evebsreviews - Tumblr blog

[evebsreviews]

Wandering Son - 2002

Where do i start?

Takako Shimura’s 'Wandering Son' is beautiful manga that tackles growing up as a trans kid. The story follows Shuichi Nitori as he goes through life and experiences various feeling of gender dysphoria. As someone who is somewhat transgender, this manga hit incredibly close to home, and if you are trans yourself i cannot recommend this manga more. I'll nudge you to check the manga out before reading this review, as it will have some spoilers. You can read it free on mangadex.

Now, without further adieu, let’s get into what makes this manga so good.

First, I want to compliment Takako Shimura’s artstyle. Scenes often have no background, and if they do, it’s very simplistic. This places more focus on the characters, which of course are the main driving force of manga such as this. I also love the watercolor covers for each volume; their design expands on the cozy vibe of the manga.

Speaking of the vibe, 'Wandering Son' beautifully depicts how it feels to be a young trans person. Although it may be a bit rose-tinted, it’s still outstanding for being written by a cis woman. Shuichi is often depicted pondering his gender identity at night and we see him become slowly more dysphoric as he matures.

Of course Shuichi is not the only lead. Yoshino Takatsuki takes the role of a deuteragonist early on, and is unfortunately slightly phased out of the spotlight later on. She is the transmasc to Shuichi’s transfem, but unlike Shuichi, she doesn't remain trans for the entire story. This kind of feels like a copout, because she outwardly presents masculine for years and even wishes she had a penis at one point, but I'm not going to pretend like that never happens to people. Gender identity can shift over time and it’s important to have a depction of that.

Now, despite the praise I've given this manga, it definitely has flaws.

In chapter 12, Takatsuki gets sexually assaulted by an adult, which is very out of place and sudden in a manga like this. This never gets adressed again and the character who assaulted her never has any consequences.

Shuichi’s partner, Anna, ends up very underutilized in the grand scheme of things, which is sad, as i think her character is one of the most interesting ones in the manga. Despite that, her indifference to Shuichi’s transness is what leads to one of the most impactful panels (at least to me) in the last chapter.

This panel hits you like a brick by the end. The last chapter focuses on Shuichi detailing his experience throughout the manga through his eyes. We are shown the good and bad, everything that has happened to him so far. And right at the end, we see him finally come out as transgender to Anna. Her reaction is of pure acceptance, all she asks him is “Does that mean I'll be a lesbian?” showing that no matter what, she still loves him.

'Wandering Son' has become one of my all-time favourite manga since i’ve read it and it’s a huge shame that Takako Shimura’s work is severely underrated. Regardless of it’s flaws, i think it’s one of the best manga depictions of transgender themes i’ve read. If you still haven’t read it (despite my suggestion in the opening) i genuinely think you should at least give it a try.

And with that, my first review comes to a close. Hope you liked reading it! The next one will be up at some point, i’m planning on doing one of evangelion but if you have suggestions, submit them! I'll at least try to look over any suggestions.