"Just a simple list?" You just broke down the entire concept of gender nonconformity, the various forms it can take, the differences between pronouns and LGBT terminology between English and Japanese, and pointed out that gender nonconforming characters have been not only present but popular and acclaimed in Japanese animation and video games for longer than some of your audience has been ALIVE, all in twenty minutes--this is far, far more than "just a simple list" and I love it.

Fun fact: not all languages have gender built in, say Hungarian has no gendered pronouns, the whole situation with pronouns and gender in English is frankly hilarious from a Hungarian perspective.

I just love haruhi ohshc response when asked straight out if she’s a girl. ‘I mean biologically I am.’ If that doesn’t scream gender indifference i dont know what does.

"Ah yes, the two genders: hats and bows." 😂 Incredible, awesome video as always.

Fun Fact: The creators have actually confirmed before that Link was designed so that if you're a guy, you'd think they're a guy, but if you were a girl, you'd think they're a tomboyish girl. P.S. I forgot to mention that Link isn't even a gender specific name, anyone could be named Link, and it would make perfect sense.

Bless you for addressing both the "non-human non-binary" trope and the "androgyny does not equal non-binary" thing. Both of those have been points of personal frustration for me for YEARS.

When I was younger I was obsessed with Ranma and I never knew what the big deal was when he complained about his curse. I noticed that as the episodes went on he cared less and less about undoing the curse and it was so cool to see their character development. And now that I'm older I realize why I loved that anime so much and why Ranma's situation felt so real, so important and now that I realize that I'm genderdfluid i know why I felt so connected to his journey as a character

Fun Fact: In the Manga, Kurapika's gender wasn't exactly specified. There's even official Manga art of them wearing a nonbinary necklace, and they wear a binder!

When I saw Ouran Host Club for the first time, and Haruhi said that she didn't really care about gender, I nodded like, yeah, that's universal. Little did I know

I thank you for seperating "non conforming" from "nonbinary" I'm a nonconforming cis man. I love to be beautiful, and I love wearing whatever clothes I want, and gender roles are stupid. But I definitely feel like the he/him pronouns I was given at birth were more or less correct and don't feel the need to change them. I'm a man, but I like being soft femme most of the time in aesthetics ❤️

I find it funny and interesting the Link is one of the few characters that has NB, MtF, and FtM headcanons applied to them, and they’re all potentially valid.

One of my favorite characters from The Owl House is Raine Whispers, who is introduced in season 2 as the Head Witch of the Bard Coven. In the episode they're introduced in, it is also revealed that they have put together a rebel group of fellow bards to overthrow the emperor. So, yeah, they're awesome, and every character in the show refers to them by they/them pronouns. Their voice actors (both for the present timeline and the flashback episode) are nonbinary as well, and we love to see it. The character is also as human as the majority of the main cast is (which is technically not human but functionally human but with magic). They also cannot shapeshift and are not a trickster which is refreshing to see. I love shapeshifting tricksters as much as the next guy, but I do like seeing enby representation that is not just shapeshifting tricksters.

Can confirm, being a shape-shifting alien is the ultimate transition goal

Fun note: Ranma fully accepts the female part of themselves, basically the ending is accepting being gender fluid and then getting married

Sailor Uranus was my bigender awakening. Also thank you for specifying that nonbinary don't have to be androgynous, that made me feel so secure in my own identity, since I mostly present as feminine since that's really what I've been doing all my life and more or less repressed that aspect of myself as a kid. Like Tsukimi is literally me.

"Of course we can't forget Howl Penndragon I see no point in living if I can't be beautiful Jenkis, Disaster Wizard Extrordinare" I was dying laughing right there lol.

Haruhi's dad also explitly does drag and is veary sportive of Haruhi, 10 out of 10 best anime dad

It’s nice to have a simple discussion about gender in anime without weebs losing their shit. I like this part of the anime community that I’ve stumbled into, I hope it keeps growing

Haruhi was just so relatable because she has her own personality whereas in other shoujo mangas they always make the main character so stereotypically feminine that they’re just a walking caricature instead of a person a character that exist. Also I think you should have mentioned that Haruhi is just disguising as a guy to pay her debt, at home she wears « girly » clothes and shit. But there is another character in ohshc that could fit this video: Haruhi’s father he dresses like a woman but still calls himself a man

18:30 this is such an interesting discussion. in brazil we have the term "travesti" to describe a person that was born with masciline genitalia, but likes to be presented with feminine aspects, but doesn't identify as a woman or a man, while using "she" as pronoun. it is historically considered a latin-american identity, so it's interesting to see parallels in other cultures

"I think that costume came right out of his closet." Okay, WHY AM I JUST NOW BEING MADE AWARE OF THIS LEGENDARY LINE!?

