Gender Expression in Shoujo Manga

[@ColleensMangaRecs]

I understand where some of you have come from about my comment on Hikaru and Haruka's relationship however many of you who have commented have also stated that you have not read Cinderella Closet. I would advise reading the series to understand where I'm coming from before we continue a discussion on that part. I state in this video that Haruka uses non-gendered pronouns for Hikaru which I think is really cool. At the same time though, Hikaru often states they are a man and responds more positively towards people referring to them as a guy. Hikaru also is very upset whenever the other male lead in the series refers to them with the "chan" suffix or calls them a girl. From my point of view, it seems that Hikaru most likely identifies as their AGAB but enjoys cross dressing and looking feminine. Once again I would be happy to discuss that part of Cinderella Closet with anyone who may have an opposing view however the ones who have commented about this aspect have all stated they never read the series.

[@foregroundeclipse8725]

@ColleenMangaRecs Also what are you're pronouns? I don't know how you identify and I don't want to misgender .

[@benjamingoldstein9156]

Are you going to explore the Josei side of the equation?

[@ColleensMangaRecs]

@@foregroundeclipse8725 I identify nonbinary. I prefer they/them but if I'm referred to as she I won't be upset, I just don't really prefer it at all.

[@micheller3251]

The other annoying thing with the tomboy trope is that tomboys are expected to be tomboy all the time (except for when they get older). I remember as a kid dressing like a tomboy most of the time but everytime I felt more feminine for a day or two, people would suddenly act like I had changed, like it was a point of no return. I avoided wearing feminine clothes because I felt pressured into being all fem or all masc, with no room for variety or in betweens. Weirdly enough, it was seeing feminine men in shojo that made me comfortable enough to blend both aesthetics a bit more.

[@wtfrusrsrn]

Damn that's such a good point. I was always rlly embarrassed to dress girly when I was younger bc everyone saw me as a tomboy and it would be such a big deal and draw attention which I hated.

[@rattersworld1016]

OMG yes... I currently identify as non-binary, and I like things from both sides. I wanted to be seen as a tomboy when I was younger, but since I liked some feminine things equally to masculine things, people saw me as a solid "girl." I feel like femininity is seen as cancelling masculinity, and it really frustrates me.

[@KanaKevyn]

As a cis-straight male who went through a period of gender envy, realizing the quote that “patriarchy hurts men as much as it hurts women” holds so much truth. It was the inability inherent in toxic masculinity that did not allow me to explore or even think about wearing pink, cropped shirts, act feminine, and ultimately identity exploration that caused me grief. Thats why so many “hyper-masculine” men always questioned the men that girls loved. Justin Bieber, boybands, kpop, shoujo men. Shoujo as a genre invites that gender expression and made me comfortable with who I am.

[@asabritton8986]

but isn't the definition of patriarchy a male dominated society? a society that oppresses women for the benefit of men?

[@Trotoloko]

Same here, brother. Same here.

[@TheoMcAllister]

Let just say, cross-dressing princes were always a disappointment when they did it out of necessity of the story/situation and were much happier as a girl. "Why would you want to do that?", I thought to myself. "It's much better to be a boy." Needless to say, many years later, I had that "Oh" moment that I was, in fact, not a girl.

[@DieAlteistwiederda]

For me the reason why I always resonated with the male characters so much more also suddenly made sense when I learned about the concept of transgender and that maybe that's me. I never hated the female characters I just didn't see myself in a lot of them. I'm non-binary so my love for the characters breaking gender roles also suddenly made a lot of sense. The shojo manga WJuliet was a true eye opener for me back in the day. With Ito being more of a tomboy and Makoto dressing as a woman and just not being the overly masculine character you would often get back then. I saw myself a lot in both.

[@kingflowerfield]

@@airii420 i think they mean like presenting as feminine w people actually assuming that they are girls. i also found it unfortunate when they had to present in a way that made them uncomfortable in these stories, but i get it. i also go out of my way to dress more fem even though im cis bc i like being seen as a girl, and would be sad if people thought of me as a guy.

[@hobragen]

❤

[@noir4827]

Where I live trans isn't very well-known, and the few documentaries you'd sporadically see all were about trans women. I saw one of those and though "I'm happy for you....but who the hell would want to be a girl. I would do anything to be a guy." Yeah.

[@alterego8496]

So you basically want to become those men who think they are not masculine enough and do these surgeries to lookmax into their "gender"? Seeing crossdressing as expression of your "gender" often just reinforces body dysmorphia. Dress are just cultures. Anime males despite being very feminine, proudly declare their sex. You don't want to and see it as something to be ashamed and fix. There are men more proud of themselves in their feminine bodies than you are in yourself. Because you know 90% of cosmetic surgeries are done on women. "I was never like other girl" is kind of denying your own experience with misogyny and seeing it through rose tinted glasses. You are not like us men.

[@Sol_Mooney]

This was such a great video. As queer male Ive actually found shoujo to be more relatible then most shounen. In shoujou i actually managed to discover what my own kind of masculinity through watching the many female protags in anime growing up. They were strong but also liked doing traditionally feminine things, when they were masculine they weren't seen as any less of women and when they were feminine the show never looked down on them. That really helped me navigate my own gender. As a person who identifies as a man but has alot of traditionally feminine hobbies and tastes, i didn't see myself as 'not a real man' but rather as 'just different type of man".

[@GODSLITTLEMEOWMEOW]

I personally love shoujo where the male lead in unconventional in masculinity or masculinw looks, where the male lead likes "traditionally" feminine roles or things, or look a bit androgynous or like a women

[@ColleensMangaRecs]

Otomen (another series from the mangaka of Rose King) might be up your alley if you haven't checked it out already!

[@notationmusical]

In Utena, what I love is how it uses fairytales as way to subvert gender. Traditionally, the prince, as a male, always saves the princesses. And the woman is either a princess or a witch. Utena disrupts the binary by becoming her own prince, embodying heroic traits of a prince while not wanting to be seen as less of a woman. And so the "prince" becomes more of a concept of heroic ideals rather than something associated with a male.

[@ColleensMangaRecs]

I know it's sacrilege but I still haven't watched Utena. I really need to though since it seems RIGHT up my alley!!

[@notationmusical]

@@ColleensMangaRecs Yeah, no worries. It's extremely different from the manga, but I loved it. Let me know your thoughts whenever you do end up watching it. Love your videos!

[@ruriva4931]

Kinda spoilery in a thematic sense but not plot specific: But Utena also playing into the (gender) heiarchy by placing herself into the prince archetype to truly be a revolutionary girl she couldn’t simply exist as a gender bent prince.

[@naturalthemelodious]

Hey, just throwing it out there if you do decide to watch it@@ColleensMangaRecs: Utena has not one, not two but *three* inc*est subplots (which I feel like /no one/ mentions when they talk about Utena) I love Utena and I do think it's worth watching but it definitely is something to be aware of going into it

[@TheFullMetalSheep]

Haruhi was the character that first helped me realize I was nonbinary. It wasn't until years later that I found the words demigirl and genderflux that everything fell into place for how I felt, but Haruhi was that first step into realizing those were things I identify with. I grew up not liking being perceived as girly yet simultaneously hating being treated like a boy. I dressed in a way so other people couldn't perceive my body. It wasn't until after I became an adult and was in a safer space that I realized I liked wearing feminine clothing--it's just that as a kid that was the only option presented to me. I guess as an adult I ended up combining the two. The femininity I rejected as a kid and the more androgenous way I dressed to protect myself became more cohesive as I felt safer and more ME in my skin all those years later.

[@ItsJustValHere]

I am a cis woman and Haruhi was very special to me, for me it was a woman that could do "boy-ish" things without people pointing out it was weird or wrong (except the guys who did know she was a girl and constantly pushed her to act and dress as one). Since I did like acting and doing theatre, I wanted to try to perform as a male character often and wondered a lot if people would mistake me as a boy too. Never really did it outside of theatre because I have long hair, but who knows. Maybe some day I'll try.

[@cocog5788]

I relate to this so much

[@groofay]

As a nonbinary person (assigned male at birth), shoujo is more often than not a breath of fresh air, what with the shounen trend of treating genderbending/crossdressing as a punchline rather than something to be examined with much consideration.

[@TheChaoticAsexual]

I'm AFAB non-binary, and honestly shojo has helped me start to be more aware of some internalized misogyny I still have. I was looking down on some of the woman/girl characters for liking/doing stereotypically girly things. I was specifically bad with characters who didn't have a twist masculine interest, like "oh yeah she likes makeup but she's also a BLACK BELT IN JIU JITSU!!!1!!1!" or whatnot. Girls don't have to have non-feminine interests to be valid or empowering. It's also really helped me to be okay with my own more feminine interests and recognizing that it's valid to identify the way I do; androgyny/being non-binary doesn't have to be just more masculine/masculine-leaning things.

[@meowmeoowmeoww]

there is no internalized misogyny that is not a real thing

[@DaithiWillis]

Yoooo, same! I got into Ouran and Fruits Basket when I was 13 and at the peak of my internalized misogyny and also first starting to question my gender. I felt more at home with boys because hey! Turns out I am! But in order to fit in and be accepted, I felt like I had to squash or hide all of my feminine interests. Shoujo was my first real exposure to cross dressing as a non-joke and made me feelbaccepted, but it also showed me girls who were femme and soft and compassionate and all the other things I secretly wanted to be. That the two could coexist within me without compromising my identity, and that made it so much easier to accept myself and others

[@meowmeoowmeoww]

@@DaithiWillis there is no internalized misogyny that is not a real thing

[@PhoenicopterusR]

​@@meowmeoowmeoww are you okay? Do you need us to find you an adult?

[@meowmeoowmeoww]

@@PhoenicopterusR no thank you, i am one

[@toweringmoon9088]

My experience with Ouran was almost the exact opposite-in Haruhi teenage me saw someone else forced to perform masculinity and the moments and affirmations of femininity as catharsis. I'm trans fem so I was definitely reading into it, especially as someone who is more on the masculine side aesthetically despite being a woman. Its not too dissimilar to how both trans men and trans women relate a lot to Ranma 1/2 depending on their reading. Also: great video and love your content! Thanks for making it ✨

[@ColleensMangaRecs]

Hey, whatever helped you feel seen! Goes to show how much gender in media can vary in how it lands depending on someone's own life experience.

