Anime Hajime Review: Hourou Musuko

***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Hourou Musuko. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

The transition from child to adulthood can be scary. Our bodies begin to change in drastic ways. It is a natural process we all go through. Except natural doesn’t mean easy. Now imagine going through this period in a body that doesn’t feel right.

Shuichi Nitori (voiced by Kousuke Hatakeyama) was registered as a male at birth. But Shuichi has never been able to identify as such, wishing instead to be a girl. To assume the female gender, Shuichi has taken an interest in cross-dressing. Though this is more comfortable, Shuichi knows there are people who won’t understand.

Yoshino Takatsuki (voiced by Asami Seto) was registered as a female at birth but wishes to be a boy. Yoshino avoids wearing feminine clothes and has a more masculine personality. Yoshino's biggest hope is to stop being seen as a girl.

Shuichi and Yoshino have formed a close relationship with each other. In elementary school, they felt freer to express themselves. Upon entering middle school and the onset of puberty, this no longer feels possible.

Series Positives

Hourou Musuko was a good watch. It wasn’t a comedy. It wasn’t a tension-filled story. It didn’t try to be big. It didn’t try to be loud. This show was quiet. It took its time. It had something it wanted to say. And this show’s message is not a common one for this medium.

Crossdressing is a plot device in many series. Except its used as humor and a way to get a laugh. Characters who do this, often do so out of circumstance. There’s almost never a deeper meaning. That wasn’t Hourou Musuko.

Do not go into this show looking for entertainment. This is not the type of story to unwind with at the end of a long day. There will be cute moments. Some situations and set-ups will be funny. There is a lot of charm to this series. These were byproducts of what was going on. At its core, though, Hourou Musuko is a reality many people don’t think about. That’s a major plus.

The animation was beautiful. Though it shouldn’t be the sole reason to give this series a look, the art was stunning. The storybook atmosphere captured a distinct mood. One a more conventional looking visual style would have lost. What do I mean by that?

Take Anohana, for example. In case you are not aware, Anohana is one of my top anime. There’s no question I would choose it over Hourou Musuko. One thing these two series have in common are their visuals. Both are gorgeous in this regard. Had their styles swapped, Anohana would have fared alright. There may have been some loss in the conversion, but the feel of the story would have maintained itself. Not the case with Hourou Musuko.

The art and animation played a pivotal role in this series. It’s hard to imagine another style working with this material. Or more to the point, it’s hard to imagine another style working with this story.

This show relied on visual storytelling. When actions and expressions could say enough, words weren’t used. Hourou Musuko knew the difference between dialogue and exposition. Did this always work? No, we will get to that. But when it did, it was this series at its best.

A particularly well-done scene involved Yoshino. Reaching the age where a female body would warrant wearing a bra, Yoshino did not want to accept that. Having gone through life averse to wearing feminine clothing, this was devastating. Without saying a word, Yoshino expressed the weight of the pain and frustration of the moment.

This was one of many similar instances throughout Hourou Musuko.

There’s a lot to like about this series. As well as many things to respect it for.

The Characters

Hourou Musuko succeeded in giving each of its characters some role. Big or small, I can think of a reason why everyone was in this show. Even if that reason was a one-time catalyst.

It is going to make this section awkward if I don’t mention it now. Justifications aside, there were many characters that did not have to be here. Many only had one purpose. After they served that purpose their importance dropped. For instance, Chizuru Sarashina (voiced by Saeko Chiba).

I liked Chizuru. She was not a bad character. She was, however, an unimportant one. That said, without her, certain things in this story could not have happened. On the first day of school, Chizuru wore a boy’s uniform. This was not out of a desire to dress as a boy. That happened to be the mood she was in that day.

Because of that, this gave Yoshino the courage to go to school dressed in male clothing. Which in turn inspired Shuichi.

Without Chizuru doing what she did, Hourou Musuko would have been quite different. That's why it was unfortunate she never again felt important to what was going on. She became a background character. A loud one, sure, but a background character nonetheless.

