As a gay man who also love feminine man (Actual feminine mlm. Not small petite short men), let us have this. Stop calling this trans because it's just reinforced sexist and homophobic (especially when author confirm it. Lets stop making this specifically a woman and straight just because mlm character is actually feminine). It's just as problematic as calling mulan a Trans man.
EXACTLY!!
They even have the nerve to call people transphobic if people say characters like “Tsubaki” (windbreaker) and Kinosaki (marriage toxin), are feminine dudes not trans women.
Unless the author says they’re trans, they’re a man.
The same goes with masculine girls (tomboys)
Because Hiura doesn't identify himself as a guy so he's not really trans. And even though he is so soft, cute and feminine, Hiura is manly!
Sis at some point we have to open our eyes and realize that a bad translation of what is probably some straight woman's special interest in crossdressing is not "straightwashing" a piece of "representation for feminine gay men" its just mid low effort translation for an ultimately mid manga. It's unrealistic otokonoko slop whose early volumes are very low on actual plot and contain things like Hiura being moved to the girl's basketball team because he's just SO girly, which is probably what confused the original translators in the first place lol. The blurring of the lines between (an extreme version of) of gay male femininity and actually being a woman is not a bug. It's the point. Because these kinds of tropes aren't born out of a desire to represent or depict gay men with a complex relationship to femininity. They're from fetish doujins for horny straight male otaku. This is just how horny straight female otaku interpret them. I also tried to deny this when I was a teenage gay boy and engage with these things like they're trying to be a genuine depiction of a real identity but most of the time they're just not and this time it's clearly not
Ok, but op is still trying to say that gay feminine men exist. Yeah these types of stories about otokonoko culture exist to be fetishizes but the characters in the stories aren’t trans unless otherwise.
People shouldn’t call that character is trans bc they like femininity or call femboys trans for the same reason
Yes but my point is that the confusion around this story has nothing to do with some kind of agenda to "straightwash" feminine gay men by saying they're trans (which, let's be real, is not a real thing in the English speaking world). This manga, and most other otokonoko manga, intentionally blur the lines between feminine gay identity and womanhood, frankly usually for fetish purposes. Seven Seas generally puts out mid quality translations targeted towards general audiences that aren't familiar with otaku culture and they probably decided that the easiest way to convey wtf is happening to their audience was to just pick one to explain to their audience why Hiura is playing girl's basketball lmao
Now that this series is getting an anime adaptation, let’s make sure NOBODY forgets exactly how sexist AND homophobic so‑called “progressive” people really are toward feminine mlm men.
Being feminine , or dressing in ways that don’t fit narrow “masculine” stereotypes does NOT turn a man into a woman ever. Stop throwing words around carelessly: calling a character “femboy” and re‑labeling them a trans woman just because they don’t act “manly enough” isn’t respect, it’s sexist and its especially homophobic if they also a mlm.
And let’s remind everyone of the mess that already happened: Back in 2022, Seven Seas Entertainment, the English publisher trusted to translate manga and novels deliberately altered this character’s identity in their version, rewriting him entirely as a transgender woman. This change was only for first volume, and they only backed down after massive call out and when the original author stepped. The creator stated plainly and without room for confusion: this is a BL story, and this character is written specifically as a FEMININE MAN NOT trans.
Worst of all? They never apologized for being sexist, homophobic, or for essentially straightwashing the story and erasing the character’s identity. They only issued a sorry because they got caught and called out publicly. That tells you everything you need to know.
I genuinely hope the anime team respects the source and doesn’t butcher it the same way. Straightwashing BL and “trans‑washing” feminine mlm men, treating anyone who doesn’t fit rigid gender boxes as “wrong” and needing to be re‑categorized will NEVER convince me you are actually progressive. It’s just a patronizing, controlling way to erase identities you don’t bother understanding.
Who gave translators and publishers the right to mess with, rewrite, and vandalize the creator’s work just because YOU decide it’s “problematic” or “doesn’t fit YOUR modern views”? What is actually problematic is refusing to understand and respect the point the story is making: men CAN be feminine, soft, gentle, or androgynous and they are STILL FULLY MEN. Being feminine does not equal being female. Every time you twist or rewrite that, you prove exactly what you are: loud, performative “woke” types who are actually deeply sexist, anf if they also gay then it is deeply homophobic, and obsessed with policing other people’s stories and identities..
Your ONLY job as a translator or publisher is to faithfully convey what the author wrote NOT to impose YOUR agenda, YOUR morals, or YOUR will onto someone else’s creation.