[@toweringmoon9088]

​@@ColleensMangaRecs Absolutely! There's a weird space of media that is "heckin' problematique" in its representation of a demographic (or is "representation" by coincidence) but when you're growing with nothing else that represents your demographic it's like an oasis in the desert. There are plenty of shows I loved before I came out for having the teeny tiniest bit of representation that now when I go back I to them I can't bring myself to watch them. Steins;Gate is the quintessential example. At the time a cannon trans character a was a revelation for me. Double points for being a shone show closeted-me could watch without feeling like the gender police would get me. Now, I can't watch Stiens;Gate without feeling sick. For a long time I felt sad about "loosing" all the shows that I used to like that I find difficult to stomach now because they treat their trans(/-coded) characters badly, but I've actually come to feel pretty good about it. Not liking those shows anymore is a sign that something important has changed: I now believe I deserve to be treated with respect; and that self love is way more valuable than the media I've "lost". Plus it just leaves space for more queer positive stories in the future! (Also yipes! This turned into more of an essay than I intended 😅 Posting it anyway as I know commenter engagement feeds the algorithm. But no obligation to respond, self-care, positive sentiments etc.)

[@DieAlteistwiederda]

Ranma 1/2 definitely represented me as a non-binary person because honestly in a perfect world I could just change my body to suit my needs that day or what outfit I want to wear. I also proposed the idea of boobs you can zip on or off depending on your mood. I still remember seeing Ranma as a child and thinking that I want that. Of course at that age I didn't really know what that meant yet but later it all made sense.

[@AurinneA]

Yeah, I felt both sides of this with Haruhi. The whole show she was being forced to hide a significant part of who she was, so in a way the "reveal" felt much more about not having to conform to traditional masculine ideas and lie about herself to everyone. But at the same time it would've been nice if they didn't go to the other extreme, since what was cool about Haruhi was that she was essentially simple and cool in style and attitude (she would wear a boys' uniform or a sundress when it suited her an not care; she would flirt with girls and fall in love with a boy and never felt the need to question who she was). So it didn't feel like ballgown Haruhi was fully showing who she was either, it was more just a relief and didn't have to pretend and mislead everyone anymore.

[@CTHD13]

That’s fascinating, I’m transfem too but for me any time I saw “gender-bendery” things on screen I’d get euphoric. With Haruhi I recognized the trans-masc nature of what was happening and I felt I related, just in the opposite direction.

[@SariaSchala]

Hearing you talk about “girl princes” makes me think of the reverse which I’ve experimented with in some writing involving my favorite male characters, where the boys are described as “fair/beautiful” like a princess and who are sweet and kind like that. Pretty Cure has also done some cool stuff with boys stepping out of the masculine norm, especially in the current series with the first official boy Cure. Natsume’s Book of Friends is also a great series, a shoujo where the male protagonist’s strength is his kindness. I really think it’s important for boys to be told it’s okay to be “feminine,” because they are conditioned too much to be “masculine” and that can result in boys suppressing their feelings and in some cases developing harmful beliefs toward marginalized genders.

[@yumeironeko]

I agree! I think looking beyond and stepping outside of gender stereotypes is so important for personal growth for everyone, no matter their gender. How can you truly know yourself or be the best version of yourself if you are limited and stuck inside of a box of behaviors and beliefs that are so narrow and, yes, potentially harmful. Humans are so much more than these stereotypes.

[@crackle6875]

I’d say in some cultures even boys and girls are both taught to suppress things (to be more feminine & masculine), just that the ‘why’ and ‘for what’ are different.

[@robinisok]

as a trans man who grew up reading a ton of shoujo manga, the crossdressing prince who eventually becomes Girly (and that is implied to be her True Self) is the most frustrating and heartbreaking trope. Always bummed me out! It wasn't shoujo manga that actually led me to my big gender stuff (it was yu-gi-oh lmao) but I always loved series with girl characters who were presented as cool and competent and not crybabies (the opposite of kid me). After I transitioned though, I read Otomen which really helped me to sort of work through my initial rejection of all things deemed feminine and reclaim (as a man!) stuff that I actually loved, like baking and nail polish and the color pink. :)

[@ColleensMangaRecs]

Otomen is such a good series for that!

[@queerplatypus9357]

Ooh, which characters in Yugioh resonated with you? It's definitely played a huge part in exploring my queerness as well

[@robinisok]

@@queerplatypus9357 it's a little complex and definitely evolved over time, but mostly, for me, it was yugi turning into yami(atem) when he needed to be stronger and then the further exploration of them being distinct different people! Culminating in yugi being able to be strong without atem while still being his compassionate self. And idk it's not the strongest trans metaphor, but to teen me, it was really awakening to see a character change from someone who is relentlessly bullied into someone capable of standing up for himself and others. But Also the nature of temporary identities that serve as protection, which is what I was stuck in as a closeted teen in a religious home. I was also getting really into superman at the time too so I really took that sort of gentle hearted protector masculinity to heart. Also also tho, I was very goth, and yugioh fashion is full of teens wearing too many straps and belts and I just knew I was attracted to and also wanted to BE a hot boy like yami yugi. 🤣🙏🖤

[@hedgehog3180]

You can actually find a decent handful of trans men in shoujo manga which I always thought was really cool. Poor Poor Lips is a yuri that has a trans man who was handled really well, especially because in one scene the lesbian main character slaps someone for misgendering him. He only shows up towards the end and has a relatively minor role but is important for the plot.

[@RenaissanceRockerBoy]

Boys Run the Riot is so good!

[@verysilentmouse]

"Gender followz you through school" had an image of gender stalking tomboys and beating them up until they turns into girly girls 😢

[@ColleensMangaRecs]

it's more likely than you think 😞

[@verysilentmouse]

@ColleensMagnaRecs Oh sadly I believe that

[@PocketLeaves]

The way shoujo approaches gender is honestly really fascinating to me! It's really got the brain wheels going when it came to exploring my own gender identity. This video was really great, thank you for taking the time to make it!!

[@Imhrien]

Utena was one of my very first manga obsessions, I can't overstate how influential it was to me growing up as a teen, both the manga and the anime. I didn't realize how "made up" gender was and how much its determined by your environment and background till I went to high school outside of my community. I'm Indiginous, and in my particular nation, women run the show, so to speak, so we grow up being forward, opinionated and used to speaking out. My particular cohort were also very athletic and "tomboyish" by usual western standards, but I thought we were all "normal" girls till we all went to school Outside of our home. This culture shock was huge and messy, on top of all the usual adolescent nonsense of growing up and figuring yourself out. It wasn't just us girls either, the boys, in a bid to not be made fun of or to not be called a "girl", got rid of their braids or long hair and got crew cuts or some variation thereof. They got called "whipped" or a 😺 because they would listen to their girlfriends or cousins, so of course they had to start treating us like we were incomprehensible silly females to better fit in for their own survival. Those were good times, I tell you (extreme sarcasm). So all that background to say that I never saw Utena as masculine; to me she seemed very feminine by the standards of my own culture, even while I recognized that within her own story she was going very much against the usual. Even still, I identified with her so much and she helped me understand what I was going through and why I was so confused about the "rules of being a girl" suddenly being changed. Her story made it very explicit to me that there were even "rules" at all. A lot of my absolute favourite manga and anime have someone who straddles that gender role line: Twelve Kingdoms for one, where Youko, one of the female leads, crossdresses for her own safety for a while and eventually becomes a queen and ruler of her own kingdom. Her path to becoming a leader has her contemplate just what kind of person she is and how she needs and wants to be perceived. Another wonderful manga I highly recommend to everyone is A Bride's Story (by Kaoru Mori) that has a few volumes that examine what "feminine" ideals are across different cultures along the silk road. The main female lead, Amira Halgal, is considered a "perfect bride" yet she's an archer, horseback rider and a hunter, and she married into a family where women are expected to behave very differently. A lot of the story focuses on those everyday tasks and thoughts that are approached differently by those who grew up in very different environments. You're absolutely right that none of these stories are perfect, and some contain very mixed messages, but half a good message is better than not hearing it at all and thinking you're alone.

[@Supernir]

What country has women running the show?

[@albaniaalban]

I love "A Bride's story"! Such beautiful artwork and subdued yet powerful story beats.

[@kjarakravik4837]

I love the Twelve Kingdoms novels! They're also probably a rare exception in the sense that Youko's exploration of gender happens outside of the context of romance

[@Imhrien]

@@kjarakravik4837 very true! the entire series is mostly romance free and still manages to be an amazing story. I recommend it every chance I get, haha.

[@kjarakravik4837]

@Imhrien Those books were so good they got 9 year old me to care about reading AND politics! If that isn't an achievement, I don't know what is. Finding out about the new release from 2019 made my entire year

[@elfteiroh]

Princess Jellyfish also has a character like Hiraku from Cinderella Closet, in Kuranosuke (Kurako when crossdressing). I love how Kurako sees his crossdressing as empowering, like wearing a “war uniform”. He is not non binary, but still subvert gender norms… in a way… he also goes on and try to fit the very non conformist other characters to female norms, with very disastrous results… xD But yeah. There could probably be a whole video like that about other manga, and probably about EACH of them too. XD … I love how often I can link Princess Jellyfish in random discussions. XD … but yeah. Great video! Thanks!

