#trans interpretation

How it’s going:

The "Duckling" was never ugly, because he was never a Duckling. The animals around him judged him by duck standards, when he was a perfectly fine young swan.

I saw a post that made me think about how so many animated movies in the early 2000s had really transphobic jokes and how this also extends to anime. And idk, I’m glad that wasn’t something I had to worry about with Origin. And looking back I realized how rare that was, especially for a film from 2006.

There was no gag about Agito’s crop top or appearance in general, nothing and no one that questioned his masculinity or that he was a guy, not even from the villain. And you may be like: That sounds like the bare minimum.

Which yeah, but it definitely says something when one of the movie’s messages was about Agito’s choice to modify his body in ways that mirror testosterone, he wears a shirt that looks like a binder, and how important (reiterated multiple times by multiple characters) it was that people accept him as he is instead of trying to make him go back to “normal”

Excerpt from the Giniro no Kami no Agito (Silver Haired Agito) novelization:

Toola’s tears were about to spill. But she holds back her sadness and continues to plead. "Agito, only we, the people of the past, can return the world to its original state. So..."

The world doesn’t have to go back to normal!" Agito, enraged, yelled, interrupting Toola’s words. "Toola, if you spend more time with us, you'll understand."

Toola, also frustrated, retorted in a loud voice. "It's you who don't understand, Agito. If I can find Estoc, that my father left behind, the world will surely return to normal. That's the real world.”

Toola was embarrassed at herself for yelling out without thinking. Looking weakly at Agito, she muttered, "If I do that, maybe I can restore your body to normal."

For a moment, Agito seemed to have calmed down. But he immediately began shaking with intense rage. Toola’s last words only seemed to add fuel to the fire.

Furious that his thoughts were not being conveyed, Agito looked at Toola with eyes wide open in rage and said in a gruff voice, "I decided on my own to become an enhanced being."

(There's no point in talking any more now. Agito, who only knows this world, won't understand.)

Toola turns away from Agito as if she had given up, "You may not be able to imagine it, but we'll show you a world where forests don't attack people and there's plenty of water, an ordinary world." And with that, she passes through the prison door and starts to leave Agito.

(Toola, why? Ah, it wasn't supposed to be like this. Why don't you understand?)

Agito's blood is boiling so hard that he feels dizzy, but he can't stop her. It's like he's talking to a different person than the Toola he met in Neutral City.

(Why? How?)

Questions swirled around him, but how could he explain them? How could he convince Toola? His emotions just grew hotter and hotter, and he couldn't put them into words.

Passing through the thick prison door, which had once been the door to a bank vault, Toola stepped out into the corridor. Agito struggled with all his might in silent anger. The sound of the restraints scraping each other rang out loudly.

"Uaaa! Aaaaaaah! Aaaah!!" The sound of the restraints rang out again with a bang. Rather than trying to escape, he was venting his frustration that he had no outlet for. Shunack looked at Agito with amusement, a smile on his lips.

"Kill him." Shunack turned his eyes back, and as he passed by the ordinary soldiers guarding the entrance, he gave the order in a low voice that Toola couldn't hear.

Tears welled up in Toola’s eyes as she stepped out into the hallway.

Agito's screams and the sound of his restraints echoed from the open prison door.

Agito's sad cry pierced Toola’s heart.

"Agito, just wait."

(If we return the world to its original state, he'll understand everything.)

Screenshots from the movie(not the whole scene):

I know I say this a lot but I am trying to get more confident in my analysis and not just go. “Well it’s just one interpretation” no no I mean it. Agito is trans!!! This is about transitioning!!!

This reads exactly like a transphobic reaction because he has changed (his body in this case) in a way she sees as unacceptable. And he literally did do that by becoming enhanced. Toola asserting she knows what is best for him/his body and current world. Wanting to reverse the changes he’s gone through despite him clearly wanting them!!! All this because of Toola’s attachment to the past “glory days” when the world wasn’t so “abnormal and confusing” and how Shunack convinces her this world must return to the way it used to be. And then him ordering Agito’s death right after she leaves.

The parallel to how queerness is viewed couldn’t be clearer!!!

“Why don’t you understand?” “How could he explain-? How could he convince Toola?” This is so clearly a plea for her to understand him!!!! The pointed use of the word Normal!!! I’m going to scream!!!