before reading comments and replies, please be aware that there may be transphobic views below. prioritize your own peace, and be careful to not burn yourself out if you decide to read them. also, i have added some more info in the description based on some comments i have received on this video. please check them out if you have any concerns about points related to crossdressing
(I will be romanizing any Japanese words for reader simplicity.) ~13:30. The usage of they/them is translation only. In the Japanese version as I recall, Mizuki is never referred to by the -kun honorific (the primarily masculine version of -chan which is seen as being gender-neutral or sometimes being seen as more feminine). Of course, Japanese honorifics aren't perfect 1-to-1 for Western pronouns; however, even with the Japanese pronouns, kare ("he", or more accurately "that one") and kanojo ("she", or more accurately "that woman"), they aren't really used as often as transphobic weebs like to pretend they are since it's highly common in Japanese to just omit mentioning what you're talking about, not unlike how in English you can omit the word "You" during declarative statements. (That is to say "(You,) Go to the store.") The reason why I bring this up is because transphobes LOVE to say, "but that's just the localizers pushing an agenda." If you look at the original Japanese script though, the point still holds true. ~14:00. Two things. The Japanese language doesn't really distinguish between sex and gender. If your gender is that of a girl, then broadly speaking your sex is treated as female within non-legal contexts. That said, there is a strong expectation placed on expression; however, it's not wholly mandatory. Additionally, the usage of she/her and they/them in the translation might not be because of "Gender not sex". As a person who is transfem but uses she/her and they/them... yeah, it KINDA rubbed me the wrong way when you implied the only reason she might be written this way to serve a literary purpose and not at all acknowledging the fact people like us exist. I get you meant nothing by it; however, it did bristle me a bit.
as a crossdresser i proudly say that i am cis. I do not want to be seen as the gender I dress up as. I do not care to dress more like my assigned gender at birth. It's the exact opposite of what mizuki feels!! Shes obviously trans!! your video said it perfectly!!
@@kyokosakura3192 Literally, how Mizuki feels in all of her focus events, she’s trans. Of course, it did start as Mizuki just liking cute clothes; however, Mizuki learns that she is a girl. Literally, the last event confirms that Mizuki is trans, being how all of her classmates kept saying, “you never felt like a boy have you?” to Ena. That scene is literally how Ena finds out that Mizuki is originally born a boy, but she is a girl. Hell, even Project Sekai refers to Mizuki as a girl.
Everytime this happen i remember that one tweet "An anime charater will say "i am transgender" to the camera and some otaku f***boy will say they are cross dresser" This qoute live rent free in my head
Oh my gosh yes there was this one person on twitter who’s never touched or heard of project sekai before mizu5 exploded, and called the whole fandom western tourists when they are British 😭😭, they aren’t even Japanese. And they are acting like it’s a mistranslation when THE EVENT HASNT EVEN BEEN TRANSLATED YET. It’s literally that tweet, “there will be an anime character who looks in the camera and says in perfect English “I am transgender” and there still will be otaku f**k boy’s insisting there’s an intricate Japanese historical context as to why they aren’t”
@@Ryan_2218 who’s going to tell that person that sega, a Japanese company, is actually very supportive of lgbt 😭. Sega has published games with trans characters in them before like yakuza and Catherine. Sega has actually sponsored pride parades IN JAPAN. This idea that japan is so averse to anything lgbt is almost always coming from non-Japanese people to, why do they want them to not acknowledge lgbt people so much
Here’s some more evidence I wanna add!! 1. Pre-transition Mizuki is so much more miserable then post transition Mizuki. She literally could not look at herself in the mirror pre-transition as seen in flashbacks where Mizuki presented as a boy and her mirror is covered. Pre-transition Mizuki was reclusive and depressed. While post transition Mizuki is noticeably happier despite the isolation that comes with it. I feel like if she was a cross dresser, would she rlly be that miserable in middle school?? 2. Additionally, while not explicitly proven, it’s likely that Mizuki presented as a girl to Niigo in middle school. Cuz I mean, Mizuki’s been in Niigo for atleast 2 yrs before the main story. So like, the topic of gender is likely to come up atleast once. Hell, in the main story, it shows Mizuki and Mafuyu having a talk abt presumedly trans or at the very least, GNC ppl, so it isn’t a stretch that gender would pop up. It’s not like Niigo ever planned to meet up irl so if Mizuki was a cross dresser, Mizuki could’ve presented as a dude without Niigo judging becuz they wouldn’t see Mizuki irl anyways. 3. Rui’s honorifics for Mizuki. Rui calls everyone “-kun” a typically masculine honorific. But Mizuki and Nene are the only 2 chars who aren’t called that. But most notably Rui used “-kun” for Mizuki in middleschool but stops doing so in high school. So it’s kinda like how guys called everyone “bro” until it triggers his trans woman’s dysphoria. Obv this is not a 1 to 1 comparison but it’s the best I can come up with 4. Ppl use that fact that Mizuki uses “Boku”(a typically masculine pronoun) as evidence. But by seeing boku as this purely masculine pronoun it would beg the question on why use a typically masculine pronoun whilst also hiding that you’re a man?? The reality is that boku isn’t purely a masc pronoun. Sure, Boku can be used to indicate masculinity, but it can also be used in a cutesy way. Mizuki is a girl who uses the Boku pronoun in a feminine, cutesy way. And even if she didn’t, trans ppl can still have traits that are associated with their sex. Ik a trans dude who kept his birth name and dresses up femininely and that will never erase that he’s a boy 5. The way the bullies talk abt her. Firstly one of the lines the bullies say to Ena is “Oh so you’re a normal girl” which does imply that Mizuki is a girl, not just the “normal kind.” Secondly, when Mizuki is remembering how ppl would treat her after she came out, there’s multiple lines that ppl say to Mizuki that just don’t make sense in a non trans lense. For example: Evidence A. “Maybe it’s just a misunderstanding” if Mizuki was a crossdresser tf would there be to misunderstand?? This implies that the misunderstanding is “oh Mizuki claims to be a girl. Maybe this is just a misunderstanding and Mizuki just likes cross-dressing” Evidence B. “When you’re young you might think that but it’s just a phase” said by an adult man. Such response is very commonly said to lgbt+ folks. This line implies that it isn’t a phase, that this isn’t something that she’ll grow out of. Would such line be added if Mizuki was a crossdresser?? Which is something that could be a phase since it’s a way of expression Evidence C. “Aren’t you just roleplaying?” The most damning evidence imo. This another thing that implies that this person has no problem with cross-dressing. But the fact that Mizuki identifies as a girl!! And that includes my tedtalk
Important detail about boku: Mizuki uses the katakana spelling of boku (ボク) instead of the kanji spelling (僕). This katakana spelling is pretty much exclusively associated with women and enbies.
Mizuki also has actually started using uchi which is a primarily feminine pronoun in the mizu5 story to. Mizuki also uses atashi, a feminine pronoun, in the song kitty, which is Mizu4’s focus song.
I also want to note that someone in the comments of the official MV stated that Mizuki sounds noticeably more masculine in Bake no Hana compared to the previous songs...like she's given up trying to be a girl and regressing back into the closet.
regarding one of the points about her classmates, mizuki actually came out to her class starting high school "to avoid misunderstandings" which makes everything so much more tragic, because it implies that after joining nightcord mizuki managed to gather the confidence to be open about her identity. Only to be treated like that. Only for her fears to come back tenfold.
when we read the lines,it reads that she came out to SOME people in her class. one of them most likely being An,and probably the couple of the girls who we see interact with her in the story(again,the story is not clear how many people or who exactly she told). its not like she told every person in the class,which i think is an extremely important distinction. there is no implication that she stood in front of the class and introduced herself like that, but instead is still secretive about it and only trusted a few people,and some of them letting her trust down.
That is so true like the creators wouldn't have made her sing a song about being trans for nothing (Villain even tho Mafuyu sung that song since she want to find her identity).The characters in the game would have called her a "he" if she was a crossdresser but no she is a trans girl. Even for the category whenever they choose her for one of the payable costumes she is in the female sections. If the "mizuki is a crossdresser" believer want a crossdresser thats fine but they should create one or talk about an actual crossdresser not about an actual trans character. Edit: the argument with the cover of the song Villain isn't really one anymore but we can clearly see the lyrics to her commissioned songs
They never called mizuki a girl nor a boy, but classmates found mizuki's dressing weird and should change. If mizuki was a girl they wouldve found it normal
@lunar4386 Yeah but I am mostly talking about the main characters and the vocaloid but you are right sometimes other didn't call them a boy or a girl even if it doesn't change the fact that she isn't a crossdresser
I don’t think that the song argument is valid. If Mizuki is trans because they sang Villian it means that all members of the Wonderlands & showtime are trans too because they sang Telecaster B boy
OH MY GOD??? FOR ONCE SOMEONE SAYING MIZUKI IS A GIRL?? FOR ONCE SOMEONE POINTING OUT THE TRANSPHOBIC COMMENTS?!?!?! I LOVE YOU. Bro as a trans person i felt so offended seeing everyone be transphobic towards mizuki finally someone pointing out shes a girl and trans
@@ZiosNeon look, the transphobic im talking about is people that purposely goes into a comment section about mizuki being a trans girl and spamming negativity and the fact of her being a guy not girl and disrespecting her pronouns, u can have a dif opinion i dont mind but please dont annoy people who has a dif opinion about it? i cant watch one video in peace of mizuki without someone saying transphobic stuff and i just commented that comment to show how grateful i am someone made a video about her being trans as it being my opinion
Mizuki could literally look at the camera and say in PERFECT english "i am a transgender woman. I am not a crossdresser and i identity as a female." And some people would still say "yep...just a cis man crossdressing!!!" As a trans man,it angers me that some of the people who were begging for trans representation in media are now saying that they're a crossdresser.
@@neonix761 gender was coined by a rapist and sexual assaulter and is based off of an experiment he did on 2 young boys in the 1900s. They killed themselves because of it. Gender isnt real
@@SeranaZentha gender and transgender people have been known about far longer than John Money. Just look up Hirshfield and the institute for sexual science. 1940s, way before Money’s “experiment”. (I use quotation because it was an awful thing to do) And that’s ignoring all the cultures around the world that have more than two genders.
I'm a she/they Mizuki truther and seeing people say "my son" or "my boy" when referring to them sucks, espec on the limc vid on Mizu5 (which I still can't believe exists lol)
I live in a very strict country yk and i always been “THE WEIRD KID “ growing up because i always liked fashion and i loved making my uniform as cute as possible to make me look super cute meanwhile everyone at my age were very mature i felt very lonely in elementary and middle school because of it and i hated myself so much for not being like the others but mizuki’s story changed everything in my life LIKE LITERALLY EVERYTHING i started wearing everything i liked without caring what others think even tho they would talk behind my back but it didnt matter to me anymore i feel like mizuki is so important to me so it kinda hurts me when people think mizuki is a crossdresser when its CLEARLY NOT THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEOO :3
As a trans person, im so fucking happy to have a good representation in one of my favourite games. Mizuki is a well-written transfem character and it fucking annoying me the lack of media literacy in this fandom Seeing people saying that mizuki is a boy/crossdresser is making me crazy like, Aside of the alarmingly transphobia, a crossdresser wouldn't feel the same horror of being outed as transgender person would. Mizu5 represented well the horror of being outed. No matter how you are confident, people (ex : the bullies) will still see you as the gender assign at birth. Coming out is fucking scary, you don't really know how the person will react and if their view abt the person will change. For me, i don't say that im trans when i talk with people that i don't really know or just met, i don't want to be seeing as a "weird girl", "just confused girl" or a "tomboy" i want to be seen as a boy because i'm one. And by knowing the person more i will tell them but with my own words and my own way! that's why being outed is horrible because someone random took you the chance of explaining yourself and maybe the person didn't do well or is spreading misinformation. If the whole character arc of mizuki is their gender identity, how can they be a crossdresser ? A crossdresser will be about how they dressed and how they present themselves, not about their gender identity because they are cis. They will be mock by people saying that it's a girl (in a neg way) if they are a boy because crossdresser generaly are cis and confident with their gender so it dosen't fit with mizuki's story. It disgusting me when i see people saying that it's a boy or a crossdresser, i emotionaly got attached with mizuki because i can relate to her ! and they don't even tries to hide their transphobia, it's like you don't want to see a trans character in a fucking rhythm game ?? it says a lot about you. Your video is well explaned thank you for making it !! it's so damn important to have representation especially when trans rights are being destroyed in a lot of countries and trans people (especially transwomen) are being killed for who they are. Thank you for speaking facts !! (ps : english is not my first language so sorry if i made some mistakes!!)
youre also speaking facts!!! as a trans boy i completely resonate with what you said and truly, the fear of being outed/transphobia etc is SO PREVALENT in mizuki's stories that im surprised people have tried to ignore what is basically in front of them the whole time
people are just really fucking transphobic i just learned! Being a transgirl I've felt these horrors countless times bc I have the same classmates as Mizuki and they out me and make fun of me and stigmatize me every chance they get
@@dearlysweets omg im so sorry for what happened D: i hope you're okay now :( But yeahh people loveee to hate to people they don't fucking know anything about
@@Quack.56 Thank you a lot❤Definitely recovering from those things but they were traumatic things that I will never forget, that's why I relate to Mizuki so much, I understand how it feels to be in that kind of situation... and well, i guess people just hated the idea of me being myself
I might not be a trans person (I'm bi) but I do agree. I remeber making a post before Mizu5 saying "Wouldn't be nice if Mizuki was a trans person?" . Because Mizuki story hits so close to what trans people went through and I hate that some people are trying to ignore it (*cough, cough* Reddit and Twitter and Ticktock). Like it angers me because it shows that people don't want to understand the trans person pain and struggles. Deep down I know that Mizuki is trans and I was happy because I though "Hey this might be a good story about trans people pain ". Anyways trans people deserve a good story about them, I will forever believe that Mizuki is trans . Also I'm so sorry for how the fandom tries to silenc your voice 😔 (especially on Reddit). Anyways trans people deserve better. Also sorry for the long rant I have to let out my feelings.
I'm a trans guy and it made me happy someone was trans in the game since its my fav game, and people calling them a crossdresser didn't make sense at all, so I'm glad you made a video about this, like tysm. and I don't mind if people have a hc she's a crossdresser just don't make people think its true, some people think that and don't bother people I think those people are ok, but the people who try to push hcs onto people acc suck:(
@SmittyWarbenjagermanjenson I don't want them to feel accepted unless they're adults, if you're not old enough to get HRT you're not old enough to say you're trans.
@@GorbTV-x5f "I don't want them to feel accepted unless they are adults" first, its none of your business. second, do you realise how horrible you sound
As a trans guy, I have an unfortunate amount of experience pretending to be a girl. It completely baffles me that people think it is reasonable to argue that Mizuki is a crossdresser, because in what world would it ever make sense to live as a girl when you're a cis guy? If Mizuki was a crossdresser, this would just be willingly putting herself through gender dysphoria. A lot of the people I see arguing for Mizuki being a crossdresser insist they arent transphobic, and yet they completely fail to consider for a second what it would be like to live as a gender you are not. They don't care about trans people and they never will, so I just avoid those types if I can.
im a cis girl who likes being gnc, looing masc and even enjoys being mistaked for a dude, , so I guess I can speak from a crosdresser perspective, kinda. though Im more like just a butch I had an expirience of making a fake account in one social media and setting my pronouns as he/him so there'd be a smaller chance people would know that this is me. and oh my god I regretted that for so many times. I wished I would have set they/them at least. because it felt weird and offputting as fuck, actually acting a role of a guy, nit just looking like one. the most uncomfortable moment was when a person reffered me as dad... I was just. wtf. that's so wrong. I felt that wrongness physically even. bro. is this what social dysphoria is like??? And that's despite, once again, me liking to have a masc look. And the feeling of lying to people. it's gut wrenching. awful. so if we consider mizuki is a cis guy... that means she had spent years around ones of her closest people this way. And yet didn't want for things to change... Very cis behavour.. I guess. I felt like if mizuki were a gnc guy writing would be more focused on that constant knowledge of the fact you're lying and pretending and how fucking uncomfortable it feels, not that she's never shown to feel uncomfortable about hiding her secret, she literally puked from anxiety in mizu2 lol, but it still felt she did that more from being scared of the fact she might get outed at any moment, and her guilt was more like, of hiding a big part of herself rather than... literally pretending to be a different gender. that's what I feel. I need to go reread mizu2 though.
I'm not saying Mizuki is definitely a crossdresser. However, for "crossdresser Mizuki" to express freely, they might have to go along with others assuming they are a girl. Mizuki is shown to be teased for being feminine, but they have never claimed to be a girl. If the narrative goes in the direction of "trans Mizuki," they should focus on internal struggles more. Unless I'm forgetting something, most of Mizuki's issues seem to stem from only external factors. I think the strongest evidence of mizuki being trans is the student asking if ena is a normal girl. He is definitely not close to Mizuki, so he doesn't know how Mizuki feels, but it seems like something writers put in as a hint.
