#hide-chan

Meeting his maternal grandfather, Hide-chan, was a big factor for Makoto to find an answer. Hide-chan is just like Makoto, a man who likes crossdressing and cute things. At first, he hid his fondness, but his daughter Mika (Makoto’s mom) caught him one day when she was a teenager coming back from school and seeing crossdressers on her way back. Mika was a girl who loved cute and feminine things; I love the little detail of young Mika basically being a female version of Makoto. However, her fondness for girly things comes to an end when she finds her father styling his hair just like how she did at home. He told her that he always had been envious of her and that’s how Mika stopped being girly and ended up the way she is. She even cut ties with him after her mother died. I get that Mika was born in a time period where gender roles were a lot more conservative and stricter, so it is a bit understandable why she got grossed out by her dad, but that doesn’t mean her actions were right.

Hide-chan is the coolest grandpa ever. He makes all sorts of cute dresses and even makes his meals super cute! He’s really living his best life. However, he’s a bit aloof. Fortunately, he’s not lonely as he’s friends with the makeup artist next door. It was nice seeing grandfather and grandson bonding despite them meeting each other for the first time; heck, Ryuji was even surprised he had a grandfather. I honestly need a side-story for Hide-chan! He’s super sweet despite his aloof demeanor!

While Mika has not been a good mother to Makoto, at least, the biggest fortune in her life has been meeting Makoto’s father, Takahiro. Man, Makoto’s dad is seriously a W father. He never once berates Mika for her behavior, but he always reassures her and tries to give his opinions on the matter. For him, what matters most is that Makoto is happy. I love how he showed the school trip videos he got from Ryuji and  I guess my opinion on Makoto’s mom has increase just a bit when she loosens up when they went shopping together.

In the case of Saki, she and her mom go on a trip together and are having a good time. It’s nice that Saki’s emotional scars over her family issues are healing up a bit, but it doesn’t feel as if they’re fully resolved yet. There’s still the issue of Grandma Aoi’s wariness towards Saki’s mom and that Saki accidentally blurted out that she’d like to go on a trip with both of her parents… It’s too bad that none of Saki’s issues have been truly resolved. It feels a little too open-ended for me.

All in all, I think the finale was very good closure for Makoto as he found his answer on who he wants to be: himself. He’s just Makoto. Gender doesn’t matter for him. He’s him, I think that’s the perfect answer. It just sucks that I have to wait until the movie comes out for him to resolve whatever romantic feelings he has with Saki and if she’ll actually reciprocate them.

Final Thoughts

I came to watching this anime because I liked the premise and was satisfied with what I was watching. I think it did a great job tackling rather sensitive topics like gender identity and sexuality. Makoto struggles with his gender identity while Saki and Ryuji struggle with their sexualities. Not only that, it is a youthful story about teenagers tackling down these walls.

However, I do admit that some topics are handled a bit too flimsily for my liking. For example, the story treated Ryuji so horribly. He’s struggling with his feelings for Makoto and whether he sees himself as gay or not, but all he gets is Makoto asking him out on the pretense that he doesn’t want lose “what’s normal” to him. They get a sort of messy breakup and not Ryuji has to walk on eggshells on whenever Saki and Makoto bring up each other in a topic.

Regarding Saki, her bisexuality doesn’t really get talked about after the first few episodes as she realizes that her feelings are more that she longs for someone special regarding her family issues. Okay, that’s fine, but I’d like it if she’s actually call out her parents about their abandoning her for once. She’s way too accepting of everything around her that it does get a little frustrating.

Other than that, I did like everything else about the anime. The characters are nice, except for the bully who exposed Makoto’s gender because he couldn’t take no for an answer.. The music is nice. The animation does get a little wonky when it switches from regular art to goofy chibi art, but the regular animation is gorgeous in terms of coloring, so I’ll let it slide. The opening song is probably the best this season because it’s just so catchy.

The voice cast was splendid though. Shuichiro Umeda and Akira Sekine are rising stars, but they should be in more projects because they were that good. Umeda was especially good because he has the high tone to sound effeminate. Sekine’s voice is a little higher-pitched than how she voiced Sora Harewataru, but it does fit her character. Having Yuma Uchida voice his second gay boy this season was hilarious, but he did an excellent job with Ryuji. The side cast was good too!

Overall, I think this was a good anime with queer elements. It’s not the perfect story, but it’s still good for what it tells. I just wish the story treated Ryuji better… I might jus buy the manga or read it digitally if it’s available. What are your thoughts on this anime as a whole?