In Praise of the Blonde Twink who May or May Not be a Trans Girl12 Days of Aniblogging, Day 3There’s been something in the air recently. Last year, the New York Times’ fashion magazine published an article titled “Welcome to the Age of the Twink”, a 600-word LGBT hitpiece arguing that a new wave of “art twinks” are redefining what it means to be an ideal male. The author argues that the term “twink” is being broadened past just gay culture and we should slap it on every slim attractive straight white dude that we see in order to overturn toxic masculinity. Because there’s nothing more revolutionary than, er, fairly conventional western beauty standards. The internet promptly responded by shitting on the author’s brazen attempt to export twinkness to the straight world. I too think it’s an awful take, but I get the feeling there was a satirical bend to the article that got edited out or otherwise miscommunicated. After all, the author is a gay man; why would he misrepresent and diminish his own community like that? The broadening and appropriation of LGBT terminology is a touchy subject. For example, the term “femme” emerged during mid-20th century lesbian culture to describe a woman who performed femininity in her lesbian dyad. Nowadays, many people use “femmes” to refer to anyone who performs femininity, regardless of their gender or orientation. Gay men in particular sometimes use “femme” to refer to especially twinkish guys, treating it as interchangeable with the more male-specific “fem”. And sometimes the term even bleeds out of the community at large, with H&M coming under fire for selling shirts to a largely straight audience labelling them too as femmes. All of this can be a little frustrating! As a lesbian (albeit one who doesn’t participate in the butch-femme taxonomy), it’s frustrating to see terminology created for the specific context of lesbianism become diluted into almost nothing. This language shift correlates very strongly with an LGBT atmosphere of the last few decades that feels more hostile towards lesbianism, with many women viewing it as too severe or old-fashioned and pursuing alternate labels. These are very difficult discussions to have with other members of the LGBT community and often quickly lead to accusations of gatekeeping rather than any examination of potential lesbophobia. So I’ll save it for another day!If taking gay terminology and morphing it into new definitions is en vogue nowadays, I’m happy to join ranks with Nick Haramis and add new meanings to “twink”. Let’s talk about twinks as Schrodinger’s trans girls.Unfortunately, I have a type when it comes to media, and it’s twinks who I can project transness onto if I desire it. These characters are beacons of androgyny, male-at-birth characters with some connection to femininity via their appearance or their actions. Often, this connection is left unclear by the end of their series, leaving plenty of room for me to imagine “OK so they’re totally gonna be a girl for real now”. This archetype has proven a very useful crutch for me over the years. For so long, media about cis femininity was too intimidating and distant for me to even dream of consuming. During that time, I read lots of manga and played lots of games starring androgynes, allowing myself to project onto them as well as project their character onto girlhood. (see where this leads by transitive property?) Also, a lot of them were blonde (I’m not gonna read into this! My hair is closer to brown tho). With that out of the way, let me rip my heart open and highlight some of those twinks that I’ve latched so strongly onto throughout the years. Kuranosuke from Princess Jellyfish I’ve written a whole writeup on Kuranosuke, so if you’ve read that you should know where I’m coming from! Kuranosuke is graced with natural femininity and a desire to perform it, and lands himself into a situation where he must pass on a daily basis while designing fashion for the girls of the Amars house. Kuranosuke’s crossdressing is both effortless and extremely laborious, but it always pays off. Kaito from Himegoto: Juukyuusai no Seifuku Himegoto is one of the messiest mangas I’ve ever read. Three characters spiral around each other while desperately trying to negotiate their orientations, gender presentations, and livelihoods with each other and with themselves. Kaito is the standout for me – a ‘guy’ who crossdresses in a desperate attempt to ‘mirror’ his ideal image of femininity. Kaito radiates extremely eggy energies, and it’s increasingly obvious as the plot goes on that all his justification is elaborate smoke and mirrors for his desire to simply be a woman. He begins by projecting his feminine ideals onto his tomboyish friend, but by the end of the manga it all comes collapsing back onto himself. The