As good as this list is, I feel like it would be remiss to bring up Team Rocket without giving a special shout-out to Meowth and his original voice actress, the late great Maddie Blaustein-especially considering that it was Meowth’s origin story where he learned how to walk and talk like a human that actually inspired her to come out as a trans woman!

Might I also suggest Saiki K. as non-confirming/agender, due to them LITERALLY SHAPESHIFTING INTO A GIRL IN MULTIPLE EPISODES and also their general "I dont give a fuck just leave me alone please" attitude. Like I dont think Saiki ever gave so much as a single fuck to their gender. Might just be projecting though, as the Series is something I hold very dear due to me identifying a lot with saiki (Mostly the "leave me alone I just want some peace and quiet to read a nice book and eat Coffee Jelly is that really to much to ask?" way, not so much the "Vast psychic powers that bend reality to my Will")

I'm so happy they gave Corona they/them pronouns in the new translation. When I was younger I really latched on to them because of their look and then eventually found out their gender was unlisted on purpose and I didn't really understand it at the time but I knew I wanted to be like them. This was before I came out as agender or before I had ever heard the phrase GNC so it's kind of super validating

I physically screamed at Haruhi and Crona. They were two characters that I identified with most growing up through middle school and high-school. I'm demi so romantic attraction and secual attraction are a hard thing for me to grasp but I felt seen in both of them with not really having strong feelings about ones gender and how that can complicate relationships with friends and just how people see you as a person.

“People tend to mix up androgyny with being synonymous with being non binary” GOD SOMEONE SAID IT. I have a wide range in fashion taste. Some days I feel like dressing hyper feminine, other days I feel more comfortable dressing hyper masculine and I have very short hair. But despite tending to look androgynous all the time I identify as a women with she/her pronouns. However, people noticeably assume my gender identity and sexuality more when I dress masculine. To the point that they will misgender on accident in an attempt to guess my identity based on my androgynous appearance alone. I resonate with characters like Pidge from Voltron because she has a more masculine appearance, but uses feminine pronouns. Many people in that fandom at the time argued she should have been non-binary for having to disguise as a man in the beginning of the show, and dresses masculine, but she always uses she/her pronouns and even had a moment where she was happy because a friend of hers validated her gender (Shiro referring to her with her preferred pronouns early on) I know Voltron isn’t really a show that’s discussed anymore but I always loved Pidge because she was the type of character that validated me as a women who wanted to still be seen as a women despite sometimes wanting to look androgynous or masculine.

Fun fact: Snufkin from moomins is explicitly not mentioned as any gender in the original books, and never referred to with any gendered pronouns. This is also true for a lot of other characters (I’d list Themis I knew the English names)

I love this video!!!! Also we need to talk about Edward Elrics trans/nonbinary/gender nonconforming vibes because they are coming from somewhere and I still don't understand why the fma fandom as a collective got that but I am determined to figure it out. Is it the hair!? The leather pants!? WHAT IS IT EDWARD???? WHERE DID YOU BUY YOUR VIBES ELRIC???!!!!

Something really interesting about Ranma is that at the very end of the manga (spoilers) He says that maybe his ability "wasn't a curse after-all", and that he totally forgot about turning himself back into a permanent guy during the final battle because saving Akane was all that mattered. In an interview, Takahashi also said that she wasn't comfortable writing a male protagonist, so she made Ranma "half-girl" which seems to imply that he isn't just a cis guy who changes form. The Tendo family also makes the same case to Akane when she says she hates men because that would make Ranma an OK fiance for her. Then there's the little details of Ranma becoming comfortable in his female form instead of trying change back right away like in the beginning of the story. Finally in the 2nd movie, Akane tells Ranma while he was seeking a cure that she "likes him the way he is" All of this always made me assume that Ranma is some form of non-binary or genderfluid, and that his curse helped him accept/realize this after being under all of that macho pressure from his dad as a kid.

Edward Elric being put in the "feel gnc but can't quite explain why" is such a mood

For a gender non-conforming character that wasn’t mentioned in the video, I’d like to mention Najimi Osana from the Netflix show “Komi can’t communicate”! Their gender is never revealed and the answer is continuously tip toed around in the show. They also switch wearing masculine and feminine clothes and are referred to by they/them across the english dub.