[@heavensaffair3565]

For me, being assigned female at birth it always felt weird when the adults told me I looked better when wearing pink or "girly" clothes. I was more liked if I looked more feminine after a while I felt pressured to conform to my peers and adult guidance. Growing up I felt uncomfortable in my own skin and felt like I was wrong for wearing clothes that did not form to my skin. Shojo actually helped me a lot growing up to feel more comfortable as I resonated with the characters. The crossdressing was fun and exciting and somewhat natural, I felt seen and allowed myself to feel free. I'm just me with or without frilly clothes or even if I hid my chest or the shape of my body. 😊❤

[@rubykagamine]

Growing up, I hated having long hair. It was difficult to maintain. Brushing it was painful because I frequently got knots, I loathed washing my hair because it took forever to dry, and it was hell having my hair stick to my neck during summer. When I was 14, I watched the Ouran High School Host Club anime and fell in love with Haruhi (and also Benio of the Lobelia Girls) and one of the reasons why I loved them was because they're girls who have short hair and look good with short hair! I begged my mum to let me get my hair cut really short and near the end of the year, I finally got it cut in the same style as Haruhi. Kept my hair short since. I may be a really feminine cis woman, but it felt so freeing to finally look and feel the way I wanted to. And Haruhi Fujioka definitely played a part in that.

[@matchablossom3720]

Lady Oscar. My biggest heroine growing up. The play with gender norms has always been one of the main drawing points for me in Shoujo Manga. Be it Oscar, Sailor Moon, and later when I found Manga, Nuriko in Fushigi Yuugi, Haruhi, RG Veda, Basara. I identify as cis and straight, but if you look at a picture of me in my teens one could see a boy XD. With interests and hobbies that have always been deemed too boyish (mostly by my big sister), reading Shoujo always made me feel like I'm just okay the way I am. Great Video. With yet some more titles I can put on my reading list 😊😊

[@absolutelynotellen]

OMG LADY OSCAR my gender envy blueprint 😳

[@FieryLuna]

This comment is my literal same exact sentiments. It’s not as ambiguous but Utena was a huge inspiration for me along with Lady Oscar Utena etc

[@Kameno-o]

As someone currently working on my own video on Reqiuem of the rose king, thank you for also covering it. Richard's story is so unique from a queer perspective and also glad to see your perspective!!

[@ColleensMangaRecs]

Ooooh I can not WAIT to see a video on that series. Tag me or smth on twitter or elsewhere so I can make sure I check it out.

[@Kameno-o]

@@ColleensMangaRecs Thank you for the comment! it's actually more about Intersex manga and how Intersex identities are shown.

[@Evansacc]

A couple years ago I was really obsessed with gender-swap manga. I was obsessed with the idea that people could just switch genders (either through dress/makeup or magic) especially since I grew up in a conservative Christian home and didn't know that was even a thing. I would literally look up "top ten best gender-swap/cross dressing manga and anime" and binge watch/read them, so I am now basically a library of gender-nonconforming anime characters. Looking back I realize that a big part of why I loved that idea was because often when a girl pretended to be a guy, most of the attention of other characters wasn't "Oh we are all so in love with this girl because she is a girl and is pretty" (even though there were some exceptions), it was "Oh she's cool and can do guy things too, and I love her not just because she looks like a stereotypical pretty girl, but because of her personality and goals". I loved the freedom I felt when I read about a character finally being accepted as themselves, when they could finally be comfortable telling people "Hey I'm actually a girl, but I'm still the same person who likes traditionally guy things I just had to pretend the whole time cause otherwise ya'll would think I'm weird". I loved seeing these characters achieve their goals despite the odds and controversy around them (thinking back specifically to some manga I read about a girl cross-dressing to play elite sports). It was like I was finally seeing how stereotypical gender norms could overlap, switch around, or not exist at all. A woman can be perceived as more traditionally masculine and still be a woman. A man can be more traditionally feminine and still be a man. And even if some people won't accept it, you can still strive to achieve your goals, don't let gender norms stop you. Now that I'm older I realize just how impactful this was for me. Even though a lot of these manga/anime were in reality -very- flawed and didn't really mean to send this specific message (like Hana Kimi, OHSHC, Aoharu X Kikanjuu). Though I didn't know it yet, I was beginning to subtly recognize the flaws in the things I had always thought were normal (like dancing is for girls, sports are for boys). And now I'm also nonbinary so I realize why the cross-dressing was one of my favorite aspects and that really puts this whole obsession into perspective lmao.

[@laurenevatt4442]

Great video! I think another interesting thing to add is how shoujo birthed BL which has helped myself (and a few of the friends I've made in the community) discover not only our sexuality but our gender identity as well. For me there are so many stories that allow me to explore scenarios that make me think about who I am and what I want for myself in a safe way. The importance of that cannot be understated.

[@rudetuesday]

Shoujo's always been a comforting place to explore where the interiors of characters encounter exterior circumstances and environments--the way people see themselves, as opposed to how others see them. When we're fortunate in life, we have more agreement between these elements than not. In my experience, I've really only had that feeling of expansive realization while reading stories, or while experiencing other art. I'm going to think about your video a lot over time, I can tell. Thanks for making it.

[@ColleensMangaRecs]

just knowing I got someone to think on a video I made is really cool!

[@NANAs_LIFE]

I didn’t realize how much I sought out this type of manga until I saw that I read the majority of manga mentioned in this video. Great video! 💗

[@Permafry42108]

On Princess Knight in particular, i feel like its important to recognize many gender fluid people have reclaimed Princess Knight in particular as a strong positive representation of gender fluidity, not just fluid gender expression. One danger that many 2nd wave feminists views of gender have is the erasure of gender identity in discussion of gender expression. As a result, much of the criticisms lobied at the "male heart and female heart in the body of a female" came from the assumption that portraying gender identity at all being fluid somehow undermined the gender bending of a fluid gender experession. Fluidity in gender expression is absolutely a common trope in media, but its important to recognize that many media explored both fluidity in identity and expression, leading to critics conflating the 2. This is most often subverted in more recent, trans inclusive media. A good example of this is the Manga "Love Me for who I Am", which features a gender ambiguous nonbinary character that is assumed at first to be a "boy wanting to dresss as a woman" due to conflation of gender identity and gender expression. The Manga then goes to subvert this, showing one of the characters realizing her desire to dress femininely was rooted in a woman gender identity, rather than a desire to subvert male assumptions the way others playing in drag performances were desiring. Hopefully as more nonbinary and trans artists are able to create published works, we will see more examples of media that showcase a more modern understanding of gender beyond purely a performative presumption that presumes that gender is exclusively gender expression, and explores the ways that gender identity and gender expression can fall beyond simple sex based assumptions that were the basis of early second wave feminist thought and are the basis for much of older manga's representation of gender identity and gender expression being conflated, or else erasing gender identity entirely from the discussion by pretending it is the same as expression;

[@D4rkchapter]

Stories with string, tom-boyish women like Mulan, Basara, Red River and Hana Kimi were the worlds I hid in as a teenager when I couldn't keep up with the other female kids in my school when it came to make-up, clothing and interests. I am so thankful for Shoujo mangas to show me how women don't have to perform only a certain way. It is ok to behave "like a boy", without having to be a boy. That's how I found myself and I will always love stories like that, despite their flaws that you rightfully mentioned. Thank you so much for this absolutely powerful video! I am no gonna check out Seishun no Hekireki and Cidnerella Closet - they both sound great!

[@MewWolf5]

Your comments about how you felt disappointed seeing Haruhi in Ouran being pushed to be feminine really resonated with me, because i remember finding it frustrating or disappointing too. I liked cross-dressing Haruhi when she would stand up for herself. Strangely [spoilers for Fruits Basket ahead] i remember being initially disappointed that Akito in Fruits Basket was revealed to be a woman. I still don’t know exactly why i had that intense reaction, but I think part of my discomfort wasseeing Akito in feminine clothes. Maybe deep down, something inside me was resistent to the idea that that was the only "correct" way to express oneself. Another monent of gender reveal disappointment i remember was Gentleman's Alliance. For sone reason i had latched onto this minor character of the postman, probably because of his androgynous big eyes and ponytail (and that hat). After reading a volume or two i read online the spoiler that Postman and a girl character named Maora who i didn’t like (though I can’t remember why I didn’t like her, I think I found her annoying but I don't remember why) were one in the same. I am kind of mad at teenage me for feeling that way, today i would probably see that as trans or trans-adjacent representation. I'm curious about the two more recent series you mention in yhe video, because I would love to see androgynous girls who aren't forced to be feminine. As much as I like the sapphic angle of gender non-conforming women characters, I also like seeing portrayals where the masc girl isn’t necessarily gay because I'm not a lesbian but don’t care about being feminine. Sure, I'm not straight either, but i don’t like playing to the assumption that men only like feminine women.

[@viviane315]

Did you drop Gentleman's Alliance after seeing the spoiler? Around the same time we learn Maora is the Postman, we also learn that she is a trans girl!

[@CherryNah]

​@@viviane315Omg, I finally read someone who knows about Maora and the postman, thanks!❤

[@MewWolf5]

@viviane315 I didn't know that! It was such a long time ago and I have only a vague recollection, but I don’t remember reading that. To be honest, it could have gone over my head at the time. But yeah,I read the spoiler online and then never got back into the manga. Maybe it deserves another chance after all these years.

[@bespectacledheroine7292]

I finally watched Rose of Versailles this year (Still need to get my hands on the manga) and Oscar is such an unforgettable character, I can't believe I didn't really hear anything about her in passing prior to actually digging into the series. She should be an icon sprinkled all throughout best anime women conversations. She's not devoid of feelings, and you don't need to forsake feelings to be badass, but for Oscar there's a time and a place, and her sense of duty and morality guides her before what she'd prefer to do, see how she must betray Marie no matter how much she still cares.

[@lalakuma9]

Rose of Versailles is the GOAT

[@hedgehog3180]

It gets discussed a lot in yuri spaces since it's usually seen as the first yuri anime, and the series definitely gave birth to several tropes that have continued up until this day. Even The Witch From Mercury had some very obvious references scattered throughout.

[@mhawang8204]

Lady Oscar made me feel so validated as a tomboy. Her arc was also very well written and a rarity for a female main character. Oh the power of shojo! 😉 I learned so much about newer exploration of gender expression in manga today as an elder millennial. Thank you for making this video!

