I agree, it really just left a bad Taste in my mouth. As a trans man, the scene in which Takatsuki started wearing skirts again made me feel like garbage. Appearently she did it because she had to get her shit together, but to me it felt like capitulating and that is something I have no choice but to do. Otherwise I might even be kicked out of my parents Home. I know some people detransition, and thats completely valid. But especially when theres so few transmasc characters, this story sends the message that they'll grow out of it when they are older. Even worse is the fact that the only adult LGBT Characters present are creepy as hell. Why would an adult want to spend time with children they just met on the streets? And the first thing the only gay man present in the manga does when he meets takatsuki (whom he perceived as a cis middle school boy) is grope her genitals. So the only adults are one pedo molester and a woman who is friends with him, how nice. I know the author isnt queer, but if she/he wanted to be respectful, the first thing they'd understand is that accusation of pedophilia has been used as justification for violence and murder
I can't say that I completely understand the experience of being trans, I'm demigender. But something I have noticed is how very underrepresented trans men are. There's this strange focus in media, transphobes and sometimes even our own community that solely focuses on trans women and not the experiences of trans men. And I hate to think that it comes from a place of misogyny and that fact that girls are more seen as going through a phase and simply being a tomboy.
The way that the people the kids should look up to in this is very much creepy too, I definitely agree. I grew up with the anime, and seeing that the two had adults to help guide them made me feel so happy as a queer kid still figuring things out but it really sucks now to see how it is in the manga and maybe how it might've been in the anime, as I may have missed it with the perspective of a kid. It's majorly disappointing because I recommend the anime so often, and now I can't do the same with the manga cause it just does not sit right with me.
I remember when I first watched the anime, I tried reading this and never finished. I'm rewatching it again and decided to come back but after reading all these comments, I might just stay satisfied with the anime itself alone cause what do you mean after the dysphoria that Takatsuki experienced, she ends up staying a girl?
Detransitioning can happen, but it seems like from what I've heard, the journey for the ftm character is not handled well and what in the world do you mean someone gropes a child???