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zesty_pintoI'm probably going to post about it on Twitter later, but just to gather my thoughts I'm going to post something about it here:
For some of the diehard old school anime fans, they may be familiar with Tsukasa Hojo for making the sexy action title "City Hunter" which centered around a bounty hunter for hire who was classically a man's man who often took on the classic trope of taking a case centered around a comely lady and finding a way to stop the person harassing her. The comedy of the series centered on the guy's major fallibility centered on being a big pervert who would break down his cool facade the moment it involved something risque. It was one of the big drivers for a lot of anime tropes that were popular for that time and years to come: the tsundere lady friend who beat the shit out of him, the weird panty collecting, the sister/lover thing, etc.
The reason I bring this up is because I don't see a lot of people aware that five years after he completed the run he would also make a series that very few people seem to remember called "Family Compo."
It centers on the MC, a young adult recently orphaned being adopted into a family of unknown relatives and quickly finds out that he's living with a trans family-- mtf mom, ftm dad, and a gender fluid teen that fits remarkably well with whatever gender role they take.
As ripe as this is for tropes in a 1995-2001 era, the most surprising thing about this is that for all the surprise about gender identity, the whole thing is remarkably wholesome. No one really knows the mom is biologically male, no one can tell the dad is biologically a woman, and everyone in that family is remarkably happy. In fact, the main character's own family is itself not in the best of places. There is a chapter when the MC demands that they attend a parent teacher meeting as their actual genders and it ends up with everyone thinking they're crossdressing: a common argument pointed out in the trans community.
Between the main storyline of the will they/won't they of the MC and the teen and whether or not he should have feelings for them, the stories throughout the manga center on being comfortable with your gender.
This isn't to say that the manga doesn't still have the makings of a few of the tropes that are uncomfortable for the time. The author does throw in a line or two that will make you irk (commenting on how strong the mother is, ugh), while the will-they/won't-they between the MC and his cousin feel like they edge towards a trap genre, not to mention how obtuse the MC can be about the topics despite the family's own attempts to accommodate him it's easy to see how people could get offended by it. That said, it's still surprising how balanced Tsukasa is in portraying them as a happy family, and in a way the MC is also our own grounding unit to say that you can be different, and you can be happy living it.
I'll probably spend this weekend re-reading it. If you see this post disappear, I'll probably find something that makes me understand why we don't talk about it anymore, ha!
For some of the diehard old school anime fans, they may be familiar with Tsukasa Hojo for making the sexy action title "City Hunter" which centered around a bounty hunter for hire who was classically a man's man who often took on the classic trope of taking a case centered around a comely lady and finding a way to stop the person harassing her. The comedy of the series centered on the guy's major fallibility centered on being a big pervert who would break down his cool facade the moment it involved something risque. It was one of the big drivers for a lot of anime tropes that were popular for that time and years to come: the tsundere lady friend who beat the shit out of him, the weird panty collecting, the sister/lover thing, etc.
The reason I bring this up is because I don't see a lot of people aware that five years after he completed the run he would also make a series that very few people seem to remember called "Family Compo."
It centers on the MC, a young adult recently orphaned being adopted into a family of unknown relatives and quickly finds out that he's living with a trans family-- mtf mom, ftm dad, and a gender fluid teen that fits remarkably well with whatever gender role they take.
As ripe as this is for tropes in a 1995-2001 era, the most surprising thing about this is that for all the surprise about gender identity, the whole thing is remarkably wholesome. No one really knows the mom is biologically male, no one can tell the dad is biologically a woman, and everyone in that family is remarkably happy. In fact, the main character's own family is itself not in the best of places. There is a chapter when the MC demands that they attend a parent teacher meeting as their actual genders and it ends up with everyone thinking they're crossdressing: a common argument pointed out in the trans community.
Between the main storyline of the will they/won't they of the MC and the teen and whether or not he should have feelings for them, the stories throughout the manga center on being comfortable with your gender.
This isn't to say that the manga doesn't still have the makings of a few of the tropes that are uncomfortable for the time. The author does throw in a line or two that will make you irk (commenting on how strong the mother is, ugh), while the will-they/won't-they between the MC and his cousin feel like they edge towards a trap genre, not to mention how obtuse the MC can be about the topics despite the family's own attempts to accommodate him it's easy to see how people could get offended by it. That said, it's still surprising how balanced Tsukasa is in portraying them as a happy family, and in a way the MC is also our own grounding unit to say that you can be different, and you can be happy living it.
I'll probably spend this weekend re-reading it. If you see this post disappear, I'll probably find something that makes me understand why we don't talk about it anymore, ha!
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Date: 2022-03-24 09:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-25 02:08 am (UTC)I do remember City Hunter well too, haha.
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Date: 2022-03-25 02:24 pm (UTC)Still, it has some reputation within some in the trans community with many acknowledging that it's got a lot of elements that were a part of its time but wasn't trying to be mean with the people they portray beyond maybe the protagonist who is a fish out of water and the grounding point for readers unfamiliar with the subject. I'm still cringing at some of the jokes, but can see how it would have been okay in the 90's into 2000s when films like the Crying Game were heavily parodied.
So far, the only thing that I find annoying is the genderfluid daughter(currently) who is made to be something of a Mary Sue who acts both as the willing catalyst for the bad things that happen as well as the savior with no real repercussions for their action. Still, I guess you need someone to start the wackiness, so...