Wandering Son

"My sister's dream is to go to a school for idols and to be classmates with Maiko-chan. I think that's stupid. My dream is..."

Shy, quiet Shuuichi Nitori is not your average eleven year old girl. Nor is her classmate, Yoshino Takatsuki, your average eleven year old boy. Even though Shuuichi enjoys baking snacks as a hobby, she is different from the other girls. Takatsuki-kun is admired by his classmates, but endures bullying from other boys for things about himself he can't control. When Shuuichi transfers to her new school, she is sat next to Takatsuki and they become fast friends.

Though they do not immediately know it, the two learn they have a shared secret, despite their natures, biologically they are the wrong gender. Shuuichi dreams she could be a girl in society as she is in her heart, while Takatsuki wants to become a proper man. Eventually, both realize their true nature as much as they are able despite the adversity and shame they face. Shuuichi wears clothing belonging to her sister and given to her either by girls or Takatsuki. Takastuki gets hold of his older brother's middle school uniform and goes in to town as a boy.

The Slice of Life tale of Takako Shimura's Wandering Son (Hourou Musuko in Japanese) follows the lives of Shuuichi, Takatsuki, and those closest to them as they wrestle with their difficult struggle for self-actualization. The milestones that come with adolescence, the day-to-day occurrences, and everything in between make up the plot while the dreams and secrets of the young cast create its drama.

An Eleven Episode Anime for the series started in January 2011, and has since ended. Also, the Manga has been licensed by Fantagraphics Books and is slated to be released in hardcover in June 2011.

Please see the discussion page to further discuss whether characters should be referred to by the pronouns that are appropriate for their real genders, or their biological sex. Since this is a heavily LGBT themed manga and the people it represents in real life would never accept being called the incorrect gender, it is the consensus that the same courtesy be extended to the main characters in order to show the general public and people outside the LGBT community the proper treatment of transpeople and not confuse them.

One very important thing to remember about this series is that it is about transsexuality. The main characters are not simply crossdressing when they put on the clothes that make them feel comfortable (male for Takatsuki and female for Shuuichi). Due to a supporting character having an extended period of questioning and ambiguous genderidentification, Mako will be referred to a "ze" and "zir".

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Tropes used in Wandering Son include:

