Introduction
As a trans individual myself, finding trans representation in the media I consume can either be a wonderful or awful experience. Especially when it comes to anime and manga. I’ve seen more than my fair share of trans representation that the kindest word I could use to describe would be, “offensive.” However, there have been some characters that I’ve found to be great representation or at the very least, interesting.
I’ve collected a handful of characters pulled from the anime I’ve watched/manga I’ve read. These characters are either canonically trans/gender ambiguous, or somewhere in between. Then, I will explain why I picked these characters and what how we can apply it to gender expression in our own writing.
Grell Sutcliffe (Black Butler – Yana Toboso)
Grell Sutcliffe is a reoccurring antagonist/side character within the Black Butler series. She is a grim reaper, a supernatural being that finds humans at their final moments and reviews their “cinematic record.” Which is, essentially, a human’s life force represented by a collection of that human’s every memory. She is also one half of the major antagonist (Jack the Ripper) in the Red Butler/Jack the Ripper arc.
When we are first introduced to her character, it’s as Angelina Dallas’s (aka Madame Red’s) meek yet dramatic, clumsy butler. She shed that persona after being caught murdering Mary Jane Kelly. Grell is eccentric and sadistic. She murders her partner in crime for her hesitation and endlessly flirts with male characters like Sebastian Michaelis and William T. Spears.
While her character might be controversial and morally reprehensible, I still love her as a character and even as trans representation. In fact, it’s due to some of her “flaws” that I think she makes an interesting case.
For those who aren’t familiar with the series, Black Butler takes place in Victorian England, not the most progressive time to say the least. Which helps explain why the characters often disregard her gender expression and continually misgender her. Despite this, she acts as she pleases and lives her truth. She repeatedly asserts her identity to other characters and acts as flamboyantly as she pleases. All while maintaining a realistic depiction of what it may look like to be trans at the time.
I decided to include Grell in this article for a couple different reasons. One being because she’s a villain and morally grey at best. When you write queer characters, they don’t have to be “good” people! Instead of writing interesting characters, writers are more worried about avoiding “bad” representation. Creating flawless, perfect, mild-mannered characters. Which makes them flat, unrealistic, and worse of all boring. I find Grell to strike a balance between a layered queer character and villain. Yes, she can be explicit and obsessive, but she’s also comedic and cheeky.
The only thing to keep in mind is the implication of characters like these. The reason why Grell makes decent queer representation is because her villainly is disconnected from her gender identity. She isn’t evil because she’s trans. She’s evil and trans. Her feminine expression isn’t held against her or given as a reason for her horrible actions. In fact, it’s hardly brought up by other characters as they pale in comparison to her violent nature.
Let Grell be a lesson that you can create flawed, multilayered characters that are queer.
Yamato (One Piece – Eiichiro Oda)
Yamato is somewhat of a controversial character, appearing in One Piece’s Wano Arc. He is the son of Wano Arc’s major antagonist, Kaidou. There are moments of Yamato’s childhood where he is referred to as the “oni princess,” only for everything to change when he finds a role model in the samurai, Kouzuki Oden. Oden seems to act as a catalyst for Yamato, representing everything he wants to be/achieve. It’s through his readings that Yamato realizes he is, in fact, male, and goes as far to proclaim himself as Oden.
Yamato acts as a powerful and loyal ally to the Strawhat crew and the Kouzuki clan. Despite being the son of Kaidou, he repeatedly stands against his father’s actions and ideology. Instead, seeking to free the citizens of Wano and reopen their borders. This leads to an incredibly tense relationship with his father, but Kaidou and his crew still respect Yamato’s pronouns/gender identity despite their differences.
I included Yamato in this article mostly because of his gender expression. Cis authors often are obssessed with the concept of “passing.” They feel a need to make trans characters agonize over transitioning, constantly hating their bodies and paranoid about how their peers perceive them. Yes, many trans people work towards creating a body that represents their gender identity and experience gender dysphoria. The cis perspective of those issues, however, is often uniformed and unrelatable. Cis authors/creators are more concerned about the perspective of cis characters. Or what they value as cis people (how they see trans people, following gender roles, etc).