Did this take away from who Chizuru was? Not in the slightest. Yet she could have and in some cases, should have played a much bigger part.

This was a huge issue with this show and went much deeper than this. I wanted this known now because there are certain characters I want to talk about. Certain characters I will bring up again in the Series Negatives sections. Hourou Musuko had good substance. It was the execution of key elements that were the problem.

With that out of the way, there are five characters I want to highlight.

The first is Shuichi. I cannot think of a better protagonist to help tell this story. Shuichi was a thought-provoking window into the struggles of gender identification. Particularly at the most difficult time during adolescence, puberty.

Shuichi was never sure what to do. The right answer, if there was one, wasn’t obvious. It would have been easy for a character to crack under such pressure. I’m not going to say that didn’t happen to Shuichi. Yet the difference laid in the handling of that pressure.

Shuichi did have to deal with bullying and ostracization. There were people who thought Shuichi to be a freak and weirdo. This wasn’t brushed aside like it was nothing. It was a big deal, it was a huge deal. Shuichi struggled to make sense of it all.

This personal journey would have been enough. What made Shuichi great was when this difficult experience turned into something positive. Shuichi was a helpful voice of reassurance for friends going through similar issues. Despite the cruelty of others, Shuichi never fell into that. There were people who had Shuichi’s back. A gesture reciprocated.

The second character is Shuichi’s co-lead Yoshino. Though another take on the same struggle, Yoshino's story was much different. Yoshino showed there isn’t one path. Each person has a different set of circumstances. Something Yoshino recognized.

When others bad mouthed Shuichi, Yoshino wouldn't stand for it. Relating to Shuichi, Yoshino knew there were times where silence wouldn't work. Adding to that, there was the complication of Yoshino rejecting Shuichi’s confession. This no doubt had an effect on their friendship. But an effect doesn’t mean bad.

The third character is Saori Chiba (voiced by Yuuka Nanri). There is no nice way to say this. Saori had a bad attitude. She was self-centered. She didn’t think much of anyone. The world, in her mind, did revolve around her. It was difficult for her to realize when she made a mistake. She was a difficult person.

But a difficult person can be a good character. Saori with her personality faults helped make Hourou Musuko what it was. She had no issue accepting Shuichi wanting to be a girl. She even provided clothing for Shuichi to wear.

Despite her openness, Saori’s attitude kept her from understanding Shuichi. Her disdain for others, especially towards Yoshino, caused untold strains on her relationships. Her stubbornness made it hard for her to begin reconciliation.

The fourth character fell into what I mentioned earlier. Makoto Ariga (voiced by Yuuichi Iguchi) didn’t have to be in this show. As Shuichi’s best friend, Hourou Musuko used this relationship in a fascinating way.

Like Shuichi, Makoto also wished to be a girl. They even shared an interested in cross-dressing. What separated them was how they felt about their physical appearance.

Makoto was jealous over how well Shuichi could pass as a girl. No matter how hard the attempt was to hide them, people could not see past Makoto’s masculine features.

That aside, Makoto was a welcomed breath of clarity. Makoto was the closest thing this series had to a counter-balance for Saori. It would have been nice for this show to capitalize on this more. It was never a bad thing to have Makoto around.

The fifth character was even more removable than Makoto. That hurts to say since Hiroyuki Yoshida (voiced by Takako Honda) was my favorite character. Hiroyuki was great because she was the person Shuichi could become. Someone who could use their experience to help others struggling with who they are.

Hiroyuki had come to terms with the person she was. She didn't feel the need to hide being transgender. Though her past was difficult, she managed to find happiness in her life. Her story would make for a fascinating series on its own.

Though important, the characters of Hourou Musuko weren’t the main reason why I liked this show.

Themes

If you get one thing out of this show, let it be this. Things aren’t black and white. The label of transgender does not tell a person’s whole story. Nor is it a catch-all in describing a human being. This series highlighted the myriad of complexities going on through someone’s head.