• Adaptation Distillation
• Adaptation Dye Job: Eye variation. In the manga, everyone has brown eyes. In the anime, characters have golden eyes, Black Eyes, Blue Eyes, or even red eyes and purple in Yuki's and Anna's cases.
  • Cases of color changing within the manga happen often. Originally Takatsuki and several of the parents had brown hair however they later were Ret Conned into having black hair. Shi had blond hair in his first colored artwork but was quickly given black. Everyone originally had Brown Eyes but now they have eye colors that fit their hair shades.
• Adaptation Expansion: The anime. For example, the climax of episode 1 was an adaptation of a scene in volume eight (around four volumes ahead of the point the anime began). In the manga Shuuichi just stares at the manga, until her sister comes in and yells at her. They've also pieced together scenes, for example the scene where Shuuichi hits Maho is from another part in the manga (when Maho tries to read a letter).
• All There in the Manual: Some backstory on Yuki was given in He Said "I'm a girl".
• Ambiguously Gay: Several of the characters. Momoko hasn't really shown any interest in boys so far, instead just being extremely clingy toward Chizuru and saying that she "loves" her. Arguably Maho has shown bisexual tendencies with her fangirlism of Maiko. Takatsuki apparently might have liked one of his male teachers. Shuuichi has shown an interest in Anna and they are dating, but she may be bisexual because of her feelings for maybe Seya and Takatsuki. Chiba's obsessive love for Shuuichi falls under this.
• Art Evolution: Quite apparent from volume 1 to volume 2. Also quite noticeable if you compare the early volumes to the later volumes. Justified since time is passing, and the main cast is either in, or entering, puberty. Also noticeable is the coloring changes. Some hair colors darkened while others changed completely after a few volumes. Compare the first cover to the tenth. The difference is quite noticeable in chapter 89, when we get a flashback to the first volume with Shuuichi looking quite a bit younger than we see her now.
  • Shuuichi's hair is noticeably darker than before. Referenced to in the manga, when she states that her hair is getting darker due to puberty. The art style has become more realistic too, the eye style doesn't push them into the Uncanny Valley anymore, and the lines are less dark.
• Attractive Bent Gender: Shuuichi is very popular with girls, such as Chiba and an elementary school friend she met again in high school. They think she looks good as a boy.
  • Chiba, Chizuru, Seya, and Takatsuki also garner attention when they've crossdressed for whatever reason.
• Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: Maho and Shuuichi show the sibling variety from time to time.
• Betty and Veronica: Short-lived example for Seya, with Maho as Veronica and Shuuichi as Betty.
• Bland-Name Product: The gang goes to "Wcdonalds". Averted in most other cases though, where the names are correct. Maho even mentions Starbucks once. The characters have been seen playing video game consoles, but they have no logos on them. Doi has a PlayStation Portable, both Oka and Takatsuki have a PlayStation 2, and Maho has a Nintendo DS.
• Bob Haircut: Maho and briefly Shuuichi. Takatsuki sort of had a Bob at several points in the series, but it's untidy and a bit too long.
• Body Horror: Shuuichi and Takatsuki think of puberty and adolescence as this.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: Maho, mostly when her sister is around.
• Camp Gay: Makoto (possibly).
• Caught with Your Pants Down: An implied near-miss with Maho.
• Character Development/Hidden Depths: Many of the characters have quite nuanced characterizations. Even characters who seem like pretty crappy people on introduction get shown as being more complex than that, often volumes after said introduction.
• Characterization Marches On: Chiba's personality and design were different for the first 3 volumes, before she changed to her more well-known self. Before she was more peppy, on par with the other children (albeit more socially awkward at times), and didn't look nearly as mature.
  • Probably one of the few instances of this trope being justified, given that this series revolves entirely around the often-dramatic changes children go through at the age the main cast are at.
• Class Trip: Chapters 16 - 17, to Nikko; also Chapters 56 - 57, to a ski area.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Saori Chiba shows signs of this, but Momoko's behavior toward Chizuru takes the cake.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Chizuru, who has a rather... peculiar sense of humor.
  • For a real-life example, the author of the manga, Takako Shimura. Many people would be surprised to learn that a sensitive issue like transgenderism would be approached by someone who is essentially a Crazy Cat Lady who lives in what she believes to be a haunted house.
• Cool Big Sis: Yuki.
• Covers Always Lie: The covers tend to have Shuuichi in feminine clothing, while in-story she rarely gets to dress like that. Colors also tend to be off such as Maho having blond hair on the back cover of volume 1 (despite inside clearly showcasing her with brown, and her family having brown hair), and Anna having brown eyes in one volume when the inside showed her with her (new) Black Eyes.
  • The covers to the boxsets for the anime have the manga school uniform colors (green and blue) while the anime goes for more generic colors (black for the boy uniform and blue for the female uniform).