epilogue leaves it rather ambiguous, but one can only hope that Kaito figured it all out by then. Alucard from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Symphony of the Night is one of my favorite Castlevanias and maybe games of all time. I’ve always been in love with its hand-in-hand elegance and jankiness. Unlike Kaito and Kuranosuke, we’re going to have to stretch out of the canon to justify this placement, but I assure you it will be worth it. In Symphony of the Night, Alucard is a tall deep-voiced bishounen and that’s that. However, the eva problems classic “YOUR ASSHOLE DAD’S CASTLE IS BACK AGAIN” adds a sickening new twist onto the game: what if Alucard wanted to be a woman? This article retraces the full plot and route of SOTN, adding extra backstory and inner thoughts showing Alucard’s visceral bodily discomfort and twisted-up jealousy towards the female monsters of the castle. Eventually, she takes those terrifying first steps towards accepting oneself as a woman. It’s one of the most effective recontextualizations of a piece of media that I’ve ever read, and I’m not afraid to admit that it reassured and helped me with my own transition a few months down the line. Plus, the idea of Alucard But A Girl is somewhere near my ideal aesthetic. Ryo Asuka from Devilman–devilman spoilers–Ryo is a bit of an oddity. A total weirdo, he doesn’t particularly demonstrate femininity throughout most of the series beyond just being kind of fluffy and cute in the 80s OVAs. However, this all changes in some of the final chapters, when Ryo is revealed to be Satan in disguise. Though every Devilman adaptation has a very different artstyle, Satan’s designed has remained the same: an androgynous fallen angel possessing both breasts and a penis. There’s a lot of associations and implications to unpack there, but I’m not going to do that in this article! While it doesn’t necessarily recontextualize Ryo’s human existence, he sure still is a twink with some Gender happening around him. Venus from We Know The Devil Ok, this one’s just a girl! No questions about it! Someone get her some hugs and a bottle of estradiol, stat!Honorable Mentions:Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 2 As much as I love slapping the “GIRL” label onto any blonde twink I can find, Raiden’s MGS2 arc of intense emasculation works way better if he’s actually a guy. If there’s any further gender stuff happening with Raiden, it’s actually to be found in MGS4 and Metal Gear Rising, in which Raiden sheds his twinkish flesh to become a way more masc cyborg ninja. As The Cyborg Manifesto teaches us, cyborgs are one hell of a post-gender tool. Honestly, reading Raiden as FTM may work way better than parsing him as a trans girl, I just don’t have the specific background and ability to do that headcanon justice.Lio Fotia from Promare Promare was maybe the first time I saw a blonde twink character and didn’t immediately think it might be better if they were a girl. Amidst all its discussions of immigration, racism, and climate change, Promare finds time to be real gay, in a delightfully masc4fem way. Together, Lio and Galo stretch the full spectrum of male presentation, and I wouldn’t want to take that away from them. So that’s that! I hope you enjoyed the lineup of twinks who are dear to my heart, and maybe learned a thing or two from my ramble at the start.
Dec 16, 2019 • Subscribe
More like this
12 Days of Christmas – Day 3 – Praise from Caesar
People like to knock shonen and call it much simpler than other genres, but the truly great ones can create interesting drama and characterization as good as anyone…
Listening to a Different Apocalypse12 Days of Aniblogging 2020, Day 5based on a true storyFor the...
12 Days of Aniblogging 2020, Day 5 based on a true story For the past two years I’ve reserved my fifth post for music blogging. Unfortunately, this year there was…
Microsoft’s Anime Forays12 Days of Aniblogging 2020, Day 8Microsoft dedicates part of their...
12 Days of Aniblogging 2020, Day 8 Microsoft dedicates part of their developer network to instructional and promotional videos, to give developers in their ecosystem a better grasp on…
Adults In LGBT+ Manga Are So God Damn Important12 Days of Aniblogging, Day 12someday, together,...
Adults In LGBT+ Manga Are So God Damn Important12 Days of Aniblogging, Day 12someday, together, we’ll shineIt’s been a really good year for That Official Gay Shit. My…
Transphobia Should Be Maintained in Adaptations: A Trans Perspective
The changes made for the dub of Lovely★Complex deserve scrutiny but not for the reasons you might expect.
In Praise of the Japanese Toilet Seat
When is a toilet more than a toilet? When it's a Japanese toilet seat. The straight poop on Japan's contributions to the art of elimination.
