Hourou Musuko and Love
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- Опубликовано: 9 мар 2016
- Out of the oven and into the frying pan!
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Stray Notes:
- I had to read A LOT of stuff on this topic, cause trans literature is not something I'm very familiar with. If you are familiar with the literature and there's something I misquoted or misspoke, please feel free to tell me!
- Before anyone gets to me, I used 'her' for Shuichi at moments because that's the gender Shuichi dominantly identifies as
- You should check out the manga - there's a lot of references in the anime of the manga's first major arc, which recontextualizes a lot of the characters in specific lights
- Great anime, highly recommended! Fantastic editing style
- I know that Suite Bergamasque is a suite and not technically a 'song', but by the time I recorded and found myself saying that, I was already video editing, so my sincerest apologies!
- For full context, Verlaine's famous poem:
Your soul is a chosen landscape
Where charming masqueraders and bergamaskers go
Playing the lute and dancing and almost
Sad beneath their fanciful disguises.
All sing in a minor key
Of victorious love and the opportune life,
They do not seem to believe in their happiness
And their song mingles with the moonlight,
With the still moonlight, sad and beautiful,
That sets the birds dreaming in the trees
And the fountains sobbing in ecstasy,
The tall slender fountains among marble statues.
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Text:
- "Bergamask." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/Bergamask
- hahnl. "Gabriel Faure's Style: 'Clair de Lune' as a Link between Romanticism and Impressionism." Music 242, 2014, pages.stolaf.edu/music242-spr...
- "Fate/Zero Director Aoki Ei One-on-One Interview." Comptiq 2012, tsukikan.com/misc/fate-zero-di....
- Mackie, Vera C. "Necktie nightmare: narrating gender in contemporary Japan." Humanities Research XVI (1), 2010: 111-128.
- McLelland, Mark J. "'How to Sex'? The Contested Nature of Sexuality in Japan." The SAGE Handbook of Modern Japanese Studies (2015): 194-209.
- McLelland, Mark J. "From the stage to the clinic: changing transgender identities in post-war Japan." Routledge (2004): 1-20.
- McLelland, Mark J. "Western Intersection, Eastern Approximations." Haworth Press (2003): 203-230.
- McLelland, Mark J. "Japan's Queer Cultures." Routledge (2011): 140-149.
- McLelland, Mark J. "Japan's Queer Cultures." Routledge (2011): 140-149.
- "Onnagata." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onnagata
- Peterson, Britt. "Japan's Trans-Friendly Comic Book Revolution." Foreign Policy (2015), foreignpolicy.com/2015/09/30/m...
- Schinz, Albert. "Literary Symbolism in France." PMLA 18 (2), 1903: 273-307.
- "Suite Bergamasque." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/Suite_bergam...
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Media
- Hourou Musuko
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Audio
- Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy
- Gymnopedie No. 1 by Erik Satie, played by Kevin MacLeod
- Itsu Datte by Legenda BR 
Кино
I'm begging all of you, please read the manga. The anime only adapts a fraction of its source material. The series is 12 episodes long, but the manga's length is 123 chapters. The anime also only adapts one of the arcs, that being the beginning of middle school through to the performance of their play. For reference, the manga portrays these characters all the way up to the end of their final year in high school. The amount of character growth and narrative payoff that most of you haven't experienced is honestly immense, I promise you. I find it so sad that so many lovers of the series haven't experienced the full story, so please, read it.
I actually have!
SomeonesReviews I loved the manga so much, it's beautiful.
I found the manga before the anime, luckily. It was so good
Easily THE best video on Hourou Musuko. I had a very personal time watching this show; I am a bisexual male, and I am in love with a person with gender identity issues . We've often discussed how that affected our sexual orientation labels, and I found this series which is easily the best thing I've seen that takles this kind of themes. You hit the nail in the head of why it's so good: love is the most important thing in situations like these. I fell absolutely in love with this show.
Themes aside, this is also (as you said) an extremely impressive show on the technical side. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but again, you said exactly why it works: the extremely quick editing. As a standalone story it works extremely well to wrap all the characters, their motivations, and their stories into a tight little bow.
