Hourou Musuko

Title:Hourou Musuko
Wandering Son
放浪息子 (Japanese)
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - AIC Spirits
Original Concept - SHIMURA Takako
Shuicihi Nitori appears to be a shy and quiet preteen boy, when he transfers to a new school he quickly makes friends with the tomboyish Yoshino Takatsuki who sits next to him. It soon becomes apparent that both Shuichi and Yoshino are more than simply a sensitive boy and masculine girl, they both are ↗transgendered. Together they decide to take the first steps toward becoming the people they want to be.
(Summary Courtesy of Anime News Network)


Airing for 11 episodes starting January 13, 2011
Animated by AIC
Based on the manga by Takako Shimura
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Buy 8 8 8 8 9 9 Ggultra2764 [series:2419#1552]
When I see transgenders and cross dressing portrayed in anime normally, they are used for comedic gags and never depicted in a serious light. Wandering Son offers up a change in the conventional treatment of transgenders as it creates an original premise out of Nitori and several of his classmates dealing with their own issues of gender identity and how puberty further complicates their desires of being the opposite gender. Nitori and other prominent characters in the series behave naturally for their ages and are fleshed out enough where you come to understand some of the challenges they face when it comes to their gender identity or dealing with those close to them dealing with such issues, particularly Nitori's older sister and a girl whom he dates later in the series. The pacing to the series, for the most part, is slow and it is subtle in exploring the various dilemmas and developments faced by its characters. The series does have a minor bump in its natural pacing during the TV airing of one of its later episodes as it was merely a compilation episode of events for two episodes that would apparently be released onto video in Japan. Not to mention that the series is left incomplete as it ends during a major point in the story.

Wandering Son's visuals are made in a subdued style featuring sketch-like designs of characters and scenery with coloring in a low tone yet having a good amount of detail to them. While animation isn't the show's prominent focus, movement onscreen was natural as characters walked and ran without anything being noticeably choppy. The soundtrack to the series mostly consists of light musical pieces coming from pianos and stringed instruments, as well as having a light-hearted ballad sung for the ED sequence and an out-of-place upbeat song for the OP sequence. These elements fit in very well with Wandering Son's down-to-earth and everyday mood.

Overall, Wandering Son proved to be one of the year's best titles for me to check out thanks to the great storytelling of its original premise in exploring gender identity through middle schoolers who are coming of age. Anyone hoping for a serious look into transgenders in anime should definitely check this series out.

Last updated Tuesday, November 08 2011. Created Tuesday, November 08 2011.
Watch 8 8 8 8 7 7 Dreamer [series:2419#2279]
What was I thinking when I picked this one up?? I'm not sure..... but I think I might have ran out of things to watch for my anime fix.

Art, Animation & Character Designs
Artwork had a dreamy feel to it. Think of the classic Winnie the Pooh cartoons or artwork... where it had the white fade effects around the corners of the screens as if the artwork was unfinished. Colors were washed out but I think it was the style(back to Pooh). For the most part, it was nicely done, including our character designs. All the girls were kawaii and even the boys were cute... in their boyish ways I suppose.

Music
The OP was a cool sounding alternative with male vocals. Not sure what to compare it to but it wasn't bad at all. There's some nice light pianos throughout the series. They mostly sounded of some light classical-like pieces that lent a sense of serenity, placidness or laziness. The soundtrack was mostly made up of pianos and some beautiful solo accoustic guitars.... which sounded good all around.

Series and Episode Story
Hmmmm..... hmmmmmm...... I'd say definitely this is a slice of life series.... but a bit unusual at that. Reason? Well, what preteen kids talk about their issues with transgenderism..... or being gender-challenged. And I'm not even sure if "transgenderism" is even a proper word. Do kids that age really talk and deal with such issues? Man, what happened to transformers, and barbie or power rangers and voltron and crap!? At least that was the stuff when I was growing up! Wheew! Kids these days!

This series is slow and pretty uneventful. Nothing really happens aside from some silly kawaii moments here and there that might make you smirk a bit. For the most part, it's simply about our protagonist who deals with his inner being, emotions, thoughts on what it is to be a girl or boy or what it means to be one or the other. Of course, the setting is mostly at school so we have some typical character sets to add a bit of comedy, and etc.

Overall, this was was slow and sorta boring. I had nothing else to watch, so this worked for the time being. It wasn't a complete lost as it did serve to entertain if slightly. If you're bored and with nothing else to watch or do, this might work.

Last updated Wednesday, June 15 2011. Created Wednesday, June 15 2011.
Unevaluated Stretch [series:2419#628]
(One episode watched):

OK... and where is this going? That was the thought going through my head after episode one of Wandering Son. It seems like this show is taking it too slow, and hasn't really revealed any sticky problems. If I understand 'transgender'--because no definition has yet been offered by this show, indeed the word itself has yet to be used--that's when a person has both sets of 'equipment'. But it seems as if WS itself is too embarassed to go into any detail. I'm having a hard time keeping track of who's normal and who isn't, because this show seems to prefer giving vague hints based on the characters' emotions rather than telling us straight-out what's going on. I had expected the show to take off in a hurry, and some sort of startling misunderstanding to reveal things in a gripping manner. But in fact at most one person has realized what's going on, and if so, even that person can't have more than an extremely vague idea what it is. If I had gone into this show knowing nothing at all about it's premise, I would be just as confused. Consequently, I'm having second thoughts about whether I'll want to watch Wandering Son.

It turns out that my definition of 'transgender' was completely wrong. Does WS make sense in light of this? I guess so, some sense at least. I think I am more likely to continue watching since this will be a matter of emotions rather than unchangeable physical factors (though I once met a person who had had a sex change operation). I've heard of a theory that people are gay because they have been reincarnated as members of the opposite sex, and thus are essentially a man's mind in a woman's body (or vice versa). So, I'm a little curious to see where this will go.

Last updated Saturday, January 15 2011. Created Saturday, January 15 2011.

Other Sites
NameURL
Wandering Son Official Site (Japanese) http://www.houroumusuko.jp/

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