Identifying as a girl had nothing to do with Shuichi wanting to date women. Shuichi began a romance with a girl named Anna Suehiro (voiced by Yui Horie). Although they had mutual feelings, Shuichi’s cross-dressing was a point of contention.

Adding to that, most of these characters were going through puberty. While Shuichi and Yoshino identified as opposite genders, their own bodies weren't helping. Shuichi’s voice was getting deeper and the growth of body hair made it more challenging to pass as a girl. For Yoshino, breasts were starting to develop as well as the start of menstruation.

Another big theme centered on the importance of support. Shuichi and Yoshino were fortunate to have friends who they could confide in. They also had a caring voice in the form of Hiroyuki. I can only imagine how scary this time would be if a kid felt they had to tackle things alone.

Then there was the big moment of the series when Shuichi did go to school dressed as a girl. This was hard to watch because it was a blatant reality check. Not to mention a look at how unfair double standards are. It was Hourou Musuko’s most profound point.

This series earns a watch because it talked about things that don’t come up that often.

Series Negatives

Hourou Musuko’s story was strong. This series had things it wanted to say. There were certain points the show wanted to hit. Individual scenes were great.

Except Hourou Musuko had trouble connecting those scenes. It felt like there was information missing. You could infer a lot, but there were surprises. For example, Hiroyuki confirming herself to be transgender.

This came out of nowhere. The show had hinted at this being the case. But it was never a thing of focus. Hiroyuki wasn’t around that much. In the beginning, whenever she did appear, I took me awhile to recognize her. In a twist, she only became my favorite character after the reveal. A reveal the story botched.

Up to that point, crucial developments happened off screen. It wasn’t until after the fact did we see what took place. For instance, Shuichi’s sister made a snide remark about Shuichi and Anna dating. What followed was a cut to Makoto reacting to the comment. But the series played this up to look like Makoto misunderstood what was going on. I actually got a little annoyed. I didn’t want the show to start this bull crap.

Low and behold, Shuichi and Anna were dating. When did that happen? Hourou Musuko never even hinted at this being a possibility. It also didn’t help that Anna was one of those characters that didn’t feel necessary to this story.

Now jump to Hiroyuki acknowledging she was transgender. Unlike before, the show had been setting this up. With Hiroyuki being important to our leads, you'd think this series would take its time. Instead, the story brushed this aside like it was nothing.

In fact, this was so sudden, I did not believe Hiroyuki at first. Hourou Musuko had done a decent job at portraying her to be silly and a bit of a trickster. Given the circumstances of the scene in question, there was no indication of Hiroyuki being any different.

It wasn’t until after this moment did we hear Hiroyuki’s story. A story that was sad but had a happy ending. I would list it as a highlight of the show. Too bad it came in the middle of something else going on. Who thought it was a smart idea to put this where it was. Why not have this story before the revelation?

This would have added so much more to that scene. Hiroyuki’s matter-of-fact attitude would have been so much more powerful. It would have been much more than a simple confirmation. It would have a proud moment for a person not ashamed of who she was. 

This is not even the reason why this upsets me. Hiroyuki was another character who did not need to be here. Why spend time on a person removable from the story? Why not spend more time on, oh I don’t know, Yoshino?

A series has missed something when one of the main protagonists comes off as a supporting character. Yoshino’s had difficulties that would have been perfect companion pieces for Shuichi 's struggles. This show felt the occasional glimpse was sufficient enough to tell Yoshino’s story.

Yoshino’s scenes were some of the best of Hourou Musuko. Yet Yoshino’s importance was nowhere near the level of Shuichi’s. Almost to the point where Yoshino was another character that did not need to be here. I’m sorry but that’s a massive problem.

Final Thoughts

This series could have told its story better. Yet the story it had was solid.

There were some fundamental problems with this show. Except none of those issues take away from how good it was. The characters were strong. The messages were powerful. The themes discussed are important. There is a level of maturity required when going into this one.

I am not recommending this as an anime. I am recommending it is a series that goes into things most never will. And this show does it in a thought-provoking way.

Hourou Musuko is one I highly encourage you to check out.

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