Hourou Musuko
Wandering Son

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Being completely honest I almost dropped this. After reading almost 60 chapters it felt like there was little progress made, and now that I'm done, I'm really glad I didn't drop it. The story (Without major spoiling, I hate spoilers) is about a girl who wants to be a guy, and a guy who wants to be a girl. As the story progresses they start to unravel their true feelings and what the desire. To truly understand this story, you kinda have to take your time to really understand the characters. Unlike some other story's almost all side characters have a lot of depth written ... into them. And i might have a deeper understanding of the story because I can semi relate to the problems their having, especially Mako. In the end, this is a really good manga. Is it for everyone? Definitely not, the main theme of "Being trans" and not being happy with your gender is the main theme and as most people know that there is a very large number of people that don't like this.

Protagonist - 10 / 10
Deuteragonist(s) - 9 / 10
Side characters - 9 / 10
Story/Plot - 10 / 10
Consistent Chapters 10 / 10 (I read it after it was done so yeah)
Translations - 10 / 10
Overall portrayal of emotions and Feelings - 9 / 10
Art - 10 / 10
Overall - 9.6

Ah idk, im not gonna talk about how accurate this is from a trans point of view since im not trans, but im not cis either (and afab while at it) so it still left a bad after taste in my mouth. I'll talk about more general things instead.
First off, it seems this manga suffers from the very same thing most manga about trans characters written by cisgender people suffer, which is a very dragging negativity. Not to say hardships aren't part of what comes with existing as someone out of the binary gender, but now that there's more trans authors coming forth with their ... own stories, and despite their many different life stories, you truly realize how fundamentally different they are from stuff like this. Trans stories told by trans people tell you that there are ways to reach happiness and be yourself. But stories like this told by cis people are always suffocating, they make you feel trapped, like there's no way out of conformity, and they ultimately still see trans people as an experiment of sorts or the romanization of martyr pain (which is ironic since there's an obvious self insert character that does that... but anyway). They see trans people as troubled and impossible individuals, and so no matter how deep they try to dive in their psyche, they'll never get what existing and being happy is about for non cis people.
Although the author was very ambitious about this story, and i had good hopes for it, i ended up feeling awful by the end of it, as you could tell this wasnt for lgbtq people but a messy attempt to write about them. Sometimes it's better to not try writing about some things at all! Instead id recommend to support trans and gender x mangaka even harder, since their chances to tell real stories wind up being stolen by situations like this.

Story: Trans kids growing up and going through puberty.

Actual story: Young kids being confused about gender identity because they don't fit their own gender's norms and attribuating it to not being their sex. Also, transgender girls being taken more seriously kinda, even though the kiddo isn't a trans girl but a crossdresssing boy.


It seems really liked and hyped, especially by the lgbt community, probably cuz there isn't anything else that is so openly ''trans'' with its story setting.
It's not a trans story though, so I don't get the praise for that specific aspect. It's a story about kids being confused and not conforming to ... what people expect of them in term of gender roles rather. Which is good for japan since they are kinda uptight about it I've heard, but it's not a trans story in any way AT ALL.

Alternative translated mangas:
Hommonculus did the trans aspect way better, in less time, and it's not at all a ''trans story''. There also is I.S, an intersex manga which def isn't good, did a similar thing but way better. Even tasagore (or somthing) does a better job, with the trans guy (the trans girl is kinda meh) and that manga is WAY overhyped and really boring and archetypal (the boring part is my opinion, but it's def not 10/10 good at all objectively either). Only good trans story would be Kanojo ni Naritai Kimi to Boku. (so far, might suck with later chapters)
Ah and the zombieland one is supposed to have a transgirl in... I dunno, dropped the thing.


Pros:
-The art could be enjoyable for someone that likes cutesy/ more innoncent looking art. It's really simple but mostly well done.
-The concept that it aimed to achieve isn't common, even if the attempt is quite frankly really, really misinformed and not the reality of real transgender guys and girls. Kinda is what someone that doesn't know anything about it transgenderism would think trans is rather that a realistic story about the subject.
-The slice of life parts are fine if you remove the ''transgender'' component. It's about young kids being confused and lost with themselves.

Cons:
-Dreadful piss-poor trans representation (but it's a good crossdresser/gender noncomformity story I guess.)
-Characters are quite forgetable and could have been explored in better ways, and not with a trans angle, since it failed miserably in the aspect. The feel bland and charicatural, rather than complex and realistic.

So if you came hoping for a trans slice of life, honestly, don't bother at all. Unless you want to read what not to do about this topic.
If you came to see a crossdresssing and kids being vonfused about gender (more of a girly guy/ tomboy chick story dynamic), please go ahead and enjoy your reading time.
p.s.: sorry for any typos xd