I used to be transgender and the stereotype addressed at 23:27 was my biggest problem, I wasn't allowed to go into any public bathroom at school because either I couldn't go into the mens because I was a girl, and I couldn't go into the womens because I had a p*nis. I could FEEL the guys saying "are you a man too?" Basically flipping them off on the other side of the screen, Colorpale and SEGA wrote Mizuki and her arc SO WELL as well as telling the story using the cards in the event and past events! Hinata and Minori did amazing as well at expressing their emotions!
Every person that says Mizu is a crossdresser needs to see this video. , if Mizuki WAS a crossdresser, why does bake no hana exist?! The entire song's meaning is about trans people not being accepted (or something similar, i cant remember but def about trans ppl) . That's the entire point of the song... If she was a crossdresser, colopale/sega wouldn't work on this entire gender thing at the start of the game if they were. People really can't accept the fact that Mizuki IS trans, like please, read the n25 story and it's very obvious that she's transfem.
thank you god . Its pissing me off to see all those ppl who dont even know the fandom attack ppl saying we’re “imposing western values on the story” when its so quite obviously their intention. Ppl r trying to erase Mizuki’s story bc it doesnt match up w their conservative wet dream version of japan where no minorities exist whatsoever, it’s so depressing that when a story like this exists its being spoken over. The worst part to me is the “fans” who claim to love her while saying this shit
@@EurypteridFossil OH MY GOD YOU ARE SO RIGHT. i completely forgot to mention this, but i saw SOOO many people saying that the trans “headcanon” was just “westerners being westerners!!” but it’s like… what about trans people IN JAPAN? why are you assuming transness is a western thing and that japanese people can’t be trans?? they really hate transness and want to cut it out of their romanticized ideal of japan-trans people are EVERYWHERE
@@ShoujoISMsexactly like. they ignore that a huge aspect of western influence is importanting conservative Christian values on cultures that actually used to have more expression for LGBT people. Gay and trans people existed worldwide ages ago, even if they live in a place where its “looked down on” doesnt mean they are unable to exist too.
@@ShoujoISMspisses me off sm too that whenever they see an lgbt japanese person oppose them on like twitter or whatever there are some white dudes from iowa saying “ermmmm actually you’re not japanese you’re faking it you’re a woke westerner with pronouns”
@@ShoujoISMsand like, its not like the fandom wouldnt also be accepting of a crossdressing character like they claim! its that this character theyre trying to erase happens to be trans…. Theres all these bigoted people yelling that crossdressers exist when I’m pretty sure theyre the same group w ppl who would harass any crossdressers IRL. They only like that its something they can use to deny transness which makes me feel bad crossdressers have their hobby turned into a weapon by bigots like that. All of the crossdressers I have seen comment on this have been explaining how Mizuki is trans
25:05 this part of the vid hurt so much too hear, mostly because it was my reality (im a trans girl). Mizuki as a character helped me go thru such a depressing time in my life where i wanted just to end it all. I myself know no other trans ppl or ppl that go thru the same thing, so just the utter loneliness was so painful. But seeing a character going thru things i was going thru and seeing things could get better just was a flicker of hope. Seeing ppl calling mizuki a boy or he/him hurts so much more than a person calling me that in real life. I dont want to be mean or anything but, if you actually see mizuki as a guy you are deaf and blind combined.
As a genderfluid person, I really need this. Even though I'm afab, I can still relate with Mizuki. I've never been outed, but I still understand how they feel and how scary it is, it's even worse that I live in a very transphobic and conservative country and I don't think I could ever come out. I just want to see a non cis representation and people that's calling Mizuki a crossdresser/femboy is taking away that representation for people and that's invalidating their identity. Trans women already have things hard enough like people calling them creeps that's invading women's spaces and those people are making it worse. Thanks so much for this video and you're a great ally to the community
How are they denying Mizuki's trans arc story??? It's literally nonsense that some people really think that "Mizuki is a crossdresser" Also I live in conservative country too and even tho I been outed to some people (I'm agender) they still sometimes misgender me and it hurts
@bonny2778 OMG SAME, I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THINKING IM JUST BEING MAKING IT UP SUBCONSCIOUSLY OR SOME SHIT SINCE IT SEEMS LIKE EVERONE AROUND ME ALREADY KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE BUT I JUST DONT KNOW AND NEVER TELL ANYONE BECAUSE I FEEL SO STUPID It feels so bad when somedays i just absolutely hate how i look so feminine and wish I could be male so badly while other days I don't exactly enjoy being a girl but I don't really care and like looking cute, it's weird lol. Mizuki is so real, I have friends who are transfem and I've seen how bad it is and I really relate to her being so scared to tell others things because of how may times she has been abandoned. I also live in a conservative country and the half of my family i live with is white, religious, and homophobic so I get it, I hope things get better for you guys eventually.
I really hate the assertion of Mizuki being a crossdresser, because it kind of refuses to dig deeper into any media one consumes. Obviously, SEGA and ColoPale aren't going to outright make them say "Hi, I'm Mizuki Akiyama and I'm an MTF Transgirl!!" because...why the hell would they need to do that?? It's soooo sad how people (especially younger teens) tend to shut out anything that requires more than your first thought on a subject...
THIS!! I saw someone on tt refer to mizuki with he/him pronouns and say how it's not confirmed in the story and not explicitly said that she's trans. Media literacy is nonexistent. But then again, these people are from tiktok and twitter, no one's really surprised
@@weepingwillowp And not only they would deny it. If it was outright stated, we'll hear the usual speech about woke corrupting media, ideology being forced onto the poor little transphobic babies... (Because ofc we exist as political statement.) They will whine no matter how a trans person is presented in media. It's barely worth acknowledging them.
This. The whole theory of Mizuki being a crossdresser is just horrible and gross. Invalidating Mizuki’s gender identity like that is just plain wrong and seeing her as a monster is just really sad. More importantly, WHY CALL MIZUKI A MAN IN THE FIRST PLACE WHEN SHE LITERALLY HAS SO MUCH EVIDENCE ON HER BEING TRANSGENDER????? I am not trans myself. I am genderfluid and bigender, but I can relate to the feeling of having to be secretive about my sexuality and gender identity, and the thought of getting outed scares me. I can relate to Mizuki a whole lot. I may be the kindest and often most mature of my friends and classmates, but I often distance myself in fear of getting hurt. And if I ever get outed, I honestly don’t know what to do if that ever happens to me. I can’t imagine how it feels to be a trans woman who loves Mizuki and sees all of the invalidating things said to her. Edit: 0:00 also… IS THAT FUCKING TRIGGER FROM IDOLISH7???????
Hi! Technically since you're genderfluid and/or bigender the terms do go under the transgender umbrella, if you personally do not want to label yourself with it, that's completely fine! But you have every right to since being bigender or genderfluid does mean not quite being the same gender as at birth, therefore being under the trans umbrella. Either way, TRANS MIZU FOR THE WIN!
I honestly can't use any of the terminology related to these situations because "we live in a society" and absolutely no one teaches these things and the internet is a hot mess of false info. Like one time, in class, my teacher asked the class "Is there anyone here that doesn't associate the word LGBT with anything?" and said "Stay like that." to the people who raised their hands. I'm trying to learn more but, like I said, unbiased info is really hard to come by so I really appreciate videos like this that come from the heart without bias. But all in all I think I get what you mean. Assuming I understood, in my case, I don't really care about my sex itself since I can't identify as either completely in terms of how I feel. I go between them depending on how I feel at the moment, which is how I understand genderfluidity, please correct me if I'm wrong.
@@HeroBabaa I definitely agree with this. I honestly wished that more people were educated about LGBTQ+ related topics. That asides, genderfluidity does kind of work like that! You just express yourself based on how strongly you feel. For example, some days you may feel more masculine, some days you may feel feminine, and sometimes you might feel androgynous or gender-neutral.
As a trans man, while I am on the other side of the spectrum of gender identity, Mizuki's story has moved me deep to the core multiple times. Her monologue about Ena's acceptance and everything being okay/normal tomorrow is something I experienced myself, I can *feel* her anxiety, her pain and the despair she felt in the event. Her story of acceptance and seeing her ongoing journey has been both comforting and yet so real and raw, it's not perfect, it's bumpy and terrifying at times! But in the end I resonate with her so deeply because of this core theme of identity, and seeing it being erased or brushed off frankly pisses me off
People treating trans characters as "just crossdressers" really bothers me, as a trans guy. Like.... Bffr, its so clear that they feel dysphoria and are stealth with most people around them. This happens a lot with other characters like yuka from blue period as well, and it always bothers me when people intentionally misinterpret characters to fit their transphobic views. Trans people NEED this kind of rep and positive portrayal, especially now. Seeing a character like mizuki, despite being ftm instead of mtf, has really helped me be able to be honest with myself about my gender. Its so important for people to have these characters to help explore themselves. You worded all of this really well, good video
I was arguing with a he/him Mizuki believer recently. They said they believe Mizuki only dresses femininely because people were calling Mizuki weird for dressing like a girl????? That Mizuki is a symbol of fighting gender stereotypes for them. I honestly don't understand how her being transfem would cancel that out, but whatever man.. Also many of cisboy Mizuki believers, particularly if they're a russian speaker, are radical feminists, terfs. I speak russian myself so I see it a lot.
I'm pretty sure that a majority of the people saying that Mizuki is a crossdresser (mostly russian speaking ones) have never met a crossdresser nor a trans person because her experience is SO OBVIOUSLY TRANS that if they really wanted to write a crossdresser they failed so miserably it's not even funny
They just don't want to listen and understand. Russia have trans people too and they play sekai but most of the fandom just be like " We know better mizu is cis it is not transphobia"
@@moonypumpkin6363 yes as I said, the idea I get from it is that most of people who say that Mizuki is cis haven't met a trans person. That doesn't change the fact that there are russian trans Sekai fans
Mizuki's opportunity to come out on her own terrms was irreparably taken away by those classmates, and her running away is an extremely understandable reaction for someone who had just been outed against their will. If she was just crossdressing, there would be no huge, absolutely gut-wrenching moment of pure shock and horror that precedes her literally fleeing out of fear of rejection. For it to be so close to when she intended to come out on her own terms just makes it even worse.
I just went and watched some of the actual event ending, and it's even more cut and dry. Student A quite literally refers to Ena as a "normal girl." There is NO world where you would use this rhetoric against someone who is just crossdressing. Also, her reaction of being scared that everyone will just act like "nothing changed" is such a common reaction to coming out from accepting people that it's almost a little scary how real it is. Mizuki feels like she has to hate their kindness because it is born from something she didn't have control over, that it is rooted, somehow, in something disingenuous. And her absolutely empty monologue at the end is horrifying. Feeling like coming out to people just isn't worth the effort, that just having someone else do it against your will would somehow help you, then having that EXACT thing happen, realize you didn't want it at all, then say "I want to disappear," is so clear cut an example of a trans experience that it is baffling people pass over it. Looking at her in the sekai area afterwards just cements the fact that she is trying to separate herself from the situation. When someone SMILES in a terrible situation, you know they have internalized some absolutely awful ideas.
Russian fans on TIKTOK needs to watch this. literally i make a post about Mizuki that has NOTHING to do with their gender and the comments i get are just “how does Mizuki laugh? hehehehe” or “best boys” (mizurui post) and its getting annoying 😭
Honestly, the reactions that people have had towards mizu5 only further displays the struggles that trans people face. Even though Mizuki conforms perfectly to female gender norms, she is still being viewed as a crossdresser and a femboy because "boys can be feminine too!" Which is true, but statements like those are a double standard when it comes to trans and gender non-conforming people and are commonly used against them to deny their identity. For example, I'm ftm and I've always loved cute and feminine things even after transitioning. I pass well as a man because of my presentation, so people simply think I'm a guy who likes cute things. When I used to live in the city, people would tell me that "I needed to man up" or that I shouldn't like feminine things because I'm a man. But when they find out I'm trans it's suddenly "oh, so you're a tomboy?" or "women can be masculine too!" It's a huge double standard. It doesn't matter how Mizuki presents, or what she likes, or even that they are a fictional character! As long as they don't conform to cishet gender norms, their identity will continue to be denied.
As a trans woman, "some people feel so alone and they need the representation so, so badly" made me shed a couple tears, the kindness and understanding in this video makes me feel like I'm in a safe space, as if I'm being listened to and my needs are being fulfilled. I resonate heavily with Mizuki and the fear she has of what her loved ones would think of her if they knew her secret, I might be in a rough place at the moment but videos like this remind me that deep down, I'm not alone and there will always be people here to support me and the people that are deemed different. Thank you for this amazing and detailed explanatory video!
as a transfem, i find every point of crossdress mizuki believers to be completely nonsensical especially the point of "mizuki is a crossdresser going against gender stereotypes" when she really isnt. her gender has always been kept a secret and she was always perceived as a cisgirl by the other characters since she passes as one so theres literally no gender stereotypes to go against, unless mizuki would outright say shes a boy which shes clearly not.
As a trans girl from Russia, I want to apologize for how russian fandom is acting. It's mostly them to call Mizuki a "boy", "my son" or "our little femboy". Of course, the way she's treated there grinds my gears to sparks just as much as it does to all of you. And the way they defend the "crossdresser" theory is simply atrocious with dishonest Boku/kun arguments that were done and dusted by all of the people who are not strangers to Japanese language as much as knowing how you spell Konnichiwa in kana, and they also guilt-trip that it is US who are doing OTOKONOKO ERASURE. OTOKONOKO OF ALL PEOPLE. The ones who are not just crossdressing guys who may or may not mention that they are in fact guys, it's literally their PRIDE that they are guys who look like girls and it's one of the FIRST THINGS they mention when meeting new people. Which is the second furthest thing from Mizuki (the first being masc presenting cis boy). And yet, I still feel like apologizing. Dunno why, it's not like it's my fault. I just think it would make us russians appear as more reasonable. There are people in ru sekai fandom that openly believe that Mizuki is a girl as well. And there are many of them. But they are too passive to speak their mind when it's contrary to "popular" belief... Figures. Add to that the fact that any LGBTQ expression is outlawed as "unorthodox sexual values propaganda" and you got the situation where it's easier to just consider russian sekai fandom dead at this point.
pjsk fans try to have reading comprehension challenge go! (FAILED BEFORE THE CHALLENGE EVEN STARTED!!!!) this video is so real!! the mischaracterization in this fandom goes CRAZY not just for mizuki too. i love project sekai so much but the fandom pisses me off badly cause of this reason LOL if you ever come across someone disregarding a character (by misgendering them, ignorantly insulting them or mischaracterizing) just ignore them. typically theyre saying these to anger others, people like this are not worth your time
Thank you so much for this topic, Shoujo! I followed niigo's and the other units' stories, and anyone should know by now that Mizuki's a transfem, and not whatever the heck these other people are saying otherwise. Seeing comments of saying that "Mizuki's a boy!" or "Mizuki's a crossdresser, it's confirmed!" Makes me even more disappointed by the lack of media literacy nowadays, like they really need to see the word transgender with Mizuki altogether to finally get it or something 😔
Nah, the devs could come out and say it to their faces, and these people would still try to say its not true or the devs are wrong. They don't care about being correct. If they did, they wouldn't be saying this stuff in the first place.
The thing that piqued my interest in this mess is that most of Mizuki crossdresser theory believers are from russia, a country that has been trying to undermine peoples identities for centuries. For people there even crossdressing is still brandly new and super unconventional (crossdressers are threatened there just like transgender people, which is just awful to a new degree). That's probably why they fight so hard for Mizuki to be a guy - because they are still trying to break the past cultural norms in their country. They want to be seen, so they're taking the spotlight, even if it's someone else's time to shine. And they're still very far away from accepting transgender people in their community.🤷♀️ But the worst part is that their opinion influences a lot of slavic countries (that were part of USSR) in the media. As a slavic myself, I see transfobic people everywhere. They find transgenderness a 'west european thingy' that harms peoples perception of identity ("Because if you just want to dress differently, then do it as you wish, but it won't change your sex. You should be proud of who you were born as!") And I can't stress enough, how hard it is to live in a society like this every day. I hope and pray that my country will change and grow kinder to people, who are different from them. But, unfortunately, I'm doubtful russia will ever change the same way...
As a person who identifies as agender, Mizu5 was VERY relatable for me. I was thrilled by the way writers portrayed the situation! People tend to only care about looks and anatomical traits rather than understanding the characters’ identity which they KNOW it’s appropriate and true for them. I really love Mizuki’s character and how they struggle to express their identity to people, let alone be accepted by them, which I and a lot of people who falls under the trans umbrella also relates to and finds comfort in. But yet again, Mizuki’s transph0bic classmates don’t try to understand their way of expressing themselves and only categorizing them into being a cis male, who happens to be a cross dresser and likes feminine & cute things. This particular part of the event was very relatable, showing how people who don’t identify as their assigned s3x at birth get outed, made fun of and even get labeled as creeps in some cases. Mizuki’s response to their classmates’ comments was truly realistic for me. How their identity gets disrespected and ignored by the society they’re living in. And moreover to that, a lot of ‘cis Mizuki believers’ did the exact same Mizuki’s classmates did and took the whole event wrongly. Some people are just REALLY obnoxious and have no media literacy, which also damages the people who relate to the character. -- Anyway, these were my thoughts for Mizu5, I really want to inform people who identify themselves differently; please don’t let anyone judge nor make you feel bad about the way you think is the truth for you. Keep your head up and feel confident in yourself, no matter the society. & Please don’t forget to love and embrace the person you are
(Note: If the society you’re living in might hurt/damage you because of your identity, please don’t try to come out to them. They most likely won’t understand and you might get injured.)
