Japan's laws prohibited the sterilization of people unless it was necessary to save their lives. This was caused by anti-eugenics laws following World War Two. Institutions are given the necessary prestige to speak for the individuals they represent.įurthermore, it was only in the 1990s that it became legally permissible to perform gender-confirming (aka sex-reassignment or sex change) genital surgery in Japan. The individual is simply not trusted to make their own decision to identify as transgender. This might be caused by the highly social nature of Japanese culture. In the trans community, this is known as the transmedicalist viewpoint. Trans people in Japan have to be medically diagnosed with 'gender identity disorder' to get official recognition of their identity - self-identity is not good enough ( Source). Sexual topics are mainly ignored by Buddhism, a religion that generally speaking promotes gender equality, and is the dominant religion of Japan.Īnd yet, Japan has been slower than any other country to allow gender-confirming surgery, and it currently resists the international movement to de-medicalize the identity of transgender people. Without Christian influence (the Bible specifically forbids not only cross-dressing, but for men to have long hair and women to have short hair), Japan doesn't have a spiritual objection to being transgender.
Japan is somewhat flexible with cross-dressers, but still treats their existence as comedy fodder at times as well.
Sailor Moon was giving us strong, sexy, badass, empowered crossdresser characters at the same time that The Drew Carey Show had Drew's cross-dressing brother Steve, whose existence was always the punchline.īut accepting gender non-conformity, and accepting identity change, are different things. These topics were discussed and shown in anime and manga before they became non-taboo in the United States and the rest of the Anglo-sphere. This means you can't make assumptions you might normally make upon the introduction of a new character.īut it was sometimes a serious topic, too Revolutionary Girl Utena begins with a girl, main character Utena, passionately advocating for her right to wear a 'male' school uniform. The anime delightfully subverts anime characterization tropes and stereotypes. The twin maids, Ram and Rem, are similarly cute on the surface, and pure terror in a fight. Her "cute talking animal sidekick" Puck looks like an adorable cat, but is terrifying in combat. Silver-haired Emilia is more than a ditzy princess. Many of them reveal themselves to be more than what one might assume about them based on their anime tropes and archetypes. His life crosses paths with several side characters. You could see similarities between his curse and Homura's plight as revealed at the end of Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
It's kind of like precognition but delivered in a nightmarish way. Subaru has to figure out, each time, what actions he has to take to avoid dying. Imagine the stress it would cause someone! Imagine if you got shot in 5th grade and woke up in a classroom in 3rd grade, having to redo the last two years of your life.