[@packman2321]

Really enjoyed this one. I think in a way even the differences between gender expectations in Japan vs the West (in my case England) can be really useful for highlighting gender as a construct. I remember that navigating how translations of Sailor Moon had modified Uranus and Neptune was the first media thing that got me dealing with the idea that how people thought about sexuality was a construct (which was really useful in deconstructing some of my centrist conservatism at the time) and I remember reading an academic essay on clothing standards in pre-Meiji Japan which was likewise useful for unpacking some of the ideology we tend to import in our understandings of clothing and gaze.

[@FieryLuna]

Everyone in the comments are exactly saying why I love such gender expression in shoujo. This video was fantastic and weirdly emotional for me

[@ilovemycats9150]

I'm... literally obsessed with the "i have to hide my gender to reach my goal!" trope. And the bodyswap trope (between a guy and a girl), is like the female leads are kind of forced to perform masculinity, and it must feel nice to have a reason to do it... like an excuse... meanwhile i don't know what to make up to excuse myself presenting masculine, i always say a different answer though i really don't know what's the reason behind. So yup, they have a valid reason to do it

[@harpy5629]

Another fucking awesome video. So much of Ouran was amazing, I loved Haruhi so much, but I could never figure out why it frustrated me at the end when I was younger. I didn't look at it too critically until you brought it up here and I realized, well duh.

[@MissSun23]

I can't wait to watch it in full. Your content and reflections are always so inspiring and endearing!

[@themissingsock2437]

Aww Colleen, this video was so good. You look so cool in you clothes btw!! Loving the new haircut!! As a former tomboy, it's *so difficult* for me to enjoy wearing dresses as an adult. I just don't have the feminine body structure that other girls have, and so I feel very very ugly in all things hyperfeminine. Conversely, I really want to be seen as feminine, but growing up and experiencing bullying from both guys and girls towards my outward appearance has made me 100% feel awkward with the way I look. I have body dysmorphia and mild gender dysphoria, which makes things more difficult. Shoujo like Ouran, Utena, even Sailor Uranus, helped me feel a bit better about myself. I personally enjoyed Ouran and the fact that she went back to being feminine because it showed that, even if I personally don't think that outward appearance matters with presenting, I can 100% be feminine after living a life where I wasn't. Utena showed me I can be feminine without compromising my sense of justice. Haruka from SM showed that I can be masculine presenting and still be a woman, not a man. I haven't the money for the manga I want but I'm so excited to one day get it cause I'm gonna have a big ass library like yours. Anyway, thanks for this great video, once again.

[@ColleensMangaRecs]

felt with the BDD and gender dysphoria, hoping you can get through it 🙏

[@Amaling]

As a trans woman who’s at minimum not considered the hyper-feminine stereotype often slapped onto trans women, this definitely resonates. Without seeing women who aren’t just the doll stereotype (this is more broad not just shoujo), I don’t know if I would’ve been able to transition, definitely not live authentically/comfortably anyways. While there are aspects about shoujo manga to criticize in regards to gender expression, I think the medium has been pretty consistently well ahead of the pack compared to average social views of gender in Japan for whatever timeframe we look at 60s onwards. So even if not exactly what we may want, there’s content to be appreciative of one way or another

[@Kari_._]

While being a teen I thought of my girlie hobbies or me wearing a skirt like some sort of weakness that I had to compensate with "more masculine" traits like appearing emotionally distant or aloof. Now that I'm in my mid twenties I feel more comfortable in my skin and am starting to try using skirts again or learning to do my make-up (only because cosplaying is my new hobby, I don't wear makeup anywhere else). I still think I have internalized mysoginy but I'm getting better at spotting it and not let it influence my likes and dislikes. Thanks for your reflection Colleen!

[@starrshort6403]

This was such an interesting video !!! I love what you talked about : gender being a construct is so true ! Tbh I don’t understand gender at all , I’m not sure what gender I am but I’m fine not knowing , ofc it’s okay to know your gender and identity as any gender

[@NaritaZaraki]

Okay, A) YAY! Colleen video! 🥰 I hope you had the most wonderfully rejuvenating break! B) dressing somewhat traditionally "masculine" and it being begrudgingly "allowed" while you're young because "you'll grow out of it" ... felt. It sure was one hell of an experience to watch people who've known me all my life slowly start to realize that I wasn't going to blossom into a the perfect beautiful feminine butterfly at the threshold of adulthood. Their confusion was honestly so confusing. But anyways, C) I'm happy to hear you talk about "Requiem of the Rose King" again since I read it because of you! It is indeed so very Gender™ that it makes me feel extremely stupid 🤣 Richard's relationship with his body, his gender identity and its relationship with society's script of what that means, his romantic feelings for the same and/or opposite gender, his relationship with his parents and the many many entangled and spectacular ways in which they eff him up and his perception of himself, his ambitions, his desires, his tendency to affirm and "prove" his masculinity in ways that are extremely harmful to himself first and foremost as well as a whole swath of others, the incredibly tragic ways that he "accepts" others acting upon his body their own ends so long as they can in return provide a semblance of acceptance of his truth (it's extremely rare for me to hate a character (villain or not) from a genuinely emotional place, like to feel it in my body and deep in my soul, but I would happily roast a certain bespectacled shithead on an open fire that absolute bi- 🤬🤬🤬), all of this, ALL OF THIS plus the politics, religion, the supernatural, what kinghood means, what loyalty means, what desire means, just freakin' so much is explored in this manga! The author interweaves and complicates and negotiates with so much and I genuinely can't wrap my head around even half of it. This is one of those manga that I know I will be doing regular rereads of because I'm sure so much of what its tackling with Richard specifically went over my head.

[@darkypiemotica]

I was always a girly girl and I remember a time (during the twilight craze, mostly) when i was belittled and made fun of for liking pink and cute things. I remember at age… maybe 13 i decided to change my image for an “alternative” one, a “not so girly” one, maybe even a “not like other girls” kind of image…. And it worked. Guys liked me being more tombyish and i had many new girl-friends because they didn’t see me as “a threat”. I remember the media at that time emphasised that being a “different” kind of girl was desirable, and i think that’s where many of my body image problems came from. I come from a family of very curvy women, but when i was a teenager the desirable type of body was not curvy or boy-like. I wanted to fit the tomboy image so bad, but my body didn’t have that image anymore and clothes looked weird on me (weird in my mind because i had a certain idea of how it shouldve looked like) So, even though I wanted to fit the trend at the time, I just couldn’t anymore and felt left out. Anime and manga helped me to some degree to see there were many different ways of being tomboyish or that being a girly girl was actually fine, it didn’t matter as long as you surrounded yourself with people who embraced and loved you for who you really are. Tbh i still have body image issues, and i think that no one should conform to whatever people say is “correct” or “of your gender” or “fashionable” at a certain period of time, because it is different for everyone. Idk how to end this comment, but i really appreciate your videos and manga recommendations, I’ve been reading nonstop this year thanks to you!

[@giogi1591]

Wow Colleen...what a video! honestly speechless. Shojo has always been a way of finding answers or expressions that helps me understand my surroundings

[@ayiussu]

As someone who has read every single gender bending/ genderswap manga in human existance (not limited to shojo), I really enjoyed this video. Didn't really think that reading all that stuff growing up was anything to do with my own gender identity but this video made me reconsider. I thought it was just a bit of fun but I realise now that the reason I kept being drawn towards thase series and eventually began to exclusively look for series like that was because they're really comfortable in a way I haven't experienced in other media.

[@rez4437]

I think the manga The Guy she was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy at All by Arai Sumiko displays an androgynous female in a realistic and interesting way. As a girl who is androgynous I really appreciate the main character, Mitsuki, and found inspiration from her. This is also a yuri manga which speaks even more to me as a lesbian. Please give it a read if you haven’t it is so good and unique. This manga is officially posted on the authors Twitter I will say I think the manga Wandering Son by Takako Shimura is pretty good at having the characters figure out who they are and their gender expression. I think this manga displays trans peoples interpersonal and intrapersonal conflicts well (I am not trans though so please correct me if I’m wrong).

[@dragonflower17]

Seconding the recommendation for Wandering Son!

[@rez4437]

@@dragonflower17 It’s a fantastic manga. Glad to see someone else enjoyed it 😊

[@amarimochi]

I havent watched or read a lot of shojo that really subverts gender until more recently, just cuz my school didnt really have them and, outside of ohhc, the shojo that did appear on tv was very traditionally feminine. But OHHC, from the anime atleast, definitely helped me with my gender. I feel very meh about gender, I don't really care how people perceive me and honestly prefer being referred to with androgenous or masculine language. Haruhi made me feel a lot better about not feeling comfortable in the skirts and dresses my mum always tried to put me in, HELL, I got to wear pants to graduation AND formal. I still havent bit the bullet to cut my hair short but thats mainly out of a fear of regretting it or it looking bad but I might during Christmas break (and short hair in aussie summer will be nice i bet!). I feel if I never got into anime and manga (even tho that entry point was super feminine with madoka magica and tokyo mew mew), I wouldn't have fully gotten it? I realised I was queer from female cosplayers dressing as men and finding them attractive both in cosplay and out, I realised I was gender queer from all the feminine men and masculine women in anime/manga/games that I both loved and wanted to be. Yeah the anime/manga def still has some way to go (I want more gnc queer manga 😭) but even the old stuff was so helpful for me discovering who I am and that the way I present is normal and ok.

[@ColleensMangaRecs]

I am here to say that cutting your hair short is indeed scary but it'll always grow back!! I say try it out. I only just cut my hair the shortest it's ever been recently and it's been kinda cool to see myself in this "new" way.