My biggest problem is how I felt a little left behind on some things that were explored more in the manga, though I'm reading through it now and it perfectly fits into the series. The characters and story are stronger in the manga, but the way the show PRESENTS these stories just cannot be topped.
I think what I want to say the most is, this show is amazing and this video is amazing for putting into words what I think about it.
Thanks for the kind words! And I agree! The manga is more exhaustive, but I think the watercolour feel Hourou Musuko really makes it a powerful, short show. Have you checked out Bokura na Hentai?
By now I've finished the manga and the story itself was magnificent, but I wished it had that powerful presentation the show had; I see them as supplementary material for each other. Shame that [REDACTED] got cuckolded so hard.
I'm definitely gonna check out Bokura na Hentai, I trust your taste!
Nice! Lemme know your thoughts when you finish it!
Kind of unrelated to your actual point at the end about love, but i think the point about trans people in japan finding "acceptance" (a sort of weird type of it but anyway...) through entertainment is...relatable, I guess.
I don't live in japan, but despite my disdain for the concept of "traps" now, previously, I used to express myself all the time through the idea of "traps". (or gender bending series in general) A gendered expression through something that was actually popular or well liked in the subculture I was a part of. It just kinda feels good to know something similar actually was/is happening in japan right then.
pikamontr I hope you read this reply to an old comment! I would love to talk to you more about formerly referring to yourself as a “trap.” I’m just curious about your perspective. I am a transgender VRChat RUclipsr and I deal with the meme daily. LydianMelody#0004 if you’re on Discord!
Love this show but hard to watch because disphoria
I just finished it for the first time and it left a really deep impression on me. I was fascinated with the directing and editing style and am so glad you took the time to dig into why it's so important and unique. I haven't had any experiences with gender dysphoria (as a male, I notice I have a lot of feminine characteristics, but have always been male), but the show still hit me really hard, and I couldn't help but wonder why it was able to bring me to tears so easily. But now it makes sense, it's because the overarching theme of the show is love, which transcends gender, sexuality, and all over differences between people, and is something everyone can relate to and has experienced, which is why it's so great at making the inner struggles of the characters real for the audience, whether you experience gender dysphoria or not.
Thank you so much for making this video. I feel like I now have a deeper appreciation and understanding of the show. Also, I just started following your channel and really like what you're doing here, keep up the good work.
Thank you very much for the kind words as well as opening up! It's fantastic to hear folks tell me their backgrounds especially through a medium like the internet! Have you taken a look at the manga? It goes further than the anime, I think you might enjoy it.
Hourou Musuko is an interesting case where it is such an effective distillation of its ideas no matter the media.
Thank you for your in-depth analysis of this show.
You vocalized everything that which I could not and more.
Thanks for taking the time to watch it man!
Great and deep analysis!
Thanks Rebecca!
I watched this series in japanese years ago when it first came out. I think I was in jr. high or high school at the time and it, beside sailor moon (which also ended up sparking an awakening in me) was the first show/story I'd ever seen featuring this sort of subject matter. At the time I was dealing with some personal identity issues, I didn't realize it until I was an adult though, that those issues had names, or rather were developing names and titles and scientific data. This series touched on a subject that I was recognizing subconsciously at the age of 12-15 and would spend much of my adulthood trying to find it again, to see if I understood it the same way that I did as a kid. And It turned out I understood even if at the time I didn't have the vocabulary to articulate it. I was seeing myself in the characters, though I didn't know it at the time. I felt connected, or at the very least drawn to them and their plight.
I'm currently 29 and genderfluid/transmasc. This series was one that appeared at the beginning of a long journey I didn't even realize I'd started. I count myself very lucky to have seen it when I did, and I'm surprised even now that it's not as well known in lgbt+ circles as it should. It never made it very 'big' in the U.S. and I think it was cause we were still at a time when the subject wasn't quite being discussed as openly as it is now, it hadn't risen up to mainstream discussion like other groups had. that's not a bad thing, it's just a mark of the times. now i can see it with a learned perspective.
