Forum - View topicWandering Son (TV) aka Horou Musuko.
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Player No. 3
 Posts: 209 Location: San Antonio, Texas |
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Wandering Son (TV) a.k.a. Horou Musuko
Streaming available at Crunchyroll. 
Synopsis: Shuicihi Nitori appears to be a shy and quiet preteen boy, when he transfers to a new school he quickly makes friends with the tomboyish Yoshino Takatsuki who sits next to him. It soon becomes apparent that both Shucihi and Yoshino are more than simply a sensitive boy and masculine girl, they both are transgendered. Together they decide to take the first steps toward becoming the people they want to be. This is actually my most anticipated anime of the Winter 2010 season. It's a honest-to-goodness drama about two transgendered kids sans the waaaaaacky hijinks that would usually happen. I think it's an anime first. From what I hear, the manga is actually very good, the only pitfall being that the kids tend to act too mature for their age. At any rate, I'm hoping for a good drama that actually explores issues surrounding transgendered people, especially in the context of Japanese society. Oh, and the art style looks gorgeous, waxy heads and all. So with it's inaugural episode only 3 days away, I'm curious: what do you think gender is to you? Personally, I think gender is a societal idea. It is a set of actions, articles, etc., that are expected of you because of your biological sex. However, I don't believe that anyone is completely masculine or feminine, but that it's more of a spectrum. |
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EmbraceMe
 Posts: 2013 Location: Growing old and jaded. |
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I'm eagerly waiting for this series, mainly because I enjoy "Slice Of Life" series.
I'm interested in how it'll turned out, since it's about crossdressing. The art is fabulous (I have no other words to describe it) and the character's genders are concealed well with it. All I can say is that it's pretty interesting and has a lot of potential. On your question: I have never thought about it, but gender to me is... Just a word I guess. A classification/category of what you are? Hard to go into detail about my thoughts on what it is, but I agree with what you said about gender. |
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Ringking
Posts: 338 |
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The manga for this one is great, and the anime has been at the top of my "To Watch" list ever since it was announced. The one thing im hoping is that they streamline a lot of the spoiler[ inter friend infighting] that occurs later on in the series. It felt very dragged out in the manga and i cant imagine it would be any more interesting when animated.
Im not as big on the art style as most. I can see how a different from usual art style would be more effective for this kind of story but I still dont really like it. Ah well, im sure I'll grow to like it in time (i always do). On the 'what is gender' front, split the term gender into two things: The first thing i would say is that gender is a role, at least from a biological perspective. No matter how you augment your body you cant escape the role in the continuation of the human race that nature has given you. Even if you never choose to actually pick up that role, you cant jump ship. When you aren't taking about a persons physical traits however, gender becomes a set of norms and social values to which people are expected to adhere. When a baby is born, they show no distinct preference to things meant for boys or girls, these things are taught to them as they grow and enforced by the people around them (and the media). And that, at least in part, is what Horou Musuko is about. Characters who's interests, desires and identity do not conform to society's norm and how society perceives them as a result. Last edited by Ringking on Mon Jan 10, 2011 6:34 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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vastoceans
 Posts: 107 |
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I've been looking forward to this as well though I'm not familiar with the source material. To be honest, it's mostly because I'm drawn to shows with forbidden themes. The art looks really appealing and I'm a bit intrigued with the fact that both of the main characters are voiced by people making their debuts.
I can't say I relate to the transgendered but am a firm believer in live & let live when it comes to gender and sexuality. Gender bending isn't really anything new in anime but I think it's rare that any of those shows actually tackle the feelings and prejudices the gender benders face. Usually it's more of a gag or gimmick. I'm sure they face quite a bit of prejudice and hardship but as long as the show doesn't become a total angstfest and lives up the the slice of life theme, I'm on board for the long haul. |
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kiddtic
 Posts: 309 Location: Kitwe, Zambia |
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Thats exactly how I feel. I've been looking foward to this show for a long time too. i really really love the art style and im hoping my anime club will stream this show. As much i would dislike seeing the usual gender bending gags i do hope it has some light hearted comedy because this topic is pretty darn heavy, especially considering the ages of the characters. I can only hope for the best for this series. |
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vastoceans
Posts: 107 |
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I loved episode 1. The look and feel. Light on the angst and high on the slice-of-life so far. This has some serious potential; the episode reminded me a bit of Koi Kaze. I hope it keeps up and gives better introductions to what appears to be a large supporting cast.
The bad? The shiny heads are really distracting for me. The character design and art themselves are great but I don't really get the shine. The OP song was meh. Thursdays are my new favorite day of the week! Wandering Son, Fractale, Madoka. Good stuff. |
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Bento-Box
 Posts: 1049 Location: Florida |
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On some other thread we were discussing teenagers and adult situations. This show seems like it's tackling some pretty big issues. Not only are the characters going through a changing time in their lives and at school, they're dealing with these complicated issues that very few people really deal with at that age (I guess, I mean, I don't really know stats or anything).
Loved the first episode even though I was a little confused at times. I guess the plot points of their back story will gradually get worked out at their own pace. Loving the art style and the music. What a touching, deep series. Looking forward to more. |
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MorwenLaicoriel
 Posts: 1617 Location: Colorado |
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Just finished watching this on CR. I loved the art style (even the "shiny heads") and the use of classical music in the series. I got reeeeally frustrated with where the anime started, though, since I was really lost on what was going on until toward the end. I'm hoping that this gets fixed in later episodes, because as much as I enjoyed the episode the frustration I felt while watching it made it bump down pretty low on my priority list.
