[Rinqt]

Wandering Son review

[img]http://myswordisunbelievablydull.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/wanderingson.jpg[/img]

Plot

The story depicts a young male, Shuuichi Nitori, who wants to be a girl, and his friend Yoshino Takatsuki, a female who wants to be a boy. The series deals with issues such as transsexualism, gender identity, and the beginning of puberty.

Review

To start off there is no way that I can review this anime without attacking the elephant in the room which is transsexualism and how this anime portrays the issue itself along with the issues surrounding public opinion and views on transsexualism( for those who do not know or understand transsexualism I will provide links below). To start off I will say it does it well, it does not attack transsexualism or people who view it negatively it finds a nice balance and shos the real issues of transsexualism.

Wandering son looks at Nitori a young boy on the verge of becoming a man and Takatsuki a young girl on the verge of becoming a women... or are they? This is the main plot of the anime it's the struggle between these two pubescent kids trying to find their gender identity. It looks at public opinion and their own internal struggles and it does this so well. Being a character driven anime it is only natural that they base majority of the plot on how the public views this issue from people who are Okay with it, people who are apathetic about it, people who have personal experience with it and people who out right reject it. The anime does a good job at not labelling this issue as simply black and white, like or dislike rather it manages to portray all the shades of gray in between. Transesexualism or gender identity disorder is a very taboo and rarely mentioned problem in western society with people for the most part think it is sick or disgusting which is just not the case. Now i am not going to go into my own views on the subject but Wandering Son does a great job at looking at all aspects of transsexualism.

Animation

The animation of Wondering Son which it's child like animation that can be compared to anime like Bunny Drop it really helps outline the idea that the characters are just KIDS and that everything is being handled they a kid would handle it. The animations is cute and soft with bright colours almost like a child's picture book, this animation style is really ideal for such an anime. Looking at such a serious subject matter the animation helps to defuse the seriousness of the subject enough so that the anime plot can continue on.

Music

Just like the animation the sound and music for Wondering Son is very childlike and comfortable and helps outline the idea that they are just once again KIDS!!!!

Summery

Go watch this anime. It's that simple! This anime is a great way to look at a serious social subject without forcing an opinion on you but instead educating you on the subject. I recommend you go watch this now!

Reviews note: For those who don't already know my English skills are
lacking to say the least to any grammar or spelling errors can be blamed on that:) as promised here are some links about GID and Transsexualism

GID


Once again this really is a much watch anime.

[Chubaca]

This is a very well written review and it addresses a theme that a lot of anime don't like to pin point and talk about. Yes there are anime with "Traps" Boys wanting to be girls but not a lot of anime address this theme like this one.

I give this review an 7/10 and would not read again. Good Job.