Ore ga Watashi ni Naru made - Ch. 74

[MuYu]

Really?
She uses normal clothes, can't everyone see that she isn't fat?

Baggy Clothes + Big breasts pushing them out hides her stomach I guess.
There's also just the fact that kids are the worst and will just say things like that even if they obviously aren't true.

 

[MaevTheDrake]

Isn't the angle kinda... "anti-trans"?
Because Akira DIN'T/DON'T want to be a woman.
The famale body was FORCED on him.
The greatest conflict is, "shouganai", "can't be helped", just accept it and abandon who you was and wanted to be. Akira is mostly trying to become a woman to please others. The bigs about liking "girlish things" and "cute things" blurs things a big because like it already showed with that other boy there's nothing wrong with man liking cute things.

I still don't know what is the point of this story, and this new character makes things interesting. He is in the same position as Akira but refuses to bent to the others and remains "true" to himself.
How will this character affect Akira?

I actually disagree with this. Akira was always given the choice to stay a boy, and their family wanted them to stay as one. The story thus far has been about Akira processing all these conflicting expectations and choosing what they like (like when Aoi told Akira that girls could like boyish things, and when Akira showed their friend that using makeup and being pretty was not shameful for boys).

Questioning your gendered presentation and how you want others to perceive you is the furthest thing from being anti-trans. It's kind of a bait and switch of the terrible forcefem trope, where you think Akira is being Stockholm syndrome'd into liking being a girl, but instead, the story shows Akira various paths and modes of presentation for them to choose on their own.

 

[tubular]

Also, no one's pointed it out yet, but this chapter is very, very yuri

 

[TenmaMakoto]

Isn't the angle kinda... "anti-trans"?
Because Akira DIN'T/DON'T want to be a woman.
The famale body was FORCED on him.
The greatest conflict is, "shouganai", "can't be helped", just accept it and abandon who you was and wanted to be. Akira is mostly trying to become a woman to please others. The bigs about liking "girlish things" and "cute things" blurs things a big because like it already showed with that other boy there's nothing wrong with man liking cute things.

I still don't know what is the point of this story, and this new character makes things interesting. He is in the same position as Akira but refuses to bent to the others and remains "true" to himself.
How will this character affect Akira?

No, I wouldn't say the angle is anti-trans. The way the conflict is introduced really isn't a 1:1 trans experience cuz we don't have some gender bending magic illness irl but there are still parallels with the trans experience, even the idea of resisting to some point the process of trying to fit your body to the other sex bimodal characteristics. Like, it isn't universal since being trans is a really individualized process but there are some trans people who also are afraid to start transitioning cuz they don't want some of the traits the hormones of the opposite spectrum would offer to them in the package (like some transmascs don't fell 100% about facial hair or the possibility of male pattern baldness and some transfems don't want boobs or the risk of getting period symptoms). There's also the difficulty in navigating and getting the feel of belonging to some group once you start to transition and that part gets as clear as it can be with Akira. Idk, at least for me as a transfem this story has been more relatable than not in most of it's points but it may be just my experience with gender.

Also I disagree with your take that Akira is trying to please others, she tried to conform at first cuz that what she did as a boy, but now she's breaking out of her shell and learning how to be herself even with people's expectations.

 

[AccForManga]

Hmm, if Akira wants to reclaim at least some of their masculinity they need to lock in.

...Have you been paying attention to the story/character at all?

 

[Jenaxu]

Superficially I'd call it more a reverse trans story than an "anti-trans" story. Instead of someone coming to terms with their gender identity being at odds with their biology and then choosing to change themselves, it's someone coming to terms with their gender identity being in line with their biology after being forced to change.