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Player No. 3
Posts: 209 Location: San Antonio, Texas |
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Really? I wasn't confused at all. O.K. maybe just a little bit in keeping track of names and who knows who. That's really all I had trouble with in terms of presentation
I loved the first episode a lot. My favorite bits were the "interview" sections and the beginning and end; it show how much importance we put in our clothes to express ourselves. Personally, I really liked how Nitori's and Takastuchi's clothing scenes sort of mirrored each other. They spoiler[both receive (well, not so much on Nitori's part) clothes that they really like, but the reactions from others were different. It's generally more accepted for a girl to wear boy's clothes than vice versa.] Also, the final scene in conjugation with the nursery rhyme - I thought - was actually very well done. Nice use of juxtaposition there.
I agree, OP song was meh, ending was good. Oh yeah, I'm getting a serious Makoto Shinkai vibe from the artwork. |
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EmbraceMe
Posts: 2013 Location: Growing old and jaded. |
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Haven't found anything confusing yet, but I heard people complain about the way it started (compressing 40 manga chapters into 15 minutes.) Though I haven't read the manga, I actually like this start.
Episode 1: I'm really loving this atm, I already sense a lot of drama going on and I can see the troubles the characters are facing. The music was great, giving off a calm mood to the viewers. And I really like how each character interacts so far, mainly the dialogue between the friends. I found the self introduction scene to be the most powerful part of the episode, revealing the tension between the characters. I'm going to say this probably has the best start out of all the Winter 2011 animes that aired so far. |
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egoist
 Posts: 7762 |
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Too serious, and will require a mood I'm not in good terms with as of now.
Anyway, excellent episode, but I'm just not in the mood for this stuff. Too heavy on drama and teen angst, which makes it unique, complicated, and interesting above all. Unlike Koi Kaze, which was just boredom with a whole chunk of cowardice/indecisiveness throughout, this one has the potential of turning something controversial into quality entertainment. |
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Ringking
Posts: 338 |
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They sure have skipped far enough ahead, the first couple of volumes of the manga haven't so much been compressed as been completely missed out altogether, save for the odd mention about their events.
I dont think it was a very good move on the storytelling front. Not only are the first chapters some of the more interesting ones, but its in those early chapters that a lot of the characters personality and motivations are shaped. Its not bad, and they can probably tell the story with what they have, but its certainly not the way i would have chosen to introduce the story. |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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Oh wow for some reason I thought this was premeiring Friday.
Cool, yep just about to start up the episode as soon as I finish this post. I started reading the manga from several volumes in and never read any of the early volumes (please don't ask why). So perhaps the beginning of this will be very similar to my experience with the manga. It seems like they'll have to make many references to earlier moments, like they did in the manga, so I've already got a gist of how it all started out, so it's all good. As for the OP question regarding gender. Here is my take, many seem to disagree with it though: Gender is not societal, it's completely biological, but not biological in terms of genitals. Biological in terms of the brain. Our personality is dictated by the combination of genes that by chance give each human a uniqueness and propensity for a distinct set of behaviors and the way one looks at the world. We are not all blank slates at birth. Artists are born artists. Scientists are born scientists, etc. Yes we gain a lot by experiences but experiences are also dictated by choices. It's the same way with gender, each human has a predetermined gender that I agree are on different degrees of a wide spectrum, and is also irrespective of what genitals one is born with. |
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batou37
 Posts: 455 |
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I'll agree that the artwork was gorgeous (the cherry blossoms did have a Shinkai feeling to them) but as for the story itself I guess I just don't really get it. It's hard for me to enjoy something when I can't empathize with the characters. Is it just about crossdressing, and that they feel more comfortable dressing as the opposite gender, or do they feel uncomfortable with the gender as a whole and wish they had been born different? Are they attracted to the opposite sex? It seems at least the main character is as he was spoiler[turned down by I forget her name but I take it it's the girl who wants to either dress like a boy or be a boy, and is that her mother that bought her the boy's uniform? From the way she talks in that scene I couldn't tell if she meant she was also the same way or just that she wished someone understood her as well as the girls friend did.] As for the whole gender question I look at it as purely biological. Either you're male or female, To me its just the reproductive imperative of the species. The rest is just personality and preferences in my mind. For instance (I'll preface with I'm a guy) I like cats much better than dogs, Id rather watch a movie or read a book than watch most sports (other than NHL or College football) to tell you the truth I have no idea about the standings of most of the NFL teams or baseball or most other sports. I hate Nascar and most other racing (believe me here in the south some would say I'm a wuss just for that) I've never been the macho "you talking junk about me" pick a fight type....none of these things in my mind have to do with gender, just personal preferences. I guess that's my roundabout answer to the gender question.
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Player No. 3
Posts: 209 Location: San Antonio, Texas |
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Yeah. Now that I think about it, it was more of the cherry blossoms than anything else that reminded me of Shinkai. Anyways, I'm glad that people are answering my question about gender with different responses. I'm going to add an addendum to mine: When referring to biology and anatomy, I use the term "sex". In the strictest biological sense, it is male or female. Gender is more of a role; you can be masculine, feminine or anything in between. I think one of my professors said it most elegantly in that it is erroneous to think it as "nature vs. nurture". More likely, though, it is a dance with both parts contributing to the whole person. |
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