Yamato is in direct contradiction to these ideals. They don’t try to fit in with what society/Wano sees as masculine, instead finding inspiration through Oden. When characters mistake him as female due to his appearance, he corrects them and moves on. Rather than agonizing over characters repeatedly perceiving him as feminine, bemoaning being trans, or lashing out. Which is the typical depiction of poor trans representation.
While there’s no issue with showing a character being upset over being misgendered, the depiction of this “upset” is often offensive/blown out of proportion. No trans person is going to burst into tears after accidentally getting misgendered by a friend. They aren’t going to throw a tantrum because a stranger refers to them as their assigned sex.
Yamato is also an example of a subsection of the trans community that isn’t often represented in media. A trans person that isn’t working towards any physical transition. Many trans people don’t want to have surgery for various reasons. Maybe they don’t experience gender dysphoria with their body. Or they’re uncomfortable with the prospect of surgery. Maybe there are other, conflicting health issues. Each trans person has their own perspective and walks their own journey. And it’s wonderful to see characters like Yamato reflect one of those journeys.
Kikunojo/Kiku and Izou (One Piece – Eiichiro Oda)
Another set of characters from One Piece, which also mainly feature in the Wano Arc. Though Izou is seen in previous arcs like the Marineford Arc. Kiku and Izou are siblings in One Piece with Izou being a commander on Whitebeard’s crew while Kiku remained in Wano as a samurai. They also work alongside the Strawhat Pirates to overthrow Kaidou and free the citizens of Wano.
I included these two characters in the article and the same section because they represent a dichotomy of trans expression. Kiku is a trans woman, born a male but dresses and lives as a woman. They are a fairly standard representation of a trans woman. One that is good, respectful, and well written. However when compared to her brother, both of their identities become even more layered.
Izou identifies as a man. He uses he/him pronouns and is referred to as one of Whitebeard’s many sons. However, they’re also depicted as wearing feminine clothes, makeup, and having an effeminate sense of style. Despite both siblings having a more feminine gender expression, only Kiku identifies as a woman.
Oftentimes, cis authors don’t realize that there is a significant difference between a trans person and a crossdresser. But there is! Referring to a trans person as a crossdresser is offensive and referring to a crossdresser as trans is incorrect. Kiku and Izou are representative of that. While they have a similar gender expression, their gender identities are entirely different, each going on their own journey and coming to their own realizations.
These two characters serve as a good reminder to check our own assumptions, especially while writing.
Haruhi Fujioka (Ouran Highschool Host Club – Bisco Hatori)
Haruhi Fujioka is the main character of Ouran Highschool Host Club, a romcom/satirical manga following Haruhi and her various adventures at her prestigious high school. She is the only “commoner” at Ouran academy, able to attend the expensive school through a scholarship program. But after knocking over a vase meant for an auction, she is inducted into the host club, where beautiful, rich girls arrive to be doted on by beautiful, rich men.
In the introduction of the series, her gender expression is so masculine that it takes time for the various members of the host club to realize she was born female. The last one coming to the realization being the host club’s “king,” Tamaki Suoh, but only after forcing Haruhi to join the host club as a host and giving her a guest quota to work off.
When the other characters question why she didn’t correct their first assumptions, she clearly states it’s because she didn’t care. She goes as far to say that she doesn’t care if people see her as a boy or a girl, as she doesn’t see any major difference between the two. Rather, she’s simply “Haruhi.” Fans have bounced around various terms for Haruhi’s gender identity, such as nonbinary, agender, etc, but it’s been left mainly ambiguous.
She uses she/her pronouns and dresses in both masculine and feminine clothes, and only seems to resent gender when being forced into different gender roles/expectations. Such as during the beach episode where Tamaki scolds her for “acting rashly” by standing up to violent men on the beach, despite being born a woman.
For its time, such a concept was fairly progressive. Having a “female” protagonist that doesn’t care for following any societal expectations, including gender roles, creates an interesting character. Especially within the context of this anime/manga, where the other characters often express exasperation for constantly contradicting her “heroine role.” Afterall, how do you control a character that refuses to follow the script?