But the core is still absolutely a trans story because it's about that journey of understanding who they want to be, how to navigate gendered life when they don't feel like they fully fit in either way, and how a lot of stuff regarding "gender" is just more loose and malleable than people necessarily think. There are some moments of conflict between Akira and how others want them to present, but the greatest conflict has always been within themselves and what Akira fundamentally wants. The only major difference is that the gender bender magic flips the sequence of events backwards (instead of figuring out their gender identity first and then becoming trans, they become trans first and then figure out their gender identity), but stuff like how the story depicts Akira's doubt and dysphoria and process of understanding themselves is, at least to me, more subtly accurate than a lot of trans media; especially when there are a lot more trans manga focused on that outer conflict with society rather than the inner conflict with themselves.

Also, being a mtf story is kinda written into the title right?

 

[Panino]

I actually disagree with this. Akira was always given the choice to stay a boy, and their family wanted them to stay as one. The story thus far has been about Akira processing all these conflicting expectations and choosing what they like (like when Aoi told Akira that girls could like boyish things, and when Akira showed their friend that using makeup and being pretty was not shameful for boys).

Questioning your gendered presentation and how you want others to perceive you is the furthest thing from being anti-trans. It's kind of a bait and switch of the terrible forcefem trope, where you think Akira is being Stockholm syndrome'd into liking being a girl, but instead, the story shows Akira various paths and modes of presentation for them to choose on their own.

I didn't meant "anti-trans" as "anti-trans", against it, like you all must have imagined.
But whteaver, I don't know how to put into the right words.

About the bold part: wasn't Akira's conflict not only that he had a female body, but also that he was super ashamed for being a boy? Because of the bad things he had done to girls when he was a boy? He associated being a boy as something negative, it was almost like becoming a girl was some sort of atonement.

So there's there, Akira feels guilty for having been a boy and this shame influences his thinking and decisions a lot.

Also I disagree with your take that Akira is trying to please others, she tried to conform at first cuz that what she did as a boy, but now she's breaking out of her shell and learning how to be herself even with people's expectations.

Learning to be "herself" as a girl.
Besides the same of being a boy he also felt like he was deceiving others. Because he wasn't a girl he resisted acting like one. About this he doesn't need to feel guilty and restrain himself, as a girl (specially for those how know the secret), but there's still all I mentioned above.

Superficially I'd call it more a reverse trans story than an "anti-trans" story. Instead of someone coming to terms with their gender identity being at odds with their biology and then choosing to change themselves, it's someone coming to terms with their gender identity being in line with their biology after being forced to change.

Soo... kinda like, "gay cure".

 

[Maczok4]

...Have you been paying attention to the story/character at all?

Yes, I could be to vague with that comment, my bad honestly.

I meant that after reading I always had a thought that Akira wanted to keep at least part of her masculinity. Right now she is super feminine and girly in the end. I know that she wants it, but I'm just wondering if MC will have second thoughts or if she will simply follow that path.

I also have similar thoughts with her character. Akira is super considerate, nice and sympathetic for everyone, but we had this chapter where Shin was offering her a deal to be a little meaner. MC refused of course, but, again, I'm wondering if that will last -being completely selfless can be tiring and stressful too, I think and Shion's character has to be for something.

In the end, if there won't be any major changes to Akira's character that's fine too. It's her story after all and it's great.

 

[undeadman]

Yeah, i have the same opinion as you, but it just make me more curios, why she get different treatment, it kinda sad to see that she have to do this, she is not a transgender, she have a real female body, she can't do this all the time, it only make other people asking about her more because of it, and you know she can't do this all the time, she will definitely going to go to same gender bath after swimming or when she don't have warm water in her house(like some manga or anime plot story), so that why this plot only makes me wonder why she get this treatment, this plot only add more pressure to her mental

This is the kind of gender stuff I like the story for exploring but I wouldn't say that they aren't a trans girl there's a really good video talking about how tatsuki fujimoto handles trans people that is rather interesting and kinda talks about this called "fujimoto and the horror of never transitioning" I recommend it it's rather good but basically in the video it talks about how in one of fujimotos one shots a boy gets turned into a girl via virus which essentially turns this cis boy into a trans one because of the experience of being a boy trapped in a girl's body however in this case their gender is a little more funky as the social expectations from the people around them is muddled with some expecting them to be more masculine and others expecting them to be more feminine and meanwhile their caught up in it all just trying to figure out what they want to be which to me makes for an insanely interesting story