[@amarimochi]

​@@ColleensMangaRecs This is actually reassuring, thank you! I think I'll cut it once holidays start just cuz I don't want to have to explain it to group members at uni and if I don't like it I can grow it back a decent amount before next school year starts >:) (plus its still super cold here, long hair is coming in pretty handy rn lol)

[@kugrash]

this was an incredible video, thank you so much for all your hard work and research!! i only discovered i was nonbinary a few years ago, after a whole lifetime of being a tomboy and never fitting in with femininity or being a girl; shortly after, i looked back and realized just how many stories i had enjoyed as a kid and a teen that involved girls crossdressing or generally bucking societal standards for women- in the past it seemed like "i'm not like other girls" nonsense, but i'm able to look back now and realize that those stories (even if not always actually great rep) helped me get a glimpse into what i'd actually been wanting, which was to be seen as myself outside of the constraints of societal womanhood. you used an image from it, but the manga hana-kimi shaped me a lot in high school- i grew up in a conservative, catholic family, and having a story that had a cross dressing lead, a male lead who ultimately didn't care about her gender or if she looked feminine or not, and gay characters (again, even if not great rep, it was some of my first exposure into a gay character in media and i still have a soft spot for the school nurse)- i wouldn't think deeper on my gender for many years after finishing hana-kimi, but it still really helped me along the way, and i have to be grateful for all the same.

[@maevekilpatrick6721]

Hana Kimi was one of the first manga I ever read, and sure there's a lot about it that hasn't aged well, but it did really effect my idea of what gender could be as a young kid 😂

[@keelyshaller-co1og]

I’m absolutely in love with this video! As an agender and bisexual teen, growing up I sort of always knew these things about myself but never had the vocabulary to articulate that. In middle school, I discovered Shoujo manga, and it couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. Middle School was really a point in my life where I was being asked to define myself, categorize my identity in a neat box, and the ambiguous characters in these manga were really validating. Sailor Uranus in particular had such a big impact on me, as her gender was not defined by a label, but how she felt. This was so big for me at the time, as I felt like all other trans characters still fit into neat boxes. And while it’s of course important to recognize people who do feel comfortable in those boxes, we really have to recognize the characters that represent people who don’t need to be categorized. Great Video, thank you!

[@helgakrobo]

since i've been on somewhat of a manga kick, here's a few other series with interesting thoughts about gender and crossdressing: * "How I Went To A Mixer And There Were No Girls There" (shoujo): an ensemble cast story about budding relationships between pretty regular straight guys and women who tend bar in a crossdressing cafe for a living. The guys kind of have to abandon traditional viewpoints of gender and embrace femininity a bit to get on board, since the performance of manhood is just as important to the girls as the performance of womanhood. * "How Do We Relationship" (shoujo/sei): this is not really the focus of the story as a whole, but in a character's backstory, she was pigeonholed as a "prince" in school, leading girls to play at romance with her and treat her as a safe version of a guy, when in actuality she was a GNC woman and a lesbian interested in real relationships - in effect, they were denying both her gender and her sexuality. The question of how much to conform, and where trauma shapes self-perception looms large over the series. * "Welcome Back, Alice" (shounen): !serious trigger warnings about sexual violence throughout the story! please pay attention! A childhood friend of the male protagonist comes back to his school, identifying as nonbinary. The story is kind of about desperately thrashing against the boundaries of gendered expectations and gender dysphoria, and the collateral damage that inflicts.

[@MangaMuse]

Seeing so many series I've loved over the years from being a tween to adulthood made me smile. Girl princess and crossdressing have always been two of my favorite tropes in shoujo. Wonderful video that I hope many people learn something new from!!

[@tox_anituber]

Most people are put off by SHOUJO MANGA that tackle themes like gender bending, cross dressing ,etc.. because they showcase characters openly exploring their gender or are struggling with gender roles assigned to them. I remember this anime called WANDERING SUN that I decided to watch. I had fun watching it and it really showed me a different perspective.

[@mllejacquesnoel]

Great video as always! I always related well to the characters of Oscar and Utena, and later a bit Rei (Oniisama E), as well as Nuriko from Fushigi Yuugi. He’s introduced as a beautiful woman courtesan who also just so happens to be one of the seven warriors of Suzaku (with the power of super strength!) and takes on kind of an older sister role to many of the characters. His gender is complicated and somewhat due to backstory trauma, but I identified a lot with how he framed it as having access to both femininity and masculinity and kind of picking and choosing which he wanted to embody based on his own needs/wants at the time. There are also some very 90s “okama-chan”-type jokes but it was written by Watase who has since come out as x-gender so I trust that anything that hasn’t aged well was more her working stuff out for herself (and indeed Ceres has a lot on sex and gender as well). In addition to the Takarazuka, I personally want to do some more research on the feedback loop between a lot of 80s and 90s visual kei and shoujo and BL of that era, as there’s a ton of gender play there. (And I say feedback loop because some folks (Kamijo) have legit made careers of Lady Oscar cosplay. So it’s not like vkei isn’t pulling from shoujo as much as shoujo might pull aesthetics from vkei.) Anyway, great video on a massive topic. I’m sure it’s one you could revisit in a few years (or even annually) and find more to discuss.

[@ColleensMangaRecs]

I legit almost talked about vkei in this essay but went with talking about just takarazuka instead since it connected it better. But yeah it for sure has a tie and I would love to see you talk about that since I know how much you like vkei too.

[@yamataichul]

Intention and misinterpretation are often intertwined but not one and the same. As a tomboy I had a similar experience growing up except it didn't affect me but worried me how much of a low self esteem my teachers had to think a specific feminine appearance is the only way to be accepted in society. I attributed sex over gender as an social issue and is not a healthy mindset to some extend. My main insecurities are around expressing my wants and needs. And to some extend I also know regardless how masculine or feminine I come as, I fully expect the other to see me as a person and not a gender stereotype.

[@Thedollwizard.]

I finished this entire video, and you didn't mention princess jellyfish!GAAAA. That's one of my absolute favorite representations of gender expression. In shojo manga, especially when the entire core of that, Manga is basically what is feminine to different people and how different people express it!

[@Thedollwizard.]

I still love the video though

[@adventurerkate]

Colleen, please read W Juliet. It’s an older series and was before Viz’s Shoujo Beat era, but I think it’s an interesting look at playing with gender. Our female MC is a huge tomboy (and often mistaken for a man) throughout the entire series, and the male MC is cross dressing as a woman to appease his father to follow his dream to be an actor, but no one is supposed to find out. FMC finds out accidentally almost immediately and they quickly form a bond and fall in love. I read it in high school and felt so seen. I am a ciswoman, but a bit more of a tomboy. Sure I like to put a dress on every now and then, but am more comfortable in jeans and a T-shirt and love to get my hands dirty and build things, so I loved reading a strong female lead with shorthair who was tough. I loved seeing a femme presenting male character and watching them interact with the world and explore gender. It helped me be okay with my own expression of femininity and look for partners who don’t feel like they have to subscribe to rigid and sometimes toxic masculinity. I will say we never got the follow up series in the States, and I’ve heard it veers hard into gender stereotypes and conforming, which is unfortunate, but the original series is excellent and I wish more people would read it.

[@ColleensMangaRecs]

I've been meaning to read that one for awhile now!! I'm sure I checked it out as a kid but I honestly don't remember much about it.

[@adventurerkate]

@@ColleensMangaRecs that’s fair. I read it in high school (I graduated 07) and it was one of my favorites. I’m sure like Mars it has things that will date it, but I remember it fondly and am currently collecting it again. ❤️

[@eeveeinspace]

W Juliet is fantastic and I definitely second that recommendation, but also yeah the sequel series is garbo and I pretend it does not exist 🙈

[@mariadarko6935]

This was such a good video!! When I was a teenager I read Fruits Basket and i thought its was really cool that Momiji used the girl's uniform and that Ayame had long flowy hair.

[@jhoca]

Definitely Ooku for me! 🧡 When I was a child, I saw this manga at the library and was so intrigued by it and how the traditional gender roles were reversed. As a kid, I used to hate being “girly” and the color pink because I was under the impression that I was “supposed to”, and I didn’t like those expectations. I think reading Ooku was a spiritual awakening for me as a kid. I felt empowered by the women who were presented as capable leaders and doing all the jobs that are traditionally masculine (and as someone who grew up in a very patriarchal household, seeing the men in more “demure” roles was a breath of fresh air). Reading Ooku also made me feel mature for my age back then (lol) but I see that you’ve made a video about the Ooku anime! I was so surprised when I found out about it, and that came out this year! I’m glad it’s getting the recognition it deserves 🧡

[@fwameh]

This video brings me much comfort!! Thank you so much for creating this and being so kind!! Due to me being on the autistic spectrum I never really understood gender, the more I think the more loop holes form in my head and then I get a headache! I experience gender in more abstract ways that is very hard for alot of people to understand. But it's nice to know that everyone experiences gender a different way, it's especially cool to see how different cultures interpret it! I hope in the future people grow more loving, there's so many unique people out there, it's a shame that there's these strict rules to keep people from being truly themselves.

[@prwa911]

It's honestly so wholesome seeing all the different people in the comments say how much shoujo helped them with discovering, undertanding their gender.

[@mitziixoxo]

While I'm not trans or non binary I like to identify with the gender non conforming label because while I'm a cis female, I rlly don't like the limitations of being feminine and my ideal self (like the version I see in my head) is androgynous. Which is why I've always found particular comfort in characters like Yoi. Because I resonate with them. I'd kill to have the gender presentation Yoi has lol (since i currently cannot express myself the way i desire due to personal circumstance). Anyways I love the outlet shoujo (and josei) series like Uruwashi no Yoi no Tsuki gives me to feel a little seen. I also just love the exploration aspects in some regards. A fantastic manga I must recommend to anyone who likes manga with queer aspects and the deconstruction of gender roles is Maybe Akira-kun Maybe Akira-chan by Yasuko. It's a short 8 chapter manga that follows Kazuma, a college student who is obsessed with the idea that he must be like "an ideal man" (basically have traditionally masculine traits) in order to please a partner (initially assumed to be a woman by him because yay heteronormativity). He soon meets Akira, someone whom he cannot figure out whether they're a man or a woman due to their androgynous appearance and personality. It's through falling for Akira though that he realizes he doesn't need to be something he's not in order to be a man. He doesn't have to be traditionally manly in order to be a man, he's a man just because he says so lol. And comes to terms with the fact that he would be okay with being with Akira even if they were also a man because he loves them for who they are. It's a super sweet series and I love that Akira's gender is never stated so yay for not falling into the straight relationship thing because Akira is never forced into one binary. While not directly said I headcanon Akira as non-binary so much it hurts lol.

