Anime and manga characters are mirrors of reality: these fictional beings are some of the most colorful representations of humanity in art and media.

Frilly pink hair, glistening eyes, Herculean strength, or time-leaping powers, every character has something special.

Beyond these funky characteristics, one more defining aspect is gender. Though anime and manga characters aren’t real, their gender is essential for the audience’s comprehension and attachment when it comes to the plot and arc, and it simply brings them to life.

Gender expression plays an immense role in the relevancy of this Japanese subculture, but its importance is often overlooked. It’s a platform for the kaleidoscopic spectrum of gender and unconventional style and sexuality statements without the trash constraints of reality.

But gender diversity and queerness in anime and manga hold a different value than the same kind of representation in the West. Rather than a push for political relevancy or “correctness”, the representation of gender non-conform and gender-queer characters feels unpretentious and genuinely connected to the rest of the story and visuals, instead of a magnetic tactic to attract a wider audience or, in other words, queerbaiting.

Regardless, it’s an underrated facet of the crazy subculture that is Japanese manga and anime. Genderfluid, non-binary, transgender, and other gender-queer characters have existed since the beginning of manga, being an object of fascination or anecdotal. sabukaru leaps into the recent conversations about this abstract yet wholly paramount topic, analyzing the most known and most representative anime and manga characters, going from superheroic protagonists to butt-of-the-joke side-kicks.

To clarify the comprehension of this analysis, it is essential to remember that gender and sex hold different meanings. One’s sex is purely biological and calls to one’s reproductive health, and most of that remains scientific, with female and male being the norm. The label of intersex falls into the category of sex, and less of gender, as it has something to do with one's biological constitution first, and expression, secondary. Gender is exactly the latter: expression. This can be especially communicated through style, as well as labels like “man”, “woman” and so on, but also social roles such as father, mother, etc.

Roughly explained, the terms non-binary and transgender belong mostly in the category of gender, but they overlap widely with the category of sex as medical treatments such as surgery and hormonal therapy blur the lines.

In sum, sex is different from gender. One is a chance selection of chromosomes, the other is self-expression inherent in a society where the concept of gender exists in almost all interactions.

Non-binary is not equal to a “third gender”: it’s an umbrella term for people of genders that aren’t men or women, such as genderfluid, agender, bigender, etc.

Non-binary people often make themselves known by their pronouns and labels, hence needing a “coming out” - similar to transgender people, who can also be non-binary, as these labels are not mutually exclusive. On that note, a transgender person is someone who wishes to change sex or has undergone procedures [such as hormone replacement therapy or surgery] to change that.

With that in mind, gender non-conformity represents anyone who does not conform to societal standards of gender, just like we expect skirts to be worn by women and men to sport body hair or facial hair - it’s not the same thing as being queer.

The only reason why there are so many terms to describe gender identity and gender queerness is that modern society requires gender distinction enormously, and only comprehends gender through a binary view, hence the need for “feminine”, “masculine”, and agender, X-gender, or androgynous categories.

The queer jargon of today seems excessive but is actually meant to explain very simple terms related to the spectrum and diversity of gender. It’s understandably confusing if you’re not used to it - Google is your friend if you need it.

But androgynous anime and manga characters are somewhat vast. Androgyny, contrary to popular belief, has nothing to do with sex or gender.

It’s true that many queer people love and adopt androgyny and create communities around it, but though it represents a facet of queerness, it’s not necessarily linked to gender-queerness but instead associated with gender non-conformity: it’s neither boxed in masculinity nor femininity while simultaneously being masculine and feminine. This being said, androgyny can correlate to queer-coded elements, as seen in this article analyzing the characters of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

Gender is a social construct - that is why there is so much disagreement, as it is performative and therefore interpretive. It evolves with time, and so do the studies around it.

In previous decades, it wasn’t so much of a relevant casual political discourse, and since the Japanese language does not have pronouns similar to English [as in she, he, his, theirs, etc.], manga and anime from the 20th century have a completely different perspective on gender non-conformity.

It’s safe to say that LGBTQ+ representation wasn’t on the minds of many mangakas, but a few liked to experiment with gender roles and societal standards, fictionalize biology, and so on, in order to spice up stories and characters.

The absolute best is Sapphire from Princess Knight [1999], with an undeveloped representation of the modern non-binary person. Sapphire was born as a girl but with the “blue heart of a boy” along with the “pink heart of a girl”, as a trickery from the angel Tink. Due to her differences, she was raised as a boy so she can inherit the throne, but her jealous counterparts desperately try to prove that she’s a girl and simply cannot attain the position of king.

It’s through the complex constitution of Sapphire that many non-binary people see themselves. Her curly short hair, her androgynous silhouette, and the symbolism of the duality of her hearts - she is after all a charming character.

Many non-binary people were forced to play a role or were raised in a gender-conforming way, adding to dysphoric distress later on, and Sapphire depicts this, as subtle as it can be. She doesn’t conform to traditional womanhood and prefers manhood, all while remaining womanly, therefore creating dilemmas for a system that never included her in the first place.