One thing I’d like to mention which I don’t see people talk about a lot when discussing evidence that Mizuki is trans is that in the set from “guiding a lost child to what lies ahead” (the one with bug) on each characters outfit they have a little heart charm. Every characters heart charm is missing a half except Mizuki. The cis girls, Mafuyu, Kanade, and Ena, have the blue half of the heart while the cis boy, len, has the pink half. Mizuki has both the pink and blue halves, meaning she’s the only one with a full heart. Her having the pink half could represent how she was biologically born a male and her having the blue half could represent how she’s a girl. It wouldn’t make any sense for her to also have the blue half if she was just a cross dresser, her having both halves is really strong evidence that she’s trans or at the very least gender queer.
Trans boy here! It doesn’t make sense that Mizuki would be a cross dresser from a story standpoint due to the whole secret thing. Why would THAT be the secret? Clearly Mizuki’s attempting to be perceived and present as a girl. That much is obvious. She was so devastated when Classmate A ‘revealed’ that she was a boy. If Mizuki really WAS just a cross dressing boy, why would this be so bad? Why would she hide the fact that she’s ‘actually a boy’? BECAUSE SHE ISN’T A BOY.
and (idk if its accurate or not) but if she was a man, wouldn't she be happy that she was outed as a dude??? and the face she made when classmate a said "are you a boy too" DOES NOT LOOK LIKE SHE WAS HAPPY
The fact that this needs explained is wild, some people in this fandom are so willfully ignorant that they'd rather assume every writer is Kazutaka Kodaka than just realize the actual intent of the story.
just clicked on this so i’m not sure if this is mentioned in the video, but one thing that really bothers me about this whole thing is when cis people say that mizuki being trans is just stereotypical, specifically a harmful stereotype. never have i seen a trans person claim this, nor have i ever seen a trans person see mizuki as a cross dresser/male. listening to trans voices when it comes to these things is important. if every trans person says she’s trans, then she’s probably trans.
Hi! I’m Russian. I see the author’s point about this topic. In Russian fandom people usually see Mizuki as a guy, who likes to wear cute stuff, but scared of being called wierd, so he avoids talking about his sex. I don’t think that Sega will tell us the truth anyway, so I believe that both options are possible. In Russia a lot of people like Mizuki, English speaking people seem to like that character as well. In opinion, it’s just stupid to have all this arguments about Mizuki’s gender, the only important thing is that they are a good character and both fandoms like them
@@littlefish1372 well it does make sense since Russia is extremely anti LGBTQA. The fact that the series is allowed to be accessible to Russians hinge on the fact they can imply as close as possible, without being super explicit. I guess the series being available in Russia means we won’t get to see Mizuki come out fully ever. Which is so unfortunate. Also, I don’t think it’s stupid since hearing Mizuki come out properly after having it stolen from her would be wonderful. Or they’ll pull a Steven Universe lol
@@littlefish1372You can say that, but contextually, only one can be right. Without the author coming and directly saying what the intent was, we can't grasp what the author wants to say.
Mizuki legit was already so obviously trans like, past mizuki looked more boyish, they legit had THE BOYS UNIFORM ON, she couldnt even look at herself in the mirror. Then mizu5 came around and was like "yeah were just gonna confirm it without saying the t word". Like chat no crossdresser reacts like that. No corssdresser gets so nervous over that secret. Also the line "So are you a boy to?" From our lovely student a (im going to skin him) is legit just saying it at that point...
I just want to say thank you for making this. As a trans person, it’s really exhausting for us to break down transphobic arguments all the time, especially since people will think we are being biased and ignore whatever we say just cause we are trans. Thank you for doing some of the work, it really helps ❤
it makes even worse that some people fetishize trans people, specially trans women and crossdressers and use the term "trap" to refer to them, i've seen a lot of people like that and i'm scared they'll come to the pjsk fandom now that is canon that mizuki is amab and start seeing her as an "object of desire"
I already know if mizuki says "im a girl" people are still going to say its a mistranslation/retcon or they might say something like "when mizuki says im a girl mizuki means the role is society" like what they say with bridget from guilty gear
I feel like every crossdressing boy Mizuki believer should be locked in a room full of "boys don't react like this when someone tells their best friends they're a boy [Mizu5 pic]" post screenshot until they get it /hj
Tysm for saying this, I just saw some Pinterest posts where people kept saying "HE's a really HANDSOME BOY" (uppercase exactly like this) and a lot of people were agreeing with it and it kind of made me sad because people aren't clearly understanding Mizuki's character. Of course, I also won't understand it completely since I am cis, but I also don't think there is a way Mizuki is a crossdresser or a boy because, for example, maybe I can be considered a crossdresser because many of my clothes are for man and I would without a problem say that I am a cis woman or wear an outfit more "feminine"? (idk how to describe it, sorry if I sounded inappropriate) but Mizuki clearly hated being called a "boy" and I think that is enough to understand the situation she was put at, but I think people are starting to mischaracterize her. Sorry if I made any mistakes and sorry for the rant, I just don't like how people are treating the situation
Thank you so much for making this. Even if you were worried about posting it talking about topics like this is so incredibly important and maybe will even help some people understand Mizuki or other trans characters better in the future. You explained Mizuki and why her transness is so important so incredibly well, lots of thanks and love
Suuuuch a wonderful video. Mizuki’s story is so important to me and many others I know and it hurts (and frankly is really fucking annoying) when people twist her story so much because there’s a REASON characters like her exist. I’m nonbinary and hold my gender identity in pretty high regard to myself, although I don’t experience dysphoria too often, Mizu5 specifically impacted me so much AS someone who falls under the trans label. I don’t talk about my gender identity much irl, especially not to my family, because my dad is transphobic and there’s a real fear there of whatever might happen to me if he ended up finding out. I don’t entirely know where I’m going with this, but I really really love Mizuki, she’s one of my favorite Pjsk characters, and it’s so important for characters like her to exist so trans people and more importantly trans women have someone to see themselves in
Here's another point id like to make i havent seen others mention!! At the beginning of the first chapter in Mizuki's fifth focus event, mizuki is seen to have flashbacks of hurtful things others have said to her regarding her identity, one of these phrases being "When you're young, there are periods you fall under that impression, after all" (Implying that the fact she's trans is merely a phase she'll grow out of when older), which is a VERY common sentence used against people in the LGBTQ+ community, having experienced so myself after coming out. Sure, you might claim a crossdresser could've been told the same thing, but this comment itself has a huge reputation for being told by older figures as a way to invalidate one's experience when indulging in their gender identity, a way of dismissing their gender expression as nothing more than some insignificant thing you'll grow out of, which reflects a lack of acceptance of their true self and minimizes their experience.
mizu5 was a heartbreaking-but needed-read. i'm not into pjsk or most mobages (though i know a lot of my friends are, so i read the story to understand the craze behind the release) and i sincerely don't understand how some people take mizuki's absolute horror of realizing that one of their dearest friends was told their secret without their consent and twist it into a cisgender-normative view that only serves to benefit themselves. i'm trans myself, i know the dehumanization recieved when you go try to openly be yourself only to be downgraded and only seen as a threat to the people around you. although mizu5 and my experiences aren't inherently alike due to me never being able to have the resources and community to be myself, the fear and horror of people you thought of as friends finding out something so intrinsic and personal to you through a transphobic lense hurts so much more than most people would ever even imagine. and yet the most horrific thing people will do is look through that transphobic lense. they won't believe anything in subtext if it means they can absent-mindedly excuse the implications of mizuki's clear dysphoria as something as simple as a confident choice (that falls apart if you think about it more). people will align with those transphobic bullies views because they would rather claim that "femboy erasure" is more hurtful than transfem erasure, for the sole sake of diminishing mizuki's very real experiences that trans people have to face everyday for their own gratification. Sato Hinata stated on their socials that the story of mizu5 had them crying after the recording, that they poured their whole heart out into the performance. i believe them when they admit to such. no one puts that much vocal strain in their readings just to have it simply brushed off as a gag, or that it's not intended to be that way through a distorted lense. this story was very emotionally tender for not only the characters, but i believe the voice actors too. i can't imagine putting all of my heart and soul into portraying a story that could connect deeply with trans people just to have it brushed off as "well, they're clearly just crossdressing." trans representation is needed more than ever, and im grateful for the story that mizu5 tells. unfortunately, now im anxiously awaiting for ena5 to come out soon so that people stop perpetuating the idea that mizuki's "just a crossdresser" when it is much more than just putting on different clothes. this is a very real reality trans people have to live with, whether they're out forcibly without a say or still in the closet due to fear. people need to listen to trans voices, not disregard them in favor of their own cis satisfactions that only benefit themselves. to my other trans people in these comments-i believe we will get through this together. wherever you are, we have to hope that things get better. because that's the only way we move forward. 🩵🩷🤍🩷🩵 on a much more lighter note: thank you for the incredible video! i also watched the muni d4dj one, and i thought it was also incredibly stellar! it made me feel super seen as someone struggling with related issues. hoping you have a good day! ♡
I wanna add this. Why those Mizuki crossdresser believers ignoring "You tend to think that way when you're younger" line from Mizuki's past "friend" so much? Yes, in Mizu2 event we heard lines from Mizuki's past friends who betrayed her. But the line that I mentioned earlier was added only in Mizu5 event. Oh, and do you know who hear "You will grow out of this"? Transgenders. Like, I can't logically think the moment where it will be addresed to a crossdresser. Too young to wear cute clothes lol?
yeah and the VA choice, and guess what it sounds like? like an OLDER authoritative man talking to a young person(wonder what could this POSSIBLY be reference to?? maybe a doctor?? any media literacy from those people??). the VA choice is so deliberate.
I am a transgirl and utaite covers and songs made me realise (yes, I am a mfmf fan, how could you tell?) and telecaster b-boy was the first cover I ever heard so you showing it as an example is kinda funny and heartwarming to me.
The absolute funny thing is that... I really know and thought that Mizuki is transgender since DAY 1 after seeing her profile of her gender being "Unknown" and I followed after that because it itruiged me what's next... then I never thought that Project Sekai is getting for real this time to adress this on Mizu5. **AND IT FUCKING BROKE ME** T_T.
One part of the event that personally stuck out to me was when Mizuki's classmates said that they *did* think that Ena was an "ordinary" girl (I've seen people translate this differently, but I'm just gonna stick with this for now) which Ena is confused by and says "What's that supposed to mean?" "By, I'm "ordinary"?" and I GUESS you COULD interpret this in a way that supports the theory that Mizuki is a crossdresser, but I personally find that to be.. I don't know.. strange? Because to me (at least) it's obvious that by "ordinary" they meant that Ena is cisgender, except they worded it horribly because...of course they'd make a huge distinction between trans girls and cis girls, I think its clear they dont view trans girls as just.. well... girls. They're transphobes, it's weird that their words are used as "evidence" to suggest that Mizuki is a crossdresser.
It’s interesting I’ve also seen people saying Mizuki could be non binary, with the use of they/them pronouns. As someone who’s nonbinary I’m almost sure She is a trans girl, because I don’t feel like she shows a need or want to be seen as ‘neither’ female or male. Really cool video 🏳⚧♥
This literally brought me to internal tears like what the hell 😭 say what you want this video perfectly encapsulates my own thoughts abt Mizuki as well something something I'll raise a straight child lesbian daughter a gay son attack helicopter even but I'll never raise a "MIZuKi Is A CRoSsDResseR" clown Your channel has piqued my interest now take my sub 👹
As a trans masc person who cosplays women and crossdresses for fun, the whole idea that Mizuki is just a crossdresser is crazy to me. I have always related so heavily to Mizuki as a gnc person who leans more heavily onto one side of the gender binary spectrum, and this event was heart wrenching for me. I literally got the same knot in my stomach that I got when *I* got outed at my highschool. Mizuki's whole worry at the end of the story was that Ena and the others would no longer see her as a girl, or only see her identity as a girl with male anatomy (rather than just a girl, any other girl), and THAT ALONE should prove her story is about her being trans. Anyway, I absolutely adore Mizuki
I CAN FUCKING RELATE. I'm a somewhat-closeted transwoman- my parents know, most of the people I know (like friends and relatives) knows, and I can somehow relate to this... I literally destroyed my academic productivity due to the depression that the phrase "I can't even be a girl" and "what if they hate me" caused... I turned to games once because I was addicted to it, now I did it again NOW to escape these feminine feelings MSA (previously known as My Story Animated) literally introduced me to... I tried my mom's bra once, my first idol dresses in a feminine manner, I got so obsessed with TG TF content easily, hell, I even stole my cousin's clothes once... She was livid when they found out... It started even when I was a child... And now that I fully realized it, I'm dead inside... And don't even get me started about my dad... I have to stay as a boy thanks to a certain deal we made... I have to succeed first if I want to have a chance to transition... I hate it. Really... Failsafes THIS restricting is caused by the hardships he went through... And I get it... He was poor, he got into trouble and thus he suffered: he had to survive on his own... He pedaled and pedaled on his pedicab (bike with a sidecar) just to survive, man! He can't even find a job in his early life (like, late teen-early adult), waaaay before I was born... He doesn't want me to experience it... Ever... But, well, I have a different story... I'll uphold this deal, no matter how much I have to suffer because of it. I owe it to him to try, after all the mistakes I did in the past... Mom is kinda chill about it, I dunno, I can't read her, sooo... It's either I'm cooked or I'm safe based on the situation, i guess Hell, I had fallen deep in this rabbit hole enough that when Mafumafu showed up with a masterpiece in my Recommended he made IN 2019 (Onnanoko Ni Naritai) in mid-late January, I immediately understood it's premise and it's message, like, what- AND I LISTENED TO IT FOR 4 MONTHS STRAIGHT, I HAD IT IN REPEAT- I might rewatch this, I haven't fully watched it yet... But, anyways, crossdressing- With the deal me and dad made, I resorted to crossdressing so I can somehow feel like a girl, hence why it acts as a substitute for my feelings... Just like Mizuki, I got so obsessed with feminine clothing, that I literally earn money and go on "mission impossible" themed missions just to buy them instead of saving my money for something else- Anyways, about Mizuki, I kinda had my suspicion that she's trans, hell, I even vouched that it should be the case... The similarities of Mizu5 to me is when uhhh, I did a major mistake and they somehow found out, or if something, let it be a secret, a message, video evidence, weird behavior, was leaked... Hell, if I was put in the same situation as Mizuki I would react the same way, not giving him/her/them (Ena or my closest friend/s) the chance to speak and want to disappear, but instead of breaking mirrors, I'll go back to the "male" persona I built: ignorant, intimidating and hotheaded... After all, why would I be confident when I know my current situation, which was already worse, will worsen tenfold? Again, like Mizuki, I would want nothing to change in my life, my surroundings, my everything: I'm afraid of that happening because I will have to change myself as well... I really, REALLY need to get therapy, but I think it's just a waste of time, and probably because I'm not interested: I just want to learn how to overcome this with only minimal help... To the readers of this comment, please, PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME (or anywhere) Aside from that, this isn't Misericundiam, it's my scattered feelings formed into a somewhat cohesive opinion... Glad I don't surf through Twitter~ Anyways, time to finish this video now, I'll update with an reply to this- Your Waifu Trisha, out~
Update 1: I finished the video, but I'm still somewhat confused: I wasn't paying enough attention... Sorry about that- Just like the first video I saw about this topic, this is really, REALLY informative, it's well written... Nice video! I also forgot, aaaaaand i forgot what I forgot... Great. I might need corrections in some aspects in my comment or something, I feel like I made my comment WAAAAAY more about me than the topic itself... If I did, sorry... I'm telling my story... Also, clarifications: 1. By Misericundiam, I meant, the fallacy of said name: why would I convince you to do any action? Why would I use your empathy as a fking marketing tool? 2. By "The similarities of Mizu5 to me" I meant, my current situation... 3. I don't use Twitter (X), hence I said it... Why did I even put it in there... 4. My mom knows, yes, and I think she hates people that actually encourage my behavior, but accepts me regardless... I have been with her all my life and I don't fully understand how she works. Great! 5. Dad suffered, and he doesn't want me to suffer as well (I had to specify) 6. By "destroyed my academic productivity due to certain phrases", I literally lay/sit in bed, binging videos on TH-cam, like this one, or playing games, like Mindustry, Project Sekai, Roblox, etc... I literally ignored my studies... I just put in the required effort to just pass each quarter... All because I can't be a girl, and I can't even present myself femininely without any consequences... 7. I forgot to put this, but the bullies in school are brutal- I was bullied ever since I was in first grade... 11th, I had Andrei, and I told him my secret (which is this exact comment) and IMMEDIATELY OUTED me the moment he knew it to the whole class. Great! Considering that when I was still in AgentCraft (a Minecraft server), I was betrayed by a literal cookie, all because I got a lucky find when I was exploring. I only needed the armor for protection for me and my team, and he literally outed our base coords and another stronger team dominated us... Thanks to that, I can't trust people anymore, and thanks to mom's advice, I dismissed every traitor's plea of forgiveness... The cookie that betrayed me said he would give me my armor set back, but when I teleported, I was at a pit... I didn't take any chances, and I killed him in his own pit, not caring about the armor anymore: I just want to get out of there... In short, I developed trust issues. Anyway, I denied the claim Andrei said when our General Mathematics teacher asked if it was true. First day of meeting him, and I just outed myself. Great. Just great! History fucking repeated itself. And it's all because I trusted someone without thinking. Great! 8. I don't fully know the topic yet, so, sorry if I somehow missed- 9. I crossdress almost every night before I sleep- I'll update again next time-
Update 1.1 More clarifications: 10: I was a troublesome kid once, hehe~ 11: By "I got so obsessed with TG TF content easily", it's self explanatory, but it's not limited to just that... There's also books and videos and anime, and media in general about these kinds of stuff, and I liked them too-
I think people are going such lengths to say she’s a cross dresser is because they don’t want to believe that a trans character can have depth and ambiguity to their story.