Haruhi serves as a reminder that gender isn’t as strict as society likes to portray it. Instead of a linear line with equal tick marks, it’s more like a lake with various depths and constant waves. So don’t get hung up on the gender of your characters, instead direct their actions through their values and what’s the most realistic for their personalities.
Francois (Dr Stone – Boichi, Riichiro Inagaki)
Francois is a side character in the Dr Stone anime/manga, serving as the gender ambiguous butler of the self proclaimed, “greediest man on Earth,” Ryusui Nanami. In Dr Stone, every human on Earth has been “petrified” or turnt into stone, until the main character, Senku Ishigami, breaks free and starts on his journey to bring back the modern world. Francois is brought back to life through the recommendation of Ryusui, who claims to not know their gender or nationality, as all that matters is how effective they are in their service.
Before being unpetrified, the characters briefly debate whether they are a man or a woman, as they couldn’t tell from the position of their statue. After being freed, they dress so efficiently and quickly that neither the audience or characters catch a glimpse of anything. From that point on, the issue is seemingly not brought back up again. With Francois being referred to with they/them pronouns in the english depiction and gender neutral pronouns in languages/locations when allowed.
I brought up this character for similar reasons that I brought up Grell, as I felt like it was a realistic depiction based on the context. While other characters constantly misgendering Grell is understandable due to the time period, I feel like the lack of information/care here makes sense because of the world the characters live in. The Dr Stone cast is living in the stone ages, fighting to survive or against enemies determined to stop them from progressing. While in survival mode so to speak, the gender identity of another person would realistically be put aside.
I also felt like Francois was a respectful representation of trans/gender ambiguous characters. No jokes pointed their way for their appearance/voice. Their androgyny isn’t the punchline of any joke. Instead, Francois quickly proves their worth and skill, is brought into the fold, and is treated with kindness and respect. All while being an interesting character! I, personally, find the “loyal butler/maid/servant” trope to be an underrated one. And after watching scenes based on Ryusui’s past and the mutual respect between the two characters, it’s easy to get invested in both characters.
Francois acts as a sort of “rule of thumb,” for creating trans characters. If you want your depiction to be seen as respectful and realistic, don’t make the character’s gender a joke/bit. Their trans expression/identity shouldn’t be seen as a quirky add on or something to make fun of. Instead, it should be an essential part of their characterization and treated with the care you’d treat an actual person with.
Roboppi (Yugioh Vrains – Kazuki Takahashi)
Finally, my last example of a trans character would be Roboppi from Yugioh Vrains. I refer to Roboppi as a trans man/boy for a few different reasons, although it wasn’t stated clearly in the anime. Originally, Roboppi was depicted as Yusaku’s maidbot. One with little free will or personality. Eventually starts showing more personality and free will due to the intervention of Ai. While in the maidbot form, Roboppi is very effeminate. Speaking with a higher pitched voice and many fans mistaking them for a female. However when given a human/android form, he resembles a young boy.
In the Japanese version, his pronouns shift as the series goes on. Starting with a more feminine/gender neutral pronoun while a maidbot, then a gender neutral pronoun often used by young boys, then ending up using a masculine pronoun.
I included Roboppi because it’s one of few examples of trans/gender ambiguous characters I could find in children’s media. Which I find to be an extremely important issue. I can speak from my personal experience, not seeing trans characters on tv will not stop a trans child from being trans. Instead, we should focus on educating children when we can, or introducing them to such a concept in a simplified way. Such as Roboppi’s slow transformation from a feminine robot to a masculine android.
I also included Roboppi because I love the idea of gender expression being an indicator of humanity. Roboppi coming into his gender identity as he becomes more and more human is an interesting way to add depth to his character. It indirectly makes the statement that gender expression is a key part of the human experience.
Conclusion
There are many, many other characters that can contribute to this conversation and the lessons we can learn. Some are shining examples of what we should do as writers, while others act as a cautionary tale. If there are any other trans/gender ambiguous characters that you have commentary on, put them in the comments below! I hope you all learned something from this and approach writing queer characters with a little more confidence, rather than apprehension. Happy writing everybody!
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