It can be incredibly hard for transgender people to truly express who they are, even in a welcoming environment. Even though their friend group is incredibly supportive, Yoshino and Shuichi still only rarely wear clothes of their desired gender, and usually only in spaces that they consider safe. Volumes 7 and 8 see them becoming bolder in their self-expression. For Yoshino, the progress has been more internal, but Shuichi has largely drawn from several unexpected sources to be able to go to school as a girl in the final issue of volume 8. Shuichi finds comfort in his relationship with Anna, some unexpected, self-interested prodding from Shinpei Doi, and finally counsel with Sarashina before taking the leap. These all help to counteract his trepidation and the negative reactions that he expects from his peers and family. For the first time, both of our lead characters share a glimpse of their true selves at school, with a little help from those around them.
Yoshino takes the far more direct journey of the two. Early on in volume 7, we see that Yoshino has forgotten the ribbon that is part of the girls’ uniform. She feels ashamed, and looks incredibly nervous in front of the teacher. who lies to teachers who inspect the students’ uniforms. However, moments later, we see that Sarashina has worn a tie (a part of the boys’ uniform) instead of her ribbon, and dismisses it ever-so-casually, with no ill consequences from the teacher. They seem to expect Sarashina to behave like this at this point. Yoshino notices this, and soon wears her own tie to school. She gets a minor dressing-down from her teacher, but she is not punished in any other way. This helps break down her fears, and in issue 63, she shows that she is ready to more actively embrace who she is, and wears the full boys’ uniform to school.
Shuichi, on the other hand, needed far more external encouragement before he was ready to take this leap, most significantly with his new girlfriend Anna. Their relationship is a source of great comfort for Shuichi. He gradually shares his desire to wear dresses with her, and she is nothing but supportive. She even tailors one of Maho’s old dresses for him to wear, and then they go on a date together with Shuichi dressed in it. Anna was initially very dismissive of Shuichi, but she shows herself to be warm, caring in these two volumes, which helps Shuichi’s self-confidence immensely.
Beyond Anna’s support, Shuichi is given a push towards more regularly wearing girls’ clothing from Shinpei Doi, of all people. Shinpei begins interacting with Shuichi in an attempt to meet Yuki, who he believes to be beautiful. This is a source of great discomfort for Shuichi, who doesn’t like how Shinpei is using him. Nevertheless, Shuichi brings Shinpei to meet Yuki, who frankly explains how she used to be a man and is currently living with a man. This leads Shinpei to question himself and open his mind to the fact that men can beautiful too. Shinpei then asks to see Shuichi as a girl out of nothing other than innocent curiosity. When Shuichi nervously obliges, Shinpei declares that Shuichi is very cute, and should go to school as a girl the next day. Shuichi agonizes over this comment. He knows that Makoto, Yoshino and Saori, despite being supportive, would discourage him from doing this. Shinpei’s fresh perspective is a major driving force behind Shuichi expressing his true self at school.
The final prompt that Shuichi needed was a conversation with Sarashina. He goes to her family’s soba shop, tells her of his intent to dress as a girl, and seeks Sarashina’s advice. She notes how ignorant students can be, particularly boys, and that some people believe that men wearing skirts is perverted behaviour. Shuichi asks Sarashina if she believes that he is a pervert. She is not sure, but is sure that he is cute when he dresses as a girl. She concludes by saying that while she wouldn’t dress as a girl were she in Shuichi’s position, the decision is ultimately his. Shuichi takes her honesty and uses it as the final spark to ask Yoshino for her uniform and ultimately wear it to school.
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The same action – wearing clothing of the opposite gender – was drastically more difficult for Shuichi to do than Yoshino. Why? Firstly, Yoshino is more naturally confident in her gender fluidity. She has been dressing in boyish ways since the beginning of the series, even if she has generally worn the girls’ uniform to school. Shuichi is far less confident in himself. Secondly, as both Shinpei and Sarashina notes, a girl wearing the boys’ uniform is far closer to being socially acceptable than a boy wearing the girls’ uniform. Shuichi is breaking a more prominent taboo in wearing the girls’ uniform, and thus needs to gather more confidence in order to do so, with help from everyone around him.
Both Shuichi and Yoshino make great progress on their road of self-discovery in Volumes 7 and 8 of “Wandering Son”. They both gather the courage to wear the clothing of their desired gender to school, and grow bolder in their self-expression, with differing degrees of help from others.
How will the school react to Shuichi’s actions? We’ll have to see in this coming week’s chapters! We’ve passed the halfway mark of the series, and I hope that you’ve had as enrapturing of an experience as I have. Join me next week, where we will explore the events of Volume 9, covering chapters 66-73. See you then!