Interesting video. I was always opened for all options for Mizuki (he, she, they) but leaned more for crossdresser or non binary versions, and now I understand your perspective better, thanks! Fun thing, I showed my mom Mizuki and asked if she thinks (purely on vibes) Mizuki is a trans girl or crossdresser boy, and my mom answered trans girl
IM SO GLAD YOU MADE A VIDEO ABOUT THIS!!! It’s so exhausting seeing people act like towards Mizuki, so seeing fans defend Mizuki and their story is so satisfying 😌 as someone who knows people who had problems with gender and how they wanted to be perceived, it’s so blatantly obvious that this story is about trans…ness? so yeah again thanks for making this! (me when people have media literacy 🥰🥰😍😍😘)
you spoke about this topic really well! (i teared up) my rant about this: mizuki is a character who i'm upset i didn't find out about sooner (my self-discovery journey of being nonbinary started around late 2020-early 2021 and i hadn't heard anything of pjsk until late 2022, even then, i started actually playing only at the start of this year). i feel like seeing her story, seeing how much care the writers put into it with all the nuances of the trans experience earlier than i actually did would have really helped me. but now mizuki is.. definitely my favorite character EVER from any media for the way she's written. a big part of her story surrounds her fearing being abandoned (in the early days) and not being seen the same way after she tells someone her secret (in the current days), and i resonate with that SO MUCH as someone assigned female at birth but having strong feelings against being seen as feminine in any way. i have a strong fear of being perceived completely differently after telling someone about my gender identity, a fear of being looked at as a ''lower being'' just for what i identity as, so to speak. i see myself a lot in mizuki for a lot of her personality traits, she's a really, really important character to me. seeing people deny the whole point of her storyline is.. really upsetting, to say the least. i still really appreciate the pjsk team for making this storyline, though, because at the same time there have been a lot of people who speak out against the parts of the fandom that believe mizuki is a crossdressing boy, especially recently. People who had never heard about pjsk until this event have been speaking up in favor of the whole point of her character, and it really makes me happy, gives me even a sliver of hope. i appreciate you touching on this issue a lot.
Forgot to talk about another thing in the recent mizuki event that really makes it obvious that mizuki's trans: after one of mizuki's classmates outs her to ena by joking about ena being ''a boy too'', he also says ''i know you're a normal girl''. Emphasis on ''normal''- he believes that mizuki isn't a ''normal'' girl.
you know what sucks, that i needed to see this video to actually realize how much of an effect these people have. from all the people going "oh both sides are FULLY valid,there is proof for BOTH" "oh mizuki is wearing a modified boys uniform,some schools allow that!" , all the other stupid gaslighting stuff ive read recently. that even me,who is a transwoman who was fully convinced from reading mizukis story that there is no way she could ever be read as a crossdresser,these people still made me question that "oh maybe there is 1% chance that colopale will retcon everything in the future and turn her into a crossdresser,theres a chance for that". i hate this.
coming from a trans girl, thank you so so much. i am so grateful for this video and all the effort and care you put into it. typing through tears. thank you.
I’d like to add that the story pretty much openly tells us about how Mizuki nor any of her close friends(including her sister Yuuki) see masc presenting Mizuki and fem presenting Mizuki as “the same person“. Yuuki uses a very interesting phrase in Mizukis new years focus: “I love THE Mizuki that likes cute stuff“, she specifically focused on how she loves Mizuki, not when she wears cute things, not that she enjoys cute things, but Mizuki herself, and using the “cute things“ as a way to differentiate between the real Mizuki and the “boy“ Mizuki.
Omg as a trans person all of the “mizuki is a guy!” Comments drive me INSANE bc it’s so obvious she’s not 😭, and 9 times out of 10 it’s motivated by transphobia rather than a genuine like of the character. Tysm for this video 🙏
6:44 (sorry if you addres it later i haven't finished watching) it sucks the most because these people who say mizukis a crossdresser genuinely BELIEVE mizuki is not a cis girl who wants to crossdress, not a trans girl who wants to crossdress, just... A boy. A cis boy, usually. A boy who likes dresses. They refuse to believe mizuki might be a girl in any way, cis or trans. Which is like the whole point of her arc - being herself, a girl.
Thank you so much for this video! In all honesty, I was dreading that the new Nightcord event (Where Does the Path of Thorns Lead to?) would confirm that Mizuki is a "boy". In a lot of Japanese media (and a lot of Western media as well), it's unfortunately a common trope to write a trans woman and purposefully depict them as "male", of course, to push the narrative that "trans women are 'men'". Writers are transphobic too, and I've seen a lot of characters be purposefully depicted as male to play into the whole "it's a tr*p!" stereotype that anime fans love to spread. I think that's why anime fans THINK that Mizuki is a crossdresser, because that's a common trope in anime. Anime very rarely depicts trans women as trans women, so it's unthinkable to these people that Mizuki is trans, or even a girl in general. I've even seen anime fans try to pull out Japanese culture to "prove" that (and as a counterclaim, crossdressing isn't nearly as ostracized in Japan than in Western countries, and is in fact celebrated in some parts). In the end, I'm just glad that these annoying fans don't get a win this time, and are seen as the bumbling fools in this one. Of course, if I made any misconceptions, or made any errors! Please tell me! I think Mizuki is a trans girl. I think we all do, really.
this was worded very well! i'm a trans dude that absolutely despises the femboy mizuki headcanon and so it's nice to see a video talking about how it's just plain wrong my argument has been the same, that saying mizuki is a crossdresser only undermines their story and that people who think that way do not care about her at all, and, to me, are physically incapable of caring about her and her story to see something like that being denied when there's so little positive and realistic trans rep in this day and age is disheartening and maddening, and it fills me with rage when people try to ignore things like this when they exist so little in media people are scared of this kind of thing and they want to eradicate and ignore anything that they could possibly be sympathetic about protip: a character doesn't have to face the camera and go 'i'm transgender' for it to be inferred, because a lot of the time and for a lot of people that's *how it is in real life*
There is no way in any planet that Mizuki is a crossdresser. A crossdresser wouldn't act like Mizuki did at being revealed as a person of male origin to Ena. Mizuki's whole story about the fear of coming out wouldn't be Mizuki's story if they were just a crossdresser. (You might notice that i didn't call Mizuki by any pronouns and that's purposeful since i don't want to anger anyone by calling Mizuki 'they/them' or 'she/her'.)
People who think Mizuki is a crossdressing boy also think that the book "Lolita" is a sweet love story. Reading comprehension really is a dying skill these days and it's frustrating...
Thank you for your video! As russian sekai player i feel better after see someone with same opinion because russian fandom is just... Transphobic as hell. ( and most queer fandoms in russia have terfs. It's stupid but fact). After mizu5 I have seen some "headcanons" how mizu d3es after this event or rest of niigo will hate her. And most popular translators in ru fandom just say " You can use he him for mizu"( and of course use "boku" as argument)not only she/they.and bans everyone who talks about transfem mizu because it's bait. I see other day how person talks about mizu (and use she/her) and someone just correct them like " *he/him" I feel gross. In russian part of fandom i don't speak because i know i will get hate and bullying.
as a trans man, even though the ftm experience is different from the mtf, I could feel Mizuki's pain... even cis people could feel it, and you want to pretend that a character is cis even though the game implies that she definitely isn't, it's just disgusting and no respect for my community in my opinion (if you want to correct me on something I'm all ears)
I do my best to cosplay Mizuki well but I still struggle with the thoughts of others just seeing me as a guy in women's clothes. every part of Mizuki's story and character means the world to me and I don't think I would have had the courage to go through with my transition without her. Mizuki's story genuinely saved my life
ALSO why would Mizuki hide being a crossdresser for ONLINE FRIENDS???? People that you don't think you're going to see irl?? When meeting new people online I always introduse myself like I want people to see me, so I can be my true self online. Mizuki would present themself as a boy to Niigo if being a crossdresser was the case. Anyone that says Mizuki is cis are trying so hard to "make sense", it's kinda funny. I think that those transphobes are going to stop calling Mizuki a boy only if she screams "I AM A TRANGIRL, TRANSWOMAN, TRANSFEM, MTF, AMAB, I'M A GIRL, NOT A BOY" (Sorry if my english is bad, I tried)
Honestly even if mizuki straight up said “i am a trans woman” transphobes would still do mental gymnastics trying to prove that they’re cisgender which is unfortunate…
I really feel like everytime there is clearly trans representation in anime or games and such (this mainly happens with trans women) a lot of people just ignore all the facts that proves said character IS a trans woman just to say "Oh look, a femboy!!!" 💀
(Im not a pjsekai fan but a lot of my friends are like obsessed with the game) As a trans writer, do people NOT KNOW that implications are added there for a REASON??? If a writer is adding heavy implication to their story, its most likely canon, and OBVIOUSLY they didnt want to shove Mizu’s identity in your face, they want to handle it seriously and realistically.
too bad that the most OBVIOUS implications ever often backfire with "fans" claiming the opposite, saying it's not confirmed and just a headcanon, or trying to disprove...
as a trans guy Mizuki is way too real and it hurts. Seriously... Blows my mind that there are people replying to the pinned comment with "nope! still a dude!". Mizuki is very much a trans woman - everything about her story and POVs are seriously way too real and I applaud Colopal for the writing... I was outed against my will in school, and everything about Mizuki's reaction spoke very deeply. They don't have to say things word for word for it to be the clearly intended canon meaning... Media literacy is dead and it shows. "Yeah this thing looks like grass, is green, and feels like grass but my mom didnt SAY that it was grass!" is seriously how these people think.
My friends and I just finished watching your video and I absolutely love how well you explained everything on top of how you formatted this. Tysm for making this vid!
as a trans person that recently came out to my friends (one of the most stressful things ive ever done lol), this story makes me cry but also, i was so happy watching it the first time knowing my favorite game represents someone going through the same struggles as me, even if we dont have the same identities
I'm honestly not that mad of people calling Mizuki crossdresser. I think SOME of the people misinterpret the story a bit. In Mizuki's 4th focus event, the story portrays Mizuki as someone who like to wear cute clothings. People saw that and thought Mizuki was just crossdressing. But they forget that Mizuki was really young and have no idea about gender identity, which contrast to how Mizuki present themselves in the present.
thank you every time i go on twitter and see people who've never heard of prsk pre-mizu5 call mizuki a boy and harass actual fans who say shes a girl i feel like im being lobotomized!!!
Thank you for saying it. Thank you. It’s genuinely so obvious. It isn’t queerbaiting. We finally have trans representation from an official piece of media with a large following. And we got it from the company that made silly hedgehog game.
I’m so glad I found this video, this explains everything regarding mizuki so well, it clears and enlightens my thoughts as well as headcanons I know you’ll probably not read this since there’s many comments but I also wanted to share a fun fact about mizuki They are often symbolised as a butterfly, and it has a meaning for transfem people: The spiritual meaning of the butterfly encompasses transformation, rebirth, and personal growth. It represents the journey of self-discovery and the ability to change and evolve. Butterflies symbolize freedom, lightness, and joy, reminding us to let go of burdens and embrace a sense of liberation (yes I got this from google where else 😭) and it’s just so beautiful, but the thing is i have a couple of mutuals who believe in this cross dresser theory and i seemed to believe it at first before mizu5 because it kinda made sense but I’m not transphobic, i just don’t know how to confront them, sorry for the yap
i was not even aware taht people were calling mizuki a crossdresser as i tend to stay away from any almost any social media except youtube so when i saw this i was confused cause even though i havent done the story ingame yet, i saw the picture of mizuki being shocked with the caption being something transgender related and my love for Nightchord and the entire game rose even higher cause its rare for games to have such representation. so the fact that people call her a crossdresser DESPITE ALL THE SIGNS THAT SHES NOT is absolutely messed up. thank you for speaking about this!
![สาวเมืองเพชร - ธีเดช ทองอภิชาติ [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kEt7F9PvO3I/mqdefault.jpg)
before reading comments and replies, please be aware that there may be transphobic views below. prioritize your own peace, and be careful to not burn yourself out if you decide to read them. also, i have added some more info in the description based on some comments i have received on this video. please check them out if you have any concerns about points related to crossdressing
(I will be romanizing any Japanese words for reader simplicity.)
~13:30. The usage of they/them is translation only. In the Japanese version as I recall, Mizuki is never referred to by the -kun honorific (the primarily masculine version of -chan which is seen as being gender-neutral or sometimes being seen as more feminine).
Of course, Japanese honorifics aren't perfect 1-to-1 for Western pronouns; however, even with the Japanese pronouns, kare ("he", or more accurately "that one") and kanojo ("she", or more accurately "that woman"), they aren't really used as often as transphobic weebs like to pretend they are since it's highly common in Japanese to just omit mentioning what you're talking about, not unlike how in English you can omit the word "You" during declarative statements. (That is to say "(You,) Go to the store.")
The reason why I bring this up is because transphobes LOVE to say, "but that's just the localizers pushing an agenda." If you look at the original Japanese script though, the point still holds true.
~14:00. Two things. The Japanese language doesn't really distinguish between sex and gender. If your gender is that of a girl, then broadly speaking your sex is treated as female within non-legal contexts. That said, there is a strong expectation placed on expression; however, it's not wholly mandatory.
Additionally, the usage of she/her and they/them in the translation might not be because of "Gender not sex". As a person who is transfem but uses she/her and they/them... yeah, it KINDA rubbed me the wrong way when you implied the only reason she might be written this way to serve a literary purpose and not at all acknowledging the fact people like us exist. I get you meant nothing by it; however, it did bristle me a bit.
as a crossdresser i proudly say that i am cis. I do not want to be seen as the gender I dress up as. I do not care to dress more like my assigned gender at birth. It's the exact opposite of what mizuki feels!! Shes obviously trans!! your video said it perfectly!!
@@ktshinonome Mizuki isn't a trans. He is a guy who loves wearing cute clothes.
@@kyokosakura3192 Literally, how Mizuki feels in all of her focus events, she’s trans. Of course, it did start as Mizuki just liking cute clothes; however, Mizuki learns that she is a girl. Literally, the last event confirms that Mizuki is trans, being how all of her classmates kept saying, “you never felt like a boy have you?” to Ena. That scene is literally how Ena finds out that Mizuki is originally born a boy, but she is a girl. Hell, even Project Sekai refers to Mizuki as a girl.
@@kyokosakura3192 mizuki has always hidden the fact she is 'amab'. that alone should be enough
@@kyokosakura3192 bait used to be believable
@@kyokosakura3192 shut up transphobic, u don´t even know what is a trans person and didn´t even read Mizu5 haha loser
Everytime this happen i remember that one tweet
"An anime charater will say "i am transgender" to the camera and some otaku f***boy will say they are cross dresser"
This qoute live rent free in my head
The thing is, because of those people, most publishers will never have a character say something so blunt….unless it’s a very niche product.
Oh my gosh yes there was this one person on twitter who’s never touched or heard of project sekai before mizu5 exploded, and called the whole fandom western tourists when they are British 😭😭, they aren’t even Japanese. And they are acting like it’s a mistranslation when THE EVENT HASNT EVEN BEEN TRANSLATED YET.
