<em>This post was originally posted in February of 2011 <ahref="http://annabunches.stringofbits.net/post/3143094111/hourou-musuko-episode-3-romio-to-jurietto-romeo-and">here</a>. It has been updated substantially.</em><br/><br/>You can watch the episode <ahref="http://www.crunchyroll.com/wandering-son/episode-3-romeo-and-juliet-568416">here</a>.<br/><br/><strong>Spoiler Warning</strong><br/><br/>In this episode, it feels like the show is finally reaching its stride. It combines the strengths of the previous episodes; the pacing is as good as the second episode, and the overall emotional impact and thematic cohesion is on the same level as the first episode.<br/><br/>So, like the episode, let's start by talking about bras. For a young and not-so-budding trans girl, bras occupied an odd position in my mental landscape. I was consciously envious of the cis girls around me that were developing breasts. At the same time, though, I had already developed a knee-jerk defense mechanism against anything with a feminine connotations (at least in public). We'll come back to this in a bit.<br/><br/>In the episode, though, the character contemplating supportive undergarments is Yoshino, who expresses terror at the thought of having to wear one, and asks Shūichi if he has ever wanted to wear one. This leads to both of them admitting envy of each other’s bodies. This is a touching scene, and seems to me to be deeply insightful about a very particular part of trans experience. Here the characters deal with it awkwardly, but that makes sense - the characters are still very unsure of themselves and still discovering their identities.<br/><br/>Near the end of the episode is another scene where Yoshino tries on the bra she bought. It ends with her throwing it off in disgust, and hugging her boy’s uniform to her chest, sobbing. This is an utterly heartbreaking moment, and it is so well portrayed that I felt slightly embarrassed, as if I had accidentally walked in on someone at a private moment. It is also a very powerful scene, and it nearly made me cry. As a trans woman (as opposed to a trans man), I can’t pretend to understand exactly what that moment is like, but the show succeeds in evoking empathy, which is quickly becoming its basic mode of operation.<br/><br/>Continuing on the theme of approaching puberty, Mako (Ariga Makoto) points out to Shūichi that their voices are going to change soon, which is upsetting to both of them. He further suggests that they record their voices “before it is too late.” This is also used as a pretext for them to dress up as girls together. This solidifies the subtle hints in the last episode that Mako is also gender variant. He seems much more excited to dress up, and seems to view it as a social activity, a way to bond with Shuuichi over a shared experience.<br/><br/>Anyway, I am describing this scene because it gives me a chance to talk about Japanese language and gender. When Shūichi begins recording his voice, he begins “Boku no namae o...” (My name is...). Mako stops him, saying “be more feminine.” He starts over, this time saying “Watashi no namae o...” (My name is...). The difference here is in the first person pronoun used, and it is something English doesn't have an equivalent construct for. ‘Boku’ is an example of a masculine word - not masculine in the sense that words in some languages have gender (the Romance languages being readily available examples), but in the sense that it is a word typically only used by men. ‘Watashi’ is considered gender-neutral, but my suspicion is that, since ‘boku’ is used so predominantly amongst boys, ‘watashi’ is probably viewed as feminine by comparison. Unfortunately, this distinction is not caught in the subtitling.<br/><br/>Everything I’ve discussed so far are the sub-plots of the episode, and the episode's core is worth remarking on as well, which centers around a play that the characters' class is planning for the school’s cultural festival. Saorin suggests that the class do a 'genderbender play'*, or a play i
