@delicious-gluten asked:
Hey I don’t mean to put upon you when I could just search myself but are there any good trans manga or anime out there that you can recommend? I’ve read quite a few but it seems like there’s always some little ones tucked away in places I haven’t looked before.
skyekurisu answered:
Hi. I’m really bad at coming up with recommendations because it always feels like I’ve seen a bunch but I can never recall the names.
However, my friend @hdittus01 has compiled this list that might just be the answer for your question.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J7v0PQHGnhCsXW657ze90q5TTwlo_kB50X6qZdwSbqE/
@delicious-gluten Skye decided to not give you reccs directly, but I totally will.
The list linked above is definitely good, but keep in mind it does not filter for quality of the works nor whether the trans representation is good, as these tend to be subjective, and the last time I had someone complain about it, their own criteria would meant having like 3 entries on the list, which would make such a curated list of Quality Works useless anyway since you’d have to lower your standards anyway because you’re hungry for more.
With that in out of the way, here’s works I liked. And yes, this is gonna be subjective as all hell. Such is life. Most of the works are available on MangaDex, unless I say otherwise.
Explicitly trans in the text:
My Future Self Is Persuading Me To Become a Woman - Literally what’s in the title. Pretty short read, explores the question many trans people ask themselves, what if I transitioned earlier, with a pretty realistic ending. Definitely my favourite manga involving a trans woman.
Boys Run the Riot - a few outcasts, among which is a trans guy, decide to design and make clothes. Also acknowledges existence of non-binary people. I read 3 out of 4 volumes available so far (in Polish), as this series is not available on MangaDex beyond very early chapters.
After School Mate - a trans guy runs away from home from unaccepting and meets a new friend (?). I typeset it.
Hanayome wa Motodanshi - Autobiographical, about a trans woman.
Boku ga Watashi ni Naru Tame ni - Autobiographical, about a trans woman. As opposed to the previous one, this one mostly focuses on the author’s bottom surgery. This is not the only manga about SRS, but the other one’s author is bootlicking the oppressors, so read this one instead.
To Strip the Flesh - a trans guy with a hunting rifle. Oneshot, or rather, a two-shot, like with a double-barreled rifle, as it had a bonus chapter later on. Can’t find this one on MD anymore, Dynasty Scans also has only the first one as “Stripping the Flesh”
Love Me For Who I Am - a non-binary transfeminine main character, a cis ally who dates them, and a bunch of queer characters. Pretty good, but also I found the later chapters involving the family of the main character pretty hard to read due to the subject matter. Especially the way the chapters got structured where the first half of a chapter is light-hearted but second usually had some heavy drama, it just made me unnerved all along because I felt like any moment, any moment now, the bad shit is gonna happen.
Yuureitou - I liked this one, it’s a very interesting thriller story, pretty long too (80 chapters), but also has caveats in that the author doesn’t really know how testosterone works, as there is a literal plot point relying on that the trans guy’s voice changes back upon going off testosterone. Also a lot of characters want to put him in a dress. These characters are clearly presented as villains, but it’s still worth noting. Also some more questionable moments too.
Mermaid Line - this is a collection of unrelated yuri stories, “Ayumi and Aika” by the author of Nicoichi has a main character a trans lesbian.
Hi, I’m Trans - a oneshot manga where a trans woman comes out to her mom.
**Onna to Shite Dakaretai Seitenkan Shite Hatsukoi wo Mou Ichido **- 18+, very good het love story involving a trans woman.
I Quit Being a Man ~Got Cancer so I Decided to Dress up as a Woman and Fall in Love~ - according to the author, “based on true events”, and this is likely true as the author looks fairly similar to the main character of the story. I typeset this.
Stop!! Hibari-kun! - manga about a trans girl written in the 80s, so it has its issues, but it’s a power fantasy where she passes, attends school while being stealth, and the people who misgender her are swiftly defeated by her.
I’ve also heard Bokura no Hentai is good, and Wandering Son is okay, but I haven’t read the former and I stopped reading the latter when the scanlation group changed and I found the font the new group used to be too annoying to read.
Very heavily implied trans:
Majo no Geboku to Maou no Tsuno - my personal 10/10. It’s not just a “great queer manga”, it’s just a great manga in general and I am recommending it to everyone. Some people may be turned off by the early chapters involving the demon king. Also check out Kyoukoku no Recuerdo which is a prequel to it about main character’s past. The best moment to read the prequel is around where Sauro gets introduced.
Any manga that has pages like these is worth its weight in gold.
Magical Trans - ummm, points vaguely towards my avatar, the name of my scanlation group, and also what this group translates. It’s essentially what you’d get if you took a “gender bender arc” from every manga and anime, made the main character want to be GB’d, and put it into a big manga. Also has magical girls and some elements of romance comedy. It’s a very honest series, the series was initially advertised as “gender bender + magical girls + romance” and you can clearly see the author went “I love gender bender, I love magical girls, and I love romance, so I’m gonna make a manga that has all of it”. Unfortunately a victim of Yahoo Japan takeover of ebookjapan and as a result of executive meddling, it’s over at chapter 65. Also check out Mahou Shoujo Bu e Youkoso! which is its prototype.
This panel sold me on Magical Trans.
GhoStop - a trilogy of unrelated oneshots by the author of Magical Trans, the Glass x Change oneshot has genderswap and is incredibly eggy.
A Manga About a Hero Who Pulled Out the Holy Sword and Became a Girl - everyone in this manga is a girl. Incredibly eggy.
Kuroyou-chan and Shirotama-kun’s Odd Relationship - a trans girl and a friend who’s a guy but gets genderswapped.
Ore ga Watashi ni Naru made - deconstruction of the gender bender genre, pretty grounded with regards to dealing with consequences. Don’t even think about reading this manga on anything else outside of MangaDex, the other sites grabbed the pretty bad earlier scanlation and you’ll be doing yourself disservice even reading it, so use MD and make sure you’re reading the version done by ElPsyKongroo and Stay at Home Scans.
Not really trans per se, but are vaguely gender-y and I like them regardless:
Kusakabe-kun Another - adorable M<—>F bodyswap romance comedy involving two coworkers.
Daily Life of a Couple in Which the Boyfriend Became a Girl One Day - also features an incredibly based bi girlfriend.
Handsome Girl and Sheltered Girl - none of the characters are trans, it’s a yuri manga where one girl assumed the other girl is a guy, so for like the first half of it the other girl keeps the facade, so it’s kinda gender-y.
Otome Danshi ni Koisuru Otome - very good manga involving a romance between a girl and a gender non-conforming guy. Also puts a lot of focus on discussing stuff like transmisogyny and lack of acceptance by society. Has well-written characters, decent romance progression and great exploration of gender (this is the first time I ever saw the words “gender dysphoria” mentioned in a manga ever, and also features a trans woman for a brief moment). Each chapter is a single page, so don’t be intimidated by the count.
Papa ga Mama ni Naru Hanashi - a father told his kid isn’t his, wife leaves him, raises his kid as a mother. Cute, sweet, funny. I translated this.
Nicoichi - a guy lives a double life as a mother to a child of his late girlfriend, and as a guy at work. Very gender-y, and it particularly helps that the author knows that trans people exist.
Girl’s Heart @ High School Boy - a shoujo romance comedy manga where the gender bender trope is used to have a female main character who is not experienced at being a girl (because she was a boy before)
I omitted some manga because I can’t honestly recommend them, some I forgot about, and some I don’t really like. If I come up with some more, I’ll likely add these as a reblog in response because it seems it’s a more standard practice on Tumblr, rather than editing the post?