25 Days Of Blogging Day 11: Don’t Be Sorry
“Do you know what the most convenient phrase in the world is? It’s “I’m sorry.” -Shadow Maya, Persona 2: Innocent Sin A baby-boomer father and his millennial aged…
Godzilla – Singularity Point #01 — May Or May Not Include Any Godzillas
Shouldn't there be a few more giant monsters? This technically begins broadcasting on April 1st, but Netflix is airing each episode a week early, so it began…
WHO WOULD WIN IN A FIGHT: A JEWELER OR THE GAY CHECK?
Hello! Welcome back to my little corner of the internet, hope you’re all doing well. I’m embarrassed to admit that I intended to complete this post for Pride…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Monk Who Met a Bōrei in Shimotsuke
There are many nuanced ways to describe ghosts in Japanese. The most common words are obake (which means "changed thing"), yūrei ("faint spirit"), and onryō ("grudge spirit"). Tonight's…
12 Days of Christmas Anime, Day 1: The Promise of Christmas in Rainbow Days
If you’re looking to anime for the “true meaning” of Christmas, you might want to look elsewhere. But if you’re looking for a story that overflows with the…
Your RABUJOI “Wake the F*** Up” Song of the Day: “May everything be there.”
For when one drum set just won’t do…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Apparitions in Yoshida Sōtei’s House; or, The Power of Poetry
I'm back from Kyoto's Uzumasa film studio. It was an exhausting event, but really fun! According to the studio, it was the greatest attendance the park has seen…
Be a Creator, Not a Consumer
Because I work at a library, it strikes me how much people consume. Most of our circulation centers on DVDs and technology. Many patrons, particularly retirees, watch a…
Be a Creator, Not a Consumer
Because I work at a library, it strikes me how much people consume. Most of our circulation centers on DVDs and technology. Many patrons, particularly retirees, watch a…
In Praise of 2019’s Short Anime
Happy New Year, everyone! With 2019 in the history books and another season of anime in danger of beginning any day now, it’s easy to get swept up…
In Praise of 2016’s Short Anime
Happy New Year, everyone! As is tradition here at Star Crossed, our first post of the new year is a rundown of Wooper’s favorite shorts from… 2016? Yes,…
In Praise of 2021’s Short Anime
Happy New Year, everyone! As was the case in 2019 and 2020, our first post of the new year is a rundown of Wooper’s favorite short anime from…
In Praise of 2020’s Short Anime
Happy New Year, everyone! Hope your January is off to a good start. Mine is about to filled with writing, both for our Winter First Impressions and the…
In Praise of 2023’s Short Anime
Wooper: Happy New Year, everyone! I hope your 2023 was safe and successful. Mine was more productive than usual, thanks in part to my greatly reduced anime-watching habits.…
25 Days Of Blogging Day 15: Get The Game Of Life: Why You Must NOT Be Gameless in This World (And How to Get It)
Do you have game? Are you a student of the game? Perhaps a master of it. You might be asking “what is game”. Or, you do “know” what…
A review of The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated!
Continuing my look at a few of the recently ended summer/fall 2021 anime, here’s a complete review of the 20-episode series The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated!,…
Anime bytes: Anime or Movies should not be Manga or Light Novel!
How many times you heard someone saying that “Manga is better than Anime” or “Novel was better than anime”, I presume all of you probably heard that or said that.…
[AniFemTalk] Who are your favorite trans characters in anime and manga?
Who are your favorite explicitly trans characters? Has the answer changed over the years? Who are your favorite trans-coded characters? For trans readers, which characters helped you understand…
12 Days of Anime – Day 3: Garo Might Just be my Anime of the Year.
When I have a problem with an anime, most of the time it’s tied to my personal investment in it. I can forgive a ton of glaring flaws…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Elder of Saikōji in Bungo Province Who Was Attached to Gold
Tonight's story is another example of a problem caused by attachment to material things -- the core sin of Buddhism. That this story takes place at a temple,…
The Stories of Girls Who Couldn't Be Magicians
The Stories of Girls Who Couldn't Be Magicians is currently streaming on Crunchyroll....
