One of the more unique and less flashy anime to come out this past winter ’11 season, Hourou Musuko, a.k.a. Wandering Son, tells an intriguing story about adolescence and transsexualism…
What makes Wandering Son stand out (besides its unusual story) is that it tells its story and presents its characters in a very down-to-earth manner; there’s virtually no fan pandering or random anime-style antics to be seen, and the setting is strictly within the school, homes, and neighborhood of the characters. There’s also no hyperbolic humor, if any humor at all, yet the series isn’t particularly dramatic or depressing either. The characters’ dialogue sounds surprisingly realistic and the anime takes itself seriously all the time, which is something few non-comedy shows can do. This gives the series the ability to appeal to fans of more mature and less pandering anime, and even non-fans. The first episode of Wandering Son was a bit confusing as it began differently from the manga and presented all the characters at once. It was like the show expected us to know the names and personalities of the characters right away. This was kind of awkward at first, but as the episode progressed, that feeling abruptly went away.
The story of Wandering Son centers around two middle school kids, Nitori and Takatsuki, and their yearning to become members of the opposite sex. Conflict arises from how this affects their relationships at school and home, as their cross-dressing is accepted by some and shunned by others. Blows to self-esteem, misunderstandings, arguments, self-doubt, and all other manner of adolescent troubles abound. As the episodes go by, Nitori and Takatsuki come to grips with their feelings for each other, their friendship with others, and the pressure to fit in at school because of their questionable hobby. As I previously stated, much of Wandering Son’s appeal for me is that it presents its story and characters very realistically and seriously, making it one of those anime that wouldn’t be any different if it were live-action.
The characters of Wandering Son, though hard to pin down at first because they’re all introduced in the first episode, are a likable bunch that appear simple on the outside but are complex on the inside. Nitori and Takatsuki balance each other out, with Nitori being effeminate, obedient, and gentle, and Takatsuki being masculine, athletic, and strong-headed. Their feelings for each other are made even more interesting by the fact that each desires to be the gender of the other. Their gender identity disorders are fleshed out by the cast of other unique characters, among them, Mako, Nitori’s only male friend who also wants to be a girl, Saori, a stoic, distant girl whose ambivalence towards Nitori creates a sort of love triangle, Chizuru, a girl who enjoys dressing like a boy but is cheerfully uninhibited by what others think, Sasa, the caring peacekeeper among the group of schoolmates, Doi, a passively bullying classmate of Nitori’s, Maho, Nitori’s sister who’s constantly annoyed by his cross-dressing, and Anna, Maho’s friend who temporarily dates Nitori. Each character, especially Saori, Doi, and Anna, bring out certain emotions and self-realizations from Nitori and Takatsuki throughout the course of the episodes. As a whole, Wandering Son’s characters are very easy to relate to and, being middle school kids, many of them, especially Nitori, Mako, and Sasa, have a child-like sweetness and naivety that makes them likable.
The first thing that’s easily noticeable in Wandering Son is the unique water-color animation style. I feel that this increases the themes of adolescence and childish yearnings that the series has. The design of the characters and everything else is nice, but my main complaint is that the faces of most of the characters look too much alike. It was especially difficult in the beginning telling apart characters with the same hair color since everyone in Wandering Son has a natural hair color. Audio-wise, the opening certainly has a unique sound but didn’t catch my interest. The ending however, has become one of my favorites of the season. I’ve loved all of Rie Fu’s anime songs that I’ve heard, and Wandering Son’s ending “For You” is no exception. Notable seiyuu in the series are Nana Mizuki as Maho and Yui Horie as Anna.
I have no idea how this short anime adaptation of Wandering Son compares to the manga, but I found the anime’s ending satisfying. Towards the latter episodes, Nitori and Takatsuki realize that they have to accept the gender that they are despite how much they try to act like the other gender. The gender-bending class play, Saori’s melancholy, Doi’s teasing, Nitori dating Anna – all these things and more played a role in their eventual realization. I believe it’s made explicit in the last episode when Nitori reveals that when he wished on the shooting star, he made the practical wish of having his class play go well rather than the expected yet unrealistic wish of becoming a girl. In the final scene, as the entire cast wait in the audience for his class play to start, Nitori realizes that his voice is starting to change…but still he boldly walks onto the stage.
All in all, Wandering Son is one of the better quality anime to come out in recent months in terms of themes, plot, and characters. It’s not a show for the casual anime fan who’s mostly interested in action, comedy, or fantasy in their shows. But if you’re looking for an anime free of fan pandering that always takes itself seriously and presents an unusual story yet realistic story and characters, I highly recommend Wandering Son!
