Transgender Manga Masterpost

Apron and Sunglasses by Minami Q-ta (**click image for article**)

**NOTE:** (This is NOT the original article for “Transgender Manga Masterpost.” Only highlighting personal thoughts about the actual article located here. The same title was used as I initially planned to reblog, then decided not to for more presentation control.)

Though I am only familiar with Hourou Musuko (Wandering Son), I wanted to share this manga masterlist for a few reasons.

1. I’ve always known there were tons of different sub-genres of manga, and yet I never thought there was a real abundance of manga covering transgender-related topics. If I didn’t know, chances are, most people didn’t either. For me, that is a very cool thing to be aware of as a creative writer and anime fan.

 

2. What makes this masterlist so wonderful is that these stories observe the reality and seriousness of being transgender. Most anime fans are very familiar with the “gender bender” and “trap” tropes that are popularly used for comic relief (Tenshi na Konamaiki being one of my long-time favorite series) or fanservice/18+ material, but this is a very valuable, insightful resource that could be useful to both fans and non-fans of manga as it applies to a more believable representation of trans people as a whole.

 

3. These titles can be found in English. Unfortunately, I will have to do my homework on where exactly, but Wandering Son is easily found in brick-and-mortar bookstores & online stores if you’re interested in a place to start.

For the casually curious who only want a basic gist of the manga listed and don’t care about spoilers, the author does provide background for them. As for me, I will need to make some time to read a few of these. Hourou Musuko was enjoyable in anime form, but any fan knows that the animated adaptation typically pales in comparison to the original text.

I do admit that I tend to not read the manga because I saw the anime. Yes, I am horrible.

Happy reading (maybe)! Read “Transgender Manga Masterpost”

Just Be Honest

Let me say this much. I would like to connect more with crossdressers, artsy people, and anime fans. I enjoy these things and, despite my abrasiveness, am not impossible to have a conversation with. However, perhaps I need to just be a little more honest.

Let’s start with Twitter.

I technically have 20 followers. 95% of the time, I am not @replying (or vice-versa) because only 2-4 of these 20 actually engage with me. I tweeted something today that is very true:

https://twitter.com/#!/RenaiShiki/statuses/161662628509401089

All I’m looking for is interaction with people who might find the difficult topics of life and the openness of my crossdressing/makeup-wearing thoughts & considerations worth following me for. I don’t need a ton of followers as I made clear in a past entry. I just like likeminded people, but I’m almost certain people think I’m some sort of psycho or RPer. Oh well.

Moving on, I’m a creative/opinion writer and was recently asked to write a review about a certain sex education book.

https://twitter.com/#!/RenaiShiki/status/158387699189944320

I’m working my way through it, and learning a good deal from it. Since it was sent to me for free, I will write some semblance of a review in the future. No doubt I will likely surprise myself with the shit I will throw down here (pun not intended, you filthy, filthy person).

Lastly, I still watch anime. More anime than you probably think someone with my aptitude for crass language and snarky banter would. I just don’t blog about it anymore since I will admit that my intent was skewed towards finding my edge with this blog. I love meganekkos and would love to keep writing about them, but maybe I’ll start doing that only for the ones that really make me crazy.

Oh, and one more thing.

Apologies to anyone who has happened to come here, left a comment, not be responded to, and then wonder why they gave a shit about me in a first place. I’m perfectly aware that you have no obligation to say anything, but in my feeble attempt to build some manner of support circle with others who share in my self-expressionism of crossdressing (and hopefully other fascinating life pursuits), I will make an effort to reply and give at least a two cent helping over at your blog if you have one.

P.S. I am actually very shy when it comes to people who know more about a certain thing than I do.

As the popular Luka Megurine song goes: “All we gotta do is just be friends.”

Goodnight.

~Ren’Ai

So I met up with the Twitter guy after some stupid song and dance with unclear directions. Not that I minded, but I was his 3rd choice to invite to go with him after his real friends bailed. Whatever. I swear NYers are so ignorant when it comes to directing someone who doesn’t come from the area. Tell me 59th. street when the fucking sign says Central Park South. Tell me 8th Ave. then wait 5 blocks east on Lexington Ave….which might I add is supposed to also be 8th ave according to him. WTF?

Ugh, the guy was nice enough, but totally a social recluse. If I wasn’t adamant about striking up conversation along the way, he would have been staring at his iPhone all night. That pretty much happened for the rest of the evening after I got food because he had apparently already eaten even though he had brought up stopping at a Starbucks before the film. The guy…was fucking scattered-brained and seemed to have no idea that he was highly contradicting. Again, he was nice enough when he did talk but no one to get “done up” for.

Not like I did. I heard his voice and almost guessed immediately what his general body type could be. And his personality wasn’t charming and I was annoyed before I even laid eyes on him. So yeah. Fucking awesome movie. Not so awesome or charming company. Of course he had no reason to be since I’m male. *bangs head on desk*

Oh, and to top it off, the guy who LIVES in NYC told me that there was a subway line very close to where we were down the street that I could hop on. Not only was their NO FUCKING SUBWAY LINE, once I got back to where I knew there was one, it was a ghost town. I have to check my sources, but it seems subways stop running after a certain hour. So thankfully I have a decent body and massive amounts of willpower that forced me to run & jog my way to where I needed to be cutting what should have been like a 45 minute walk into a 20 minute death wish. If I had missed that 1AM train, I would not have made it back to the transfer point in time for the final train back home and would have been stranded until morning.

Thank goodness I didn’t stop running even though I was wearing so many jackets and still full from Subway.

I need to shower and get to bed though. I really loved the movie and learned so much about the Evangelion franchise simply by watching it and the characters I’ve heard and sampled over time.

I’m up again at 6:30AM. So yeah. Less than 3 hrs of sleep. Night.