Early on in the story I thought this was going to be a more trans masc story and now I don't know whether the main character is going to be non binary or a girl (which is why I've been using they/them for them this while time) but either way it's very interesting

TLDR: I think this manga kinda makes a trans girl who is also cis and then explores how that would look, also I forgot the main characters name

Sorry if this is hard to read I've just blurted out my thoughts about this manga without refining them in the slightest

 

[Lev559]

Yeah, i have the same opinion as you, but it just make me more curios, why she get different treatment, it kinda sad to see that she have to do this, she is not a transgender, she have a real female body, she can't do this all the time, it only make other people asking about her more because of it, and you know she can't do this all the time, she will definitely going to go to same gender bath after swimming or when she don't have warm water in her house(like some manga or anime plot story), so that why this plot only makes me wonder why she get this treatment, this plot only add more pressure to her mental

I've always felt like its more for Akira than anything else. Like, Akira has been a girl since..what? 6? That's a good chunk of her life...in fact, its the vast majority of it, since she likely only remembers being a boy for 2-3 years max. Like, Akira literally grew up as a girl in most ways. On top of the trauma due to the bullying stuff from childhood..yeah it always has felt more like a lot of the stuff is because Akira is uncomfortable with it rather than anyone actually stopping things from happening.

She DOES seem to be understanding just who she is more though over time.

 

[Lev559]

Yes, I could be to vague with that comment, my bad honestly.

I meant that after reading I always had a thought that Akira wanted to keep at least part of her masculinity. Right now she is super feminine and girly in the end. I know that she wants it, but I'm just wondering if MC will have second thoughts or if she will simply follow that path.

I also have similar thoughts with her character. Akira is super considerate, nice and sympathetic for everyone, but we had this chapter where Shin was offering her a deal to be a little meaner. MC refused of course, but, again, I'm wondering if that will last -being completely selfless can be tiring and stressful too, I think and Shion's character has to be for something.

In the end, if there won't be any major changes to Akira's character that's fine too. It's her story after all and it's great.

A lot of the more recent chapters seem to be more about Akira figuring out who she actually is (The early ones were more about her forgiving herself over what she had done, since she seemed to think the transformation was punishment for a while)

 

[Orangechrisy]

I guess I'm biased as a trans person but it's wild to me to see people suggesting that this isn't a trans story/is the opposite and about conforming to biology or whatever, cause like, this manga to me is the most trans feeling manga I have read, even more than manga that are explicitly about transness (like Wandering Son and To Strip The Flesh, both of which I love). But the way this manga uses its premise to explore Akira's trans feelings is, to me, second to none. Like I guess it's technically an allegory but it's really just the thing itself, it intimately understands the family pressures to be something you aren't, of repressing yourself to appease those people because you feel like you don't understand yourself just yet, the tepid slow exploration of gender and presentation, the inherent alienating feelings you get around others, the struggles of coming out and the fear of rejection for what you were, and the uncomfortableness with intimacy and attraction and what attraction even means. All of these things and more, I think Until I Become Me handles super well, and because of that, the story that it is telling is intrinsically trans.

 

[Panino]

I guess I'm biased as a trans person but it's wild to me to see people suggesting that this isn't a trans story/is the opposite and about conforming to biology or whatever, cause like, this manga to me is the most trans feeling manga I have read, even more than manga that are explicitly about transness (like Wandering Son and To Strip The Flesh, both of which I love). But the way this manga uses its premise to explore Akira's trans feelings is, to me, second to none. Like I guess it's technically an allegory but it's really just the thing itself, it intimately understands the family pressures to be something you aren't, of repressing yourself to appease those people because you feel like you don't understand yourself just yet, the tepid slow exploration of gender and presentation, the inherent alienating feelings you get around others, the struggles of coming out and the fear of rejection for what you were, and the uncomfortableness with intimacy and attraction and what attraction even means. All of these things and more, I think Until I Become Me handles super well, and because of that, the story that it is telling is intrinsically trans.