It’s literally that tweet, “there will be an anime character who looks in the camera and says in perfect English “I am transgender” and there still will be otaku f**k boy’s insisting there’s an intricate Japanese historical context as to why they aren’t”
@@hazyashi I saw someone saying that Mizuki can’t be trans because “femboys are part of Japanese culture, so (she) must be a femboy” 🤦🤦
@@Ryan_2218 who’s going to tell that person that sega, a Japanese company, is actually very supportive of lgbt 😭. Sega has published games with trans characters in them before like yakuza and Catherine. Sega has actually sponsored pride parades IN JAPAN. This idea that japan is so averse to anything lgbt is almost always coming from non-Japanese people to, why do they want them to not acknowledge lgbt people so much
@@hazyashi that statement really makes me feel so warm for some reason as a trans girl ajskdjk sega💖💖💓
Here’s some more evidence I wanna add!!
1. Pre-transition Mizuki is so much more miserable then post transition Mizuki. She literally could not look at herself in the mirror pre-transition as seen in flashbacks where Mizuki presented as a boy and her mirror is covered. Pre-transition Mizuki was reclusive and depressed. While post transition Mizuki is noticeably happier despite the isolation that comes with it. I feel like if she was a cross dresser, would she rlly be that miserable in middle school??
2. Additionally, while not explicitly proven, it’s likely that Mizuki presented as a girl to Niigo in middle school. Cuz I mean, Mizuki’s been in Niigo for atleast 2 yrs before the main story. So like, the topic of gender is likely to come up atleast once. Hell, in the main story, it shows Mizuki and Mafuyu having a talk abt presumedly trans or at the very least, GNC ppl, so it isn’t a stretch that gender would pop up. It’s not like Niigo ever planned to meet up irl so if Mizuki was a cross dresser, Mizuki could’ve presented as a dude without Niigo judging becuz they wouldn’t see Mizuki irl anyways.
3. Rui’s honorifics for Mizuki. Rui calls everyone “-kun” a typically masculine honorific. But Mizuki and Nene are the only 2 chars who aren’t called that. But most notably Rui used “-kun” for Mizuki in middleschool but stops doing so in high school. So it’s kinda like how guys called everyone “bro” until it triggers his trans woman’s dysphoria. Obv this is not a 1 to 1 comparison but it’s the best I can come up with
4. Ppl use that fact that Mizuki uses “Boku”(a typically masculine pronoun) as evidence. But by seeing boku as this purely masculine pronoun it would beg the question on why use a typically masculine pronoun whilst also hiding that you’re a man?? The reality is that boku isn’t purely a masc pronoun. Sure, Boku can be used to indicate masculinity, but it can also be used in a cutesy way. Mizuki is a girl who uses the Boku pronoun in a feminine, cutesy way. And even if she didn’t, trans ppl can still have traits that are associated with their sex. Ik a trans dude who kept his birth name and dresses up femininely and that will never erase that he’s a boy
5. The way the bullies talk abt her. Firstly one of the lines the bullies say to Ena is “Oh so you’re a normal girl” which does imply that Mizuki is a girl, not just the “normal kind.” Secondly, when Mizuki is remembering how ppl would treat her after she came out, there’s multiple lines that ppl say to Mizuki that just don’t make sense in a non trans lense. For example:
Evidence A. “Maybe it’s just a misunderstanding” if Mizuki was a crossdresser tf would there be to misunderstand?? This implies that the misunderstanding is “oh Mizuki claims to be a girl. Maybe this is just a misunderstanding and Mizuki just likes cross-dressing”
Evidence B. “When you’re young you might think that but it’s just a phase” said by an adult man. Such response is very commonly said to lgbt+ folks. This line implies that it isn’t a phase, that this isn’t something that she’ll grow out of. Would such line be added if Mizuki was a crossdresser?? Which is something that could be a phase since it’s a way of expression
Evidence C. “Aren’t you just roleplaying?” The most damning evidence imo. This another thing that implies that this person has no problem with cross-dressing. But the fact that Mizuki identifies as a girl!!
And that includes my tedtalk
@@Exhausted905 fr like, that kind of expression only happens when you’re misgendered or outed
Very nice Tedtalk thank you
Important detail about boku: Mizuki uses the katakana spelling of boku (ボク) instead of the kanji spelling (僕). This katakana spelling is pretty much exclusively associated with women and enbies.
Mizuki also has actually started using uchi which is a primarily feminine pronoun in the mizu5 story to.
Mizuki also uses atashi, a feminine pronoun, in the song kitty, which is Mizu4’s focus song.
I also want to note that someone in the comments of the official MV stated that Mizuki sounds noticeably more masculine in Bake no Hana compared to the previous songs...like she's given up trying to be a girl and regressing back into the closet.
regarding one of the points about her classmates, mizuki actually came out to her class starting high school "to avoid misunderstandings" which makes everything so much more tragic, because it implies that after joining nightcord mizuki managed to gather the confidence to be open about her identity. Only to be treated like that. Only for her fears to come back tenfold.
Where did you see this? I don't remember seeing Mizuki straight up saying anything like that.
@@kinokisu2859 my footprints your destination episode 3
when we read the lines,it reads that she came out to SOME people in her class. one of them most likely being An,and probably the couple of the girls who we see interact with her in the story(again,the story is not clear how many people or who exactly she told).
its not like she told every person in the class,which i think is an extremely important distinction. there is no implication that she stood in front of the class and introduced herself like that, but instead is still secretive about it and only trusted a few people,and some of them letting her trust down.
@@Dewwwwvwvwvw that doesnt change my point tho... she still came out to a handful of people and ended up being rejected
@@Dewwwwvwvwvw OH WAIT IM STUPIF I DIDNT NOTICE THERES MORE TO THIS COMMENT MB i only saw the first part!! sorry!
That is so true like the creators wouldn't have made her sing a song about being trans for nothing (Villain even tho Mafuyu sung that song since she want to find her identity).The characters in the game would have called her a "he" if she was a crossdresser but no she is a trans girl.
Even for the category whenever they choose her for one of the payable costumes she is in the female sections.
If the "mizuki is a crossdresser" believer want a crossdresser thats fine but they should create one or talk about an actual crossdresser not about an actual trans character.
Edit: the argument with the cover of the song Villain isn't really one anymore but we can clearly see the lyrics to her commissioned songs
OH MY GOD YEAH
Villain is literally a song about a transgender person, AND MIZUKI (being a trans girl) REALLY FITS THAT SONG SO WELL????
They never called mizuki a girl nor a boy, but classmates found mizuki's dressing weird and should change. If mizuki was a girl they wouldve found it normal
@lunar4386 Yeah but I am mostly talking about the main characters and the vocaloid but you are right sometimes other didn't call them a boy or a girl even if it doesn't change the fact that she isn't a crossdresser
I don’t think that the song argument is valid. If Mizuki is trans because they sang Villian it means that all members of the Wonderlands & showtime are trans too because they sang Telecaster B boy
@littlefish1372 Yeah I also now feel like it doesn't really work since it is a cover
OH MY GOD??? FOR ONCE SOMEONE SAYING MIZUKI IS A GIRL?? FOR ONCE SOMEONE POINTING OUT THE TRANSPHOBIC COMMENTS?!?!?! I LOVE YOU. Bro as a trans person i felt so offended seeing everyone be transphobic towards mizuki finally someone pointing out shes a girl and trans
I skip the story so much because I don’t have the patience, so I had no idea she was ever even a boy 😭
@@saoirsecharalambous9607 LMAO valid
@@saoirsecharalambous9607 SAME
Omg can people stop calling transphobic everyone that doesn't have the same opinion as you, such a annoying and insulting way to misuse the word.
@@ZiosNeon look, the transphobic im talking about is people that purposely goes into a comment section about mizuki being a trans girl and spamming negativity and the fact of her being a guy not girl and disrespecting her pronouns, u can have a dif opinion i dont mind but please dont annoy people who has a dif opinion about it? i cant watch one video in peace of mizuki without someone saying transphobic stuff and i just commented that comment to show how grateful i am someone made a video about her being trans as it being my opinion
Mizuki could literally look at the camera and say in PERFECT english "i am a transgender woman. I am not a crossdresser and i identity as a female." And some people would still say "yep...just a cis man crossdressing!!!"
As a trans man,it angers me that some of the people who were begging for trans representation in media are now saying that they're a crossdresser.
Because thats what he is because you cant change genders.
@@SeranaZentha gender is a social construct, of course you can change it, it's your role in the society. you are confusing gender with sex
@@neonix761 gender was coined by a rapist and sexual assaulter and is based off of an experiment he did on 2 young boys in the 1900s. They killed themselves because of it. Gender isnt real
@@SeranaZentha gender and transgender people have been known about far longer than John Money. Just look up Hirshfield and the institute for sexual science. 1940s, way before Money’s “experiment”. (I use quotation because it was an awful thing to do)
And that’s ignoring all the cultures around the world that have more than two genders.
@@SeranaZenthaGender is real regardless of its history
I'm a she/they Mizuki truther and seeing people say "my son" or "my boy" when referring to them sucks, espec on the limc vid on Mizu5 (which I still can't believe exists lol)
@@Vileplume87 limc making a mizu5 video is one of the craziest and worst ideas ever because i can TELL limc viewers are 60% homophobic or transphobic
Did limc refer to her like that, or screenshots that were shown?
@@Katriella. no, but some people in the comments and on other platforms did and used he/him for her as well
like isnt she directly referred to as a girl, "she" or just "them" in the game??
@sand_eater101 They're referred to with they/them in the eng version of the game
I live in a very strict country yk and i always been “THE WEIRD KID “ growing up because i always liked fashion and i loved making my uniform as cute as possible to make me look super cute meanwhile everyone at my age were very mature i felt very lonely in elementary and middle school because of it and i hated myself so much for not being like the others but mizuki’s story changed everything in my life LIKE LITERALLY EVERYTHING i started wearing everything i liked without caring what others think even tho they would talk behind my back but it didnt matter to me anymore i feel like mizuki is so important to me so it kinda hurts me when people think mizuki is a crossdresser when its CLEARLY NOT THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEOO :3
As a trans person, im so fucking happy to have a good representation in one of my favourite games. Mizuki is a well-written transfem character and it fucking annoying me the lack of media literacy in this fandom
Seeing people saying that mizuki is a boy/crossdresser is making me crazy like, Aside of the alarmingly transphobia, a crossdresser wouldn't feel the same horror of being outed as transgender person would.
Mizu5 represented well the horror of being outed. No matter how you are confident, people (ex : the bullies) will still see you as the gender assign at birth. Coming out is fucking scary, you don't really know how the person will react and if their view abt the person will change.
For me, i don't say that im trans when i talk with people that i don't really know or just met, i don't want to be seeing as a "weird girl", "just confused girl" or a "tomboy" i want to be seen as a boy because i'm one. And by knowing the person more i will tell them but with my own words and my own way! that's why being outed is horrible because someone random took you the chance of explaining yourself and maybe the person didn't do well or is spreading misinformation.
If the whole character arc of mizuki is their gender identity, how can they be a crossdresser ? A crossdresser will be about how they dressed and how they present themselves, not about their gender identity because they are cis. They will be mock by people saying that it's a girl (in a neg way) if they are a boy because crossdresser generaly are cis and confident with their gender so it dosen't fit with mizuki's story.
It disgusting me when i see people saying that it's a boy or a crossdresser, i emotionaly got attached with mizuki because i can relate to her ! and they don't even tries to hide their transphobia, it's like you don't want to see a trans character in a fucking rhythm game ?? it says a lot about you.
Your video is well explaned thank you for making it !! it's so damn important to have representation especially when trans rights are being destroyed in a lot of countries and trans people (especially transwomen) are being killed for who they are.
Thank you for speaking facts !!
(ps : english is not my first language so sorry if i made some mistakes!!)
youre also speaking facts!!! as a trans boy i completely resonate with what you said and truly, the fear of being outed/transphobia etc is SO PREVALENT in mizuki's stories that im surprised people have tried to ignore what is basically in front of them the whole time
people are just really fucking transphobic i just learned! Being a transgirl I've felt these horrors countless times bc I have the same classmates as Mizuki and they out me and make fun of me and stigmatize me every chance they get
@@dearlysweets omg im so sorry for what happened D: i hope you're okay now :(
But yeahh people loveee to hate to people they don't fucking know anything about
@@Quack.56 Thank you a lot❤Definitely recovering from those things but they were traumatic things that I will never forget, that's why I relate to Mizuki so much, I understand how it feels to be in that kind of situation... and well, i guess people just hated the idea of me being myself
I might not be a trans person (I'm bi) but I do agree. I remeber making a post before Mizu5 saying "Wouldn't be nice if Mizuki was a trans person?" . Because Mizuki story hits so close to what trans people went through and I hate that some people are trying to ignore it (*cough, cough* Reddit and Twitter and Ticktock). Like it angers me because it shows that people don't want to understand the trans person pain and struggles. Deep down I know that Mizuki is trans and I was happy because I though "Hey this might be a good story about trans people pain ". Anyways trans people deserve a good story about them, I will forever believe that Mizuki is trans . Also I'm so sorry for how the fandom tries to silenc your voice 😔 (especially on Reddit).
Anyways trans people deserve better. Also sorry for the long rant I have to let out my feelings.
I'm a trans guy and it made me happy someone was trans in the game since its my fav game, and people calling them a crossdresser didn't make sense at all, so I'm glad you made a video about this, like tysm. and I don't mind if people have a hc she's a crossdresser just don't make people think its true, some people think that and don't bother people I think those people are ok, but the people who try to push hcs onto people acc suck:(
Beautiful explanation, it fills me with rage when people who say she’s a cross dresser, like, do you not want trans kids to feel excepted???
@SmittyWarbenjagermanjenson I don't want them to feel accepted unless they're adults, if you're not old enough to get HRT you're not old enough to say you're trans.
@@GorbTV-x5fbut you don't command them ???? 💀 what are you going with this
@@GorbTV-x5f "I don't want them to feel accepted unless they are adults" first, its none of your business. second, do you realise how horrible you sound
@@GorbTV-x5fyou're a ✨ complete moron ✨
@@GorbTV-x5f that is honestly stupid because kids know when they are trans and not cis💀
As a trans guy, I have an unfortunate amount of experience pretending to be a girl. It completely baffles me that people think it is reasonable to argue that Mizuki is a crossdresser, because in what world would it ever make sense to live as a girl when you're a cis guy?
If Mizuki was a crossdresser, this would just be willingly putting herself through gender dysphoria. A lot of the people I see arguing for Mizuki being a crossdresser insist they arent transphobic, and yet they completely fail to consider for a second what it would be like to live as a gender you are not. They don't care about trans people and they never will, so I just avoid those types if I can.
But there are crossdressers. Are you saying all crossdressers are trans?
@@ovkae1559 Living as a gender and presenting as a gender are two different things.
im a cis girl who likes being gnc, looing masc and even enjoys being mistaked for a dude, , so I guess I can speak from a crosdresser perspective, kinda. though Im more like just a butch
I had an expirience of making a fake account in one social media and setting my pronouns as he/him so there'd be a smaller chance people would know that this is me. and oh my god I regretted that for so many times. I wished I would have set they/them at least. because it felt weird and offputting as fuck, actually acting a role of a guy, nit just looking like one. the most uncomfortable moment was when a person reffered me as dad... I was just. wtf. that's so wrong. I felt that wrongness physically even. bro. is this what social dysphoria is like??? And that's despite, once again, me liking to have a masc look.
And the feeling of lying to people. it's gut wrenching. awful. so if we consider mizuki is a cis guy... that means she had spent years around ones of her closest people this way. And yet didn't want for things to change... Very cis behavour.. I guess. I felt like if mizuki were a gnc guy writing would be more focused on that constant knowledge of the fact you're lying and pretending and how fucking uncomfortable it feels, not that she's never shown to feel uncomfortable about hiding her secret, she literally puked from anxiety in mizu2 lol, but it still felt she did that more from being scared of the fact she might get outed at any moment, and her guilt was more like, of hiding a big part of herself rather than... literally pretending to be a different gender. that's what I feel. I need to go reread mizu2 though.
I'm not saying Mizuki is definitely a crossdresser.
However, for "crossdresser Mizuki" to express freely, they might have to go along with others assuming they are a girl. Mizuki is shown to be teased for being feminine, but they have never claimed to be a girl.
If the narrative goes in the direction of "trans Mizuki," they should focus on internal struggles more. Unless I'm forgetting something, most of Mizuki's issues seem to stem from only external factors.
I think the strongest evidence of mizuki being trans is the student asking if ena is a normal girl. He is definitely not close to Mizuki, so he doesn't know how Mizuki feels, but it seems like something writers put in as a hint.
I used to be transgender and the stereotype addressed at 23:27 was my biggest problem, I wasn't allowed to go into any public bathroom at school because either I couldn't go into the mens because I was a girl, and I couldn't go into the womens because I had a p*nis. I could FEEL the guys saying "are you a man too?" Basically flipping them off on the other side of the screen, Colorpale and SEGA wrote Mizuki and her arc SO WELL as well as telling the story using the cards in the event and past events! Hinata and Minori did amazing as well at expressing their emotions!
