Talk:Tooru Mutsuki/@comment-896925-20141213122702/@comment-10733658-20141213165214

I assume you'rer eferring to me. Honestly, I think your need to be passive aggressive and default to the "lol SJW" response whenever social issues are involved weakens your argument considerably.

When Chapter 4 came out, I had honestly expected Mutsuki to be another example of a "Bifauxnen" character and cautioned about jumping to conclusions since we didn't know what was going on. And yes, Ishida has used the Okama stereotype with the character of Nico, so I fully expected that Mutsuki would simply turn out to be another in a long list of female characters pretending to be men.

However, when Ch. 5 was released and translated, I felt there was sufficint evidence within the material to conclude that Ishida intends for Mutsuki to be a transgender character. My reasons are not based on, as you so kindly suggested, "eurocentric" ideas. Rather, I have repeatedly pointed towards several details within the material that suggest a Transgender character is the most likely intention of the creator.

The Bifauxnen character type uses either "Watashi" or "Boku" as a pronoun, and comes with an explicit reason for wanting to pass as a man while still thinking of herself as a woman.

With Mutsuki, we have the use of the pronoun "Ore", used in Japanese media to convey strong masculinity. It is never used by female characters, even when pretending to be a man. So Mutsuki's choice of pronoun is unusual.

Ishida is a creator that is extremely deliberate when it comes to both his lingistic choices and his artistic choices. This is well-established from the previous series, so we know that he puts considerable thought into things. With Mutsuki, he has managed to accurately portray numerous characteristics of a young Trans-boy, ones that aren't common knowledge in the West and even more unlikely to be common knowledge in Japan.

He drew an accurate Binder, something that would have required him to have a visual reference.

He used accurate statements and descriptions involving the feelings and experience of a young transgender person. The phrasing is textbook perfect, which again suggests he may have looked into things.

The Bifauxnen type has a reason for her actions, but doesn't identify as a man. On the other hand, we're explicitly told in the opening scene of Ch. 5 two facts: That Mutsuki experienced feelings of disgust/unease/discomfort with being a girl, and that he has actively been living as a man for several years. We also see those with access to his medical records making the conscious choice to use male-gendered language when discussing Mutsuki, even though Japanese is typically gender-neutral.

So in conclusion, your suggestions prove you haven't bothered to actually pay attention to the debate. You just decided it was a chance to make a dig at so-called SJWs and had at it.