Brilliant video! Hourou Musuko's one of my favourite shows of all time. I'm always super glad to hear people talking about it and the issues it presents. Now to go watch more of your videos they seem really good^^
+Konata87 Haha, thanks for the kind words! Watch out, my editing gets worse and worse as the videos get older, so you have been warned!
this is one of the best videos on hourou musuko that I have seen yet ^^
Niceeee! Thanks man!
Just finished the series myself (and promptly went and bought all the available translated volumes of the manga), and I just wanted to thank you for some very interesting insight into the show. This I believe has become my favorite anime in a long, long time. Keep up the great work!
+treks2k Thanks man! I'm glad you like it!
I really appreciate the way you spoke about this topic. I was actually pretty moved by your exposition.
Lovely video and some really excellently expressed points. I'm glad I found you through Digi's vid.
Thanks Minipolce!
boy, am i glad i came across this video!! hourou musuko is hands down one of the best anime series i have seen. time and time again i come back to it for the way it portrays young, pure love and transgender issues. you analysed this beautifully, so thankyou!
Thanks Elyar!
Awwww, what a sweet Anime.. I like that it handles gender issues. :0>
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I have to read the manga sometime, I really loved the anime series. Also the ending song is still one of my favourites.
+BSEMensch For You is top tier ED material.
Thanks for the beautiful analysis! 😊
Beautiful video. Very needed
Thanks fam.
Can you include captions? Its kinda hard to remember your points of analysis when theres so much information to process. (A look at the script would also be appriciated)
Wow, first video I've watched from you, and I clearly think you deserve more views. It's cool to see polished videos like that, even if I don't understand all of what you say (my english is kinda broken).
+NykowPalalum Thank you very much for the kind words! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask me and I'll be more than happy to try and clarify.
I'm a simple person. I see a channel doing a video on Houro Musuko, i subscribe :D And it was a really good video, loved it. Gonna see other content of the channel now XD
+diego199302 Thanks, and feel free to lemme know your thoughts on the others if you want!
Very good video. The exceptional number of quick cuts near the end started to get a bit irritating, but that might just be me. Still, interesting perspective.
Hey, just found this channel, and above all I wanted to thank you for approaching the topic of gender identity respectfully. I'm a trans woman myself, and Hourou Musuko's a personal favorite, so it was great to see!
That is phenomenal! Have you checked out the manga as well?
Not yet, but it's one that I definitely want to check out soon.
Nice! Keep me posted on your thoughts!
I really am interested on how you got the information about Claire de lune. It feels so perfect yet I have not stumbled upon it yet.
i love this anime, i also read ALL 123 CHAPTERS BB THIS IS MY FAVOURITE ANIME OF ALL FUCKING TIME UGH I LOVE IT SO THAT ALL I JUST LOVE LISTENING TO THE REVIEWS THANK YOU
Thank you for the good vibes ArrowHeart!
Who else cannot see this musical composition the same way anymore because of Car Boys?
I wonder whether they will make a Live-action movie version of [Hourou Musuko].
I always wondered whether you're a fan of The Nerdwriter1 since your work is highly reminiscing of his videos which I absolutely adore by the way , I hope you get more subs quickly and I am a big fan of your OnePunchManxWatchmen , Jin-Rou & The perfect Insider videos top notch 👌
+Old Man Deveruex I actually am! Brian and I make references to Nerdwriter's content, and they're fantastic! I think the format he uses is pretty much spot on for specific-idea videos, which is why I use a very similar format.
And thank you very much for your kind words!
Old Man Fogan where is his OnePunchManxWatchmen vid? I don’t see it anywhere on his channel. This right here is the best One Punch Man vid that I’ve seen thus far... ruclips.net/video/PQ6_-ZgKf4o/видео.html
*thoughts*
This was a surprising experience. between the unique art style and the theme of the characters.
the idea of wanting to be something you cannot is relatable .
thinking a way that the majority find weird and may mock you for.
is something many have went through.
it made me respect the main character as he questions the perception of society rather then just accept it.
the
supporting cast while not as deep were still mostly pleasant to see.
not feeling like tropes but people. who stand out in their own way. have
worries or just want to be themselves and not what others expect them
to be.
overall i definitely recommend this to fans of slice of life series.
