Forum - View topicLots of gender-bending in anime lately?
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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This is sort of a follow up to a previous thread of mine from a couple years ago. It seems like gender switching and crossdressing is gaining popularity in anime. I like it and actually kind of expected a trend like this would surface. But now there seems to be an ever growing subculture within the anime community that's really taken this gender bending stuff to new levels.
In the past an occasional anime relating these themes would show up, like Tenshi na Konamaiki, I My Me Strawberry Eggs, Happiness! and Kashimashi ~ Girl Meets Girl. Crossdressing boy stories still seem to dominate the genre but now with the whole hype around the Genderbending of Haruhi Suzumiya I'm beginning to think gender switching is gaining a firm foothold on the fandom. Lots of viewers seem to complain that crossdressing and gender switching in anime is just an overused cliche to pander to bicurious fanboys, but I eat this stuff up and can't get enough. I think each story is an interesting analysis of human sexuality and gender studies, of which I am deeply interested in. Plus I'm transgendered myself. What's a fangirl to do? |
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sailorsarah08
 Posts: 471 Location: Houston, Texas |
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If genderbending is something you like then may I say you go and see Simoun if you haven't already. It's sort of different than Kashimashi because everyone starts their life as a female then decides at 17 if they want to be a male or female. It's got Sci-fi and mecha in it too which is a plus for some people.
I don't think cross dressing is as over used as some other things such as harem shows. Look it's one guy and lots of girls, I wonder what's gonna happen? Do you think he'll bounce back and forth between them all? I kinda like the genderbenders, well I really liked Kashimashi but this is the first thing I am hearing about Haruhi and genderbender. Take it though I haven't seen the second season yet because my computer is from the stoneage. |
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egoist
 Posts: 7762 |
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Then you should try Shangri-la since there's 2 of them in there.
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Kimiko_0
 Posts: 1796 Location: Leiden, NL, EU |
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Wasn't there another thread about cross-dressing / gender-bending recently?
Anyway, I don't think it's really a trend, or even a genre. Not in the way that magical girls are a genre, or harem / dating-sim anime. With so many different kinds of magic and transformations featuring in anime it's only natural that gender would be subjected to that as well. At least in anime it usually goes beyond the stupid old 'guy in a dress = lol' joke. Hmm, oh, Minami-ke has two (minor) characters who cross-dress, one boy and one girl. |
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DomFortress
 Posts: 751 Location: Richmond BC, Canada |
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You said so yourself that "I think each story is an interesting analysis of human sexuality and gender studies, of which I am deeply interested in". There's your proving-ground, and you can do so through your own effort on how you think it works with your favorite titles. After all, this is how I tried to relate people with what I find interesting. And isn't that's what this is all about? |
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Craeyst Raygal
 Posts: 1383 Location: In the garage, beneath a 1970 MGB GT. |
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Ultimately, I'm afraid you're giving the writers a little too much credit in this case.
A boy who dresses like a girl, or a girl dressed like a boy, or even a "transformation" is rarely a case for analysis in anime. Granted, there are some truly great examples (Rose of Versailles, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Romeo x Juliet) but mostly it's played for laughs in the same way as a classic Monty Python sketch. Recently, anime has been focusing a LOT on ridiculous slapstick comedy and "man in a dress" has been good for kicks ever since M*A*S*H or Some Like it Hot. It's not a case of gender-bending being any more or less acceptable from a cultural standpoint, it's just an example of an industry running on creative empty. |
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Nagisa
Moderator
 Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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Craeyst has hit it right on the head. Drag is a long-standing favorite comedic device in the realms of stage and screen, and has been since long before transgendered and transsexual people were even recognized to exist, much less accepted as anything greater than mentally insane. Anime is no different in its use of drag, as writers only ever utilize it for either a cheap laugh, the set up to a premise, or some perverted shemale fetishist thrill. Even shows that profess to have genuinely transgendered characters, like Happiness and Moyashimon, never quite delve into that issue in any sort of deep or progressive fashion.
It's a real shame. As someone involved in gender identity issues, I would absolutely love to see a real, honest take on transgendered people in...hell, any medium, not just anime. |
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Craeyst Raygal
Posts: 1383 Location: In the garage, beneath a 1970 MGB GT. |
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Closest I think there's ever been, Nagisa, was Hana from Tokyo Godfathers. Maybe a flimsy case by truly dedicated fans could be made for Nuriko from Fushigi Yugi.
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Nagisa
Moderator
Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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If I recall though, Nuriko dressed that way purely for attention, and once he'd gotten that, he renounced his crossdressing ways completely (right around the episode before he was killed off). While I can see that as mirroring the behavior of some transvestites, it's still a far cry from the mental state of a MtF transsexual, who genuinely believes they were born into the wrong gender.