• Crotch Grab Sex Check: Shiina did this to Takatsuki in chapter 12. Though in the scenario he thought Yuki was cheating on him with Takatsuki, so he probably grabbed his groin to see if he had a penis.
• Crossdresser: Makoto (possibly) and Chizuru.
• Curtains Match the Window: Recent chapters have made most characters fit this. Originally everyone had Brown Eyes, but now if you have black hair you're probably going to have Black Eyes. Brunettes have Brown Eyes though.
• The Ditz: Kanako Sasa. Too much thinking makes her brain itchy.
• Double Standard: Shuuichi gets hit with this hard since it is especially taboo for transgirls to be themselves in public versus the more permissive attitude to transboys in chapter 65 when she gets the idea to go to school dressed in the girl uniform after Chizuru and Takatsuki successfully dressed in the boy uniform^[1] in boys uniforms, with little consequence other then a small scolding; kids also complimented them on how "cool" and nice they looked. Shuuichi decides to go in a girls uniform one day, she gets sent straight to the Nurse's office for her mom to pick her up, switched into a boys uniform in the office, and becomes the laughing stock of the school}}.
  • A slight, and justified, example happens in chapter 94. It's Valentine's Day, so Makoto decides to give out chocolates to some people; in Japan typically girls give chocolates on Valentine's Day though. Ze shies out of giving a teacher ze likes chocolates, thinking it'll be weird since he's a boy, and when he tries to give a friend he likes chocolate he freaks out too.
• Dude Magnet: Chiba. Any straight, boy-at-heart character can't seem to be indifferent toward her.
• Early Installment Weirdness: Many characters had different hair colors in the first two volumes' artwork, the manga was more slow-paced, and the personalities were different (Justified in the latter case).
• Eleven Episode Anime: Started airing in Japan on January 14, 2011. Twelve episodes, with one being Blu-Ray only^[2].
• Even the Girls Want Her: Maiko-chan.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Beginning at high school, Chiba stops wearing pigtails to school. She's wore pigtails ever since she began middle school, though only when she was in school. She began wearing pigtails when she was at her most sarcastic and depressed, starting around the time her characterization changes for permanently. She's been working on making herself more appealing and less aggressive lately. A more subtle example is Chizuru and Sasa. Chizuru recently started wearing Girlish Pigtails, showing off she's still an immature Genki Girl. Sasa stopped wearing her pigtails for the first time in years, which makes her come off as trying to mature.
• Expressive Hair: In the Manga.
• Fashion Hurts: In the anime pilot, Shuuichi complains about the collar of her uniform being too tight.
• First Episode Spoiler: That Shuuichi is transgender. It's more apparent in the manga.
• First-Name Basis: Maho forces her boyfriend Riku into this. Sasa also refers to Chiba as "Saorin", which comes from the fact that a lot of Japanese girls add "-rin" to their friends names as a nickname. Shuuichi is on a First-Name Basis with Makoto, though Shuuichi calls zir "Mako-chan", while she is called the feminine form of her last name in return.
• Fragile Flower: Nitori.
• Free-Range Children
• Freudian Trio: Shuuichi, Chiba, and Takatsuki; though depending on who you ask, the order changes.
• Furo Scene: Chapters 16 and 56.
• Generic Cuteness: Averted. Shu is feminine, but poor Makoto just won't pass as a pretty girl even if ze dresses up, this may be responsible for some confusion and hesitance to represent zirself as a transgirl.
• Gender Flip: When the kids put on The Rose of Versailles and Romeo & Juliet.
• Gender Reveal: As seen here. However, Yuki seems to have known from the beginning. It's hard to tell though, since she seems surprised when she learns it and continues to refer to the event as her not knowing it.
• Gender Vocabulary Slip: Shuuichi & Takatsuki once noticed that Shuuichi refers to herself with the pronoun "boku" which is used by tomboys and boys and masculine girls, while Takatuski refers to himself as "watashi" which is gender neutral and more formal. They intentionally decide not to change this though as they agree it suits them.
• Genki Girl: Chizuru and Sasa.
• Growing Up Sucks: Especially Shuuichi and Takatsuki feel this way, since their physical changes will make it harder to pass as their real gender.
• Hair-Trigger Temper - Maho.
• Hime Cut: Shuuichi wants one of these, though she did temporarily try and sport a pixie cut because she thought it would be cute and couldn't justify growing her hair out longer to her parents.
• Hopeless Suitor: Saori to Shuuichi, Fumiya to Saori (well, not so much in recent chapters), Mako to, well, pretty much anyone whom he likes.
• Hot Mom: Essentially all the mother's, though Chiba's mom has been referred to as "beautiful" by a boy in-series.
• Idol Singer: Maho & Anna. Well, they actually are models and are never shown singing. Peculiar is that Shuuichi actually passed the screening together with her sister despite the agency knowing she is biologically male.
  • Primarily because Maho told them "both of us or none of us." Also, Maiko-chan is enough of an idol that adoration of her is what brought Maho into modeling in the first place.
  • Apparently Maiko does sing too.
• If Its You Its OK: Saori, she just cares for Shuuichi irrespective of gender presentation, although she thinks of her as a boy.
• I Have No Son: Yuki's parents come pretty close to this. (Well, also, they have no son now, but... you get the idea.)(Yuki has an older brother, so unless he died they do have a son.)