Every person that says Mizu is a crossdresser needs to see this video. , if Mizuki WAS a crossdresser, why does bake no hana exist?! The entire song's meaning is about trans people not being accepted (or something similar, i cant remember but def about trans ppl) . That's the entire point of the song... If she was a crossdresser, colopale/sega wouldn't work on this entire gender thing at the start of the game if they were. People really can't accept the fact that Mizuki IS trans, like please, read the n25 story and it's very obvious that she's transfem.
if you were smart enough, you would realize that this is queerbaiting for the sake of conflict and popularity of the game.
thank you god . Its pissing me off to see all those ppl who dont even know the fandom attack ppl saying we’re “imposing western values on the story” when its so quite obviously their intention. Ppl r trying to erase Mizuki’s story bc it doesnt match up w their conservative wet dream version of japan where no minorities exist whatsoever, it’s so depressing that when a story like this exists its being spoken over. The worst part to me is the “fans” who claim to love her while saying this shit
@@EurypteridFossil OH MY GOD YOU ARE SO RIGHT. i completely forgot to mention this, but i saw SOOO many people saying that the trans “headcanon” was just “westerners being westerners!!” but it’s like… what about trans people IN JAPAN? why are you assuming transness is a western thing and that japanese people can’t be trans?? they really hate transness and want to cut it out of their romanticized ideal of japan-trans people are EVERYWHERE
@user-rb4cj7mb8f Specifically, minorities who aren't an offensive caricature or a f*tish
@@ShoujoISMsexactly like. they ignore that a huge aspect of western influence is importanting conservative Christian values on cultures that actually used to have more expression for LGBT people. Gay and trans people existed worldwide ages ago, even if they live in a place where its “looked down on” doesnt mean they are unable to exist too.
@@ShoujoISMspisses me off sm too that whenever they see an lgbt japanese person oppose them on like twitter or whatever there are some white dudes from iowa saying “ermmmm actually you’re not japanese you’re faking it you’re a woke westerner with pronouns”
@@ShoujoISMsand like, its not like the fandom wouldnt also be accepting of a crossdressing character like they claim! its that this character theyre trying to erase happens to be trans…. Theres all these bigoted people yelling that crossdressers exist when I’m pretty sure theyre the same group w ppl who would harass any crossdressers IRL. They only like that its something they can use to deny transness which makes me feel bad crossdressers have their hobby turned into a weapon by bigots like that. All of the crossdressers I have seen comment on this have been explaining how Mizuki is trans
25:05 this part of the vid hurt so much too hear, mostly because it was my reality (im a trans girl). Mizuki as a character helped me go thru such a depressing time in my life where i wanted just to end it all. I myself know no other trans ppl or ppl that go thru the same thing, so just the utter loneliness was so painful. But seeing a character going thru things i was going thru and seeing things could get better just was a flicker of hope. Seeing ppl calling mizuki a boy or he/him hurts so much more than a person calling me that in real life. I dont want to be mean or anything but, if you actually see mizuki as a guy you are deaf and blind combined.
As a genderfluid person, I really need this. Even though I'm afab, I can still relate with Mizuki. I've never been outed, but I still understand how they feel and how scary it is, it's even worse that I live in a very transphobic and conservative country and I don't think I could ever come out. I just want to see a non cis representation and people that's calling Mizuki a crossdresser/femboy is taking away that representation for people and that's invalidating their identity. Trans women already have things hard enough like people calling them creeps that's invading women's spaces and those people are making it worse. Thanks so much for this video and you're a great ally to the community
Me too, I'm afab but definitely have gender dysphoria and idk what gender I am. Idk if I'm transmasc, non-binary, or anything.
How are they denying Mizuki's trans arc story??? It's literally nonsense that some people really think that "Mizuki is a crossdresser"
Also I live in conservative country too and even tho I been outed to some people (I'm agender) they still sometimes misgender me and it hurts
@@naru_sharkboi Idfk how they come to that conclusion. Hope your doing fine, fuck the haters
@bonny2778 OMG SAME, I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THINKING IM JUST BEING MAKING IT UP SUBCONSCIOUSLY OR SOME SHIT SINCE IT SEEMS LIKE EVERONE AROUND ME ALREADY KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE BUT I JUST DONT KNOW AND NEVER TELL ANYONE BECAUSE I FEEL SO STUPID It feels so bad when somedays i just absolutely hate how i look so feminine and wish I could be male so badly while other days I don't exactly enjoy being a girl but I don't really care and like looking cute, it's weird lol. Mizuki is so real, I have friends who are transfem and I've seen how bad it is and I really relate to her being so scared to tell others things because of how may times she has been abandoned. I also live in a conservative country and the half of my family i live with is white, religious, and homophobic so I get it, I hope things get better for you guys eventually.
Oh hi! I’m also genderfluid too (afab)! :D
homegirl has a song for her named transitioning flower you CANNOT make this shit up the copium is insane 😭
I really hate the assertion of Mizuki being a crossdresser, because it kind of refuses to dig deeper into any media one consumes.
Obviously, SEGA and ColoPale aren't going to outright make them say "Hi, I'm Mizuki Akiyama and I'm an MTF Transgirl!!" because...why the hell would they need to do that??
It's soooo sad how people (especially younger teens) tend to shut out anything that requires more than your first thought on a subject...
THIS!! I saw someone on tt refer to mizuki with he/him pronouns and say how it's not confirmed in the story and not explicitly said that she's trans. Media literacy is nonexistent. But then again, these people are from tiktok and twitter, no one's really surprised
@@weepingwillowp And not only they would deny it. If it was outright stated, we'll hear the usual speech about woke corrupting media, ideology being forced onto the poor little transphobic babies... (Because ofc we exist as political statement.)
They will whine no matter how a trans person is presented in media. It's barely worth acknowledging them.
SEGA: *pushing the fact that Mizuki is trans IN OUR FACES *
Mizuki “fans”: Yeah they’re a crossdresser
This. The whole theory of Mizuki being a crossdresser is just horrible and gross. Invalidating Mizuki’s gender identity like that is just plain wrong and seeing her as a monster is just really sad. More importantly, WHY CALL MIZUKI A MAN IN THE FIRST PLACE WHEN SHE LITERALLY HAS SO MUCH EVIDENCE ON HER BEING TRANSGENDER?????
I am not trans myself. I am genderfluid and bigender, but I can relate to the feeling of having to be secretive about my sexuality and gender identity, and the thought of getting outed scares me. I can relate to Mizuki a whole lot. I may be the kindest and often most mature of my friends and classmates, but I often distance myself in fear of getting hurt. And if I ever get outed, I honestly don’t know what to do if that ever happens to me.
I can’t imagine how it feels to be a trans woman who loves Mizuki and sees all of the invalidating things said to her.
Edit: 0:00 also… IS THAT FUCKING TRIGGER FROM IDOLISH7???????
Hi! Technically since you're genderfluid and/or bigender the terms do go under the transgender umbrella, if you personally do not want to label yourself with it, that's completely fine! But you have every right to since being bigender or genderfluid does mean not quite being the same gender as at birth, therefore being under the trans umbrella. Either way, TRANS MIZU FOR THE WIN!
@@tsumueichi I forgot those terms can go under the transgender umbrella, so thanks for telling me this!
I honestly can't use any of the terminology related to these situations because "we live in a society" and absolutely no one teaches these things and the internet is a hot mess of false info. Like one time, in class, my teacher asked the class "Is there anyone here that doesn't associate the word LGBT with anything?" and said "Stay like that." to the people who raised their hands. I'm trying to learn more but, like I said, unbiased info is really hard to come by so I really appreciate videos like this that come from the heart without bias.
But all in all I think I get what you mean. Assuming I understood, in my case, I don't really care about my sex itself since I can't identify as either completely in terms of how I feel. I go between them depending on how I feel at the moment, which is how I understand genderfluidity, please correct me if I'm wrong.
@@HeroBabaa I definitely agree with this. I honestly wished that more people were educated about LGBTQ+ related topics.
That asides, genderfluidity does kind of work like that! You just express yourself based on how strongly you feel. For example, some days you may feel more masculine, some days you may feel feminine, and sometimes you might feel androgynous or gender-neutral.
likes certain colors = trans
wears certain clothing = trans
As a trans man, while I am on the other side of the spectrum of gender identity, Mizuki's story has moved me deep to the core multiple times. Her monologue about Ena's acceptance and everything being okay/normal tomorrow is something I experienced myself, I can *feel* her anxiety, her pain and the despair she felt in the event. Her story of acceptance and seeing her ongoing journey has been both comforting and yet so real and raw, it's not perfect, it's bumpy and terrifying at times! But in the end I resonate with her so deeply because of this core theme of identity, and seeing it being erased or brushed off frankly pisses me off
People treating trans characters as "just crossdressers" really bothers me, as a trans guy. Like.... Bffr, its so clear that they feel dysphoria and are stealth with most people around them. This happens a lot with other characters like yuka from blue period as well, and it always bothers me when people intentionally misinterpret characters to fit their transphobic views.
Trans people NEED this kind of rep and positive portrayal, especially now. Seeing a character like mizuki, despite being ftm instead of mtf, has really helped me be able to be honest with myself about my gender. Its so important for people to have these characters to help explore themselves. You worded all of this really well, good video
I was arguing with a he/him Mizuki believer recently. They said they believe Mizuki only dresses femininely because people were calling Mizuki weird for dressing like a girl????? That Mizuki is a symbol of fighting gender stereotypes for them. I honestly don't understand how her being transfem would cancel that out, but whatever man..
Also many of cisboy Mizuki believers, particularly if they're a russian speaker, are radical feminists, terfs. I speak russian myself so I see it a lot.
can't a trans character just exist 😭😭
Same, they say that we are ‘enforcing gender stereotypes types’ and that ‘in mizuki’s updated profile, it is stated as ‘male’’
I'm pretty sure that a majority of the people saying that Mizuki is a crossdresser (mostly russian speaking ones) have never met a crossdresser nor a trans person because her experience is SO OBVIOUSLY TRANS that if they really wanted to write a crossdresser they failed so miserably it's not even funny
The rest is probably just transphobic
They just don't want to listen and understand. Russia have trans people too and they play sekai but most of the fandom just be like " We know better mizu is cis it is not transphobia"
@@moonypumpkin6363 yes as I said, the idea I get from it is that most of people who say that Mizuki is cis haven't met a trans person. That doesn't change the fact that there are russian trans Sekai fans
Mizuki's opportunity to come out on her own terrms was irreparably taken away by those classmates, and her running away is an extremely understandable reaction for someone who had just been outed against their will. If she was just crossdressing, there would be no huge, absolutely gut-wrenching moment of pure shock and horror that precedes her literally fleeing out of fear of rejection. For it to be so close to when she intended to come out on her own terms just makes it even worse.
I just went and watched some of the actual event ending, and it's even more cut and dry. Student A quite literally refers to Ena as a "normal girl." There is NO world where you would use this rhetoric against someone who is just crossdressing.
Also, her reaction of being scared that everyone will just act like "nothing changed" is such a common reaction to coming out from accepting people that it's almost a little scary how real it is. Mizuki feels like she has to hate their kindness because it is born from something she didn't have control over, that it is rooted, somehow, in something disingenuous.
And her absolutely empty monologue at the end is horrifying. Feeling like coming out to people just isn't worth the effort, that just having someone else do it against your will would somehow help you, then having that EXACT thing happen, realize you didn't want it at all, then say "I want to disappear," is so clear cut an example of a trans experience that it is baffling people pass over it. Looking at her in the sekai area afterwards just cements the fact that she is trying to separate herself from the situation. When someone SMILES in a terrible situation, you know they have internalized some absolutely awful ideas.
THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO!! I'm so SICK of people saying mizuki's a crossdresser..
ME TOO I’M SO SICK OF THAT BULLSHIT 😭😭😭
Frrr
SAME
No way they called them a crossdresser when SEGA gave them a lot of depths in the stories, these people are bluffing😭
@@ianatulkasyifah3375What depth? Mizuki is a guy who likes to wear cute clothes. He doesn't want to be a girl.
Russian fans on TIKTOK needs to watch this. literally i make a post about Mizuki that has NOTHING to do with their gender and the comments i get are just “how does Mizuki laugh? hehehehe” or “best boys” (mizurui post) and its getting annoying 😭
Honestly, the reactions that people have had towards mizu5 only further displays the struggles that trans people face.
Even though Mizuki conforms perfectly to female gender norms, she is still being viewed as a crossdresser and a femboy because "boys can be feminine too!" Which is true, but statements like those are a double standard when it comes to trans and gender non-conforming people and are commonly used against them to deny their identity.
For example, I'm ftm and I've always loved cute and feminine things even after transitioning. I pass well as a man because of my presentation, so people simply think I'm a guy who likes cute things. When I used to live in the city, people would tell me that "I needed to man up" or that I shouldn't like feminine things because I'm a man. But when they find out I'm trans it's suddenly "oh, so you're a tomboy?" or "women can be masculine too!" It's a huge double standard.
It doesn't matter how Mizuki presents, or what she likes, or even that they are a fictional character! As long as they don't conform to cishet gender norms, their identity will continue to be denied.
As a trans woman, "some people feel so alone and they need the representation so, so badly" made me shed a couple tears, the kindness and understanding in this video makes me feel like I'm in a safe space, as if I'm being listened to and my needs are being fulfilled. I resonate heavily with Mizuki and the fear she has of what her loved ones would think of her if they knew her secret, I might be in a rough place at the moment but videos like this remind me that deep down, I'm not alone and there will always be people here to support me and the people that are deemed different. Thank you for this amazing and detailed explanatory video!
as a transfem, i find every point of crossdress mizuki believers to be completely nonsensical especially the point of "mizuki is a crossdresser going against gender stereotypes" when she really isnt. her gender has always been kept a secret and she was always perceived as a cisgirl by the other characters since she passes as one so theres literally no gender stereotypes to go against, unless mizuki would outright say shes a boy which shes clearly not.
As a trans girl from Russia, I want to apologize for how russian fandom is acting. It's mostly them to call Mizuki a "boy", "my son" or "our little femboy". Of course, the way she's treated there grinds my gears to sparks just as much as it does to all of you. And the way they defend the "crossdresser" theory is simply atrocious with dishonest Boku/kun arguments that were done and dusted by all of the people who are not strangers to Japanese language as much as knowing how you spell Konnichiwa in kana, and they also guilt-trip that it is US who are doing OTOKONOKO ERASURE. OTOKONOKO OF ALL PEOPLE. The ones who are not just crossdressing guys who may or may not mention that they are in fact guys, it's literally their PRIDE that they are guys who look like girls and it's one of the FIRST THINGS they mention when meeting new people. Which is the second furthest thing from Mizuki (the first being masc presenting cis boy).
And yet, I still feel like apologizing. Dunno why, it's not like it's my fault. I just think it would make us russians appear as more reasonable. There are people in ru sekai fandom that openly believe that Mizuki is a girl as well. And there are many of them. But they are too passive to speak their mind when it's contrary to "popular" belief... Figures. Add to that the fact that any LGBTQ expression is outlawed as "unorthodox sexual values propaganda" and you got the situation where it's easier to just consider russian sekai fandom dead at this point.
@@migaas0101 сгинь
@@WhooshWh0sh плаки плаки
@@bighugehumongous омг🙂↕️ го встр я тебя люблю🌹🌹🌹
@@bighugehumongous так он мелкий пипец по любому.
трэнс "гёрл", омг!!! сережа, перестань заниматься хней, больное ты создание
Why does the funny Miku gamble game have such an intense story? 😭
pjsk fans try to have reading comprehension challenge go! (FAILED BEFORE THE CHALLENGE EVEN STARTED!!!!)
this video is so real!! the mischaracterization in this fandom goes CRAZY not just for mizuki too. i love project sekai so much but the fandom pisses me off badly cause of this reason LOL
if you ever come across someone disregarding a character (by misgendering them, ignorantly insulting them or mischaracterizing) just ignore them. typically theyre saying these to anger others, people like this are not worth your time
colors and skirts = trans
WHOA MY LITERACY SKILL
@@enkerro-ti8jg Thats Not even an argument for trans Mizuki… we get our arguments from the story…
Thank you so much for this topic, Shoujo!
I followed niigo's and the other units' stories, and anyone should know by now that Mizuki's a transfem, and not whatever the heck these other people are saying otherwise.
Seeing comments of saying that "Mizuki's a boy!" or "Mizuki's a crossdresser, it's confirmed!" Makes me even more disappointed by the lack of media literacy nowadays, like they really need to see the word transgender with Mizuki altogether to finally get it or something 😔
Nah, the devs could come out and say it to their faces, and these people would still try to say its not true or the devs are wrong. They don't care about being correct. If they did, they wouldn't be saying this stuff in the first place.
The thing that piqued my interest in this mess is that most of Mizuki crossdresser theory believers are from russia, a country that has been trying to undermine peoples identities for centuries.