Lilies In Transition: The state of trans representation in yuri
As yuri continues to get queerer, the existence of trans people in these stories would be one way to provide validation for trans readers in their gender and…
Day 3: A Masterpiece: The Man Who Defies the World of BL
It is I, Luna, once again coming to you with a post focused on Boys Love. Why, you might ask yourself, do I always end up writing our…
The Queen’s Gambit may not be a commentary on neurodiversity after all, and why that’s okay
A lot has been said about how a surprise TV hit during a pandemic was a story about a board game that can be played indoors. Maybe the…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Tanuki Who Summoned 25 Bodhisattvas
I was at Kyoto Toei Film Studios all day today for the KaiKai Yokai Festival, so tonight's write-up will be brief... Thanks to everyone who came to my…
12 Days 2020, Day 12: A Year of Comebacks
In a year where I actively chose to experience the anime of yesteryear the anime industry seemed determined to meet me halfway. This year had an awful lot…
The Stories of Girls Who Couldn’t Be Magicians Episode 1: I Want to Be a Magician!
Project Anima's second anime is finally out. Helmed by J.C. Staff, can the wonderful storybook world of magic be realized?
Writing Prompt: If you could be any anime character for a day, who would you be, and why?
Daily writing promptIf you could be someone else for a day, who would you be, and why?View all responses Here’s a fun one. And the answer came to…
A Perfect Day to Be Alone
Nanae Aoyama’s novella A Perfect Day to Be Alone chronicles a year in the life of a young woman named Chizu who moves in with an elderly relative…
Resolutions – Aniblogging into 2018
Confessions as we start the new year. I’m a lucky guy. How many people can say they celebrate New Years twice? One with a great group of friends…
Brief Praise of Stock Footage
I’ve said this a couple of times, but because it suits my prejudices I think it deserves its own post. Recycling material is fine so long as the…
12 Days of Christmas – Day 5 – Worthy of a Greek Goddess
It wasn’t until fairly recently that I managed to read all of Hayate the Combat Butler, though I’ve actually been trying to catch up for quite a while…
Episode 208, "Who Wants To Be A Nakama"
On this episode of The One Piece Podcast, we have Greg on to give us a quick peek at the new One Piece data book Deep Blue. We…
Episode 208, "Who Wants To Be A Nakama"
On this episode of The One Piece Podcast, we have Greg on to give us a quick peek at the new One Piece data book Deep Blue. We…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Woman Who Every Night Visited Usa Hachiman in Buzen Province
Tonight's story depicts a legendary ritual known as "the shrine visit at the hour of the ox." This ritual is famous today for being a curse ritual. It…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Kitsune Who Took Revenge on a Yamabushi
Our story today deals with a yōkai who you are probably already familiar with: a kitsune. Although the word kitsune literally just means fox, I prefer to use…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Bakemono Who Haunted Matsuura Iyo’s House
This story is about another bakemono. The true form of this yōkai is never explained in the story, so whether it was an animal, or a ghost, or…
12 Days of Christmas Anime, Day 10: Is the Order a Rabbit?
Christmas is swiftly falling upon the wood-framed town in which Cocoa and her friends live. That means Christmas trees, Christmas decorations, and Christmas shopping—and Cocoa’s ecstatic. Sin…
The trans resonance of Haibane Renmei
The series’ use of transformation and body horror resonate with the physical experiences of dysphoria and transitioning; its depictions of mental health struggles, particularly self-harm and suicide, may…
12 Days of Christmas Anime, Day 1: Asteroid in Love
[The LORD] determines the number of the stars; He gives to all of them their names. – Psalm 147:4, ESV When the psalmist wrote this verse a couple…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Zatō Who Met a Bakemono on a Journey
Today's story talks about a monster called a bakemono (pronounced bah-keh-mo-no). Like yesterday's henge, this is not a specific monster's name, but a generic term for any monster.…
25 Days Of Blogging Day 12: Cosplay: A Quick Rundown
WHAT IS COSPLAY? Cosplay, using the combination of the words “costume” and “play”, is the performance art in which people (or cosplayers) wear costumes and fashion items modeled…
12 Days of Christmas Anime, Day 3: Rent-a-Girlfriend
Rent-a-Girlfriend is a trainwreck of an anime—but not in a bad way. In fact, it’s a lot of fun, even if it’s often full of cringe, most of…