For Big Closet fans I’m passing along my recent adventures in browsing the various TG animé and manga series I’ve come across. Most of you know about them but there may be some of you who don’t.
Most animé (cartoon films) and manga (illustrated books) can be purchased in the USA and Canada from Rightstuf and Amazon.com (Just Google the names). Rightstuf sells only new materials, but sometimes at a considerable discount.
Amazon has new and used items, some prices so low you wonder why they bothered putting the items up for sale. On the other hand Rightstuf has a brief précis for each book and DVD which Amazon doesn’t. There are other video and manga sources I have heard about but not used and would be happy to know more about.
Those of you who live outside of North America have your own means although I’m certain all of us would like to find out about them as well.
You can watch much animé on YouTube though the longer series tend to get broken up into smaller segments which are not always well-organized. The need to keep changing episodes can be annoying. A recent addition to animé broadcasters is a website on the West Coast of the USA called CRUNCHYROLL, essentially a version of YouTube, but concentrates almost exclusively on Asian (Japanese mostly) animé. Just Google the name. Another one I don’t know well is called VEOH.
SOME OF MY FAVORITES
I MY ME! STRAWBERRY EGGS (13 episode video): An older animé but one of the most sensitive in regard to gender issues and teenage relationships. Essentially a “Tootsie” story about a young Japanese man who wants a job as a physical education teacher at a private co-ed school but in order to get the job he has to masquerade as a woman. In so doing he finds his feminine side. Some scenes are rather poignant. Slapstick now and then provides comic relief. Right now the four discs are available at Rightstuf for five dollars each though you can watch the whole series on Crunchyroll without paying a penny.
YUBISAKI MILK TEA (7 vol. manga): About a high school boy who serves as a replacement fashion model for his sister and because of it gets drawn into a crossdressing life. The story goes into some detail about his struggle with crossdressing and how it affects his attitudes and personal relationships. Some light erotic scenes. No explicit sex.
PRINCESS PRINCESS (5 vol. manga, 3 disc animé): the story of three boys in an all boys high school all of whom have the paid job of dressing as girls to entertain an all male student body. Not as serious as the above two but still fun. There is a companion manga series titled THE DAY OF REVOLUTION (2 vol. manga) in which a high school boy is found to be a genetic female and the problems that accumulate from that discovery. Two characters from this series appear in Princess Princess
OTHER ANIME AND MANGA THAT I’VE ENJOYED
ANZU - The Shards of Memory (1 vol. manga): This is pure hentai (porn) built around a sort of past lives story. One of the chief characters is a boy who has chosen to dress and live as a girl. Lots of explicit sex. Not for anyone under 18.
CHEEKY ANGEL (Tenshi na Konamaiki) (50 video episodes): In childhood a boy is cursed by a demon and changed into a girl for ten years. The new girl spends the next decade fighting her new identity with a cast of friends, dimwits and baddies. Available on Crunchyroll - all fifty!
GACHA GACHA: The Next Revolution (5 vols. manga with at least 3 more to come): A teen age boy goes into a surround box for an e-game. The game shorts out and later the boy finds that because of it he changes into a girl when he sneezes and vice versa - with all the resulting adventures in relation to the girl he loves.
KASHIMASHI (5 vols. manga): A schoolboy gets hit by an incompetently piloted space ship and is resurrected as a girl with consequent relationship issues. As odd as it sounds it’s well done and rather poignant in places. There may be an animé series which I have not seen.
MASHIRO’S CASTLE (website): A Japan-based website with some excellent TG art work. Several stories in Japanese with a few translated (not very well). One story - Okashina Futari (The Strange Couple) - contains a remarkable video (they call it a “flash”) of a high school boy transforming into a bride in the middle of a moving subway car.
PRETTY FACE: (6 vols. manga so far): A bad high school boy gifted in martial arts is severely burned in a bus accident. A kooky doctor revives the boy and gives him the face of the girl he loves. The boy is mistaken for the twin sister of the girl and the story goes from there.
PRINCESS PRINCE (1 vol. manga): A series of stories in one book. The title story has to do with a prince who is raised as a girl by his father.
TENSHI JA NAI! (I’m no angel) (8 vols. manga): A girl moves into an all-girl high school looking for a quiet life. Her roommate turns out to be a popular teen TV idol - and secretly a boy! with all the ups and downs.
W JULIET (14 vols. manga): Similar to Tenshi Ja Nai. A tomboy girl moves into an all-girl high school and finds out that her roommate is actually a boy who if he manages to get through school without being discovered will get to do what he wants in life and not have to run his father’s business.
YOUTUBE: I use the phrase “Japan Crossdressing” to locate all sorts of odds and ends. For a while there were videos of schoolboys professionally costumed as teenage girls for Japanese TV shows. Mostly these have been pulled off due to ownership rights but now and then a few sneak back on.
I’m sure there are others that you readers know about. Your comments are assuredly welcome because this is for everyone.
Marie C.