  • There's a side-story in a collection of one-shots by the manga-ka called He Said "I'm A Girl" that shows a bit about Yuki's past. She was scolded by her father for being on a TV show, but not disowned. Her mother, brother, and brother's fiancee are taking it in stride though.
    • Only the brother and the brother's wife are okay with Yuki's identity. Her mother chooses not to talk to (and possibly see) her, which in a sense, is worse than the father who is upfront about his disapproval.
• Important Haircut: Shuuichi cuts her hair short in Chapter 85.
  • There's also Takatsuki's important haircuts in chapters 4 and 75.
    • It's also important to note their Important Letting it Grow since they do have some impact. For example, Shuuichi's starting by chapter 74, and Takatsuki's in chapter 58, both by other's recommendation.
  • In both cases it's subverted. Shuuichi wanted a certain (feminine) hair style, but it turned out differently from what she planned. Takatsuki grew his hair out because Saori told him it would look cool and other boys had longer hair too, but it wasn't as manly as he wanted.
  • Subtle, but Takatsuki is growing his hair out in high school. It's not a Bob, but not nearly as short as before.
  • Doi recently got a haircut.
• In Medias Res: The anime begins roughly in the middle of the manga.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Shiina and Yuki, who are adults, with the teenaged Takatsuki and Shuuichi.
• Japanese Christian: Saori Chiba, who converts out of guilt for her light treatment of Shuuichi's "crossdressing". Her attendance winds up being pretty poor, though.
• Jerkass: Chiba.
  • Maho also slips into this often.
  • Doi is the prime example.
• Kudzu Plot: Shimura increasingly juggles various parallel plot points, giving each only a few panels of attention before moving to the next, leading you to reread chapters just to keep a handle on what is going on.
• Little Miss Snarker/The Snark Knight: Chiba has elements of both, at least in the anime.
• Loads and Loads of Characters: It's gradually getting there, with all the members of the various families, classmates and romantic interests piling up in every chapter.
• Long Runner: Mild, but it's been going on since the early 2000s without much hint of ending soon.
• Long Runner Tech Marches On: The series is hit with this but it's barely noticeable and somewhat realistic. You can put off the reason why no one had cellphones for a while with them just being too young.
• Love Triangle:
  • Type 10 occurs temporarily between the Nitori siblings and Seya with him as B, Maho as A and Shuuichi as C.
  • Shuuichi, Chiba and Takatsuki form longer-running one, which starts out as type 5 (Shuuichi as B, Takatsuki as C and Saori as A), but growing tension between Takatsuki and Chiba, and the appearance of Suehiro Anna complicates things.
• Mistaken for Cheating: This happens in chapter 12 when Yuki's boyfriend walks in when she's alone with Takatsuki, touching his face. This is despite the fact that Takatsuki is only around 9 or 10, so it makes her seem like she's a Shotacon.. Though considering how Yuki's acted toward him in future chapters...
• Mythology Gag: One of the teachers is from a previous manga by Shimura, Inhabitants of the Threshold. Also if you look closely at the last episode you'll see a green haired guy and a girl standing in one scene - they're the protagonists of said manga.
• Mukokuseki: Averted. The characters have either brown or black hair, and brown eyes. Early colored manga had a variety of hair colors and eye colors, but eventually they settled on the colors around volume 3.
• Name's the Same: Shuuichi, Makoto, and Yoshino are also names of characters in Minami-Ke, and the other Makoto is a crossdresser who goes by the name Mako-chan. However, unless it's Minami-ke doing the shouting, this could not be a Shout-Out since Minami-Ke started two years later than Wandering Son.
• Nerd Glasses: Makoto. Though recently you can see through zir glasses at all times.
• Nocturnal Emission: Shuuichi has had them, though for non-sexual reasons. At the end of the first episode she wakes up from a dream and has to wash her underwear, which she does other times in the manga.
• No Indoor Voice: Sarashina has a tendency to be a loud Large Ham.
• No Periods, Period: Averted in the case of Takatsuki and, later, Maho. Momoko, Sasa, and Chiba have also stated they've had their periods; Momoko and Chizuru even were surprised when Sasa said she was on hers.
• Only Six Faces: By Shimura's own admission.
• "On the Next...": The anime incorporated the previews into the outro animation.
• Precocious Crush: Makoto had feelings for one of zir teachers. Apparently Takatsuki might have had one too, though it's a bit vague besides all the blushing, but he blushes all the time.
• Progressively Prettier: While not ugly, Takatsuki does tend to make unusual and exaggerated more masculine facial expressions in the Manga. The Anime changed them a bit.
• One Steve Limit: Averted. A omake reveals the Nitori siblings dad is named "Hiroyuki", which is also Yuki's name.
• Sailor Fuku: Shuuichi was the only one in the manga to apparently own one for a long time, though recently she's brought a new uniform that matches her high school one. Sasa's and Chizuru's new school requires Sailor Fuku, so they wear one.
• Scenery Porn: The anime in spades, especially the climax of the first episode.
• School Festival: Volume 6.
• Secret Diary: Eventually found and used to expose Shuuichi's and Takatsui's secret.