*whats wrong with this*
E1
adult bumps into a student and does not apologize. rather the victim apologized...
girl
does not understand the difference between push and hit. and has he
audacity to even complain when in the first place when she was the
aggressor.
E7
Dating in middle school
what is the
purpose of attendance? i mean calling out a name and the student
answering? is the teacher blind? you can see who is and isn't
there...they have a seat assignment paper so it is just a waste of
time...
E9
how good are Japanese teachers? they actually
remember every single student in school? there is at least 300+ but they
question if Nitori is a new student.
*Note*
i dislike chiba
she is always complaining and miserable. without even a interesting
reason for being that way. for me she didn't add anything to the series
to make her worth being part of it.
Wow. Thanks for watching the video.
Right after subsonic sparkle releases his video, I'm starting to think I missed something with this show suddenly getting talked about. 2:45 Always found it weird a place with a lot of homosexual literature and art hadn't legalized gay marriage yet.
On a sidenote, your the first anime youtuber I've seen list sources in the description.
+ParadiseAgent I think it's pure coincidence. I've been working on this video since last week (Hyperanimereviews can attest given how irrationally proud I am of the video during the editing process itself), and I've been researching the topic for about 3 weeks or so. That's why I tweeted "My next short form is gonna be about Boku Dake and the Japanese police force" because I was afraid it would look like I'm bandwagoning. :|
Regarding literature:
So there's actually a really, really interesting duality in Japan's LGBT community. On one hand, Japan has a hugely complex history with transgender identity, but on the other hand it also tended to enclave those activities to specific areas. Japan's transgender history has been hugely variable until the beginning of the 1900s, upon which a significant portion was limited and masculinity and femininity roles cranked up to 11. It's after the second world war when Japan was rebuilding that sections of the LGBT community were rebuilding, but the strongest and most resilient communities were the entertainment communities. Bars, clubs, and theaters were the most accepting and socially and economically reliable areas for LGBT Japanese folks. Outside of that entertainment bubble, you're expected to conform to heteronormative standards.
And media - despite the huge amount of LGBT material - has not been very helpful until recent years. Anime and Manga have a lot of LGBT material, but a lot of it treats gender identity as external issues - Ranma 1/2, for instance, treats it as something that 'happened', not something that emerged naturally. It's only really recently that we're seeing a lot more consistent literature that reflects transgenderism as normal and - most importantly - internal.
Now, in 1996, Japan did effectively repeal the long ban on same-sex operations that had been implemented in the 60s. However, it was only able to do so by defining gender dysphoria through a medical lens, which clinicalizes the identities of complex individuals.
This is not even factoring in the Newhalfs - people who consider themselves along dualistic biological or gendered markers. For instance, you may be a girl who wishes to be a boy but you want to maintain your breasts. Newhalfs have always been an integral part of Japanese LGBT literature, but they've been previously limited to the entertainment community. It's only with the internet that newhalfs are finding likeminded personnel in online communities. In fact, newhalfs are one of Japan's first major online communities!
You might think I'm being really rambly and confusing, but that's sort of the point - Japan's LGBT history is incredibly complex. There's a fantastic book titled "I'm Queer but I'm an Office Lady" that looks at LGBT Japanese today, but from the perspective of a trans individual. Serious discussion on transgendered individuals is a lot of walking around eggshells, and the book really shows. It has some really comedic moments, but with a considerable amount of insight crafts a narrative of "I am different from everyone but I can't offend them" that really hampers a lot of LGBT seriousness in Japanese society.
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Regarding sources:
Oh yeah, I source everything prescriptive. If you ever watch my short form videos and say "Wait a minute, that doesn't sound right," you can check my sources to get an idea of where I got that information from. I want to be transparent. I don't list everything, of course, because sometimes there's stuff I read that isn't directly relevant or directly cited in the material (like all the LGBT literature I had to read up on that wasn't about Japan to prepare myself for the topic).
