Not here. They just want to be accepted for who they are. They aren’t cartooned caricatures of pedagogical lances meant to joust with our presuppositions. Sometimes at odds with others, and always at odds with himself, he walks through some confusing years searching for the answers to countless complicated questions. Wandering Son is genuinely brilliant. Review. In the first volume she begins her period, underscoring her sex despite her objection to normative gender cues, but has so far not had any opportunity to express her sexuality.33Honestly, when I was their age, I wanted so very badly to “hump” my crush into oblivion, but that was mostly just me going with social expectation. And to be honest, it came to be one of the best series of the winter 2011. I don't think I have ever felt so NEUTRAL about anything in my life. It was a very emotional watch for anyone who has to deal with these issues and can also be very triggering, as a bit of a warning. Translator Matt Thorn offers a brief essay on the subject in the backmatter of volume 2, but it’s unsatisfyingly brief. 01) Posted by Shannon Fay on Sunday, December 4, 2011 . From this point, it is really a matter of preference. I say touches because it barely delves below the surface on any of its primary topics. Pro-tip from a non-prodon’t answer the door in a dress if you don’t want to be seen in a dress. It's pretty touching at points especially as you watch him grow up and slowly start to change yet staying true to what he had always believed in. One thing I appreciated about Wandering Son is how neatly it eviscerates the presumption that transgressing gender distinction also necessarily informs sexual preferences. Wandering Son is a series which looks at the implications of these and other ideas by taking a peek into the life of a middle school student: The feminine boy, Nitori, who privately cross-dresses and begins to identify as a girl. We were all little bastards and didn’t really have the cultural wherewithal to learn any differently. Find the latest news, discussion, and photos of Wandering Son online now. Even when some of us turned out to be different in the ways we previously derided. I believe that every character is realistic. So too with his opposite number, a girl named Takatsuki, who likes to dress as a male (which is easier for her to get away with, since male clothing is increasingly bi-sexual). Discover (and save!) Review by Rebecca Silverman, Nov 17th 2012. Wandering Son is genuinely brilliant. Though I bore affection for a girl, it wasn’t really sexual, I don’t think. The pages are large and the paper thick. Yes this is the slice of life anime I wanted to watch. It touches on the subjects of cross-dressing, transgenderism, and puberty. Wandering Son is a coming of age story about Shuichi, a boy who wants to be a girl, and Yoshino, a girl who wants to be a boy, going through school. What does it mean to be a boy or a girl? My friend shook off that man’s hand. like how the children are experiencing it -- bit by bit. That, and the way Nitori's sister disapproves and thinks he is disgusting is very much how a family member might react. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. Overall: 93%. The story is incredibly realistic and shows great care, the tone ranges from laugh out loud funny to genuinely heartbreaking. Likewise with Nitori, he vacillates boyhood because as soon as his body hairs grow, it’ll be harder for him to wear skirts and dresses. Wandering Son is a coming of age story about Shuichi, a boy who wants to be a girl, and Yoshino, a girl who wants to be a boy, going through school. Though I bore affection for a girl, it wasn’t really sexual, I don’t think. Point systems are notoriously fiddly, so here it's been pared down to three simple possibilities: I am Seth T. Hahne and these are my reviews. feels like they just wanted to use the idea because of its originality and not actually to discuss the topic realistically, though up to a certain point I used to think they were trying to be serious about it. Good Ok Bad features reviews of comics, graphic novels, manga, et cetera using a rare and auspicious three-star rating system. The illustration of the book in every way serves the purpose of the story and its unadorned vitality both keeps the reader from distraction and invests characters with an immediacy that helps sell the illusion of their reality. the beginning or the ending, the anime begins somewhere in the middle of the original story. your anime. For hardbacks, these volumes are surprisingly light. However, where the story keeps its real strength is in the problematic itself. Five-sixths of the guys involved wouldn’t participate—not because it was insensitive and othering—but because it was too gross. For Hourou Musuko, the awareness, exploration, and acceptance of different gender pursuits is handled with great tact and sincerity, as the characters struggle to come to terms with themselves and their judgmental surroundings. Wandering Son is a slice of life story about the confusing times teenagers find in relation to themselves and how they compare to others. And yet, for all that, “homo” and “fag” were still slurs, and when a rumour spread in junior high that this one guy was playing pocket pinball in class, the whole school took it upon themselves to brand him as gay and therefore worthy of a derision that remained probably all the way through high school for the poor guy. Privacy Settings Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Wandering Son: Book Three ,by Takako, Shimura ( 2012 ) Hardcover at Amazon.com. The most important is that this series decided to try and look at the issue seriously. your own Pins on Pinterest I understood the reproductive aspect and I understood that I should want to do this thing, but I had no real libido and so no visceral understanding of how sexual desire, Not being Japanese, I don’t really have any sense of how much verisimilitude with which Takako represents the Japanese reaction toward transvestitism and transgenderism and transsexualism. Granted, “men’s attire” is a rapidly diminishing category of fashion. Nitori Shuichi is a boy who sees himself as a girl. There is little to none anime antics in this series, which is great because the idea of crossdressing characters normally gets played for laughs and serves as an excuse to make a joke. We knew about the Little Shrimp. It doesn’t need to. was giving off strong lesbian cues. I’m saying this because it is easy to get lost in the anime as it refers a lot to pass events and it is mostly through dialogue than flashbacks. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for By Shimura Takako - Wandering Son, Vol. Wandering Son is an uncomfortable series for me, as a girl who struggles with gender dysphoria, because so much of the discomfort and awkwardness the main characters go through is relatable. It also didn’t go the other way in terms of temptations by making this a giant angst fest and overdramatic. mould are regarded as deviants. Characters: 91%. Again, I’m not sure that having read Wandering Son would have helped, but it very well may have. Throughout “Wandering Son”, all of the core cast of characters have searched for love and acceptance in one form or another. And above everything else that it does so well, Wandering Son humanizes its characters—regardless of how much they deviate from the cultural norms their societies dictate.11Which should be easy, right? Anything that humanizes the targets of othering is worthwhile because empathizing with those who are Not You and Not Like You is essential to loving them as you do yourself. And to be honest, it came to be one of the best series of the winter 2011. Wandering Son Review. It is good at insinuating how ignorant and sexist/heterosexist society can be about things like relationships, gender behavior, and clothing (particularly school uniforms). When I first approached Wandering Son I was concerned that, like so many works that have lessons to impart, it would come off as didactic and proselytizing. I’m not sure that having a book like Wandering Son would have helped when I was a kid, but it wouldn’t have hurt, I don’t think. 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