• Series Continuity Error: In the first volume of the manga Takatsuki says "Her brain gets itchy? That's weird." in reference to Sasa's nature, and otherwise acts as if they aren't close. In the second volume it's established that they've been close friends since kindergarten, so Takatsuki should already know of Sasa's habits.
• Sempai-Kohai: Chiba not greeting once her upperclasmen in the middle school was a Serious Business. Also, when Doi enters the high school, the sempais seem to feel an instant urge to temper him a little. Considering how he used to be in his earlier years this turn-out might seem deserved though.
• Shipper on Deck: Quite a few characters, including Mako and Yuki, ship Takatsuki and Shuuichi.
  • Maho ships Shuuichi and Anna.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: Sasa doesn't appear as much as she used to, or have as big a role, ever since the protagonists hit puberty.
• Shout-Out: Shuuichi is quite the fan of Anne of Green Gables.
• Shown Their Work: The manga has a realistic view on different LGBT topics. Simple cross-dressing, being Transgender, being trans as a kid, questioning one's gender identity as a kid but growing out of it, being gay, sexuality in relation to being trans, trying to pretend to be one's biological sex to confirm they are actually trans etc.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Shuuichi and Maho.
• Skinship Grope: Chizuru does this twice to Takatsuki. Neither occasion ends well. A random girl in the locker room of chapter 107 grabs Takatsuki's waist.
• Spiritual Successor: It's arguably this to Mizuiro Jidai. It can also be seen as one to an earlier manga by Shimura called Shikii no Juunin
• Spell My Name with an "S": Maiko's name is typically written as "Maiko" by fans, but one magazine in the manga romanizes it as "Maico".
• Surprisingly Good English: The passage being read aloud in English class in episode 9 is part of the story Try to Be the Only One, which really is in the New Horizon textbook used by Japanese middle school students. It's even from the correct (year 2) book!
  • The ending theme of the anime also begins with a bit of English that is pronounced properly.
    • It helps that the singer of the ending, Rie Fu is bilingual in both Japanese and English.
• Tall, Dark and Bishoujo - A couple of subversions:
  • Takatsuki and the teacher he admired falls under the Tall, Dark and Handsome category.
  • Sarashina, who matches with the looks and self-confidence, but is at the same time tomboyish and childish.
  • Anna, who has the looks and the impression... and is not too happy about it, since she's actually somewhat of a Shrinking Violet.
  • Saori lacks the "tall" part, but otherwise fits perfectly.
• Third Person Person: Chizuru, more so in the anime.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Both Maho and Chiba early on, though both are Justified.
• Tragic Dream
• Transgender: Shuuichi, Takatsuki, and Yuki.
• Trans Equals Gay: Several bullies mock Shuuichi about her 'crossdressing', saying that she's gay.
• Tsundere: Maho, big time.
• Twelve-Episode Anime
• Uncanny Family Resemblance: Shuuichi and Maho, especially when the former grew their hair into a bob like her sister. Oka's little brother looks exactly like him, right down to the haircut.
  • Funnily enough, while they don't resemble any of their parents too much, they look almost exactly like their aunt looked about their years. And said aunt, then Miss Kimishima, just happened to be the first crush of a boy... who became Shuuichi's homeroom teacher in the middle school and therefore couldn't really keep his calm in the girl's presence. Ouch.
• Unkempt Beauty: Yuki in recent chapters, and occasionally Takatsuki the resident pretty boy.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Shuuichi and Anna, especially in recent chapters. Ever since they broke up, there's been tense moments. Shuuichi makes it clear that she loves Anna, and Anna seems to feel the same way, but nothing ever happens except for a lot of blushing and Ship Tease.
  • The tension has ended, because it's shown that they're dating again.
• Unwanted Harem: Almost criminal to list this one here due to the intense realism used when portraying it. A subversion of the common associated tropes, but falls cleanly into a Harem; it's arguably a deconstruction of harems.
• Villainous Crossdresser: Fumiya Ninomiya crossdresses just to impress Chiba. While not an outright "villain", he is portrayed as a bit of a slimeball when compared to the actual trans characters in the cast.
• Webcomic Time: Six years in-series was nine years in real life. The series was written throughout The Noughties so you can tell when a chapter is written by the technology. Originally not that many kids had cellphones but later on almost everyone has them; the type of cellphone has also changed from flippable to touch screen in a few cases. We see Playstation 2s and the occasional Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable too.
• Wham! Episode: Episode 9. For the manga chapter 31, chapter 32, chapter 54, chapter 63, chapter 66, and chapter 99 come to mind.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Less apparent than other examples, and more realistic, but still there. A common complaint about the manga is that the kids act "too" mature for ten through thirteen year olds, although it's less about too mature and more about too aware, children who aren't trans tend not to overanalyze and philosophize about gender until they're older, while transkids feel the pressure sooner.

1. ↑ To explain, Chizuru and {{spoiler|Takatsuki have gone to school
2. ↑ The last two episodes were made into one episode when aired on television, but the Blu-Ray cuts them in half again