ReNe: family compo (ファミリーコンポ)

Found an online manga today, Family Compo (ファミリーコンポ), by Tsukasa Hojo, and reading it reminds of one of the reasons why I love anime. Some anime series can be quite banal, though they are still fun to read, but once in a while, you get a thoughtful gem like this. (As far as I can tell, I think Family Compo is only serialized as a manga, but I use the term anime loosely to describe any form of Japanese animation, whether on screen or on paper.)

The story revolves around the story of a boy, who lives with his aunt, uncle and cousin; the interesting part is that both the aunt and uncle are transvestites. There's nothing magical about the storyline, it's about ordinary Japanese life, except from a slightly different perspective. Personally, I think it's a beautiful story.

When I was really young, around five or six years old, I remembered watching a mecha anime (whose title I forgot), and the protagonists were supposed to be meeting up with the latest member to their team, at a bar. There was a gorgeous singer on stage, and after her performance, the trio went backstage to meet her. Turned out, she was a he, and he was the person they were suppose to hook up with. In other words, s(he) was supposed to be a member of the 'macho' heroes that will pilot the mechas to save Earth. I remember watching the scene where the male character sat at his dressing table, in a long slinky gown, and casually unhooks his top to reveal his flat chest. Meanwhile, the other three guys were already in the dressing room. The leader knew, though the other two guys were quite shocked.

That was my first introduction to the concept of fluid sexuality. I was pretty all right with it, and thought it was perfectly normal and acceptable. After all, if girls can wear pants, why can't guys wear skirts?

So, what's wrong with gays, lesbians, transvestites, transsexuals? What's wrong with cross-dressing? What's wrong with guys growing their hair long or girls cutting their hair really short? For that matter, what's wrong with sex?

My question, rather, is: What is wrong with the people who find such things unacceptable, even when it's none of their business in the first place?

Now, conservatives might be up at arms over a six year old watching such anime, but I am glad I did. In fact, when I was older and watched as other kids came up with childish taunts like 'ah kua', I was disgusted. Children can be cruel, but do the kids really know what they are saying when they cry gay? Now I realize it's not the kids, in fact, it's the adults who teach the kids to behave in this way . If adults never taught kids to be so intolerant, the world would be a better place.

Such androgynous and gender bending characters are common in Japanese anime. And, as I said above, that's one of the reasons why I love anime. Even popular series aimed at kids do not shy away from this topic. For example, Bleach, xxxHolic, Ranma, Escaflowne, Fruits Basket, Cardcaptor Sakura, X, Fushigi Yugi, El-Hazard, Descendants of Darkness, Saiyuki, Legal Drug, From Eroica with Love, Kyou Kara Maou, Ouran High School Host Club, Revolutionary Girl Utena, El-Hazard, Sailor Moon, and so on. (And these are just the PG animes; let's not get into the even more interesting animes) The sexuality and behavior of the characters are often not plot points, but, very importantly, treated as normal and taken for granted. The other anime characters, and mangaka and readers, don't see any wrong at all. Because there isn't anything wrong.