I watched the first episode and it really did interest me. I just didn’t have enough time orz.
Now after reading this, I kind of want to pick it up again, especially after the last sentence. I like shows that take themselves seriously.
I would certainly recommend it if you like serious anime. Not “dark” serious but slice-of-life drama serious =)
I found this to be a heartwrenchingly beautiful anime- I really liked the heavy, tense atmosphere and how they left alot of it for audience to make sense of. I also liked how they’ve managed to revolve the entire plot around a (relatively) small cast of characters- I thought that gave the series a realistic sense of community. It’s a shame they had to cut back one episode really.
The strange thing is, even when the series cut out an episode, it doesn’t break the continuity of the story, and does a pretty amazing job at developing the characters. The actual cut out episode will be in the DVD/Bluray releases though, so we’ll see that eventually.
Wandering Son turned out to be a very down to earth coming of age story. It started off slow, but towards the end I really loved each of the characters for their unique traits, and the maturity to their actions as they grew up in age. Character development at it’s finest :)
It’s a rather shame that the TV ratings for this series in Japan were bad, which tends to be a very strong indicator of whether there will be another season or not. A second season would be pretty awesome.
Thanks for the info. I heard something about a skipped episode but then I thought they changed their mind…guess not. But I agree that it didn’t even feel like anything was skipped.
Yeah, unfortunately the price to pay for most anime that don’t fan pander to otaku is low ratings and less chance of a sequel. But it’s not impossible ^^
Yes, Wandering Son is an anime centered around its characters rather than a setting or plot. All conflict comes from their relationships and self struggles. If done right, such a series can be refreshing indeed =D
Nice review! I also appreciated the sensitive, thoughtful approach to the story’s characters, and wish that there were a few more episodes to better explore some of it’s other characters, such as Yuki & Momo. I guess I’ll have to check out the manga sometime. . . .
I totally agree, I would have loved to see episodes focused on characters that didn’t get much attention in the series, like Momo, Sasa, and Chizuru. They were developed enough to make them likable but so much more could have been done. Hopefully we’ll see such episodes in a second season since I don’t plan on reading the manga.
Hmm. Well that seems interesting. I myself at times feel like a boy trapped in a girls body. However i am not a lebian nor could i ever be one. And i diffinately don’t mind dressing like a boy, but i don’t think it’s ever come to the point where i wished i was the opposite sex. Well, that’s it i guess.
bye.
–End–
It’s actually somewhat of a phenomena in Japan with boys trying to be less masculine and more effeminate. I forgot what the term for it is but I remember hearing about it in one of my Japanese classes. But the extremity of it in Wandering Son is unusual though.
Feeling like one gender trapped in the body of another has nothing to do with sexuality.
Nitori and Takatsuki are transgender – Nitori a trans girl and Takutsuki a trans boy. Nitori might be bi from the looks of it but that’s something different all together.
What this review misses out is that though they can’t wake up one day in the body of their correct gender they can some day transition with the help of hormones and surgery. It’ll be easier for Takutsuki in some ways cause whilst hormones can give they can’t take away (and I wish somebody were giving those two blockers to stop puberty until they can get the right one) but….
Wandering Son is more towards reality and that’s why I like it. I can just think about the desire of Nitori and Takatsuki to become opposite gender is because they are not matured enough. Both of them are just 13-14 years old kids and in the so called rebel age. I’m pretty sure that by times goes by, Nitori and Takatsuki will accept their gender. Personally, I don’t hate girly boy because girly is natural and gifted characteristics in a certain person. But, when a girly boy wants to become a girl, it just out of question. It will looks like you are fighting your nature.
Yeah, as long as you consider the fact that they’re just kids and their yearning to be the opposite gender is a stage they’re going through on the way to self establishment. It’s part of their naivety that they’ll eventually grow out of – I doubt we’re supposed to get the impression that they’ll get sex changing operations when they grow up =P
Nice review there. I also found the anime very heartwarming and sincere. Also, handling a semi-taboo-like crossdressing in a very nice and innocent manner. All the characters also fit in really well with each other. The cheerful Chi, dark/brooding Saori, gentle Nitori, they all work really well with each other. I was pretty surprised by the anime over all. I originally did not want to watch it, the idea sounded pretty… outworldy I guess. But I’m glad I did, and it does give another perspective into life as well.
The Wandering Son characters did indeed give us a wide range of personalities that were familiar but also not cliche. They all balanced each other out which was great. Just wish we could have gotten more screentime for lesser characters like Sasa and Mako.