Kasimashi
Does have an anime, and three OVAs as well, and is very good. You know, I'm surprised the obvious Ranma 1/2 isn't on your list too though. Not TG, but Gravitation is a pretty good Yaoi (sp?) anime, and I've read a bit of a manga about a TG card counter who works stopping cheaters in casinos, can't recall its name though.
Melanie E.
Oh, and for a webcomic check out Venus Envy, it's got some really sad parts but is quite good.
Kashimashi Girl_Meets_Girl manga
http://www.onemanga.com/Kashimashi_Girl_Meets_Girl/
If You Have Read The Gaby Story, Then You
Know that at the cosplay conventions that Maddy got Drew to attend with her, that he all to often went as one of the characters in these animes.
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
Pretty Face
Was actually concluded in the 6th volume.
There are LOADS of TG Anime and Manga -- it's just not nearly as "taboo" a subject in Japan. If you want a couple of good lists, PM me and remind me!
Edeyn
Thanks for replying
It seems to me that if anyone has the time and energy it would be nice to list what they know and present it here. What I put down was not intended to be exhaustive, it was simply to encourage others to share their readings/viewings. And if someone can make use of what I've put down all the better.
In answer to another of the above points my impression is that crossdressing/transgender doesn't seem to carry the same negative connotation that it does here in the States although I've seen complaints by individuals that Japanese transgenders tended to be lumped into the gay bar scene just like here. I don't know if you saw those Japanese television crossdressing game shows. The audiences were all young women and teenage girls.
I know there are loads of other anime/manga with TG themes but some of the TG material is very short. The ones I listed above were those that had a TG theme throughout the series. No I haven't gotten into the Ranma series. I saw a few scenes and it didn't grab me like some of the ones I mentioned above.
I'm aware that Maddy Bell used a lot of anime/manga characters for her Gaby series. In fact her writings are what inspired me to take a closer look at the Japanese productions.
marie c.
marie c.
Manganime
I have Cheeky Angel, and Kashimashi and I've read Pretty Face. I also have a number of Ranma episodes and issues. Most of these others I have heard of but haven't seen and I have seen a few others that have minor TG that you didn't mention like Kimaguri Orange Road, Oh My Goddess and Eatman. Minor TG is pretty common, as you point out but then it's not so rare in America as many feel that it is. Almost every American soap opera that lasted long enough had TG elements introduced; like Jethro's cousin Jethrine being played by Max Baer Jr. in the Beverly Hillbillies and later by Dieter Bader in the movie. :)
Just like in the US and most of the world, TG is generally played for laughs in Japan. The taboo is less stringent for talking about it or showing it but nearly as tight for actually doing it. Culturally, Japan is like an Eastern mirror of Western ideas. They've taken what they want or think they need of Western culture and mixed it in with their own heritage for a unique Japanese perspective.
It's going to be interesting to see what happens as China's cimema and popular arts are liberalized by commercial pressure over the next few decades.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Cheeky Angel (Tenshi na Konamaiki)
Just watched the first episode (then I skipped ahead and saw the last four) heh, heh. What a great anime. Funny and very clever. Although the ending might not satisfy everyone, you have to think it'll all work out in the usual way someday. Gives me ideas for a story or two.
Aardvark
G"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Mahatma Gandhi
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Mahatma Gandhi
I'll do that sometime in this summer
I'll make as comprehensive a list of TG anime and manga that I can and post it here in a blog. Look for it by August 11.
A place to start
Here is the "Category:Transgender anime and manga" page in Wikipedia.
Correction
Your description of W Juliet isn't quite right. It's not an all-girls' school; it's a regular high school. And they're not roommates. He has his own apartment, and she lives at home with her father and three older brothers. It is a sweet romance. They're both in the drama club.
A few more FTM TG Manga I've enjoyed are:
Hana-Kimi (For You in Full Blossom) - A girl has a crush on a boy so she arranges to transfer to his school when her family moves away from Japan. The catch: it's an all-boys' school. And they do end up roommates, so it could be you were confusing the two.
Girl Got Game - A girl's father wants her to be a basketball star, so he enrolls her in school as a boy.
Ouran High School Host Club - A poor girl works for a club whose members are cute rich boys, and they think she's one, too. Added TG Fun: her dad works at a transvestite bar
Basara - in a postapocalyptic future world, a girl has to take her dead brother's place as inspirational leader of a rebellion.
More Thanks
I stand corrected on all counts. And I agree I was thoroughly sexist by not including the girl to boy TG stories. I'm learning too. That's what I put this out for.
marie c.
marie c.
A few more
OTOME WA BOKU NI KOISHITERU ("The Maidens are Falling in Love with Me", also referred to using the shortened name "Otoboku") (PC98 game and 13 episode TV series): About a boy who has to disguise himself as a girl and go to an all girl's school due to a clause in his late grandfather's will. The game is hentai (porn) and defintely not for anyone under 18, but the TV show is suitable for young teens. The title is actually a pun as the word "boku" (a male word for "me") is actually written as "oneesama" ("elder sister"). Otoboku (both the game and the anime) is classified as "yuri", which means that it deals with female-female romantic relationships -- but, in this case, as a twist, one of the females is actually male. A North American release of the TV series will be available soon: http://www.amazon.com/OTOBOKU-Maidens-falling-Vol-Eps/dp/B00...
