Surprisingly i didn't get around to watching this until recently, even though i share some relation to it all. There definitely needs to be more series addressing the subject without making fun of it like classical comedy.
I agree that the ending of this show seems to give off a flawed message, depending how you approach it. As a transgender, there's always 2 choices: change for yourself, or stay the way you are for others (if applicable) and accepting nature. I was honestly expecting Yoshino and Shuu to pair up, and doing what was mentioned in the earlier episodes, the man being the wife and the woman being the husband; switching roles. I have nothing against Anna, i really like her too, but this is all a very ambiguous subject. As far as their relationship goes, Anna was not shallow at all, they were at a point of discovery, they never really were lovers, they were each learning what it all meant, and Shuu showing the will of being a girl inside was a confusing subject for Anna, she didn't know how to react to it all, so she hid away thinking about it.
I don't like the fact that Shuu seems to be okay with going male, however it will make his life a lot simpler. What seems to be happening with Shuu & Anna is something akin to myself, which is even less understood than basic transgenderism: and that's being transgender AND homosexual. For example, a guy that should be a girl, but also likes girls. That is what it seems Shuu is. The mixed messaging seems at first to imply you should just grow out of it, which is really uncool, but if you look through that it would actually be giving a deeper message.
Stories that address things like these often inadvertently really dig into very complex psychological and sociological constructs that are the cause of these issues in the first place: for example, how it's okay for a girl to dress as a guy, but if a guy dresses as a girl it's suddenly super weird. There's a strange paradigm of female superiority even though there's a lot of cultural patriarchy... By that i mean, more people are looking at girls than at guys, and the female form/appearance is a prized valuable thing, and something that disrupts it causes reactions. A female that dresses as a guy is just choosing not to be in the female image, but a male that dresses as a girl is infringing on the domain of femininity, and unresting the natural homophobia within most males. -> To get around most of these issues humans have to conquer their nature and overpower the impulse with the intellect. People have to take control of themselves and their emotions to do what they want instead of what's automatic.
The particular case in this anime is a bit idealistic and unfair, but that's standard for anime.
-Shuu is cute and girly looking naturally.
-Shuu and Yoshino discover their transgenderism pre-puberty.
If you are going to become transsexual, the time to do it is before puberty, so you can catch the hormones before you get the wrong natural dose.
I didn't realize my own transgenderism until it was a topic in a highschool psychology class. Before then, i'd had some girly perspectives but never really thought about it, because it hadn't crossed my mind that such a thing was possible. There is every flavour of transgender, from vague to extreme, from emotionally impacting to logically reasoned, and sometimes even those who are mostly gender neutral but find a particular sex to be more freeing. Some are simple some are complex. Say a girl that is girly but should be a girly guy and not a girly girl, or a guy that is manly but should be a tomboy. Those with a less dramatic transgender state may not learn about themselves until it's already late in the game, if not educated on the subject at an early age.
. . . this needs to change. (well frankly all of education needs to change, and deliver the important messages earlier)
It's a very diverse subject that doesn't get enough attention at all. Maybe one day there will sophisticated enough technology to actually change someone's sex and not just imitate it like the surgery does. That actually reminds me of another issue: some wish to be the other sex in order to match their gender, but are afraid of or don't have access to the surgery. I bet you the most thought question by transgenders is this: "why couldn't i have been born with my sex matching my gender?"
Anyways, it was a lovely show, with nice music and a gentle story. Try not to get confused by the mixed message at the end, and try to support more series like this being made. Cheers to the amount of people not completely resistant to the subject. |