Though Tezuka only created this character for storyline purposes and not to enrich a social gender discourse, Sapphire is an honorable queer beacon of manga. Lady Oscar from The Rose of Versailles [1979] is also similar: though she’s openly a cisgender woman, she often takes male roles and dresses similar to a man would, and entertains multiple sapphic interactions.

On top of that, since Sapphire has been cursed with the “blue heart of a boy” and the “pink heart of a girl”, easily can this character be a metaphor for the label of intersex. She is an understated queer character that has been unfortunately lost in time

Sapphire is kind of similar to the character of Ranma Saotome in Ranma ½ [1987], except Ranma is a boy cursed to become a girl at inconvenient times, meaning that he physically transforms into a female version of himself but also adopts behaviors stemming from girlhood.

One can argue that Ranma is a depiction of dysphoria, but because of the heavy use of humor, this argument can be easily discarded. Though Ranma is a good character to talk about cisgender experiences, especially through a Japanese perspective [as discussed in this article], it’s a little far from gender-non-conformity as he perfectly plays into the role of “girl” as much as “boy”. However, Ranma is fluid in this way, switching from both ends of the binary spectrum.

Haruka Tenou from Sailor Moon [1991], known as Sailor Uranus is often crowned as a covert lesbian character. According to a couple of episodes of the series, Haruka could also be considered non-binary. In the series, Tenou responds positively to being called a man and does not reprimand the label of woman either.

Since the Sailor Moon franchise began in the 90s, it’s hard to judge if the creator Naoko Takeuchi intended for Haruka Tenou to have this identity. In fact, Tenou distinctly dresses very masculinely, similar to today’s labels of “masc” or “butch”, and femininely, like “femme”, consequently wavering between looking like a handsome blond man or a swift schoolgirl fighter in a sailor uniform.

This “dual identity” playfully questioning the binary seems to be prevalent in older anime and manga, perhaps because the concept of gender neutrality is hard to picture in such a binary-dominated society.

Transgender-ness in anime and manga in the 20th century existed aplenty and more than not took shapes that we recognize today. The character’s arc deeply relied on their ability to “be” transgender though, and it seems that authors would not let these transgender characters exist in a context where their gender identity was not the central focus of the plot.

Claudine [1978], written by Riyoko Ikeda, who also wrote The Rose of Versailles, is the story of a French transgender man named Claude and his slow spiral that ends in a tragic suicide. His life was tormented by heartbreak and rejection as transphobia was the basis.

It is made clear that Claude is transgender and the story revolves around whether the people in his life accept him. Draped in the drama of unrequited love and failure to find consolation, it’s an eye-roll of a story in today’s time: a tale of pain for a non-transgender audience, or better yet, trauma porn. Albeit the outdated story, the art and dialogue remain beautiful.

Hibari from Stop!! Hibari-Kun [1981] is one of the cutest transgender girls in manga, but she is plagued by rampant transphobia in the story as well. The manga was written in a way where the author challenges his cis-straight male audience on whether they consider transgender women as women.

Since this was set in the 80s, Stop!! Hibari-Kun would not fly today due to the rudeness, conversion attempts, and misgendering she casually has to go through, on top of the racism and poor humor. Yet, she is illustrated as a beautiful young woman and does not hint at the then-popular narrative that trans women are “traps” or “confused”. Taiga Gekijirou of the same manga is a transgender man, and he is also depicted similarly, with plenty of compassion and character.

The tragic transgender trope is overdone and not necessary anymore. Often written by cisgender authors or in cisgender perspectives, it’s a waste to label it as transgender representation as it does virtually nothing but frame trans people as fated to have a poor quality of life.

Haruhi Fujioka from Ouran High School Host Club

Haruhi Fujioka in Ouran High School Host Club [2002] seems to be similar to Sapphire from Princess Knight with her androgynous looks. However, her real identity seems to be much more rooted in girlhood and less in queerness as she’s showered with praise and put in a special spotlight when traditionally feminine. In this case, she’s considered more of a tomboy, highlighting the term “dansou” which means “a girl dressed as a boy”.

Ruka Urushibara from Steins;Gate [2011] is a transgender woman, and though her gender is made obvious, the representation could be better. The issue with Ruka Urushibara is that she’s completely mistreated as a transgender woman, boxed as feminine only because she is judged to be more modest, softer, and daintier than the other girl characters.

Her physical dysphoria over her body is made clear, and so is her general distress regarding her position. Ruka does end up with her ideal body thanks to a supernatural occurrence, and though that may be a “happy ending” for her, this erases her “trans-ness” in the context of the story, only validating her gender by inevitably switching her narrative to that of a cisgender woman.

Emporio Ivankov from One Piece [1999] is a transgender character, or so are they commonly referred to. Due to the character’s unserious nature, it’s hard to say what Emporio Ivankov is in terms of gender.

Their “female hormone power” is an interesting take, as it overtly refers to hormonal replacement therapy for MTF [male-to-female] transitioners, and they are nicknamed “Queen” or “Okama King” [okama is a slang term for a feminine man or gay man], which directs them toward drag queen culture, josou [a man wearing girl clothes], and generalized queer-coding. But just like many inaccurately “transgender” characters in anime and manga, they often only tick off one or few characteristics of being a transgender person, and if it’s not fictionalized alternative reproductive biology, it’s ambiguity or fluidity.