EL HAZARD (1st OVA series, 7 episodes): The a high school boy transported to an alternate world finds that he bears an uncanny resemblance to a kidnapped princess. Since it would be a political and military disaster if word of the princess being kidnapped became known, the boy is pressured to take her place and impersonate her until she can be found. Note that this is the first OVA series. The subsequent TV series and 2nd OVA series don't have the TG elements.
FUTABA-KUN CHANGE! (8 volume manga): A high-school boy learns his family's secret -- whenever any of them become sexually excited, they change gender. How can he conceal his new problem from his classmates at school? And how does this affect his relationship with the girl he likes?
THE DAY OF REVOLUTION (2 volume manga): After collapsing at school one day, a boy learns that he is intersexed and is in fact genetically female. Thinking he has no choice, he decides to try living as a girl. But he can't escape his old life as a boy so easily. This manga is by Tsuda Mikiyo, who also wrote Princess Princess.
FAMILY COMPLEX (1 volume manga): Aside from a boy who looks like a girl, a girl who looks like a boy, and characters from both Princess Princess and The Day of Revolution, this single-volume managa only deals peripherally with TG themes. Also by Tsuda Mikiyo.
CHOU KUSE NI NARISOU ("It's getting to be a serious habit") (39 episode TV series): A teenage pop idol disguises herself as a boy in order to have a chance at a normal school life. Of course, since this is an over-the-top comedy, that doesn't happen.
SEI LUMINOUS JOUGAKUIN ("St. Luminous Mission High School") (13 episode TV series): A high school boy, Kaihei, inherits his grandfather's post as chairman at an all-girls catholic high school. The boy's best friend, Ryuuzo, jealous that Kaihei will get to spend all of his time with the girls of the school, demands that Kaihei find some way to take him along, too -- so Kaihei enrolls his friend as one of the female students! The plot centers around the unique personalities of the various girls at the school -- who mysteriously start disappearing one by one. Kaihei and Ryuuzo (who is disguised as a girl) must solve the mystery or the school will be shut down.
Bravo
Bon Soir, Michelle
Thanks. That's what I was hoping for not only for myself but other Big Closet readers. Though I suspect most you are rather ahead of me in reading this stuff. I just think it's such a great addition to our reading matter. Even Maddy Bell put in a chapter where Gaby imagines she's a Japanese student, girl of course.
marie c.
marie c.
You're under arrest
Mushi mushi!
One of my favourites You're under arrest in manga and anime form has a character named Aoi Futaba who causes problems and hilarity as he/she is better looking than the girls on the precinct and works as a female cop!
In the live action version however, Aoi is missing which is strange to say the least as he/she pops up in virtually every episode and is the 'star' of at least 2!
Maddy Bell
Madeline Anafrid Bell
Here is a list of manga with
Here is a list of manga with various degrees of gender bender fun:
http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?genre=Gender%2BBende...
If you only want scanlated:
http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?genre=Gender%2BBende...
Or licensed:
http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?genre=Gender%2BBende...
One of my favorites are æ„›ã®æ–°å¤§é™¸ (Brave new world of love): http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=1921
It's one of the few where the where the main character is actually transsexual.
And to disprove my point here is another one, this time FTM:
パãƒã‚¹ã®å‰£ (The Sword of Paros) http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=924
This one's really old, and if you can read it without crying you're not human =)
Another (huge) list of both manga and anime with TG elements:
http://personal.telefonica.terra.es/web/tmap/index.htm
Ketti, Thanks
That's what I'm looking for. Obviously you can write and read in Japanese. I can do a bit in traditional Chinese, rather slowly, but I don't know hiragana or katakana at all. I'll give your suggestions a try.
There's an outfit called RACCOON that is working on the translation of a few Japanese TG stories from MASHIRO'S CASTLE. The name to look for is Eliza at [email protected]
They seem to be running on a shoestring (aren't they al!).
You might be able help them. Just a thought. Have you looked at the Mashiro's Castle Website. It's mostly in Japanese. Excellent art work.
marie c.
marie c.
fansubs
Hmm I'm surprised no one mentioned fansubs as a way to get newer anime that haven't been licenced for US market.
www.baka-updates.com is a good site to search for anime and to see what fansubing group did it.
www.mangatraders.com a site to find scanlation of manga's. (also has a genre specific search, TG included).
www.fansub.tv a good site to see what are newly released anime by fansub groups.
You asked how we in some parts of Europe get our anime. So there you go :P
Euro-Fansubs
Thanks, Lilmagi -
I'll give them a try.
marie c.
marie c.
Manhwa
If you like manhwa too, Click by Youngran Lee is pretty good. It's about a boy who wakes up one morning as a girl, due to a strange quirk in his family DNA.
I just think it's such a
I just think it's such a great addition to our reading matter.
Manga
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