Hourou Musuko - Reviews

Hourou Musuko

A beautifully, carefully constructed story about how life can be hard.

Animation is a beautiful combination of over exposure and water color elements. This element conveys a real feeling a school-life from season to season.

Soundtrack is as light and delicate as the animation itself. Opening theme brings a nice pop touch to a more ambient background. While its ending theme for me just is not satisfying. A very typical piano and vocal ballad that you could hear at the end of almost any other "slice of life" or "drama" anime series.

The series brings amazing character development. A deep sadness of young children at such an intricate stage in life. A self discovery in oneself, trying to express who that individual is, in a country that still holds strong, conservative ideals.

This is a must for anyone who is a fan of waking up to reality.

 

Pandabeard

Hourou Musuko a story that follows a chracter who is a little confused about his gender and struggles with the hardships that come with it.

 

Story

Hourou Musuko the story was a new consept to me. I have never watched a show with a boy cross dressing and the strugles that came with it. But for some reason I kept with it and well it wasn't too bad. The story follows through pretty well and you can easily follow it. But something did get to me. The story ends... It just ends there really didn't feel like an ending to me it was just over nothing was solved nothing really finished this series say I am done. That is why it got a 5/10.

 

Animation

Personaly I think the animation was supurb. The characters looked great and the scenery was great to look at. I don't think there was anything I really hate. The art was a little femanin for my taste but it fit the story very well. That is why I give it a 7.5/10

 

Sound

Watching this in Sub as it just recently came out I experienced it uncut of american changes. The intro music I kinda liked and the chracters voices to me seemed to fit quite well with them. Nothing seemed to not fit but nothing was outstanding in the sound department. giveing it a 7/10

 

Characters

This story throws at you a few strange chracters while still giving you chracters a normal person like me can connect with. Yet I still found my self connecting with the main character and being amazed with what he would do for what he beleived in. Each chracter even the model ggirl firend are easy to like. Or dislike like chiba but she still seemed okay. Giving chracters a 7.5/10

 

Overall

Overall the downfall of this anime is the lack of an actual ending. It does so much developing and its so easy to follow and you will find your self enjoying it until it ends and you are wondering when episode 13 is comming out. Well its not that was the end and yeah it makes no sense if it weren't for that this weird cross dressing anime would have been pretty high on my list. That is hwy it receives a 6.75/10

 

lmao all the negative reviews appear to be from confused cisgender people so im gonna add my own negative review as a trans person :)

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i watched this anime as a teenager, felt horrible, and later i read the entire manga to see if this over-hyped garbage was as bad in manga form. it was even worse! i felt soul-crushing despair!!

STOP RECOMMENDING THIS. I'M TIRED OF SEEING THIS ON "TOP 10 LGBT ANIME" LISTS!!!!

it offers transgender people a depressing future and existence. the first few episodes establishing the trans girl and trans boy characters are amazing -- i remember hiding in bed underneath my blankets as it made me cry as a closeted trans teenager.

... and the transgender guy character decides she's not a guy after all? wonderful sort of thing to offer the transgender community. we're already pressured to stay in the closet / "change our minds" / not transition, so a character who goes "whoops im a girl actually!" like this is /perfect/. /sarcasm

... and the transgender girl character lives as a man until adulthood in the manga, and her non-passing is exentuated and used for drama? amazing.

oh god this series sucks so much. just because the main characters are a transgender girl and a not-really-transgender-male girl doesn't make it good transgender representation. transgender people's existences and struggles are just drama fodder for the author/audience.

besides the (admittedly incredibly realistic) transgender-based angst, what's the plot of the series? what character traits do nitori and takatsuki have? quickly. what stands out about them other than their struggles with gender?

if you want to recommend actually good manga series w/ transgender characters, i enjoyed "stop!! hibari-kun" a lot for its realistic trans girl deuteragonist (mind this manga suffers from racism & racist charictatures) and "yuureitou" for its EXCEPTIONALLY realistic trans guy deuteragonist (despite the gore of the series, also warnings for transmisogyny, homophobia, pedophilia, incest, and more).

anyway, this series is a waste of your time. watch the first few episodes if need be, and then drop it before takatsuki's /innovational/ revelation that she's cis, actually. i think that non-transgender people who watch/read the full series will probably have more misconceptions about transgender people than if they hadn't watched this :)

Story (5/10)

Starting with the story, as transcieved from the Manga, it jumps around alot. As most animes stick close or completely leave the manga storyline, this Anime can not make up it's mind.

Certain tracks of the story jump around, from introducing to one character to explaining another's background. As of right now, the story is rather uninteresting as opposed to the manga's storyline, which will indeed suck you in.

 

Animation (8/10)

The animation takes a turn from other anime, in which most animes stick to a set tone, this one results to what would be called "Visual Pornography" in which the scenery is very beautifully taken care of as well as the character's lighting. The movement for these effects are just as wonderful, keeping the gamma and contrast ever so slight to match various times of day or the many shadows from light cut-off.

 

Sound (9/10)

The sound moves as they change areas, very wonderfully if I may add. From the birds in the background, to the music playing in various scenes. The title theme fits quite nicely with the opening credits, as well as the various songs that play throughout an episode. Although some can drag on a bit into the scenes, they fit quite nicely with the mood that is set.

 

Characters (7/10)

The two main characters are portrayed in a half-sense and distance away from how they were set in the manga, causing them to be distant from the start; unlike their set ways. The alternating characters also appear a bit different as they drag on a bit into their sense of self-importance or drive away from the story.

However, the characters problems are put directly in your face and it depends how you view this, as a single review or critic is stating a matter of opinion. From their issues, to their lives, you see it as they see it and that seems to go on into every episode.

 

Overall (8/10)

I would certainly recommend this anime to a person looking to see transgender lives through a different perspective. This coming from another MtF transgender, this correctly portrays several issues that the anime and manga both point at.

At first glance, I only watched this anime because I thought that the water colour graphics were pretty.  After reading the premise, I wasn't "turned off", per say, but I was a little more amused, than anything.  However, this story line has something to offer that quite a bit of anime are lacking: the complete and total exploration of the human soul.  I have never seen such a beautifully crafted anime that is able to create such a character development in only 11 episodes.

The animation is absolutely outstanding, in my opinion; although I have read various other reviews where the water color schemed seemed to turn people away from it.  For me, the animation only added to characters.  It is soft and unabrasive, much like Nitorin's personality, and it has a feeling of lightness that perfectly matches the anime's pace.

The story revolves around a young boy named Nitori who has always wanted to be a girl.  He finds boys clothes to be boring and redundant and loves frills and lace.  At first, I did not appreciate his character so much.  I found that he was a bit spineless and let people walk all over him, never really living up to his potential.  However, that quickly changed as the series progressed.

Takatsuki, the main female protaganist, is a girl who wants to be a boy.  Immediately, you can see the difference between the two.  In one episode, Takasuki is forced to finally wear a bra.  However, when she asks Nitorin if he would like to wear a bra, he says no.  Her desire to be a boy is much greater than his desire to be a girl.  This is also revealed in their love interests.  Takatsuki never really has a love interest (unless you count Chiba, who the anime seems to insinuate will become something), but Nitorin has always only liked girls.

This is an anime about details.  It is in the details of the characters personalities that we are able to see them for who they are.  This is an exquisite anime, and if you can get past the slow moving pace of it (however, it is a steady pace) and try and focus more on the characters than anything else, I believe that it will open your eyes to the human condition.