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Craeyst Raygal
Posts: 1383 Location: In the garage, beneath a 1970 MGB GT. |
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I'll certainly back you on that assessment, Nagisa. The plain fact of the matter is that anime's take on transsexual or transgendered people hasn't advanced beyond the level of Ranma 1/2.
It also struck me now that RoV, Utena, and RxJ are all pretty much cut from the same cloth, when I really look to my first post... |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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Good perspectives on the subject Raygal and Nagisa but I somewhat disagree here with both of you. You both refer to crossdressing in the exhibitionist sense, and limit the purpose of within the realm of the transvestite category of transgenderism.
But look at all the examples I (and other posters in this thread) have pointed out - ones in which a character physically becomes the opposite sex - Ranma 1/2 being the most well known example to date (but also completely lacking in gender exploration) OR ones in which a character appears completely convincing of being the opposite sex (regardless of being transgendered or not). The magical, wondrous thing that, hey may not be intellectual or worthy of showing in a gender studies class, is that anime affords the ability to provide a fantasy of completely convincing crossdressing without any effort on the part of the crossdresser. Basically they truly become the sex that they appear as to the viewer. This is very much different than the campy, for comedic purposes examples of drag comedy Raygal pointed out. It's a completely different brand of comedy with a completely different purpose. Live-action "man in dress" comedy is just that, the character isn't meant to look undoubtedly like a woman, the comedy comes from the fact that he looks like a man in a dress. Actually I myself was thinking of titles off hand that are very poor, terrible examinations of gender and sexuality in anime. You know which one topped my list? Hana from Tokyo Godfathers. I don't know maybe being transgendered myself I have a different perspective on it. I personally was offended by the character Hana, but these silly, just for laughs, fanservicey gender switching and crossdressing characters in some of the recent comedies. I enjoy those endlessly. Two characters in two anime that I do think do a good job of really telling the story of the transperson quite well are Hazumu from Kashimashi (even though she wasn't really transgendered) and Aoi Futaba from You're Under Arrest. Btw sailorsarah08, the genderbending Haruhi thing is not actual anime *yet* it's more of a collaboration of fans putting together an imaginary world of every Haruhi character being the opposite sex from the original series. There's even a Kyonko's (female Kyon's) little brother. I personally think Kyonko has a unique appeal, and is very cute in her own way. This may be all for fun but how is THAT not an interesting take on how anime reflects exploration of gender concepts? |
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belindabird
 Subscriber Posts: 134 Location: Minneapolis |
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One of the better examinations of the subject I've seen recently has been in the series Kaiba. If you're not familiar with the series, it takes place in a world/time where people are able to save their memories and selves on memory chips and have the ability to switch bodies. There's one episode in particular (6 or 7 I think) where the main character,spoiler[ originally a male, has to reside in a female body, and he encounters his lover, originally a female, who is residing in a male body due to her mission. ]
I thought it was a very interesting examination of how big a part the physical body plays in one's concept of self, and how people may be more fluid in terms of gender under certain circumstances. |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7994 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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I never saw the point of "gender bending" at all personally. If it's supposed to be amusing, it frankly fails with me. It was only really interesting in spoiler[Le Chevalier D'Eon] where it was an outright possession from a vengful spirit seeking retribution through her brother. Otherwise, it just comes off as totally hokey and excessively contrived usually. Especially when they just throw in an obvious bad cross dresser seemingly just to have one.
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Nagisa
Moderator
Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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Actually, this is a very good point that I didn't even think of at the time I posted. Admittedly, while I didn't much care for Kashimashi overall, the idea of a complete and fully convincing sex change happening so quickly and easily, and the immediate fallout of such, did sway me enough to re-read the first volume of the manga more than once. It was also the same reason I stuck through Strawberry Eggs, even though the rest of the show outside of Hibiki was rather weak.
I had completely forgotten about Aoi! She really is probably the best example of a genuine transwoman in anime that I can think of, and the episodes of You're Under Arrest that revolved around her were always a real treat. In fact, I now have a sudden urge to dig out the bits of You're Under Arrest that I never got around to finishing... |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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Yeah it's been a while since I watched YUA TV, I wish there were more examples of transgenderism in anime like Aoi. Not gimmicky, just a very realistic story of what a typical career woman who was formerly male would be like. I'm glad you found her story arc interesting.
I also happen to like tomboys and masculine women in anime. Jeannie from Rune Soldier is an excellent example spoiler[she was distraught in one episode for not being able to protect her friends and that she felt colleagues did not view her as a true warrior because she was a woman, but directed the regret towards herself because of not being born male]. |
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