I'm a trans woman and I am not immune to BotW Link gender envy ✨I was waiting the WHOLE VIDEO for Link to show up, YES!! So glad you saved 'em for the end! I read the whole sequence in BotW dealing with the Gerudo as a metaphor for being trans/gnc within a society of strict gender conformity, and the closeted feeling of dressing up as you're expected and hoping you're not "found out?" tbh Zelda is also huge gender envy for me, especially BotW's "nerdy STEM student" take and Twilight Princess's "emo" Zelda ✨💙🏳‍⚧✨ Important note as a long time Nintendo fan: Nintendo hasn't always had the best relationship with gender and queer representation (Twilight Princess has a gay couple who are presented as creepy clowns, for example...) but for the last 8 years or so, their creative staff is younger and more inclusive and it really shows in their most recent games; most notably... 🐙🦑 *SPLATOON* 🐙🦑 which not only allows for HELLA gender non-conformity in your player character, but also has MANY canonically LGBTQ characters front and center; and also has storylines that tackle racism, fascism, and hypercapitalism head-on. Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion goes even deeper as you can read some private chat room messages between Pearl and Marina where they share memories of growing up and how they met, and they're just so effortlessly and unforcedly gay 🏳‍🌈I might be in my late 30s but I would die for these squid and octopus children and I'm pretty excited to see how Splatoon 3 develops things.

In the french translation of Soul Eater, Crona is referred with "il" (masculine pronoun) when they appear, but I noticed the main characters changed to "elle" (feminine pronoun) later when Crona becomes their friend, so I thought Crona was trans and the main characters learned to call them by their prefered pronoun.

I recently realized that I am genderfluid, and I was watching the first season of Pokémon cus at the time I haven't watched it , and when I saw Jessie and James, I actually felt somewhat happy.

I started watching My Hero Academia just because my brother told me about Magne (mtf), Tiger (ftm), and Thirteen (gnc). It still makes us both so happy seeing them on page and screen to this day (RIP Big Sis Magne). Same goes for Ouran because of the Fujiokas. Fantasy Knockout already has 2 gnc people as far as I've gotten (the MC whose name I can't remember and Lucius), and I'm barely through the first few episodes. I'm glad things are getting better lately, even if Knockout only has 2 because one is in a Hedwig situation.

I love that apparently the Flaming Moltres gag was a hit in English. In Spanish (where voice actors really took liberties for comedy) he says "el guajolotote Macías!", kind of roughly translated as "the big turkey Macias!" just a gag on how wrestlers/superheros introduce themselves facetiously, and it was glorious and still a meme today lol

The one thing Boruto did right is having Orochimaru come out as genderfluid. Naruto teased it, only of you watch subbed and are aware of Japanese pronouns, but in Boruto they went all out, specifically having Orochimaru self-identify as sometimes male, sometimes female, sometimes neither.

As for my suggestions, Saiki in Saiki K. Says in one later chapter that he was born as a women but felt not right with it and changed himself to a man. This is for many in the Fandom pretty much seen as him being trans and transitioning early, and I'd like to share this thought much more! As for a currently airing one, in Visual Prison Eve looks and is being addressed in the subs at least as they. I'd have to listen to the way they adress Eve more to confirm it's in Japanese the same, but for me they are a non-binary. I loved your video, and you just explained everything perfectly!

i showed this to my friends in hope that they would understand how gender identity is represented in eastern and western animation + media. They really liked it and said they had a better grasp on how gender should be represented. i think you did a really good job at explaining how characters don't have to have a gender or can have gender fluidity and still make the character engaging enough to fall in love with. As the only non binary/gender non conforming in my friend group it made me happy that i could show them my views about gender's role in society through a mutual interest (anime + animation). creating videos like this can really help cis people understand that gender doesn't have to be showed or can be showed in different ways and a person/character can still have other interests. (i really hope this made sense, im not great at getting my point across - hence why i showed my friends this vid. THANK YOU

I love Haruhi because people assume theyre a guy and they just go "yeah sure, why not." And the only time they actively oppose a gender is when people try to force not just the female gender but also female stereotypes and roles onto them. They also regularly flirt and have romantic interactions with both male and female characters. They're so nonbinary and I love them.