For people there even crossdressing is still brandly new and super unconventional (crossdressers are threatened there just like transgender people, which is just awful to a new degree). That's probably why they fight so hard for Mizuki to be a guy - because they are still trying to break the past cultural norms in their country. They want to be seen, so they're taking the spotlight, even if it's someone else's time to shine. And they're still very far away from accepting transgender people in their community.🤷♀️
But the worst part is that their opinion influences a lot of slavic countries (that were part of USSR) in the media.
As a slavic myself, I see transfobic people everywhere. They find transgenderness a 'west european thingy' that harms peoples perception of identity ("Because if you just want to dress differently, then do it as you wish, but it won't change your sex. You should be proud of who you were born as!") And I can't stress enough, how hard it is to live in a society like this every day. I hope and pray that my country will change and grow kinder to people, who are different from them. But, unfortunately, I'm doubtful russia will ever change the same way...
It's the Bridget (Guilty Gear) and Vivan (Paper Mario) situation all over again...
As a person who identifies as agender, Mizu5 was VERY relatable for me. I was thrilled by the way writers portrayed the situation! People tend to only care about looks and anatomical traits rather than understanding the characters’ identity which they KNOW it’s appropriate and true for them.
I really love Mizuki’s character and how they struggle to express their identity to people, let alone be accepted by them, which I and a lot of people who falls under the trans umbrella also relates to and finds comfort in. But yet again, Mizuki’s transph0bic classmates don’t try to understand their way of expressing themselves and only categorizing them into being a cis male, who happens to be a cross dresser and likes feminine & cute things. This particular part of the event was very relatable, showing how people who don’t identify as their assigned s3x at birth get outed, made fun of and even get labeled as creeps in some cases. Mizuki’s response to their classmates’ comments was truly realistic for me. How their identity gets disrespected and ignored by the society they’re living in. And moreover to that, a lot of ‘cis Mizuki believers’ did the exact same Mizuki’s classmates did and took the whole event wrongly.
Some people are just REALLY obnoxious and have no media literacy, which also damages the people who relate to the character.
--
Anyway, these were my thoughts for Mizu5, I really want to inform people who identify themselves differently; please don’t let anyone judge nor make you feel bad about the way you think is the truth for you. Keep your head up and feel confident in yourself, no matter the society. & Please don’t forget to love and embrace the person you are
(Note: If the society you’re living in might hurt/damage you because of your identity, please don’t try to come out to them. They most likely won’t understand and you might get injured.)
As a agender person aswell I completely agree and I'm happy to see someone with the same identity to feel as impacted/connected with mizuki's story
One thing I’d like to mention which I don’t see people talk about a lot when discussing evidence that Mizuki is trans is that in the set from “guiding a lost child to what lies ahead” (the one with bug) on each characters outfit they have a little heart charm. Every characters heart charm is missing a half except Mizuki. The cis girls, Mafuyu, Kanade, and Ena, have the blue half of the heart while the cis boy, len, has the pink half. Mizuki has both the pink and blue halves, meaning she’s the only one with a full heart. Her having the pink half could represent how she was biologically born a male and her having the blue half could represent how she’s a girl. It wouldn’t make any sense for her to also have the blue half if she was just a cross dresser, her having both halves is really strong evidence that she’s trans or at the very least gender queer.
Trans boy here! It doesn’t make sense that Mizuki would be a cross dresser from a story standpoint due to the whole secret thing.
Why would THAT be the secret? Clearly Mizuki’s attempting to be perceived and present as a girl. That much is obvious. She was so devastated when Classmate A ‘revealed’ that she was a boy.
If Mizuki really WAS just a cross dressing boy, why would this be so bad? Why would she hide the fact that she’s ‘actually a boy’?
BECAUSE SHE ISN’T A BOY.
and (idk if its accurate or not) but if she was a man, wouldn't she be happy that she was outed as a dude??? and the face she made when classmate a said "are you a boy too" DOES NOT LOOK LIKE SHE WAS HAPPY
The fact that this needs explained is wild, some people in this fandom are so willfully ignorant that they'd rather assume every writer is Kazutaka Kodaka than just realize the actual intent of the story.
just clicked on this so i’m not sure if this is mentioned in the video, but one thing that really bothers me about this whole thing is when cis people say that mizuki being trans is just stereotypical, specifically a harmful stereotype. never have i seen a trans person claim this, nor have i ever seen a trans person see mizuki as a cross dresser/male. listening to trans voices when it comes to these things is important. if every trans person says she’s trans, then she’s probably trans.
people that claim that are pulling alt-right tactics whether knowingly or not. It changes the argument entirely.
not fond of cis people trying to white knight on whether something is "bad rep" and ignoring trans ppl saying shes fine wwwwww
say it louder to those russian people
Hi! I’m Russian. I see the author’s point about this topic. In Russian fandom people usually see Mizuki as a guy, who likes to wear cute stuff, but scared of being called wierd, so he avoids talking about his sex. I don’t think that Sega will tell us the truth anyway, so I believe that both options are possible. In Russia a lot of people like Mizuki, English speaking people seem to like that character as well. In opinion, it’s just stupid to have all this arguments about Mizuki’s gender, the only important thing is that they are a good character and both fandoms like them
@@littlefish1372 ok thank you have a good day thank you very much :3
FR
@@littlefish1372 well it does make sense since Russia is extremely anti LGBTQA. The fact that the series is allowed to be accessible to Russians hinge on the fact they can imply as close as possible, without being super explicit. I guess the series being available in Russia means we won’t get to see Mizuki come out fully ever. Which is so unfortunate.
Also, I don’t think it’s stupid since hearing Mizuki come out properly after having it stolen from her would be wonderful.
Or they’ll pull a Steven Universe lol
@@littlefish1372You can say that, but contextually, only one can be right. Without the author coming and directly saying what the intent was, we can't grasp what the author wants to say.
Mizuki legit was already so obviously trans like, past mizuki looked more boyish, they legit had THE BOYS UNIFORM ON, she couldnt even look at herself in the mirror. Then mizu5 came around and was like "yeah were just gonna confirm it without saying the t word". Like chat no crossdresser reacts like that. No corssdresser gets so nervous over that secret. Also the line "So are you a boy to?" From our lovely student a (im going to skin him) is legit just saying it at that point...
I just want to say thank you for making this. As a trans person, it’s really exhausting for us to break down transphobic arguments all the time, especially since people will think we are being biased and ignore whatever we say just cause we are trans. Thank you for doing some of the work, it really helps ❤
it makes even worse that some people fetishize trans people, specially trans women and crossdressers and use the term "trap" to refer to them, i've seen a lot of people like that and i'm scared they'll come to the pjsk fandom now that is canon that mizuki is amab and start seeing her as an "object of desire"
I already know if mizuki says "im a girl" people are still going to say its a mistranslation/retcon or they might say something like "when mizuki says im a girl mizuki means the role is society" like what they say with bridget from guilty gear
I feel like every crossdressing boy Mizuki believer should be locked in a room full of "boys don't react like this when someone tells their best friends they're a boy [Mizu5 pic]" post screenshot until they get it /hj
Tysm for saying this, I just saw some Pinterest posts where people kept saying "HE's a really HANDSOME BOY" (uppercase exactly like this) and a lot of people were agreeing with it and it kind of made me sad because people aren't clearly understanding Mizuki's character. Of course, I also won't understand it completely since I am cis, but I also don't think there is a way Mizuki is a crossdresser or a boy because, for example, maybe I can be considered a crossdresser because many of my clothes are for man and I would without a problem say that I am a cis woman or wear an outfit more "feminine"? (idk how to describe it, sorry if I sounded inappropriate) but Mizuki clearly hated being called a "boy" and I think that is enough to understand the situation she was put at, but I think people are starting to mischaracterize her.
Sorry if I made any mistakes and sorry for the rant, I just don't like how people are treating the situation
Thank you so much for making this. Even if you were worried about posting it talking about topics like this is so incredibly important and maybe will even help some people understand Mizuki or other trans characters better in the future. You explained Mizuki and why her transness is so important so incredibly well, lots of thanks and love
Shoujo posting about this was exactly what we needed. Thank you shoujo.
I never thought of mizuki as anything but an amazing cute girl and she is my favorite forever!
that's why she is my sekai that's so sad I didn't understand what is going on
Suuuuch a wonderful video. Mizuki’s story is so important to me and many others I know and it hurts (and frankly is really fucking annoying) when people twist her story so much because there’s a REASON characters like her exist. I’m nonbinary and hold my gender identity in pretty high regard to myself, although I don’t experience dysphoria too often, Mizu5 specifically impacted me so much AS someone who falls under the trans label. I don’t talk about my gender identity much irl, especially not to my family, because my dad is transphobic and there’s a real fear there of whatever might happen to me if he ended up finding out. I don’t entirely know where I’m going with this, but I really really love Mizuki, she’s one of my favorite Pjsk characters, and it’s so important for characters like her to exist so trans people and more importantly trans women have someone to see themselves in
Here's another point id like to make i havent seen others mention!!
At the beginning of the first chapter in Mizuki's fifth focus event, mizuki is seen to have flashbacks of hurtful things others have said to her regarding her identity, one of these phrases being "When you're young, there are periods you fall under that impression, after all" (Implying that the fact she's trans is merely a phase she'll grow out of when older), which is a VERY common sentence used against people in the LGBTQ+ community, having experienced so myself after coming out. Sure, you might claim a crossdresser could've been told the same thing, but this comment itself has a huge reputation for being told by older figures as a way to invalidate one's experience when indulging in their gender identity, a way of dismissing their gender expression as nothing more than some insignificant thing you'll grow out of, which reflects a lack of acceptance of their true self and minimizes their experience.
mizu5 was a heartbreaking-but needed-read. i'm not into pjsk or most mobages (though i know a lot of my friends are, so i read the story to understand the craze behind the release) and i sincerely don't understand how some people take mizuki's absolute horror of realizing that one of their dearest friends was told their secret without their consent and twist it into a cisgender-normative view that only serves to benefit themselves. i'm trans myself, i know the dehumanization recieved when you go try to openly be yourself only to be downgraded and only seen as a threat to the people around you. although mizu5 and my experiences aren't inherently alike due to me never being able to have the resources and community to be myself, the fear and horror of people you thought of as friends finding out something so intrinsic and personal to you through a transphobic lense hurts so much more than most people would ever even imagine.
and yet the most horrific thing people will do is look through that transphobic lense. they won't believe anything in subtext if it means they can absent-mindedly excuse the implications of mizuki's clear dysphoria as something as simple as a confident choice (that falls apart if you think about it more). people will align with those transphobic bullies views because they would rather claim that "femboy erasure" is more hurtful than transfem erasure, for the sole sake of diminishing mizuki's very real experiences that trans people have to face everyday for their own gratification.
Sato Hinata stated on their socials that the story of mizu5 had them crying after the recording, that they poured their whole heart out into the performance. i believe them when they admit to such. no one puts that much vocal strain in their readings just to have it simply brushed off as a gag, or that it's not intended to be that way through a distorted lense. this story was very emotionally tender for not only the characters, but i believe the voice actors too. i can't imagine putting all of my heart and soul into portraying a story that could connect deeply with trans people just to have it brushed off as "well, they're clearly just crossdressing."
trans representation is needed more than ever, and im grateful for the story that mizu5 tells. unfortunately, now im anxiously awaiting for ena5 to come out soon so that people stop perpetuating the idea that mizuki's "just a crossdresser" when it is much more than just putting on different clothes. this is a very real reality trans people have to live with, whether they're out forcibly without a say or still in the closet due to fear. people need to listen to trans voices, not disregard them in favor of their own cis satisfactions that only benefit themselves.
to my other trans people in these comments-i believe we will get through this together. wherever you are, we have to hope that things get better. because that's the only way we move forward. 🩵🩷🤍🩷🩵
on a much more lighter note: thank you for the incredible video! i also watched the muni d4dj one, and i thought it was also incredibly stellar! it made me feel super seen as someone struggling with related issues. hoping you have a good day! ♡
I wanna add this. Why those Mizuki crossdresser believers ignoring "You tend to think that way when you're younger" line from Mizuki's past "friend" so much? Yes, in Mizu2 event we heard lines from Mizuki's past friends who betrayed her. But the line that I mentioned earlier was added only in Mizu5 event.
Oh, and do you know who hear "You will grow out of this"? Transgenders. Like, I can't logically think the moment where it will be addresed to a crossdresser. Too young to wear cute clothes lol?
yeah and the VA choice, and guess what it sounds like? like an OLDER authoritative man talking to a young person(wonder what could this POSSIBLY be reference to?? maybe a doctor?? any media literacy from those people??). the VA choice is so deliberate.
IVE BEEN WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO MAKE A VIDEO LIKE THIS
THANK YOU!!!
I am a transgirl and utaite covers and songs made me realise (yes, I am a mfmf fan, how could you tell?) and telecaster b-boy was the first cover I ever heard so you showing it as an example is kinda funny and heartwarming to me.
you're so real for this. one more "mizuki is a boy" comment i see im gonna lose it
Mizuki is a boy, he has a 🍆
The absolute funny thing is that... I really know and thought that Mizuki is transgender since DAY 1 after seeing her profile of her gender being "Unknown" and I followed after that because it itruiged me what's next... then I never thought that Project Sekai is getting for real this time to adress this on Mizu5.
**AND IT FUCKING BROKE ME** T_T.
One part of the event that personally stuck out to me was when Mizuki's classmates said that they *did* think that Ena was an "ordinary" girl (I've seen people translate this differently, but I'm just gonna stick with this for now) which Ena is confused by and says "What's that supposed to mean?" "By, I'm "ordinary"?" and I GUESS you COULD interpret this in a way that supports the theory that Mizuki is a crossdresser, but I personally find that to be.. I don't know.. strange? Because to me (at least) it's obvious that by "ordinary" they meant that Ena is cisgender, except they worded it horribly because...of course they'd make a huge distinction between trans girls and cis girls, I think its clear they dont view trans girls as just.. well... girls. They're transphobes, it's weird that their words are used as "evidence" to suggest that Mizuki is a crossdresser.
It’s interesting I’ve also seen people saying Mizuki could be non binary, with the use of they/them pronouns. As someone who’s nonbinary I’m almost sure She is a trans girl, because I don’t feel like she shows a need or want to be seen as ‘neither’ female or male. Really cool video 🏳⚧♥
This literally brought me to internal tears like what the hell 😭 say what you want this video perfectly encapsulates my own thoughts abt Mizuki as well something something I'll raise a straight child lesbian daughter a gay son attack helicopter even but I'll never raise a "MIZuKi Is A CRoSsDResseR" clown
Your channel has piqued my interest now take my sub 👹
As a trans masc person who cosplays women and crossdresses for fun, the whole idea that Mizuki is just a crossdresser is crazy to me. I have always related so heavily to Mizuki as a gnc person who leans more heavily onto one side of the gender binary spectrum, and this event was heart wrenching for me. I literally got the same knot in my stomach that I got when *I* got outed at my highschool. Mizuki's whole worry at the end of the story was that Ena and the others would no longer see her as a girl, or only see her identity as a girl with male anatomy (rather than just a girl, any other girl), and THAT ALONE should prove her story is about her being trans. Anyway, I absolutely adore Mizuki
I CAN FUCKING RELATE.
I'm a somewhat-closeted transwoman- my parents know, most of the people I know (like friends and relatives) knows, and I can somehow relate to this... I literally destroyed my academic productivity due to the depression that the phrase "I can't even be a girl" and "what if they hate me" caused... I turned to games once because I was addicted to it, now I did it again NOW to escape these feminine feelings MSA (previously known as My Story Animated) literally introduced me to...
I tried my mom's bra once, my first idol dresses in a feminine manner, I got so obsessed with TG TF content easily, hell, I even stole my cousin's clothes once... She was livid when they found out... It started even when I was a child... And now that I fully realized it, I'm dead inside...
And don't even get me started about my dad... I have to stay as a boy thanks to a certain deal we made... I have to succeed first if I want to have a chance to transition... I hate it. Really... Failsafes THIS restricting is caused by the hardships he went through... And I get it... He was poor, he got into trouble and thus he suffered: he had to survive on his own... He pedaled and pedaled on his pedicab (bike with a sidecar) just to survive, man! He can't even find a job in his early life (like, late teen-early adult), waaaay before I was born... He doesn't want me to experience it... Ever...
But, well, I have a different story... I'll uphold this deal, no matter how much I have to suffer because of it. I owe it to him to try, after all the mistakes I did in the past...
Mom is kinda chill about it, I dunno, I can't read her, sooo... It's either I'm cooked or I'm safe based on the situation, i guess
Hell, I had fallen deep in this rabbit hole enough that when Mafumafu showed up with a masterpiece in my Recommended he made IN 2019 (Onnanoko Ni Naritai) in mid-late January, I immediately understood it's premise and it's message, like, what- AND I LISTENED TO IT FOR 4 MONTHS STRAIGHT, I HAD IT IN REPEAT-
I might rewatch this, I haven't fully watched it yet... But, anyways, crossdressing-
With the deal me and dad made, I resorted to crossdressing so I can somehow feel like a girl, hence why it acts as a substitute for my feelings... Just like Mizuki, I got so obsessed with feminine clothing, that I literally earn money and go on "mission impossible" themed missions just to buy them instead of saving my money for something else-
Anyways, about Mizuki, I kinda had my suspicion that she's trans, hell, I even vouched that it should be the case...
