Tonari wa Futsuu no Nijika (-chan) - Vol. 1 Ch. 2

[MangaDex]

 

[alienhands]

i like that the series just dismantles the usual cringe crossdressing trope immediately in this chapter

 

[Jhonathan45]

i like that the series just dismantles the usual cringe crossdressing trope immediately in this chapter

It didn't, it falls right into the trope of a feminine boy. The male protagonist is still a boy who dresses and presents themselves in a feminine way.
I don't even understand why on such series would there be an issue on the protagonist being a crossdresser. This is a Shoujo romance, the element of fantasy and focus of the narrative, presented in the first chapter, lies on the male protagonist being an attractive boy who doesn't follow gender norms and allows the female protagonist to freely explore and express their gender. If he wasn't a boy the element of fantasy and narrative would take a dip.
Also, this isn't the first, third or even tenth Shoujo series with a feminine male lead, that's a very common trope in this demographic. Feminine boys are perceived as charming and attractive in there.
The cringe crossdresser trope, as you called it, is well liked by Shoujo fans and authors, and the whole manga industry for that matter.

 

[vvboondoggirl]

Desperately hoping they either learn the word nonbinary lol or trans woman otherwise im going to check out. Dont need the millionth story to appropriate trans narratives but be scared of telling it as such, either way. Need Aira to go nonbinary w it too.

 

[KyroOfficial]

It didn't, it falls right into the trope of a feminine boy. The male protagonist is still a boy who dresses and presents themselves in a feminine way.
I don't even understand why on such series would there be an issue on the protagonist being a crossdresser. This is a Shoujo romance, the element of fantasy and focus of the narrative, presented in the first chapter, lies on the male protagonist being an attractive boy who doesn't follow gender norms and allows the female protagonist to freely explore and express their gender. If he wasn't a boy the element of fantasy and narrative would take a dip.
Also, this isn't the first, third or even tenth Shoujo series with a feminine male lead, that's a very common trope in this demographic. Feminine boys are perceived as charming and attractive in there.
The cringe crossdresser trope, as you called it, is well liked by Shoujo fans and authors, and the whole manga industry for that matter.

There isnt enough context to say theyre a feminine boy and not nb or trans (or whatever else if Im forgetting smth). We know virtually nothing about the character other than they dont care what other people think.

 

[Jhonathan45]

There isnt enough context to say theyre a feminine boy and not nb or trans (or whatever else if Im forgetting smth). We know virtually nothing about the character other than they dont care what other people think.

By what the works showed they're a boy. He's seen as a boy by the female lead and never claims to be anything else

 

[vvboondoggirl]

By what the works showed they're a boy. He's seen as a boy by the female lead and never claims to be anything else

you would fail a 4th grade reading comprehension test. Aira repeatedly will either use "born a guy" (which doesn't mean he is a guy now or else uses guy to refer to that fact). To her "nijika is nijika" while she additionally is often thinking of them as a girl. It's clear she is respecting what nijika feels so far... that being responding to the question of "are you a guy or girl?" with, "does it matter?" or else "if you thought I was a boy, why would that change your interest." The work shows they do not feel strongly about being either a girl or a boy so far. To them it literally doesn't matter, you'd have to be reading this with your head in the sand to not get that.

 

[alienhands]

It didn't, it falls right into the trope of a feminine boy. The male protagonist is still a boy who dresses and presents themselves in a feminine way.
I don't even understand why on such series would there be an issue on the protagonist being a crossdresser. This is a Shoujo romance, the element of fantasy and focus of the narrative, presented in the first chapter, lies on the male protagonist being an attractive boy who doesn't follow gender norms and allows the female protagonist to freely explore and express their gender. If he wasn't a boy the element of fantasy and narrative would take a dip.
Also, this isn't the first, third or even tenth Shoujo series with a feminine male lead, that's a very common trope in this demographic. Feminine boys are perceived as charming and attractive in there.
The cringe crossdresser trope, as you called it, is well liked by Shoujo fans and authors, and the whole manga industry for that matter.

I mean it did? The usual thing is ”tee hee, this crossdresser wants to trick men to have sex with them” and this is not that

 

[Jhonathan45]

you would fail a 4th grade reading comprehension test. Aira repeatedly will either use "born a guy" (which doesn't mean he is a guy now or else uses guy to refer to that fact). To her "nijika is nijika" while she additionally is often thinking of them as a girl. It's clear she is respecting what nijika feels so far... that being responding to the question of "are you a guy or girl?" with, "does it matter?" or else "if you thought I was a boy, why would that change your interest." The work shows they do not feel strongly about being either a girl or a boy so far. To them it literally doesn't matter, you'd have to be reading this with your head in the sand to not get that.

Not caring about how others perceive you is different from not having a gender identity or being trans. By what the works showed Nijika is a boy, but doesn't want or care about being boxed into labels. Also, the translation of this manga is making some pretty questionable choices when it comes to the gender of the characters. In japanese the female lead doesn't say that Nijika "was born a guy" they say "their gender is male"/"性別は男子だよ"

Also I don't want to hear about reading comprehension from someone who complains about a work not exploring gender and expression in the same way as them.

Desperately hoping they either learn the word nonbinary lol or trans woman otherwise im going to check out. Dont need the millionth story to appropriate trans narratives but be scared of telling it as such, either way. Need Aira to go nonbinary w it too.

Like, I'm sorry, but you're the person that some seconds ago was complaining about the work "appropriating trans narratives", even though the series never touched or promised this

 

[Jhonathan45]

I mean it did? The usual thing is ”tee hee, this crossdresser wants to trick men to have sex with them” and this is not that

Crossdressing tropes go way beyond that. And this is still a series about someone falling in love with a crossdresser and getting confused by their beauty, while the crossdresser question and plays with the pre existing convictions and views of gender and sexuality

 

[Calvados]

It's ironic how people are so concerned about labels when reading a series about not liking being labeled

 

[Jhonathan45]

It's ironic how people are so concerned about labels when reading a series about not liking being labeled

It's ironic coming from me, but you're right.
The issue I find, it's on the idea that the needs to be "Queer" in a way for the story to be valid, and I also dislike how the translation team is tackling Nijika's gender. Wanting it or not, we're not as liberated as the character in the work, labels matter to us, to most of the audience, so discussions like this are par of the course