I just started watching but I'd love to tack on Kino from Kino's Journey as a practically canon non-binary character. They never refer to themself with gendered language, use 'boku' for themself despite being assigned female at birth, and present very androgynously to the point people have referred to them as both a boy and a girl in separate occasions (though Kino rejects both gendered options, just stating "I'm Kino"). Another thing to note is that Kino is not their birthname, rather it's a name they took on from somebody else, and I remember in the novels Kino showing distaste for their birthname and it is left unknown. Even a lot of their backstory feels very layered in non-binary metaphor. Sadly a lot of localization doesn't really respect this aspect of their character and more recent works seem to try and emphasize their assigned gender and makes them act/appear more feminine and aligning them more with simply being a masculine girl, which is really frustrating. Ahhh sorry for the ramble LOL I just needed to talk about Kino because I rarely see a non-binary (perhaps even transmasc) human character like them. Even if being non-binary isn't an INTEGRAL part of Kino's story, it's just something nice and subtle but still very much There and not something you could just ignore unless you were doing some real mental gymnastics haha. Anyway back to watching for me!

princess jellyfish is such a comfort show for me love to here people give the show love because it’s such an interesting and relatable take on femininity

by "okama" I immediately had to think of One Piece's Emporio Ivankov and the Kamabakka Kingdom, basically an entire island full of queer and nonbinary people who do refer to themselves as okama (not the weirdest island seen in OP, thb), and while they certainly are presented very over-the-top campy and their queerness is used as the butt of jokes here and there, they aren't really presented as "lesser" and, to me at least, very sympathetic (though some other characters, mostly antagonists, show dislike for their queerness) at several instances they show that they believe that everyone should be true to themselves, act and present themselves any way they want and that it's okay whether they be cis, trans, fluid or anything and they show great support for everyone who's questioning (like, Ivankov literally has magic hormone powers and can admister a sort of instant-HRT to anyone, changing the sex of himself and others on several occasions, and if I remember correctly he says at some point that he thinks people should be able to try it out to see what's right for them or sth along those lines)

I swear Kirby helped me through a lot when it comes to me and my identity... including my intense dysphoria. (I'm agender) Kirby makes me so goddamn happy he helps me when it comes to dysphoria and my identity I wish to be just like him

I really enjoyed this video as a whole, and agree with many of the complimentary comments, but there was one offhand comment you made that deeply bothered me. You mentioned Kurapika, that he wears the traditional robes of his people that are “basically a dress”. This does not make him gender non conforming, nor should it even be mentioned in that direction. Many cultures have quite differing gender presentations, particularly traditionally, and we should not look at someone falling into their traditional gender presentation as gender non conforming. Indigenous men are not gender non conforming when they wear their hair long, as is traditional. Men in classical East Asian dramas, such as The Untamed as a popular one, are not gender non conforming for having long hair or wearing robes. Kurapika is not gender non conforming for wearing the traditional clothing of his people. Western gender roles have been enforced all over the globe because of imperialism, colonialism, etc., and calling characters gender non conforming because they are wearing traditional clothing is only enforcing that. I really liked the video overall, but that comment really bothered me.

As a trans man: YES it is so frustrating, it gets tiring PD. A recent one with strong gender nonconformity is Pretty Boy Detective Club it's REALLY FUN and dramatic and suprised me with having depth, closest I'll get to a magical boy anime

The video game thing reminds me of ASL, where the sign for ‘Boy’ is a hand motion meant to signify the brim of a cap, while the sign for ‘Girl’ uses a motion meant to show the ribbon of a bonnet. And in FSL, the sign for ‘Man’ resembles a mustache while ‘Woman’ resembles a person breast feeding.

Kris and Frisk from Undertale and Deltarune helped me discover my gender identity. They helped me realize that I wasn't a girl, and that I felt more comfortable using they/them. I liked having the characters refer to me, the player, as they/them. Napstablook and Mad Mew Mew are some of my favorite characters as well. :)

My Joyfriend was showing me Owl House last month, and the stupid amount of joy I felt when I saw Eda and Raine being a couple was just....god. Woman x Enby was a slice of representation I didn't know I needed until I saw it I have a family member or two who...don't really see my relationship as legitimate since my partner is non-binary, so that episode was just a rush of euphoria for me

watching this while drawing my enby character who literally said "fuck this gender shit" became a god and made their own whole civilization and language without the concept of gender

Further with Zelda, there is a Sheikah stone that mentions as a child that Zelda has a secret tomboy side that few people know about. Even before having the idea of concepts like trans and non-binary, I sort of always head cannoned that the male side portrayed as Sheik always existed in Zelda and the Sheikah transformation was a way they could channel. Before understanding myself, I think that I just understood Zelda from OoT as genderfluid, and perhaps usually stuck only presenting one side publicly due to expectations. Also, Tetra from WW as evidence that without the expectations of a princess, they could naturally be pretty androgynous.