[@kaguya6900]

It should come as no surprise to know that Chiho Saito, the mangaka and co-creator of Utena, is a huge Takarazuka fan. She's even written some manga that are direct licensed adaptations of Takarazuka plays.

[@callieanderson644]

I'm afab, and for myself, these types of characters and tropes actually really solidified my gender identity as a girl. When I was younger, I didn't want to be one, because the "femininity" that I was taught was toxic and disgusting to me, but I couldn't ignore that I was, indeed, feminine. So I thrashed about for a different answer, thought of myself as a tomboy rather than a girly girl, and found parts of myself that I truly loved and felt could help people instead of hurt them. As I contemplated gender and its meaning, I found other facets of femininity that I liked and could identify with, but there was always that lingering feeling of having been put into a box, so to speak (cross your legs, have long hair, wear pink and feminine things, be good at makeup but not the type that I liked, etc.)-- until I finally, in secret, watched ohshc. In Haruhi, I found a girl who was like me, who didn't honestly care how she was viewed because she knew exactly who she was. She could be feminine and "masculine," but she was always Haruhi, and nothing she did ever changed that. After that, things fell into place, and as I watched more and more shoujo anime with gender subverting tropes, I gained more and more confidence that I could just be who I am, not caring how other people see me. So, the way I see myself, I am a girl, and that comes with so many amazing things, but that doesn't mean that I have to dress or act any certain way. I'm just me, and I'll be the best me that I possibly can :3

[@ainess92]

I also want to touch upon how hyper feminity is also often villainized in media and real life. Growing up in a modest, midwest town with under 10,000 pop (predominately white) and being Asian, i was already an out cast. Whenever i wanted to even simply wear a skirt i was mocked with the usual "what are you doing that for" or the back handed "cute on you, i could never" that pushed me into a more tomboy, androgynous look (and not ok with my body) that i also liked to dress as but felt forced into. It has taken me decades to be ok in my skin and not care if one day i wanted to dress hyper fem or in baggy boyish clothes. Shoujo manga was my escape as a kid and i loved the different nuances and characters that were so different then what was being portrayed in western media in the 90s and 00s (a la mean girls or she's the man).

[@ilhanyusuf2160]

I feel like my experience with gender is so convoluted, even I have trouble making sense of it sometimes lol. For much of my youth, I was an avid shoujo reader, and I love, love the demographic! I always loved cute and fluffy manga that were just fun to read, but actually my preferred genre even now is probably adventure with romance + strong interpersonal relationships. Unsurprisingly, I fell down the gender-bender rabbit hole with Basara, Power!!, and W Juliet being some of my top manga. At the time, I never thought too deeply about why I liked it whenever the main female protagonist was cross-dressing or presented on the more masculine side, but over the years, I have definitely come to realize I really do have a strong disdain for gender roles lmao. I hate the idea that I have to do things because I'm a woman, and I hate the archetypes that boil femininity down to biological weakness. Don't get me wrong, I love a good school-life, fluffy shoujo (honey lemon soda goes hard), but I also think some of my favourite manga definitely are ones that don't limit themselves in these fairly rigid gender expectations. Interestingly, I have transitioned more into boys love rn, which I mean not very surprising considering my take on gender tbh. I really gravitate towards media that subverts gender roles, or ignores them all together. I don't like the idea that you have to dress a certain way or act a certain way because of your gender. And I especially hate how reinforced it is even in casual conversation like you mentioned Colleen. I am a woman, but just as I literally have a pink-themed room, I also unabashedly shop in the men's section if I like how something looks (cus damn, graphic tees in the men's section are next level). And I just want to add, I am keenly aware of my privilege in that I have never had to internally struggle with my gender identity. I think it really sucks how covertly society perpetuates these gender expectations. Gender roles to me are so insidious because if you tell people straight up that society perpetuates them, they will deny till the cows go home, and yet people like me experience behind closed doors these roles being reinforced. The amount of slack I get for wearing men's clothes is actually obscene, and so strange because since when did clothes, colours, toys etc. have gender? Shoujo has its limits, but for me (and what I read), it's definitely been a safe haven free of gender roles + expectations which I'm super appreciative of! That said, I think the animanga industry as a whole needs to work so much harder at truly being inclusive, and actually getting the input of folks from the queer community to truly make strides. I'm definitely grateful for what shoujo did for me when I was younger, but I do think we as consumers should always being pushing for progress because there still is so much to do be done in the industry.

[@ViktorErikFade]

24:12 Tamaki represented for me my internalized homophobia I was taught to have And haruhi (in the beginning anyway) was how I viewed gender I realized I may be nonbinary through the beginning arc of her character Then now I realize how disgusting my family being transphobic and hurtful it felt may be because I relate to trans people more than just feeling but may be trans myself Also it made me mad they forced her into fem costumes Or clothes rather, they feel like costumes to me HONESTLY I would have preferred if haruhi dated that girl from the all girls school who instantly figured out she was just dressing masc but accepted them

[@RegstarRogstar]

mizutama honey boy is one of those mangas that explores gender expression outside outwards appearance. the protags are unmistakably cisgendered, but they have interests and temperaments that are traditionally opposite of their genders. the girl is a strong, stoic kendo athlete and the boy is feminine, likes girly crafts, cooking, and fashion. theyre still straight, but spicy. shojo is still often synonymous with straight romance after all. in lgbt mangas ive seen alot of other plays on gender be it from appearances or gender roles, and as a queer gnc woman myself i find it fun to see. shojo manga introduced me to some of the ideas though, and i will always cherish shojo mangas' gender explorations

[@9thelof9]

This is the first video of yours I’ve seen and I really enjoy it! As an afab nb person I grew up very “tomboyish” and absolutely latched on to characters like Haruhi, and it was interesting that as I got older my sense of dress became more femme (first out of survival but then out of genuine interest) I started to really become impacted by characters who aren’t strictly women (or not strictly men either) but engage with femininity in one way or another. This is josei not shoujo but Kuranosuke from Kuragehime remains as a fundamental character who helped me to develop my ideas about my relationship to womanhood (him referring to feminine dress as “putting on your armour” became the framework for how I think about my own style lmao). No matter how flawed the manga can be I think it has some incredibly interesting ideas about the fluidity of gender and self expression. At any rate, it is fun to examine how gender is portrayed in manga and how these characters can impact us

[@aloe8078]

I’ll never forget when I was first getting into anime and Ouran became my favorite show. I was 14 and had just shaved my head after having short, half-shaved hair, but for 13 years before that I had really long brown hair and bangs. Suddenly my teachers were calling me “Sir.” A friend of mine told me one day, when my hair had grown out a little bit, that I looked like Haruhi and I felt so happy. I was so self conscious then. It was my first year of high school and second year of living in a different state than where I grew up, and I finally found a character that looked like me in my new state. I look a lot more traditionally feminine now, despite being non-binary, but high school was a lot of changing, cutting, dying my hair and changing the way I dress. Now it’s flowey hippie clothes and long-ish ginger hair, but I’ll always feel that connection to Haruhi, not caring how others perceive me anymore :)

[@dbraymz]

I don't really comment on KZbin videos often, but I wanted to say thank you for continuing to bring so many interesting series to light in your videos, Colleen!

[@yumeironeko]

Thank you for this interesting video! I had no idea shoujo publications were originally conceived as a vehicle to inculcate Confucian or patriarchal gender norms. And thank you for highlighting one of my favorite devices in shoujo - gender bending! I was always drawn to these types of stories more than most others and I'm so grateful that this genre allowed for freedom to explore gender in so many ways. It's so important to tell all kinds of stories about different experiences and viewpoints so people realize they are not alone or invalid if they don't conform to gender stereotypes. I would actually argue that most people don't fit naturally into stereotypes because they are just that, types that humans have decided are the "ideal" forms of men and women. Actual individuals are all so different; it's ridiculous to think that everybody with certain chromosomes is going to naturally act in all the same ways. Humans don't work that way, and I wish that more media platformed various types of gender expression so that society can move away from stigmatizing gender nonconformity. Also, I've always admired Takarazuka! It's so cool to see them mentioned. On a separate tangent, I really hate the thing about sucking in your stomach, especially if it's motivated by body image and being afraid to look "fat" (if it's a result of posture modification to be less hunched and more straight through the spine, I can understand it). I was so self-conscious about my stomach when I was a kid and I wound up developing a habit of sucking in my abdomen, taking shallower breaths and being afraid to engage the whole diaphragm when breathing. So, I had to relearn how to breath because of this infuriating misconception I had. To be fair, nobody told me to do that, I was just really self-conscious and uncomfortable in my body.

[@mm17427]

Watching your videos seriously makes me feel safe..like you just understand 😭😭

[@hollywooddarling]

I discovered Requiem of the Rose King this year and bingeread all 16 volumes (before the final volume came out in July) in like two weeks and was so blown away by it, I'm so glad it was covered in this video! Dark and complex and yet lavishly beautiful in the art style, it kept surprising me at every turn in how they depict gender. The relationships too are so interesting. And I love this video description! Indeed, gender expression and shojo manga go together like peanut and jelly! It always makes me sad when I go to anime cons and most creators only make things for shonen properties. My favourite anime and manga works are Utena and Rose of Versailles, and recently I also went back to rewatch Ouran as well. I think like you said, a lot of these series do (maybe slightly disappointingly) end with heterosexual relationships, which is why I really really enjoyed Requiem of the Rose King since pretty much all the key relationships are queer. I myself am extremely feminine presenting but I was always uncomfortable in stories when the rest of the characters in stories that play with gender WANT and TRY to make the androgynous female character be more feminine presenting. It's also interesting to me when more feminine looking male characters in shojo and BL discuss their discomfort with being called feminine (for example Miyano in Sasaki & Miyano) but eventually embrace it or come to terms with it (as with Richard in Requiem for the Rose King). As another comment has pointed out, it's important to note that shojo birthed BL. The common misconception about BL is that it's straight women writing for straight women, but who knows what a lot of mangakas identify as? As far as I can tell, 80% of the people I interact with into BL are queer, and often BL was a huge part of them discovering their gender identity or sexuality. For me, BL and shojo such as Utena and Rose of Versailles was a big lightbulb in helping me discover my identity as well. I present as extremely hyperfeminine, so it personally makes me feel very uncomfortable that people always expected me to be interested in dating and marriage/any sort of romantic interest in men. Sorry for the long comment and thank you for this video! I think I stumbled upon it through something to do with Requiem (of course).

