Oh I had no idea the manga was so different from the anime. That’s wild, to be honest that anime (Usagi) made me cry my eyes out. I couldn’t imagine it in the way you described the manga.
I would expect this anime to be a potent egg cracker for anyone questioning their own gender identity and all the polarizing criticisms that invites. But it’s important to emphasise that it’s still very much entranced by fantasy.
I’m going to mark the section below as spoiler because I explore some of the themes and events in the anime.
spoiler
I don’t know what they cut out of this one. But it does have numerous potty incidents and it feels a bit like jobless reincarnation (same studio I believe) in terms of how they handle nudity and personalities. It’s definitely a comedy chiefly, it’s how I would imagine someone’s gender isekai yuri fantasy would go if it collided with some elements of reality.
It flirts with a lot of ethical boundaries both for the characters and what you would expect to be ok to publish. To be upfront I feel what she did to him was abhorrent. I also feel it was a profound social rehabilitation for him. Had this been his informed choice, and the Yuri themes removed, I think this could have been closer to what you wanted.
I believe what the sister did to him aligns well with fantasies I’ve been told by trans people. Like the desire for a bus to hit them and the doctor accidentally reconfigures their body and face to be feminine or masculine. As some sort of guilt free sex change.
I really feel there was a serious conflict in how they wanted this anime to be portrayed, with what you’ve said about the manga it starts to make a bunch of sense. For example there are some extreme ecchi scenes and a rather lewd intro+outro. These scenes aren’t necessary but they do add depth to what’s happening. (Not the intro and outro, they are 100% bait to sell the anime)
My understanding is that their culture is more comfortable with skinship and this anime leans on that theme heavily. I also think it’s a convenient means to sell the anime to a bigger audience.
And then it hits us with feels and wholesome slice of life growth and a strange seriousness that’s prevalent throughout the anime.
I feel like a lot of topics that they engage in are typically taboo topics in polite company like dealing with menstruation and the awkwardness of puberty. That’s a very refreshing take that I hardly ever see. I’m sick of people feeling that it’s off limits to discuss and present these topics.
The main character has very glitchy takes on how to interact and process their situation. But they are far from the girl in watamote if you’re familiar. :::
It’s good to hear the anime captures some of the best parts of the manga. The manga actually released really early into my transition, so back then I latched on to it for all the reasons you described. Getting turned into a girl unwillingly is a really common fantasy for trans people because it removes the aspect of being responsible for your choice. I certainly fantasized about it a lot so I could tell my at the time unsupportive dad “hey, I wasn’t the one who did this. Maybe it was an act if god. Guess we gotta accept it now.”
It was also really great to watch a character slowly learn what life as a girl was like while I myself was doing the same thing. Made me feel better about not understanding certain things, especially because at the time I didn’t have any women, friends or family, who I could ask sensitive questions to.
I may have exaggerated a bit with the hentai remark, but it did feel like the author eventually got bored of the original point of the manga and just started coming up with increasingly convoluted ways to put the characters in sexual situations. I’m also a lot more sensitive to stuff like that because of things that happened to me and people I know as a kid, so I may be overreacting a bit too. The beginning of it though was pretty tame even in the manga.
If the anime let’s me relive reading it for the first time, I’ll certainly give it a shot at some point. I did love what it was going for at the beginning.
Oh I had no idea the manga was so different from the anime. That’s wild, to be honest that anime (Usagi) made me cry my eyes out. I couldn’t imagine it in the way you described the manga.
I would expect this anime to be a potent egg cracker for anyone questioning their own gender identity and all the polarizing criticisms that invites. But it’s important to emphasise that it’s still very much entranced by fantasy.
I’m going to mark the section below as spoiler because I explore some of the themes and events in the anime.
spoiler
I don’t know what they cut out of this one. But it does have numerous potty incidents and it feels a bit like jobless reincarnation (same studio I believe) in terms of how they handle nudity and personalities. It’s definitely a comedy chiefly, it’s how I would imagine someone’s gender isekai yuri fantasy would go if it collided with some elements of reality.
It flirts with a lot of ethical boundaries both for the characters and what you would expect to be ok to publish. To be upfront I feel what she did to him was abhorrent. I also feel it was a profound social rehabilitation for him. Had this been his informed choice, and the Yuri themes removed, I think this could have been closer to what you wanted.
I believe what the sister did to him aligns well with fantasies I’ve been told by trans people. Like the desire for a bus to hit them and the doctor accidentally reconfigures their body and face to be feminine or masculine. As some sort of guilt free sex change.
I really feel there was a serious conflict in how they wanted this anime to be portrayed, with what you’ve said about the manga it starts to make a bunch of sense. For example there are some extreme ecchi scenes and a rather lewd intro+outro. These scenes aren’t necessary but they do add depth to what’s happening. (Not the intro and outro, they are 100% bait to sell the anime)
My understanding is that their culture is more comfortable with skinship and this anime leans on that theme heavily. I also think it’s a convenient means to sell the anime to a bigger audience.
And then it hits us with feels and wholesome slice of life growth and a strange seriousness that’s prevalent throughout the anime.
I feel like a lot of topics that they engage in are typically taboo topics in polite company like dealing with menstruation and the awkwardness of puberty. That’s a very refreshing take that I hardly ever see. I’m sick of people feeling that it’s off limits to discuss and present these topics.
The main character has very glitchy takes on how to interact and process their situation. But they are far from the girl in watamote if you’re familiar. :::
It’s good to hear the anime captures some of the best parts of the manga. The manga actually released really early into my transition, so back then I latched on to it for all the reasons you described. Getting turned into a girl unwillingly is a really common fantasy for trans people because it removes the aspect of being responsible for your choice. I certainly fantasized about it a lot so I could tell my at the time unsupportive dad “hey, I wasn’t the one who did this. Maybe it was an act if god. Guess we gotta accept it now.”
It was also really great to watch a character slowly learn what life as a girl was like while I myself was doing the same thing. Made me feel better about not understanding certain things, especially because at the time I didn’t have any women, friends or family, who I could ask sensitive questions to.
I may have exaggerated a bit with the hentai remark, but it did feel like the author eventually got bored of the original point of the manga and just started coming up with increasingly convoluted ways to put the characters in sexual situations. I’m also a lot more sensitive to stuff like that because of things that happened to me and people I know as a kid, so I may be overreacting a bit too. The beginning of it though was pretty tame even in the manga.
If the anime let’s me relive reading it for the first time, I’ll certainly give it a shot at some point. I did love what it was going for at the beginning.