Now, ironically, the topic of ambiguous anime and manga characters becomes very vague and mixed up since gender ambiguity relies on cultural experience and knowledge. Many characters from the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure [1987] franchise fit into this category as they are queer-coded [as analyzed in this article], and rightfully so as the creators clad them in the most outrageous fashion and harness them with differentiable behaviors.

Foo Fighters from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures

But Foo Fighters is a memorable character in terms of ambiguity. In fact, they are genderless and also by default sexless because their body is composed of shapeshifting plankton. There is nothing more gender-fluid than an ever-changing customizable appearance made of an oceanic bunch of critters and algae.

JoJo characters are therefore similar to One Piece characters: though a handful of them challenge gender norms, rare are those explicitly queer and appropriately representative of non-binary and transgender labels.

However, Yamato from One Piece is a transgender symbol: assigned female at birth, he is a transgender man and treats his birth name Yamato as his “other name”, similar to real-life deadnames.

Okiku, of the same anime, is on the same page. She is a transgender woman, and the creators clarified that though she was assigned male at birth, she is very much a woman.

She has a dead name, Kikunojo, which represents her ardent past as a samurai. She even stated that she is a “woman at heart” and thoroughly enjoys herself now.

On the same note, Grell Sutcliffe from Black Butler [2006] is another excellent example of a transgender character: it is made clear that she believes that “God made a mistake” when assigning her sex. Sutcliffe is partly closeted as she usually opts to dress like men to hide her gender and other parts of her character.

But when ambiguity is done right, it feels like justice. A perfect example would be the manga Kino’s Journey [2000]. Fans argue about the pronouns best suitable for Kino, the main character, but many lean towards the idea that Kino is a non-binary person using “they/them” pronouns and assigned female at birth - which makes sense even in accord with the story.

However, as previously mentioned, due to Japan’s lack of a distinct category for third-person plural pronouns, Kino’s use of “they/them” is not explicit. Nonetheless, they are a wonderful character for non-binary representation and are especially relevant in today’s gender discourse.

This is also applicable to Crona from Soul Eater [2008] and Hange [Hanji] Zoe from Attack on Titan [2013].

Popular openly non-binary characters are, among others, Hideyoshi Kinoshita in Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts [2007] and Leeron Littner from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann [2007].

Ryuji Ayukawa, or Yuka, in Blue Period [2017], is another excellent genderqueer character who validates the entire spectrum of gender diversity in one shot. She’s assigned male at birth but wants to be perceived both as a man and as a woman, expressing their desires to be feminine but still labeling himself as queer, in terms of sexuality.

But the unforgettable Yuu Asuka from Stars Align [2019] deserves to be put on a pedestal. They are a beautiful non-binary character, mostly because they express common non-binary desires. Though many non-binary people can agree that this label fits them best, it often feels “incomplete” or too boxed; after all, non-binary is not a third “option”, it’s all the other complex gender identities that aren’t girl or boy.

Shaggyjebus on YouTube made an excellent analysis of this character in the context of the show and on non-binary and transgender representation. Arguably, Yuu Asuka is the best and most accurate representation of queer genders in anime.

A lot of characters pass off as gender non-conforming, especially in the West, because of the female gaze. Now, shoujo is a genre of Japanese comics explicitly aimed at girls and young women, often focusing on romance and drama.

Therefore, many men or male characters are executed in a certain style exuding more femininity than in other genres. But this “female gaze” style is concentrated on the demands of Japanese women and readers that appreciate traditional femininity, so beauty standards are attuned to bits of imagination and desire [backed up by capitalism, inevitably].

This may be why men in shoujo content are so casually feminine, with sultry big eyes, glossy lips, and androgynous silhouettes. Additionally, the okama stereotype prevalent in Japan [okama is a slang term for a feminine man or gay man] muddles the purpose of gender non-conformity: the question of whether it’s for entertainment purposes [see ridicule] or for diversifying this fictional cast arises.

But in anime and manga, the representation of queer genders or gender non-conforming characters is not as political as in Western media.

Perhaps this is why the representation feels so sincere to the plot and authentic as it’s not as commonly backed up by a queerbaiting agenda. Gender non-conform characters created in the West are more or less designed on purpose for political relevancy, while Japan permits itself a wider expression for characters when it comes to archetypes, tropes, and more, especially in personality traits, fashion, and overall visual appearance. Presumably, because manga and anime characters are often based on fictional lore, it gives more leeway for contorting gendered standards.

There will always be the characters with the least obvious gender spicing up the story with burning questions, and there are so many still waiting to be discovered by the masses. After all, there are countless reasons to love anime and manga, and the purity of its characters is just one of them.

follow sabukaru on instagram

About the Author:
Mizuki Khoury
Born in Montreal, based in Tokyo. Sabukaru’s senior writer and works as an artist under Exit Number Five.