Story: There is not much story to this show, as it has no overarching plotline whatsoever, with it being pure Slice of Life, but rather shows how kids deal with different situations and most important puberty.
The basic plot revolves around Nitori Shuuichi, a shy boy, that wants to be a girl and likes to dress up as such and Takatsuki Yoshino, a boyish girl, that wants to be a boy and likes to dress as such either. They get to know each other in 5th grade (elementary school), as Nitori transfers to that school and they get friends quickly. Not only them though, as others get to know Nitori well too, but only Takatsuki and another girl, Chiba Sayori, know his secret of being transgender. As they get into middle school, they are in the same class again and meet many other girls and boys that they get friends with. From here on we have all the Slice of Life stuff going on and it basically depicts Nitori and his friends going through a bunch of stuff.
As I said, the plot is really simple and nothing outstanding at all. While we have quite some things going on, most noticeable a love triangle which pretty much must be one of the best that I have seen up to date, but still it stays rather simple. In my opinion though, this is what helps the show a lot to get it’s message across and while the story is simple that in no way means it is bad, it is just not the driving force for this Anime.
7.2
Characters: The characters in in Hourou Musuko are to keep it short, fantastic.
The first character I want to talk about is our main protagonist, Nitori Shuuichi. He is a shy boy, that actually wants to become a girl and from the first episode on he is a really likeable character. He has to go through a lot and even though he is something that after normal standards is labeled as weird, the viewer doesn’t think so in any way (at least I didn’t)
The second character is Takatsuki Yoshino, a boyish girl that actually wishes she was born as a boy. She hates everything about cute clothes and things that are similar to that. She also acts a lot more boyish than Nitori does.
The last main character is Chiba Sayorin, a really quite girl, that at first doesn’t seem to have any feelings at all, except her love for Nitori that she confesses quite early and which is the reason for a lot of tension between some of the characters. She is the one that is mostly the least relateable to at first but becomes a lot better character later on.
The supporting cast of the show might be one of the strongest I have seen so far. It features many character archetypes, but done in ways that make them really interesting and I loved more than one character in there.
You might have realized that I left further characterization out for now, that is due to the point that I can actually say things about the whole cast. Every single character in this show is relatealble! No kidding! I myself am not transgender and I could perfectly feel for either Takatsuki and Nitori as they went through there struggles and could perfectly feel for everyone, as they slowly start to realize that puberty is coming. Along to that, everyone in the cast acts a lot more realistic than in other Anime and Manga and even though the author seems to be a bit idealistic at times with some of the characters accepting things really fast, he shows that this is not the case in other scenes. I really thought that the whole cast of main AND supporting characters was just amazingly well done. I loved every single interaction, loved to see how they acted and was interested in every single development and character type the show presented. That is a sign of a truly great character cast and I only know few shows that made me feel that way. Huge praise for this show’s characters as it stands to me as one of the stronger Anime Casts out there, if not one of the best.
9.2
Art: The Art of Hourou Musuko is a little different from other Anime, as it is drawn in a style that resembles watercoloring. Seeing that artstyle, put me off at first, but later really compliments the story. The show was animated by AIC, which are also responsible for shows like Acchi Kocchi, and from an Animation standpoint, it looks quite good. The Animation is pretty fluent and the coloring and lighting looks pretty good. While this will not give you eyegasms or blind you by it’s sheer beauty, what it does is complement the show a lot and while I have seen better things in this regard, it certainly is above average. The character designs are nothing out of the ordinary as they look quite typical for an Anime while using a little bit of moe but not making it overkill.
7.9
Sound: The show’s Soundtrack was composed by Kosaki Satoru who also did the music for shows like the Monogatari Series, the Haruhi Shows and OreImo. The Soundtrack is for the most part really quite, using a lot of piano. This quite parts resembles the show’s feel really well as it is for the most part not a happy go lucky show, but quite often asks about deep questions and shows that being transgender is not easy. The Opening is something that is a bit of a downside to the music, as it doesn’t fit the show really well. While the music scores quite good, the visuals for this one are rather poor and have almost no animation. The ending theme on the other hand though, fits the show amazingly well and while the visuals are only a running style thing, this is almost unskippable as it fits so perfectly that I fell in love with the song only by watching this Anime.
8.5
In total, this Anime that may not please everyone, due to the topic presented, but if you plan on leaving this aside just due to the Crossdressing and Transsexualism portrayed in this Anime, than I beg you to think it over again. This Anime does not only portray those themes, but also shows the going through puberty that everyone goes through once in his life. You could say that this is not an Anime about Crossdressing and Transsexualism only, but rather an Anime about acceptance. Acceptance for those who aren’t exactly “normal” to the standards of today’s society. Hourou Musuko portrays all this in a way that is simply beautiful, featuring one of the strongest character casts that I have seen so far and making people think about this topic. That is what makes this Anime as good as it is and that’s why it really should not be missed!
As I calculated all the Scores that I gave this Anime (Story, Characters, Art, Sound and my personal enjoyment), I got to a score of 8.44/10.
Right now this Anime has been licensed in America by Aniplex and is available to buy there. The Manga also has been brought over there by Fantagraphic Books. It is available for legal Streaming on Crunchyroll, if you happen to live in a country from which it is accessible.
With that I hope I could help you and I’ll see you next time!