The similarities of Mizu5 to me is when uhhh, I did a major mistake and they somehow found out, or if something, let it be a secret, a message, video evidence, weird behavior, was leaked... Hell, if I was put in the same situation as Mizuki I would react the same way, not giving him/her/them (Ena or my closest friend/s) the chance to speak and want to disappear, but instead of breaking mirrors, I'll go back to the "male" persona I built: ignorant, intimidating and hotheaded... After all, why would I be confident when I know my current situation, which was already worse, will worsen tenfold? Again, like Mizuki, I would want nothing to change in my life, my surroundings, my everything: I'm afraid of that happening because I will have to change myself as well...
I really, REALLY need to get therapy, but I think it's just a waste of time, and probably because I'm not interested: I just want to learn how to overcome this with only minimal help... To the readers of this comment, please, PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME (or anywhere)
Aside from that, this isn't Misericundiam, it's my scattered feelings formed into a somewhat cohesive opinion... Glad I don't surf through Twitter~
Anyways, time to finish this video now, I'll update with an reply to this-
Your Waifu Trisha, out~
the day when you can truly be free in yourself and who you are will be so beautiful ❤️ your future is very bright
Update 1:
I finished the video, but I'm still somewhat confused: I wasn't paying enough attention... Sorry about that-
Just like the first video I saw about this topic, this is really, REALLY informative, it's well written... Nice video!
I also forgot, aaaaaand i forgot what I forgot... Great.
I might need corrections in some aspects in my comment or something, I feel like I made my comment WAAAAAY more about me than the topic itself...
If I did, sorry... I'm telling my story...
Also, clarifications:
1. By Misericundiam, I meant, the fallacy of said name: why would I convince you to do any action? Why would I use your empathy as a fking marketing tool?
2. By "The similarities of Mizu5 to me" I meant, my current situation...
3. I don't use Twitter (X), hence I said it... Why did I even put it in there...
4. My mom knows, yes, and I think she hates people that actually encourage my behavior, but accepts me regardless... I have been with her all my life and I don't fully understand how she works. Great!
5. Dad suffered, and he doesn't want me to suffer as well (I had to specify)
6. By "destroyed my academic productivity due to certain phrases", I literally lay/sit in bed, binging videos on TH-cam, like this one, or playing games, like Mindustry, Project Sekai, Roblox, etc... I literally ignored my studies... I just put in the required effort to just pass each quarter... All because I can't be a girl, and I can't even present myself femininely without any consequences...
7. I forgot to put this, but the bullies in school are brutal- I was bullied ever since I was in first grade... 11th, I had Andrei, and I told him my secret (which is this exact comment) and IMMEDIATELY OUTED me the moment he knew it to the whole class. Great! Considering that when I was still in AgentCraft (a Minecraft server), I was betrayed by a literal cookie, all because I got a lucky find when I was exploring. I only needed the armor for protection for me and my team, and he literally outed our base coords and another stronger team dominated us... Thanks to that, I can't trust people anymore, and thanks to mom's advice, I dismissed every traitor's plea of forgiveness... The cookie that betrayed me said he would give me my armor set back, but when I teleported, I was at a pit... I didn't take any chances, and I killed him in his own pit, not caring about the armor anymore: I just want to get out of there... In short, I developed trust issues.
Anyway, I denied the claim Andrei said when our General Mathematics teacher asked if it was true. First day of meeting him, and I just outed myself. Great. Just great! History fucking repeated itself. And it's all because I trusted someone without thinking. Great!
8. I don't fully know the topic yet, so, sorry if I somehow missed-
9. I crossdress almost every night before I sleep-
I'll update again next time-
Update 1.1
More clarifications:
10: I was a troublesome kid once, hehe~
11: By "I got so obsessed with TG TF content easily", it's self explanatory, but it's not limited to just that... There's also books and videos and anime, and media in general about these kinds of stuff, and I liked them too-
@@interdimensionalwaifutrisha You’re a girl, so isn’t crossdressing just “dressing” for you? :3
@@daijoubu77 actually, wait, I can't answer that... Can you elaborate, please? I don't quite get it-
As a trans nonbinary fella, this was a great video essay! It depicted really well Mizuki’s character arc, and how their experiences mean many things
I think people are going such lengths to say she’s a cross dresser is because they don’t want to believe that a trans character can have depth and ambiguity to their story.
Interesting video. I was always opened for all options for Mizuki (he, she, they) but leaned more for crossdresser or non binary versions, and now I understand your perspective better, thanks!
Fun thing, I showed my mom Mizuki and asked if she thinks (purely on vibes) Mizuki is a trans girl or crossdresser boy, and my mom answered trans girl
IM SO GLAD YOU MADE A VIDEO ABOUT THIS!!! It’s so exhausting seeing people act like towards Mizuki, so seeing fans defend Mizuki and their story is so satisfying 😌 as someone who knows people who had problems with gender and how they wanted to be perceived, it’s so blatantly obvious that this story is about trans…ness? so yeah again thanks for making this! (me when people have media literacy 🥰🥰😍😍😘)
you spoke about this topic really well! (i teared up)
my rant about this:
mizuki is a character who i'm upset i didn't find out about sooner (my self-discovery journey of being nonbinary started around late 2020-early 2021 and i hadn't heard anything of pjsk until late 2022, even then, i started actually playing only at the start of this year). i feel like seeing her story, seeing how much care the writers put into it with all the nuances of the trans experience earlier than i actually did would have really helped me. but now mizuki is.. definitely my favorite character EVER from any media for the way she's written.
a big part of her story surrounds her fearing being abandoned (in the early days) and not being seen the same way after she tells someone her secret (in the current days), and i resonate with that SO MUCH as someone assigned female at birth but having strong feelings against being seen as feminine in any way. i have a strong fear of being perceived completely differently after telling someone about my gender identity, a fear of being looked at as a ''lower being'' just for what i identity as, so to speak. i see myself a lot in mizuki for a lot of her personality traits, she's a really, really important character to me.
seeing people deny the whole point of her storyline is.. really upsetting, to say the least. i still really appreciate the pjsk team for making this storyline, though, because at the same time there have been a lot of people who speak out against the parts of the fandom that believe mizuki is a crossdressing boy, especially recently. People who had never heard about pjsk until this event have been speaking up in favor of the whole point of her character, and it really makes me happy, gives me even a sliver of hope.
i appreciate you touching on this issue a lot.
Forgot to talk about another thing in the recent mizuki event that really makes it obvious that mizuki's trans:
after one of mizuki's classmates outs her to ena by joking about ena being ''a boy too'', he also says ''i know you're a normal girl''. Emphasis on ''normal''- he believes that mizuki isn't a ''normal'' girl.
you know what sucks, that i needed to see this video to actually realize how much of an effect these people have.
from all the people going "oh both sides are FULLY valid,there is proof for BOTH" "oh mizuki is wearing a modified boys uniform,some schools allow that!" , all the other stupid gaslighting stuff ive read recently.
that even me,who is a transwoman who was fully convinced from reading mizukis story that there is no way she could ever be read as a crossdresser,these people still made me question that "oh maybe there is 1% chance that colopale will retcon everything in the future and turn her into a crossdresser,theres a chance for that".
i hate this.
coming from a trans girl, thank you so so much. i am so grateful for this video and all the effort and care you put into it. typing through tears. thank you.
I’d like to add that the story pretty much openly tells us about how Mizuki nor any of her close friends(including her sister Yuuki) see masc presenting Mizuki and fem presenting Mizuki as “the same person“. Yuuki uses a very interesting phrase in Mizukis new years focus: “I love THE Mizuki that likes cute stuff“, she specifically focused on how she loves Mizuki, not when she wears cute things, not that she enjoys cute things, but Mizuki herself, and using the “cute things“ as a way to differentiate between the real Mizuki and the “boy“ Mizuki.
Omg as a trans person all of the “mizuki is a guy!” Comments drive me INSANE bc it’s so obvious she’s not 😭, and 9 times out of 10 it’s motivated by transphobia rather than a genuine like of the character.
Tysm for this video 🙏
6:44 (sorry if you addres it later i haven't finished watching) it sucks the most because these people who say mizukis a crossdresser genuinely BELIEVE mizuki is not a cis girl who wants to crossdress, not a trans girl who wants to crossdress, just... A boy. A cis boy, usually. A boy who likes dresses. They refuse to believe mizuki might be a girl in any way, cis or trans. Which is like the whole point of her arc - being herself, a girl.
Thank you so much for this video! In all honesty, I was dreading that the new Nightcord event (Where Does the Path of Thorns Lead to?) would confirm that Mizuki is a "boy". In a lot of Japanese media (and a lot of Western media as well), it's unfortunately a common trope to write a trans woman and purposefully depict them as "male", of course, to push the narrative that "trans women are 'men'". Writers are transphobic too, and I've seen a lot of characters be purposefully depicted as male to play into the whole "it's a tr*p!" stereotype that anime fans love to spread. I think that's why anime fans THINK that Mizuki is a crossdresser, because that's a common trope in anime. Anime very rarely depicts trans women as trans women, so it's unthinkable to these people that Mizuki is trans, or even a girl in general. I've even seen anime fans try to pull out Japanese culture to "prove" that (and as a counterclaim, crossdressing isn't nearly as ostracized in Japan than in Western countries, and is in fact celebrated in some parts). In the end, I'm just glad that these annoying fans don't get a win this time, and are seen as the bumbling fools in this one.
Of course, if I made any misconceptions, or made any errors! Please tell me! I think Mizuki is a trans girl. I think we all do, really.
this was worded very well! i'm a trans dude that absolutely despises the femboy mizuki headcanon and so it's nice to see a video talking about how it's just plain wrong
my argument has been the same, that saying mizuki is a crossdresser only undermines their story and that people who think that way do not care about her at all, and, to me, are physically incapable of caring about her and her story
to see something like that being denied when there's so little positive and realistic trans rep in this day and age is disheartening and maddening, and it fills me with rage when people try to ignore things like this when they exist so little in media
people are scared of this kind of thing and they want to eradicate and ignore anything that they could possibly be sympathetic about
protip: a character doesn't have to face the camera and go 'i'm transgender' for it to be inferred, because a lot of the time and for a lot of people that's *how it is in real life*
There is no way in any planet that Mizuki is a crossdresser. A crossdresser wouldn't act like Mizuki did at being revealed as a person of male origin to Ena. Mizuki's whole story about the fear of coming out wouldn't be Mizuki's story if they were just a crossdresser. (You might notice that i didn't call Mizuki by any pronouns and that's purposeful since i don't want to anger anyone by calling Mizuki 'they/them' or 'she/her'.)
People who think Mizuki is a crossdressing boy also think that the book "Lolita" is a sweet love story.
Reading comprehension really is a dying skill these days and it's frustrating...
Thank you for your video! As russian sekai player i feel better after see someone with same opinion because russian fandom is just... Transphobic as hell. ( and most queer fandoms in russia have terfs. It's stupid but fact). After mizu5 I have seen some "headcanons" how mizu d3es after this event or rest of niigo will hate her. And most popular translators in ru fandom just say " You can use he him for mizu"( and of course use "boku" as argument)not only she/they.and bans everyone who talks about transfem mizu because it's bait. I see other day how person talks about mizu (and use she/her) and someone just correct them like " *he/him" I feel gross. In russian part of fandom i don't speak because i know i will get hate and bullying.
as a trans man, even though the ftm experience is different from the mtf, I could feel Mizuki's pain... even cis people could feel it, and you want to pretend that a character is cis even though the game implies that she definitely isn't, it's just disgusting and no respect for my community in my opinion (if you want to correct me on something I'm all ears)
4 years into my transition, every part of Mizuki's stories hit so close :'3
I do my best to cosplay Mizuki well but I still struggle with the thoughts of others just seeing me as a guy in women's clothes. every part of Mizuki's story and character means the world to me and I don't think I would have had the courage to go through with my transition without her. Mizuki's story genuinely saved my life
ALSO why would Mizuki hide being a crossdresser for ONLINE FRIENDS???? People that you don't think you're going to see irl??
When meeting new people online I always introduse myself like I want people to see me, so I can be my true self online. Mizuki would present themself as a boy to Niigo if being a crossdresser was the case. Anyone that says Mizuki is cis are trying so hard to "make sense", it's kinda funny.
I think that those transphobes are going to stop calling Mizuki a boy only if she screams "I AM A TRANGIRL, TRANSWOMAN, TRANSFEM, MTF, AMAB, I'M A GIRL, NOT A BOY"
(Sorry if my english is bad, I tried)
Honestly even if mizuki straight up said “i am a trans woman” transphobes would still do mental gymnastics trying to prove that they’re cisgender which is unfortunate…
I really feel like everytime there is clearly trans representation in anime or games and such (this mainly happens with trans women) a lot of people just ignore all the facts that proves said character IS a trans woman just to say "Oh look, a femboy!!!" 💀
(Im not a pjsekai fan but a lot of my friends are like obsessed with the game) As a trans writer, do people NOT KNOW that implications are added there for a REASON??? If a writer is adding heavy implication to their story, its most likely canon, and OBVIOUSLY they didnt want to shove Mizu’s identity in your face, they want to handle it seriously and realistically.
too bad that the most OBVIOUS implications ever often backfire with "fans" claiming the opposite, saying it's not confirmed and just a headcanon, or trying to disprove...
as a trans guy Mizuki is way too real and it hurts. Seriously... Blows my mind that there are people replying to the pinned comment with "nope! still a dude!". Mizuki is very much a trans woman - everything about her story and POVs are seriously way too real and I applaud Colopal for the writing... I was outed against my will in school, and everything about Mizuki's reaction spoke very deeply. They don't have to say things word for word for it to be the clearly intended canon meaning... Media literacy is dead and it shows.
"Yeah this thing looks like grass, is green, and feels like grass but my mom didnt SAY that it was grass!" is seriously how these people think.
im so sick of seeing people say shes not trans and as a trans guy it pisses me off so much
My friends and I just finished watching your video and I absolutely love how well you explained everything on top of how you formatted this. Tysm for making this vid!
as a trans person that recently came out to my friends (one of the most stressful things ive ever done lol), this story makes me cry but also, i was so happy watching it the first time knowing my favorite game represents someone going through the same struggles as me, even if we dont have the same identities
I'm honestly not that mad of people calling Mizuki crossdresser. I think SOME of the people misinterpret the story a bit. In Mizuki's 4th focus event, the story portrays Mizuki as someone who like to wear cute clothings. People saw that and thought Mizuki was just crossdressing. But they forget that Mizuki was really young and have no idea about gender identity, which contrast to how Mizuki present themselves in the present.
I was thinking a few days ago “What if shojouISM made a video abt mizu5” and um… my wish came true I guess.😭
obligatory project sekai fan creating content about mizu5 in these times because it broke my heart 🔥🔥🔥
THANK YOU SHOUJO WE ALL SAY IN UNISON
thank you every time i go on twitter and see people who've never heard of prsk pre-mizu5 call mizuki a boy and harass actual fans who say shes a girl i feel like im being lobotomized!!!
Thank you for saying it. Thank you. It’s genuinely so obvious. It isn’t queerbaiting. We finally have trans representation from an official piece of media with a large following. And we got it from the company that made silly hedgehog game.
THANK YOUU FOR MAKING THIS. THIS FANDOM DESPERATELY NEEDED A LONG VIDEO ABOUT THIS, ESPECIALLY POST-MIZU5
I’m so glad I found this video, this explains everything regarding mizuki so well, it clears and enlightens my thoughts as well as headcanons
I know you’ll probably not read this since there’s many comments but I also wanted to share a fun fact about mizuki
They are often symbolised as a butterfly, and it has a meaning for transfem people:
The spiritual meaning of the butterfly encompasses transformation, rebirth, and personal growth. It represents the journey of self-discovery and the ability to change and evolve. Butterflies symbolize freedom, lightness, and joy, reminding us to let go of burdens and embrace a sense of liberation (yes I got this from google where else 😭)
and it’s just so beautiful, but the thing is i have a couple of mutuals who believe in this cross dresser theory and i seemed to believe it at first before mizu5 because it kinda made sense but I’m not transphobic, i just don’t know how to confront them, sorry for the yap
i was not even aware taht people were calling mizuki a crossdresser as i tend to stay away from any almost any social media except youtube so when i saw this i was confused cause even though i havent done the story ingame yet, i saw the picture of mizuki being shocked with the caption being something transgender related and my love for Nightchord and the entire game rose even higher cause its rare for games to have such representation. so the fact that people call her a crossdresser DESPITE ALL THE SIGNS THAT SHES NOT is absolutely messed up. thank you for speaking about this!