[@Miraculous_journey]

What a great video as always Colleen! I usually don't comment, but I thought it's be nice to once in a while, especially since you asked us to share our experiences. This is such a wonderful topic for conversation and I'm so glad you made a video to discuss it! I remember when growing up reading an article about a 7 year old (I forgot how they identified) that said they woke up and "chose" their gender for the day, whether they wanted to dress more feminine or more masculine that day (something along those lines, I forgot the exact wording). The adults around me that also read the article commented something along the lines of "this child is weird and what they're doing is weird". Being a tomboy myself growing up (my best friend in China actually had a mini crush on me when I first transferred to her class, she was a tad bit heartbroken to learn that I was not a handsome boy XD), my ideal image of myself was always androgynous presenting. It was only after growing up and feeling comfortable with my identity that I started to understand the 7 year old from the article. It's so nice to be able to wake up that day and decide how *I* want to present myself, not how society thinks I should present. A 7 year old was able to understand something I was only able to understand at 20! Kids are smarter than we give credit honestly. They are able to express themselves so earnestly and I don't understand why adults should think that is "weird". I love how more shoujo manga are appearing that have the main female character appear "tomboy" or androgynous or not adhering to strict gender norms. I feel more connected to these characters and can see myself in them. I love how there is more of a variety in gender expression now in manga that is not just played up for gag! I've also seem more manga with men/boys dressing feminine (dresses, makeup, etc.). A lot of these manga are shoujo, so I wonder if shounen manga will have more varied gender expression in the future. Lastly, I recently read a manga about a transgender boy (Boys Run the Riot) with the author being transgender themselves. While some parts of the plot I felt could have been cleaned up a bit more, it was still a great read! I do recommend it. It is so nice to be able to see a transgender character as the main character in a manga! Not sure if the manga classifies as shoujo or shounen, but hey on the topic of gender, why does a manga have to fall under either?

[@lalakuma9]

First time hearing abut In the Clear Moonlit Dusk, and I definitely want to read it now 👀 Just want to add, I think one of the tropes in shoujo manga is when the badass tomboy/prince-like girl meets a male love interest who is attracted to her as she is, and is so non-toxic, possessing such an inner confidence than he isn't threatened by the heroine's masculine traits. Honestly I feel like this is even more effective as a shoujo manga fantasy than plots where the girl becomes more feminine, because guys like that are so rare in real life, especially in super patriarchal cultures like Japan.

[@cbw900]

I took Ouran as personal betrayal as a young kid, hahaha I find this strain within shoujo really interesting. There really is a profound tension between overwhelming pressure to create "good wives wise mothers" and the intense crushing dogma of the gender binary and compulsory heterosexuality, and yet these tropes that keep repeating, like there's some countercurrent of questioning or longing for... something. Freedom? Gender justice? I just recently watched The Song of Wind and Trees for the first time and was reading some criticism about it and found it interesting that it was explicitly meant to be a shoujo work talking to girls about sex, and the female experience of sex and gender under patriarchy, without a female character in sight. So those ideas (plus my own building midlife urge to go just berserk and create my own response to Rose of Versailles) were all bouncing around in my head while watching. I love your channel, keep it up!

[@TK-_-GZ]

algorithmic punch! I appreciate your well laid out thoughts and perspective on this topic, and enjoyed some of your editing tricks as well. Thanks for making this.

[@sassysimonetheprincess1996]

On the topic of Girl Princes, I know that this isn't a shoujo and more of a shoujo-adjacent shounen, but that's why I really like Dominique de Sade from The Case Study of Vanitas so much. Sure, why she dresses the way she does is a result of Tragic Backstory Reasons, but I really love how badass she is whether she's wearing a dress or her fancy prince fit. Epic character. Plus she's canonically bi, which is an extra bonus.

[@mlala1814]

Say it! Dominique also uses the usually male pronoun "boku" to refer to herself and in later chapters (a little spoilery?) the story depicts her gender non-conformity as the part of her that's looking out for her self, which is really cool!

[@sassysimonetheprincess1996]

Yes. She's so awesome. A perfect queen/king icon~!!!!! @@mlala1814

[@phedran]

This is one of the first times I've actually felt like seeking out some more shoujo to read, and I've been enjoying your videos for a while now. I'd love to see something on the similar gender/sexuality subversions and at least your afab experience on what may make yaoi/BL and/or yuri/GL appealing regardless of sexuality. Fujoshi/fudanshi history and culture, the differences between content made by or for LGBTQIA+ and content made by or for "straight women", the tropes, and the dichotomy of the accepted sexualization and brutalization of afab in media (including shounen and shoujo) vs the stigmatizing of anyone who enjoys yaoi because there are some tropes that are uncomfortable (and while those tropes might not be my favourite thing, maybe they help people face their own very common related experiences in a safe, detached way). Idk I have thoughts apparently 😂 But I continue to appreciate your approach on these things.

[@gelinrefira]

You don't have to be chaotically unique to be "yourself" and express your individualism. You can also be happy by going along with trends or conforming. The main point is that you find happiness in what you do.

[@KeybladerStorm]

I think when I was a teenager (despite reading Ouran), the main shojo characters I gravitated towards were the Sumeragi twins from Tokyo Babylon. They look very similar but their personalities were different. I was a girl growing up, but I think Subaru was the first character I related to in gender presentation and dealing with the downsides of a “traditionally” feminine attitude.

[@samisolaris]

I loved this video. I've been enjoying gender bender and crossdressing manga a lot lately, even the smallest expression of nonconformity to the gender assigned to them at birth makes me feel happy. Male leads like the ones in Cinderella Closet and Makeup with Mud resonate a lot with me for their masculine interior and feminine appearance that changes depending on the day to make sure they're comfortable with themselves. They made me realize I didn't have to throw away the girly part of me to be boyish, or that presenting femininity as I like would make me a "girl". Gender is something too complex to fully understand and gender expression is too fluid to perform as expected. I also got some other shoujo crossdressing recommendations from this video, so I thank you. It was nice to watch ❤

[@oasis_06]

this video was so interesting and i got introduced to new manga to read in the future. thank you for all the effort you put in your videos! ❤️

[@sandradermark8463]

Ooh, intersex Richard III! I love how that Rose King tackles the Shakespearean/historical character. A fresh take on his deformity and his path to villainy.

[@projectmessiah]

The thing about Haruhi for me is that i never interpreted her character about being one thats supposed to subvert gender roles, which im not saying isn't a part of her character but its not the focus, Haruhi first and foremost from the start of the series makes it clear that gender wise, she doesn't really care about how she is seen by others and simply wants to be seen as Haruhi, I think more than being masculine or feminine Haruhis character is one about individualism, before going to Ouran she dressed and widely identified as a female but due to circumstance she cut her hair short and then one thing led to another and then (Insert Ouran plot). Haruhi never went that much against this because she doesn't place much value on her own gender and is fine with being whatever suits her the best. Of course gender subversion ensues because of this but i feel people treat it as more of a focus than i personally feel it to be in the series.

[@screameureka7029]

im wearing the exact outfit you described at the beginning 😭😭 great video

[@ColleensMangaRecs]

it's a good outfit!!!

[@therainbowfaerie]

Loved this video! I'm a cis female who's pro LGBTQ+ so I love seeing any media that shows trans and non-binary characters as well as gender non-conformity. My philosophy is let everyone be comfortable in their own skin!! One specific shoujo moment I thought of immediately when you asked for comments, was Sailor Moon's three characters known as the Sailor Starlights. In the manga, Naoko Takeuchi intentionally made them cross-dressing women, as they were from another planet searching for their lost princess, and took outwardly masculine appearances to attract more women to try and find her. This wasn't a new concept for her either; Sailor Uranus almost exclusively dressed masculine, and was also in a romantic relationship with Sailor Neptune. But in the original 90's anime however, the production team decided to make them physically male in civilian form who transformed into physically female selves when they were the Sailor Starlights. This upset Takeuchi, as it went against her wishes, and a lot of fans (myself included) think it was a poor decision as well. Besides going against the express premise that Sailor Senshi were intended to be exclusively female by their creator, it meant that the 90's anime's team were essentially forcing these characters into a more gender conforming box.

[@elecrom_9757]

I'm speaking from memory here and I only watched the anime but as a gay teen it felt like it's implied that Haruhi began to dress more boyishly because her father was a crossdresser and she subconciously tried to "balance" it out so basically it was her father's fault she dressed "wrong".

[@this_Kwazicat]

I'm an AFAB fem presenting person, and when I was a teen I had a fear of being feminine because being feminine was "lame". I used to dress mostly masculine and I hated the way I looked in dresses. I have never thought about being trans, and I still didn't think so to this day ( my issues with skirts stem more from how people around me, especially men, perceive me). But the couple of characters who helped me THE MOST with my gender identity and just loving myself a little bit more as I am are Tsukimi and Kuranosuke from Kuragehime (or Princess Jellyfish). Truly, I adore Tsukimi with all of my heart, because by shoujo/jousei protagonists standarts neither she or her friends are "pretty", and to be honest after an obligatory makeover that Kuranosuke (a character who is into crossdressing and uses such an expression as an armour and a tool to fight back the expectations that his family places on him) gave them, they are still... them. Just wearing dresses that THEY made and designed and some makeup. They didn't become a completely new type of person, nor they felt like 'oh that's how I must be from now on that's so much better'. They were just having fun and trying their best, because all of them, including Kuranosuke, had a cause for which they were fighting together. The ending of the series was a 'who is crying? I'm not crying. You are crying ' moment for me. Because truthfully speaking Tsukimi didn't become "prettier" by the end, she didn't change her appearance or her full person to become this "princess" for Kuranosuke, she was virtually the same, with a little bit more confidence and vulnerability. But she did *feel* "prettier". I think the main message I got from this manga is that: the best thing you can do for yourself is being comfortable in your own skin. You are not "a man" or "a woman" or a "nonbiary person", you are just you. In your best and your worst and somewhere in the middle you are just you. And you are enough.