My problem with questioning "what type of trans story is this" is because is one of those histories where the character gets it's body changed suddenly for no reason at all, because of some unexplained magical phenomenon.
Think about this, if this happened in the real world, would "we" be discussing trans things or would we be freaking out that "the supernatural exist"?

Yes, this is a "trans story", there's trans themes here, as they can exist even in "non trans stories", but there's also other themes and things yo discuss.
In the beginning we could pay more attention instead to some "masculinity questioning themes". Akira's pain in the beginning, the thing it hurt him the most, wasn't becoming a woman/female, it was discovering the man/male he was. He finally got an external glimpse into the person he was and realized that he was horrible and felt ashamed. One of the biggest reasons why Akira hides he was a man/male is because of the type of man/male he was, the personality, not the body.

Because there's a lot more than just "plain trans" in this story, and there's more than one character in this story that questions what you can like if you're a boy or a girl (Aoi), that I don't "know" what this story is about and what is trying to achieve.
Which makes it a better story, actually?

 

[Cyberchimera]

Natsumi showing her boobs

 

[ChristineGuinn]

Think about this, if this happened in the real world, would "we" be discussing trans things or would we be freaking out that "the supernatural exist"?

Yes, unfortunately we would still be persecuting trans people.
There is already a lot of scientific evidence that show that trans identity is based in biology and is not a choice, (things like fetal exposure to hormones, etc.), and yet society still attacks trans people, and it's been increasing ever since "you know who" got back into office. The implication is that trans people are sick, demented, and usually that they are a danger to children or women. Most trans people just want to be left alone to live their lives.

This is how it relates to Akira and the story.
She suffers from a common thing among trans people, and it's known as "imposter's syndrome." It's the fear that everyone else will discover that you used to be the other gender, and will isolate or harm you for that fact. That's why Akira is so scared to do things like use a public bath or even change clothes in the same room as other girls.

 

[Yukisuna]

IT'S A NEW CHAPTER! Thank you so much!

Jealous Rumi is always such a treat! Delightful!

 

[WangthePhoenix]

every arc is fire. highschool is gonna be insane. satou hatsuki has so much stuff set up:

• choice of high school
• rumi's letter
• erika peacemaking
• whatever the hell is going on with tsuda. compelling asf character who hovers just outside the main circle
• akira attraction???
• nana reunion???
• brand new characters???
• Kirby Air Riders???

 

[darknightgarden]

Yeah, i have the same opinion as you, but it just make me more curios, why she get different treatment, it kinda sad to see that she have to do this, she is not a transgender, she have a real female body, she can't do this all the time, it only make other people asking about her more because of it, and you know she can't do this all the time, she will definitely going to go to same gender bath after swimming or when she don't have warm water in her house(like some manga or anime plot story), so that why this plot only makes me wonder why she get this treatment, this plot only add more pressure to her mental

You sound like a transphobe

No one refers to transgender people as "a transgender"

Have you even read the story, Akira has shown time and time again that she wants to be feminine but outside pressures stop her but her friends are being supportive

She got a female body from the disease but she's showing now that she likes being feminine

Her having a female body is allowing her to discover herself

 

[zdanputra]

You sound like a transphobe

No one refers to transgender people as "a transgender"

Have you even read the story, Akira has shown time and time again that she wants to be feminine but outside pressures stop her but her friends are being supportive

She got a female body from the disease but she's showing now that she likes being feminine

Her having a female body is allowing her to discover herself

Are you even read the story, akira has shown time and time again that she want to accept her new body, so she not a female that trapped in male body, but a female that trying to accept her new body, so i don't see transgender person in here, what i see is a female that get her gender changed because of disease, and she just get trauma because people don't accept her.

 

[Cakes88]

I love this manga so much, i wish it gets updated more frequently..