Wandering Son/Hōrō Musuko [放浪息子]
Episodes: 11
Status: Complete
Producers: Aniplex, AIC
Genre: Drama, School
Status: Complete
Producers: Aniplex, AIC
Genre: Drama, School
At the start of Wandering Son, Shuichi Nitori is a young, feminine boy in the fifth grade who transfers into a new school where he quickly becomes friends with a tall, boyish girl in his class named Yoshino Takatsuki. Yoshino soon learns of Shuichi's desire to be a girl and tells him that she wants to be a boy. Shuichi also becomes friends with two other girls in his class: Saori Chiba and Kanako Sasa. Saori instantly takes a liking to Shuichi and continuously encourages him to cross-dress.
After Shuichi and his friends enter sixth grade, Yoshino cuts her hair to a short, boyish style. Shuichi meets a boy his age from another class named Makoto Ariga who also secretly wants to be a girl. Shuichi and Yoshino meet an adult transsexual woman named Yuki living with a man named Shiina. Shuichi and Yoshino become friends with Yuki and Shiina and continue meeting with them. Shuichi's older sister Maho becomes a model and eventually becomes friends with Maico, a teen model whom she idolizes, and two other teen models: Tamaki Satō and Anna Suehiro. Maho gets a boyfriend, Riku Seya, and Shuichi confesses to Yoshino he likes her, but she cannot reciprocate his feelings. After Saori learns of this, she confesses she likes Shuichi, but he too cannot return her feelings. This results in a falling-out between Shuichi's friends as they prepare to enter junior high school.
In junior high school, they meet a tall, eccentric girl who befriends everyone named Chizuru Sarashina and her prickly friend Momoko Shirai, who does not get along well with the others—especially Saori. Eventually, Saori and Yoshino rejoin Shuichi's group of friends, though Saori says she still hates Yoshino and Momoko. Shuichi and Anna start dating, much to the surprise of his friends and sister. Yoshino and Saori manage to halfway repair their friendship, though Saori is still standoffish to others.
Shuichi and his friends are split up into several classes upon entering their second year in junior high school. Shuichi becomes friends with Shinpei Doi, who previously teased him about wanting to be a girl. Yoshino grows her hair long after a comment by Saori and attends school in a boy's uniform for a short time. Shuichi tries to go to school dressed as a girl one day, but he is laughed at, which discourages him. Shuichi's friends worry as he begins skipping school, but he eventually starts attending school regularly again, though by this point Anna breaks up with him. Shuichi grows his hair out, while Yoshino in turn cuts hers again. Doi convinces Shuichi to begin attending class regularly. By the time Shuichi and his friends enter their third year in junior high school, Shuichi's voice is changing and he gets his hair cut very short. After a school trip to Kyoto and Nara, Shuichi and his friends think about their future high school plans.
Main Characters
- Spoiler:
- Shuichi Nitori [二鳥 修一]
Shuichi, one of two protagonists, is a young, effeminate boy who at the beginning of Wandering Son is in the fifth grade of elementary school. Otherwise known by his nicknames Shu and Nitorin, he is a boy who wants to become a girl and often cross-dresses to assume the role of the opposite sex. Shuichi is described as cute by many of the other characters and is able to appear as a girl when cross-dressing, because his feminine-looking face and physical build. Shuichi enjoys wearing clothes which make him look cute; he initially does not cross-dress, but his friends Yoshino Takatsuki and Saori Chiba encourage him to dress and act femininely.As Shuichi grows up, he becomes increasingly concerned about undergoing puberty, such as the growth of body hair, his deepening voice, and the onset of pimples. Shuichi exhibits signs of gender identity disorder and he displays an outward attraction to two girls in the series—Yoshino and Anna Suehiro, whom he dates for a time in junior high, until she breaks up with him.
Yoshino Takatsuki [高槻 よしの]
Yoshino, the other protagonist, is a tall, masculine girl who at the beginning of Wandering Son is a fifth grader in Shuichi's class. Otherwise known as Takatsuki-kun by her classmates, with an honorific used mainly with boys, she is a girl who wants to become a boy. She usually refrains from dressing in traditionally feminine clothes, such as skirts or dresses, in spite of her mother's insistence on buying her such clothes. Shortly after becoming friends with Shuichi, Yoshino cuts her hair to a short, boyish style, giving her the appearance of a boy her age, especially when she dresses in a male school uniform. Like Shuichi, Yoshino becomes increasingly concerned and resentful about undergoing puberty, such as when she begins menstruating or when her breasts begin to grow. She goes to buy a garment to flatten her chest so that she does not have to wear a bra. Also like Shuichi, she shows signs indicating gender identity disorder.
Saori Chiba [千葉 さおり]
Saori, nicknamed Saorin, is a girl who is a fifth grader in Shuichi's class at the beginning of Wandering Son. She takes an interest in encouraging Shuichi to cross-dress, even going so far as to buy him an expensive dress for his birthday, which he later returns, much to her displeasure. Saori finds it difficult to associate with others; she has few friends, though becomes close to Shuichi. She tends to convey what is on her mind and disregards how others may take what she says. As Saori grows up, she gradually becomes more standoffish and stoic; she even has bad relations with her teachers. Despite her self-centered attitude, she remains popular among her male classmates due to her physical attractiveness. She is a sensitive girl whose temper sometimes gets the better of her when reprimanding bullies that tease Shuichi, because of his femininity and cross-dressing. Saori is often emotionally affected by circumstances involving Shuichi, because of her feelings for him. Saori converts to Christianity partly because of this influence to seek forgiveness for her previous actions, though she only attends mass when feeling guilty about her behavior.