1. Anime

2. Sci-Fi, Action

3. Metallic Rouge is an action anime that explores themes of enslavement, political violence, free will, and some other stuff. The plot is a bit convoluted but is tied together around the looming specter of android revolution. Two significant side characters are identical twins despite being different genders. The cast accepts them and no one makes an issue out of their genders. But besides this acknowledgment there is no further exploration of transgender themes.

4. So overall rating would be OK because it’s just very casual representation but nothing deep.

1. Manga
2. Autobiographical
3. The Bride Was a Boy - This is a true life story about the author’s journey to transitioning, from childhood to getting happily married. It covers a lot of issues trans people face and has informative sections covering topics that may be new to some readers, like explaining what LGBT means, what gender dysphoria is, and how Japan’s marriage and family laws hurt trans people. It focuses a little bit on Japan specifically of course, but the majority of it concerns things that could apply just as well in a lot of other places. Overall, it’s a pretty great intro guide to trans issues (though focuses primarily on the transfem side) and would be perfect for someone who is questioning, or even friends/family of someone who is trans and know little about the topic. It’s also extremely cute.
4. Rating: GOOD

1. Manga
2. Slice of life, romance, school life
3. Kanojo ni Naritai Kimi to Boku (The Woman You Are and Me). This is manga about trans girl Akira Yonezawa and her friends. Hime Sakuragaike, another main character, is a cis girl who have been friends with Akira since childhood and she is secretely in love with Akira. Hime was the only person who knew that Akira is a girl for a few years but then Akira decided to live full-time as girl and started wearing female uniform in school because of this classmates started making fun of her which made Hime angry. To support her friend, Hime decided to wear male uniform in school. That’s how the story starts. The manga explores gender issues not only from trans perspective but from cis as well, how gender stereotypes might be harmful for everyone. Sexual/romantic attraction is also a theme of this manga, Hime fell in love with Akira before she came out, she still loves her but it makes her confused, there is also aroace character who tells about their experience. The manga is overall pretty wholesome and easy to read but there is some drama moments. I think it’s a good story about trans person, as a trans myself i relate to Akira, i think if you are cis and want to learn more about trans experience this manga is good for you too!
4. Rating: GOOD

1. Anime
2. Slice of life, drama, music band
3. Yoru no Kurage wa Oyogenai (Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night). I will just copy synopsis from MAL and then add my own note about trans character.

Mahiru Kouzuki, a skilled artist, gives up on her passion after her elementary school classmates ridicule her colorful jellyfish mural. Several years later, upon encountering an unexpected admirer in Kano Yamanouchi—a former idol with a troubled past—Mahiru decides to pursue her childhood dreams once more. Tasked with designing the mascot for Kano’s new music project, JELEE, Mahiru enlists the help of her childhood friend and professional streamer Kiui Watase to make JELEE’s first music video. Together with Kim Anouk Mei Takanashi, a pianist and fan of Kano’s work as an idol, the girls aim to turn JELEE into a global hit. However, if they want to succeed in this ambitious endeavor, they will first have to free themselves from the shackles of their pasts.

So, Kiui Watase is AFAB but they use male or NB character as vtuber model to stream. It’s a bit unclear if Kiui is transmasc or non-binary, the show never said what pronouns they prefer, so that’s why i use they/them. Kiui doesn’t like that people judge them by their appearance, it shows thorought out the anime. There is one scene that is especially memorable, it’s culmination of Kiui’s story, they said on public how they feel about their identity, it’s a short one but very powerful. The anime isn’t primary focused on Kiui or their gender identity but it’s part of the story, you won’t have the same story if you remove Kiui identity, I think it’s good representation.

4. Rating: GOOD

1. Anime
2. Supernatural, suspense, thriller, drama
3. Wonder Egg Priority. The anime deals with very heavy topics, the main theme is suicide. Main characters helps those who commit suicide in their afterlife to overcome their trauma by fighting with demons/monsters. Usually these monsters are people who traumatized them. Each main character also lost someone in their life which affects them a lot. This show deals with topics like: bullying, loneliness, shut-in/hikikomori, gender dysphoria, physical violence to minors. But despite all of this the anime doesn’t have only dark side, there are a good moments too that can make you smile, the main characters were lonely but they becomes friends and they just having fun spending time together. There is a lot of mysteries in show that becomes clears later on, it keeps you want to continue watching. However, not everything becomes clear. The ending made me confused, it feels rushed and leaves you with a lot of unanswered questions. Seems like authors wanted to make more episodes or make another season? It feels unfinished to me. So what about trans representation? I already mentioned gender dysphoria theme. One of the main characters, Momoe, is a trans girl (the show doesn’t explicity says that but there is a lot of signs). She is often being mistaken as a boy because of her androgynous appearance and she is popular with girls but it doesn’t make her happy because most of them think that she is a boy. Despite this the main group of characters accept her as girl although initially they misgenred her by mistake. The anime shows depict gender dysphoria very well, as someone who is early on HRT, lives in stealth and doesn’t have pass, it’s very relatable. What impress me in Momoe is that she can confidently say that she is a girl even in close to death, dangerous situations, she just says “I am a girl!” and it really inspire me because I am still strugling myself calling myself girl out loud. There is also a transmasc character but I won’t tell much about him because of spoilers, only will say that he is cool too!
4. GOOD beginning and middle parts, MEH ending

P.S. originally anime aired with 12 episodes, the 13 episode came out later separetely, I watched all of them, so what i said is related to all 13 episodes.

1. Manga/Visual Novel

2. Mystery, Occult, Drama

3. Umineko no Naku Koro ni - The story focuses on a group of eighteen people on a secluded island for a period of two days, and the mysterious murders that befall them. Readers are challenged to discern whether the murders were committed by a human or some other, supernatural source, as well as the method and motive behind them.

4. 10/10 - amazing

1. Multimedia (but the character is manga exclusive)

2. Shonen (I think)?

3.How I became a Pokemon Card - It’s a manga that’s all about exploring some of the context behind Pokemon in some of our favorite trading cards. It has an FTM trans character Akari.

4. I’d put it as meh-good. Some good things is there’s no fetishization nor infantilization. But what makes it meh is that his trans identity is “revealed” to others when he has to wear a skirt in middle school. However, he’s still a likeable character and his whole thing is wanting to be a “cool” Pokemon trainer.

1. Both

2. Slice of Life/Drama

3. Wandering Son - it’s a manga/anime about a group of queer middle school kids as they navigate growing up. The plot principally revolves around friends Nitori Suichi, a trans girl, and Takatsuki Yoshino, a trans boy. Though there are other trans characters that come in and out of the story.

They’re mostly represented quite well. Especially in the anime. The manga has some notable stumbles however, that should be known about going in.

Mild spoiler >!Yuki, an older trans woman who acts as a mentor to the kids, and her husband, get uncomfortably touchy-feely with the kids when they’re first introduced in the manga. This gets course corrected pretty quickly in the manga thankfully, and isn’t present at all in the anime adaptation!<

Major spoiler >!In the Manga, Takatsuki is shown at the very end to no longer consider themselves trans. The text implies Takatsuki isn’t actually cis, but is instead in the midst of an evolution in how they conceive of their gender, which us left open to interpretation. However, it’s handled poorly and doesn’t really land very well, and is known to be alienating to some trans masc readers. Again, this isn’t an issue in the anime!<

4. The anime is good! The Manga is a meh, for the aforementioned stumbles.

But Wandering Son is the piece of media that ultimately convinced me that I need to transition. So I’ve got a huge soft spot for it