I think if you're going to make claims as sketchy as mine, you should back up your research, lol.
Pause and Select Well, its hardly a days difference between your uploads, I don't think it be possible to make this video just to bandwagon with that much of a short time difference.
That's a lot to take in but it makes sense, there's things like 'Utena' and Hourou Musuko but I don't see them as often as the Yuru Yuri, Yamada-kun and Himegoto crowd. Admittedly before this video I actually didn't know about newhalf's. I guess Transgender-ism is a lot more complex than I thought.
Not to annoy you with too much praise but the research you put into these is quite professional.
+ParadiseAgent
Regarding Literature:
When you look at Transgender-ism, Mark McLelland is probably the most prolific and verisimilitudinous academic on the subject. He has a huge amount of free research material on his university website, which I'm more than happy to try and link if you're interested. Japan is a very different case from the west, so a lot of our literature on the ontology and epistemology of transgenderism in the west isn't very applicable to Japan (for instance, the Japanese arguably don't have a western equivalent to 'homosexual', but they instead prefer to use terms like nanshoku and joshoku, which have different contexts. Only recently have they adopted terms like 'gay' (Gei).
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Regarding Research:
Thank you! I'll take whatever praise I can get, haha. Most of these are habits left behind from grad school.
Pause and Select They have no equivelant to homosexual? That's quite surprising, I never really thought about what they'd use to label homosexuality. Those links would be interesting to see, thanks in advance
***** Yeah, the context was always "who you loved" rather than "what sexuality you are", and this distinction is pretty meaningful. Men - particularly the elite - were open about loving other men, for instance, hence the term nanoshoku. The concept of sexuality and identity being intertwined didn't meaningfully emerge until the Meiji period and didn't take hold until after the second world war.
Here's the link to Dr. McLelland's work: ro.uow.edu.au/do/search/?q=author_lname%3A%22McLelland%22%20AND%20author_fname%3A%22Mark%22&start=0&context=119687&sort=date_desc
Particularly insightful is "Western Intersections, Eastern Approximations," which outlines the historical backdrop (albeit it's a cursory outline) of Japan's LGBT society. It's really interesting and super complex.
Likewise, "Japan's Queer Cultures" is hugely insightful, and it provides a bit of background as to why it's taken Japan so long as it had today.
I wish the manga ending was better, still by far my favorite anime/manga/literally any form of art ever!
Nice!
Hi! Here actually based off Digibro mentioning you in a podcast. I really like your writing style, and I think you made great points about Hourou Musuko that I hadn't really considered before (even though if I had to pick one anime/manga that is my absolute favorite it would be this one).
A lot of the terminology relating to the transgender community can be kind of confusing and hard to parse or stay up-to-date on, so I applaud you for doing as good a job as you did! There were a couple wee little bumps, but nothing was so egregious that anyone outside of the most SJW of SJWs would nitpick you over them.
It's really interesting to see the appeal of Hourou Musuko from the perspective of someone who is not transgender and isn't as interested in the portrayal of transgender characters as I am. I can't speak for everyone, of course, but most of the people who I have met and who like the show have / had some element of gender identity questioning in their life at some point. Since trans / gender questioning individuals only make up a fraction of the human population, they probably wouldn't be the majority of viewers of Hourou Musuko. So it's really good and refreshing to see a take on it that while not ignoring the trans aspect of the show, demonstrates there's a much wider appeal to the narrative than just that part of it.
Anyway though, I really loved this video!!! They are very intellectually engaging and encourage active viewing.
Haha, thanks for checking me out SandyRabbit!
Yeah, queer studies is really tricky to keep up with for me since I don't specialize in them, so it's always a lot of bringing stuff up to snuff when looking at these topics. Still, it's a lot of fun and really interesting to go through them, so it's all good. Any particular words I used that might have been misconstrued? Seems like you're much more familiar with the field than I am, so any thoughts are appreciated.
