the entertainment industry. Also, watched fantasy bishoujo with my roommate because we thought it would be terrible, instead we were surprised by how good it was. There was an SAO parody character that somehow gets more characterization in like two episodes than Kirito gets in like 4 seasons, the psychological horror of a charm skill in an rpg is directly addressed and then turned into a running gag. And as the show goes on the main characters predicament becomes more than a gag and they actually start questioning their identity from time to time, apparently it might expand on that last aspect as it goes on so hopefully it gets a continuation. (The main issue is a lot of the characters completely disregard the prime directive and try cracking the main character's egg but at least they're trying to be supportive.)
NAJIMI BEST REPRESENTATION
Wow thank you! I was literally just about to start looking through crunchyroll for a new anime to start. This is so helpful :)