the beautiful world: Hourou Musuko- 9. Cool girlfriend ~ Green eye

In the mirror: Takatsuki's girls' uniform she left behind.

I am not sure if the 'cool girlfriend' applies to Anna, because we don't get much of her this episode, but the green eye applies easily to many of the characters of Hourou Musuko for this episode. We have Takatsuki that crossdresses finally at school and the teacher sees this action mostly as jealousy towards Sarashina; then we have Doi who visits Yuki and seems kinda jealous of a guy that can look that beautiful (there are other feelings there, too) and so urges Nitorin who wants to crossdress, as well. Oh, I almost forgot Maho who is surely jealous about how her brother not only looks like her,but people find him so cute, that he gets attention.

Now that I'm thinking about it... if girlfriend is meant as a female friend, than this title applies firstly to Chiba, who is a good counselor to both Takatsuki and Nitorin in subtle ways, and then to the quirky Sarashina, who takes a bit of her time off job to talk with Nitorin about crossdressing.

The hot spot of this episode: the different reactions towards Takatsuki and Nitorin crossdressing due to their sex.

The episode opens with Takatsuki asking permission from Anna to hang out with Nitorin, most probably because she hasn't experienced a relationship before, doesn't know what's allowed and thinks of love relationship as ownership of some kind (=Nitorin belongs to Anna, if I'm seen with him, Anna will feel cheated). I guess that we get this tiny bit of scene for character development's shake rather than plot device development.

Yeah, Takatsuki crossdressed at school. Here in the women's toilet with Chiba. These shoujo-ai vibes can't stop flowing...

Nitorin's reaction in the morning, when he saw Takatsuki at his door with boys' uniform.

Takatsuki kinda embarassed, kinda angry at the wows she receives from boys. She doesn't do this for them.

Takatsuki responds to the other teacher in the office, when she was asked, if it's a matter of disliking the girls' uniform.

She got teacher's attention and he tries to make sense out of her, but he isn't aggressive or authoritative. He doesn't understand that Takatsuki wore those clothes as an attire representing her gender wishes, rather he takes her action as disobedience/ teenager's rebellion or a way to look cool. His words are clear: "Takatsuki, that's the kind of stunt Sarashina would pull..."

Idiocy and descrimination don't know age, thus ...

Sexism. Gender prejustices. Takatsuki's expression says it all: 'Baaaaaaaaka. Go screw, idiot' :P

She refers to the special bra that flattens her chest. Nitorin asks her if that restricts her, but for Takatsuki it provides psychological support most of all. She feels closer to what she is.

Then we have Yuki who teaches a good lesson to Doi. I guess it's a payback not only for using Nitorin to approach her, but also for what he has done to Nitorin while in primary school. It surely shocked him a lot that the person he found so attractive was actually the same kind of person he was ridiculing some years ago.

And Doi decides that he must chanel this pent up frastration somewhere...what better victim than Nitorin? He asks of him to see him dressed as a girl.

Behind closed doors... an allusion to a 'closet'. Transgendering is something kept for many people as a well sealed secret.

The dialogue that follows between those two is of great importance. Doi looks around his room and asks Nitorin him what kind of music he likes and about his hobbies. Nitorin replies negative.

Doi: "So what, you just dress up like a girl?"

Nitorin has no hobbies not because he is a boring person or even a vain one, but because it is so vital to get your body identity clear, that everything spins around it. Most of us are born either male or female and our brain follows for the most part. That means that we take as grounded our biological sex and act accordingly to what society or our peer pressure during puberty dictates. We begin with something stable and try to figure it out later especially after puberty comes knocking at the door. For people like Nitorin and Takatsuki though there's nothing stable. From very young age they are confronted with a displeasing situation. If you cannot feel good or at least ok with your body, then how are you to move onwards searching other sides of your identity? Because our 'soul' or ego, if you prefer, resides in a body -our body- it is a big issue that there is a good rapport between those two. If there isn't harmony, then all other things can't move on, are of minor importance and stay 'frozen' until the big problem is resolved. And of course let's not forget that a baby/ a child depends greatly from its parents and their look towards it. If parents disapprove the child's real self, how is one to grow spiritually?

Chiba senses that Nitorin might do something risky and warns him in her own way. During drama club she changes subtly her line to speak to Nitorin discretely.

Nitorin's fantasy

Nitorin goes to Sarashina for advice and an opinion.

Society is harsher on boys on this matter.

Sarashina talks to him about how people will see him and that it's not going to be a pleasant experience- quite the opposite. In spite of finding him cute, she isn't sure if she herself doesn't find him weird. She also leaves the matter up to him.

Sarashina: " ...Because people will treat you like a pervert. I mean you can do it, if you want to, but a lot of people will think you're weird... I don't think you should do it at school. But it's not up to me."