I think in the context of Japan, Hourou Musuko is on the forefront of a lot of great transgender texts. It seems to exist in this space where it's very powerfully resonant with those struggling with similar questions and those outside of it can experience it as a strong identity drama. That said, have you checked out Bokura na Hentai?
Thanks for the kind words!
Again, this is super nitpicky so I'm not going to worry, but the main thing that stuck out is that the "politically correct term" for sex reassignment surgery is now "gender reaffirming surgery" or something along those lines. This makes the phrase more in-line with the fact that trans folks tend to feel like a certain gender which they may not have been born as, so it is just a surgery that goes along with this.
I have read Bokura no Hentai, and I like it, but not nearly as much as Hourou Musuko. I think some of the commentary on sexuality in the manga is pretty interesting and Hourou Musuko doesn't go into as much depth. However, just the fact that it has a positive and realistic outlook on transgender individuals does make it pretty cool in my book.
^_^
Ah, gotcha! I've never heard of gender affirming, but I can understand how someone would want that specific set of words. Thanks for the clarification!
True love
I have to ask, what's the BGM started at 4:43? I've heard it in a lot of places but never got any answer.
+Recyclex It's Gymnopedie No. 1 by Erik Satie, performed by Kevin MacLeod. I actually have it cited in the video description of all of the stuff I use. It's available for download for free in the RUclips Audio Library!
Thank you very much. I really enjoy your literary-analysis-like reviews.
+Recyclex Thank you very much - I'm happy you enjoy them!
Im biologically a female
I fall in love with girls and boys I wanna marry a female but wanna have kids I consider being married to a male that is feminine I think what I find attracting is femininity regardless of gender and my friends always tell me "you act like a guy" and I would reply "yeah that's because I am"
Yo no homo but I fuckin cri
This show is beautiful. I am not transgender nor am I someone that is a passionate virtue signlier for everything lgbt. This show is much like steven universe in the way it's well crafted and doesn't shove the politics down our throats. In short, 10/10
side note:
gender disphoria tends to disappear by puberty. Those who had it usually become homosexuals instead of transgenders. If you are considering surgery young, don't. Hormone blockers can seriously fuck up your body.
I agree. The show is great.
Aaron Brown Good point about the show, it's not an inherently political series, it just presents you with excellent characters and asks you to empathise with and experience the characters and what happens to them.
Gender dysphoria tends to manifest more severely by puberty, while homossexuals of both genders have no problems accepting their sex.
If you're suffering for it during puberty and has a history with it, get on blockers as soon as possible, it can literally mean life or death for you.
@Aaron Brown: Actually the studies that say 80% of transgender youth outgrow it by puberty are flawed, and useless because they had a lot kids in them that were gender non-conforming, but not transgender. They were all done using the DSM-4's guidelines which were flawed for diagnosing children with gender identity disorder\GID (gender dysphoria is the DSM-5). No, studies have been finished yet using the stricter guidelines of the DSM-5, which do a very good job of separating gender nonconforming behavior from transgender feelings. Dr.Kristina Olson is currently conducting the world's largest study of transgender, and gender nonconforming children, and it will be interesting to see the results, which one of the things they are studying is the desist rate in transgender children, and gender nonconforming children.
I have a feeling that we are going to see very, very low desist rates among transgender children diagnosed using the DSM-5's guidelines as opposed to the flawed DSM-4. Also a transgender child, or adolescent can not have gender confirmation surgery. I believe the only surgeries they are allowed to have at the age of 16 is breast augmentation for trans girls, and double chest mastectomy with male chest reconstruction for trans boys. FYI puberty blockers are used specifically to buy trans adolescents the time they need to fully understand what a medical transition means, and what the complications can be. Hormone blockers also can not seriously mess up the body, and they are reversible. What's not reversible are the changes that cross sex HRT, and natural puberty cause, which is why puberty\hormone blockers are used.
@Aaron Brown: By the way gender dysphoria isn't even permanent among most transgender people as it goes away with social transition, medical transition, and or therapy. For those who it doesn't go away for it becomes much more manageable, and lessened. Gender dyshporia is also not required for a person to be transgender.
not all gays are lgbt