Trans* Series for Pride Month
(That aren’t Euphoria)
Veneno
I’m often struck by how small the scope of television is; there’s a surface-level approach to diversity resulting in shows and characters that feel intrinsically the same. Veneno is a jolting reminder of how big the world is — how precious, beautiful, fucked-up, and knotty our relationships are with ourselves and with others. At its core, it is simply a story about how far a person is willing to go to self-actualize, because anything less feels like no life at all.”
— E. Alex Jung, “Veneno is a Knockout”
Great Men Academy
“Trans* allegories tend to be reserved for horror, but this show is a trans* fairytale, with a cottage, a magic wish-granting lake, and full-on duels to prove it. And its elements line up with transness in a way few stories honestly admit. Many people only start to experience gender dysphoria after the start of puberty, for example, when adult sexual traits and hormones start to kick in, aligning with the age Love’s unwanted gender-swap occurs. And there’s plenty more of the less well-known sides of trans experience tucked into the show.”
— Is Great Men Academy a BL?
Druck, Season 3
“David isn’t just “the love interest.” He’s a fully fleshed-out character with his own arc, including a subtle but powerful exploration of gender identity and mental health. The show doesn’t slap you with labels or exposition, rather it lets you notice things, feel things, connect the dots. That kind of storytelling? Rare. And deeply respectful.”
— @tometracker, “Quietly Radical, Deeply Tender”
Smells Like Green Spirit
“It's in being able to spot the queerness of people who can pass! And it's in the joy of confessing trans things to someone for the first time! It's in their stolen make-up experiments! And wondering if they like girls or just want to look like them! And weird tastes in super masculine men! And sure, it's also in the bullying and the dissociation, but it's also being vulgar and ridiculous and running around laughing when you find someone who gets it.”
— “Emerging Transness…”
Infinity Train, Season 2
“Lake is not a passenger. She’s a denizen created by it, as many others were, in order to help the passengers, so that they can solve their issues and leave. Even worse, she’s supposed to be a reflection meant to do nothing more than imitate what her prime (That would be the people they reflect: us) did. But she escapes, and while being chased by the Mirror Police, who want to kill her for that, her journey begins.”
— Luca Cazeaux, “Infinity Train and My Journey as a Non-Binary Person”
3 Will Be Free
“Here, you can see that a trans woman also has a dream, gets hurt, struggles, fights back when pushed against a wall... just... like... any... other... human. Jennie gave life to Mae, her chasing an identity she had dreamed about for so long, the pursuit of what she thinks can make her happy, paying back the kindness of the people that have shown it to her. Her character is one of the most developed in this series. She starts off with a meager job and when the unfortunate happened, she "mans" up. As the series progresses, she becomes tougher and tougher, often times at conflict with morality where it’s currently placed her. Can she attain "justice" by inflicting injustice to others, this is the main theme of her character.“
— MDL user crazysexycoolpal, “3 Will Be Free”
DNA Says Love You
“An intersex person is born with reproductive or sexual anatomy that does not fit the boxes of ‘male’ or ‘female’. In Amber’s case, the doctors and family decided that he could more easily identify as a male and therefore he was subsequently altered and raised to be a boy. So how do you tell your closest friends this kind of secret? Yet, through all of that, whether female or male, WenWen continued to love Le Chien. Picking the name Amber rings of poetry. Amber is a very valuable gem if you will. Amber in fossilized from is tree sap that dries to a clear color and if any living material is in that sap, becomes preserved as if they are alive. We can see their form clearly of what it was previously but today, it is admired for its real beauty.”
— PPBongi, “DNA Says Love You”
Feel Good
“It’s not a preachy show attempting to inject woke values into the audience, but instead sharply dramatizes the evolution of our social perceptions and the greater freedom we are discovering by dumping old gender/sexual status quos. There’s casual fun in moments where George tries to get Elliot into kinky role-playing games or group sex, some inspired by Soviet-themed porn she’s discovered online. When Mae interviews with a new agent, the agent automatically assumes Mae must be trans but reassures them it’s perfect for a hip look, describing them as a “lonely millennial.”
— Aldo Rengifo, Entertainment Voice
Wandering Son
“When I first approached Wandering Son I was concerned that, like so many works that have lessons to impart, it would come off as didactic and proselytizing. Instead, we have this warm-hearted, gentle story about a collection of kids growing up. Wandering Son doesn't lay out any argument for the humanity of its characters who diverge from social expectation. It doesn't need to. Takako's book allows you to grow comfortable with these kids as you would members of your own family. You see them happy; you see them hurt. You see their dreams; you see their fears. You see them reaching for lives that make sense to them, struggling even as we all do to find comfort and value in the things that attract our affections—all while trying desperately not to have our spirits crushed along the way.”
— Seth T. Hahne, “Wandering Son”
Muteluv: Diva Deva Mata
“This one is for my t-girls; toey or trans, take your pick. I adore every one of these characters. The pretty bitches, the sweet pageant queens, the brilliant activists, and the girlies who couldn't get their life together or pass without divine intervention. I know all these babies. The fem-life is about wanting to be your own version of your fem-self without sacrificing your whole life to make it happen. So it is with these tgirls. They want love and beauty and fame and popularity, but they also can knock a motherfucker out with a good blow. With all the camp, it still manages to depict their desires, humanity, contradictions, and the fucked up friendships that unite them.”
— “My DIVAS”