[@lilyl5492]

second this! there is a great message of flexibility AND self value in this show. Having strength in your likings and being able to chose how you present yourself to your own benefit when situations call for it - not mutually exclusive - and the option to not 'present' at all and just be comfortable and happy in your skin in the moment. Even 'Kurako' winds up in a soft warm tracksuit at one point - the clothes swapping is mutual

[@user-Manchot_Empereur]

Really interesting. I don't read shojo mangas, but questions about gender representations are always interesting, thank for this ^^

[@odothedoll2738]

*puts Yoi and Richard in my gender envy Pinterest board*

[@ColleensMangaRecs]

we love to see it!

[@eeveeinspace]

Watched through this video 3 entire hours ago and I've been sitting in reflection and contemplation and a little research ever since because of the prompt at the end 😅 Gender bender series were some of my absolute favorites when I was really deep in my manga phase. Nosatsu Junkie was the first shoujo series I collected, and I absolutely adored series like W Juliet, Hana Kimi, Penguin Revolution, and Tenshi Ja Nai and reread all of them several times (which is a personal rarity for me). Even after moving on from reading much manga, I still found myself resonating with similar characters and scenarios more than most others. I am a cisgender female and I do not doubt that. The she/her pronouns feel the most fitting for me, and even in the ways I don't conform to norms I happily do so as "a girl who likes xyz". But... I do have the feeling like I would be more comfortable with certain parts of my body if they were the male equivalent, like I would feel more in tune even though it would be less aligned with my gender identity. So I think this adds a really particular appeal to these types of stories where a character will be totally perceived as one gender because of the way they dress and act, while secretly having a body that aligns with another gender. And it's made that much better when you add in a love interest who knows the dichotomy and likes them anyways 🥰 So yeah, definitely still figuring things out, but I think I understand myself a bit better than before, so thanks for the great prompt and great video!! A bunch of the series in the vid are ones I haven't tried yet so I'm excited to check them out 😄

[@crowshroud]

This topic involving gender and presentation is always so interesting to me, especially as a trans person who's gender was influenced by seeing a lot of feminine men in shoujo manga growing up, so sorry for the long comment incoming, haha! When I think about my gender and the ways I express it, I often have to describe to cisgender people my experience in simplistic ways. I found out I was a boy, so I went to be a boy, and if (well, more like when) they ask about my presentation (which is very feminine) they always go: "But why would you go through all of this just to wear skirts and dresses and have such long hair? Aren't you a man/don't you want to be seen as a man?" When the simple answer is... I love doing it! And sometimes that's enough. But often there's this overlaying question of "why would you ever want to when you could just be masculine and pass?" And it's funny, because I was always relatively gnc (gender non-conforming) no matter what I identified as. For a lot of people being gnc is more than just clothes and hair and physical presentation too, and you can even still be cisgender and gnc. When I thought I was a woman, I was a very masc tomboy. I never wore makeup, dressed in whatever. I never hated femininity, but the expectations of all of this forced onto me felt awful. The times I was happy to embrace my femininity were always times when I was allowed to do it on my own terms (choose what I wanted to wear, etc). I was also raised to be a big feminist by my mother, and still am of course. When I found out I was a man, I went through a time of forcing myself to conform. To be the masculine man with short hair, flannel button ups; it never fit. I realized after a while that I was so much happier being feminine, and despite what people have claimed, it hasn't stopped bringing me joy now ever since I embraced it nearly 5 years ago. I remember seeing someone put it in a very good way when talking about why people 'assigned female at birth' often lean so heavily into femininity when they realize they aren't women. (Small edit: not saying they have to, but I've seen a lot of my fellow transmascs discover this about themselves!) In a way, we feel so much more free, even from an internal perspective. When people viewed me as a woman, the expectation was "be a feminine woman or you've failed in the nebulous restrictive binary categories we've set up". Be feminine or else. But after finding out I wasn't a woman, now even internally so much of the binary pressure has just been lifted. I'm not being feminine to please society, I'm being feminine because /I/ want it. Society may still look at me and see a woman. I may not 'pass'. But I know that the people in my life who support me will always love me, and that matters so much more to me than the opinions of people I don't know. I found out I was trans in the first place because I saw beautiful men who could still be men while being called pretty, beautiful, etc in shoujo manga. I yearned for that, but I thought I was 'restricted' to being a tomboy and a woman for so long before I realized oh... I can just... do this. That can be me! And I never felt more relief. Suddenly I was a man who loved men who wanted to be pretty, and its forever brought me so much joy and euphoria. Am I as skinny, hairless, or cisgender as a lot of those characters? No, but I don't need to be. Because no person needs to be any of that. I find I get along really well with femme lesbians because of a lot of this too. People who perform femininity not for men, but for other women who love women. Who reject societal patriarchal femininity and make their own 'version' of it. Also, they're often the ones graciously teaching me how to do makeup after years of not learning it as a stubborn tomboy, so I owe them a lifelong debt anyway, LOL. Anyway, gender is fun, and I love it! Love to see people talking about this.

[@elkapi7764]

It seems like Josei is starting to explore gender expression as well. I’ve seen love interests who despite being cis, embrace cross dressing and having feminine speech patterns and hobbies. And then there is Shoujo like Otomen and Mizutama Honey Boy where they embrace their reversed gender roles to the end. I’m bisexual and this kind of stuff has started to make me desire a more gender-fluid partner. But I realize they’re hard to find. In all likelihood I’ll end up with cis hetero male, which isn’t bad but I find they usually are more traditional in terms of gender mindset (and don’t like to grow out their hair😫)

[@ArianaCobriana]

For me I want to say my first big influence in the shoujo realm was Sailor Uranus. There's just something about how she presented on screen and was so comfortable in her own skin while being what child me termed a "lady gentleman". I still aim towards acting like her to this day especially after seeing her presentation in Sailor Moon Crystal. For Ouran, Haruhi was nice to see because she didn't really feel like she had to present one way or the other and was fine with both presentations as long as she was respected in the role. Might not be the best interpretation but she did come across as comfortable with herself in situations where the others actually listened to what she wanted instead of forcing specific presentations on her.

[@secretmindtwin]

This video convinced me to get the first 2 volumes of both Cinderella Closet and Requiem of the Rose King

[@superfriendlyalpaca]

I love this video so much!! Your perspective and takes are so important in the manga youtube space and I'm so happy to revisit shoujo series I grew up with for how they helped me understand my own gender.. I remember reading IS - Otoko Demo Onna Demo Nai Sei as a teen and learning about intersex people for the first time in my life so I definitely find that shoujo is a wonderful demographic that continues to explore gender and sexuality in helpful ways especially for youth

[@caroodraws]

This video brought me a lot of comfort. I’ve never felt like I fit in with the “girly” stereotype or wanted to have typical feminine traits… I love my masculine traits and feel the most confidence and comfort when I dress androgynously or masculinely. I don’t necessarily care about being seen as a boy, though it the idea sounds fun and exiting to me. Its only in the last few years that I’ve learned that people perform femininity because… they like it and it makes them feel good, and that it’s not all a giant conspiracy that we’re forced into from the cradle (though that’s kinda true about binary gender anyway hahaha). It’s nice to read other comments and feel like I’m not alone and not an alien. I love the label “tomboy”.

[@shiburu]

this is a truly great video! its put into words a lot of things i struggled to as ive been growing up. (also some of these manga names youve brought up i have yet to check out myself! definitely going to be doing some reading tonight~) for my experience, im a cis female. i love being a girl, yet i hated being seen as a girl for the longest time. it was a strange dichotomy thats followed me my whole life. i recently realized it was just the fact that i hated being seen under the label of a woman, i didnt like a lot of the stereotypes of being a woman and the expectations that come with it through how im supposed to dress and act. being a light tomboy as i was younger, i hung out with a lot of boys and abhorred anything girly. i didnt want to be seen as girly, but this caused me to deny a lot of the "feminine" enjoyments i had in public, such as shoujo manga, romance, cute things and more. i even represented myself in the artist space with a male persona character for many many years. however despite all this i loved being a girl. as ive grown up i have come to accept the feminine side of me, but i havent rejected the masculine side of me, and i have to say its 100% thanks to manga and manwha. seeing these female characters feeling comfortable dressing in a way that can get them confused as beautiful men, androgynous styling looking cool, men and women falling for the main female lead even if shes disguised as a man and still loving her upon the reveal, and the power fantasy in recent manwha where women can take on historically male roles of power has really helped cement that i need not be ashamed of myself and force myself to fit a feminine box to be a girl. i dont need to like dresses, i dont need to present myself as delicate. i can dress in a way that society perceives as masculine, but because i want to be, i am a girl and i am happy

[@LacieMio]

Love your work as always, thank you

[@hedgehog3180]

I recently read “Kanojo ni Naritai Kimi to Boku” and it was really interesting. It's about a girl who's best friend is a trans girl who has decided to come out in high school and after said girl is mocked on the first day the main character starts dressing as a guy to protect her friend. Throughout the story the main character is forced to think about her own gender, prompted by her best friend whom she also has a crush on, and ends up discovering that she actually kinda prefers presenting more masculine. The story has a ton of interesting queer characters who all have their own input on it. Just in general one of the reasons I love yuri manga is because it so often will have considerations around gender and sexuality that are really interesting.