One pair I didn't see you mention that I love are the two trans women from Granblue Fantasy! There are two canon trans women in the game- Ladiva, and Cagliostro. Cagliostro was born male, but used alchemy to create a new "cuter" female body for herself, while Ladiva hasn't transitioned- she's from a race of bull people called Draphs who have extreme sexual dimorphism, so the women are all short and curby while the men are huge beefcakes. and Ladiva definitely fits into the latter body type and even has a beard, but uses female pronouns and everyone refers to her as a woman. They also aren't villains or made into the butt of jokes! In all of Ladiva's story events I've seen, everyone just comments on how sweet and warm and caring she is, and Cagliostro is known as a genius. The two of them both even made it into the roster on the GBF fighting game, despite the HUGE cast of options to choose from! I really appreciated how Granblue handled it by depicting both of these characters so that neither of their experiences felt tokenized, and greatly appreciated their inclusion and how kind all the other characters are to them :)

I love when characters look at gender and just go "por que no los dos" and massively succeed at everything. Its so powerful and cool and sexy and cool and powerful and

thank you for bringing up the fact that being androgynous/gender nonconforming is not the same as being nonbinary. both are completely different but people keep mixing up the two or think they're the same.

Lake from infinity train has been one of my favorite NB/GNC characters in recent years! Their story reminds me of my own nonbinary experience.

Jessie & James are indeed icons and we love them for it.

I think Osana Najimi from Komi can't communicate is also worth mentioning. There are only 2 episodes of the anime out yet but I already absolutely ADORE them and their personality.

I've always felt uncomfortable wearing dresses/skirts or wearing a lot of makeup and preferred having a more masculine/androgynous style, but I'm certain I'm cis (feel comfortable with my gender and pronouns). Because of this I've hesitated to change my style because I thought for the longest time you could only dress androgynous if you identified as nonbinary/trans and I didn’t want to step on anyone's toes. This video really helped me understand the difference between gender representation and gender identity!

This person is not wrong when they say that Jessie and James are legends. One of the things I love in the original Pokémon series was when they came on screen is their outfits!!❤

When I first started watching Ouran Highschool Host Club I connected with Haruhi almost immediately. Like her I couldn't care less what people perceived me as gender-wise. I still identify as a girl and use my agab pronouns but gender meant little to me. I figured out that I'm Cassgender and am very happy with my identity.💜

I think one of my first exposures to a gender non-conforming character was Nagihiko/Nadeshiko from Shugo Chara. Considering that the plot of the show was about magically turning into the version of yourself you wanted to be, the fact that this character ended up accepting both their male and female personas was really revolutionary to me. I also love that you mentioned Kanamori from the lesser known Heaven's Design Team! I would also add Opera from Welcome to Demon School Iruma Kun, who the creator refuses to give a gender and uses they/them pronouns.

im suprised not to see at least one jojo character on here, a lot of the characters are gnc as hell. kars is about the manliest yet feminine character I know. and not nessecarily androgynous where it's this thin, non muscular, short haired person who looks like they could be either male or female. kars is very obviously masculine, but he's also very feminine and then there's the majority of part 5 characters who all look androgynous as hell. one of the characters was literally based off the "dude looks like a lady" song. there's also 2 gay couples in part 5, arguably 3. a lot of the characters in jojo as a whole are just androgynous to varying degrees, mostly because the creator really likes fashion. also about half the make characters wear lipstick

I really hope this eventually gets a part two, considering Rain Code, a newly released game at this time, has a GNC / enby character, Halara Nightmare

The attack helicopter never gets old with you people lol

I have a problem of not fully understanding everything transgender, gender fluid, non binary etc ... I have friends who are. I try fully grasp the idea of gender identity to understand my friends and i guess my self. Your video did help clear up some of the fog of war in my brain about the subject. Thanks. I always enjoy your videos.

Fun fact! In the German translation of the Houseki no Kuni/Land of the Lustrous (known as Land der Juwelen in German) manga the gems use the German equivalent of xe/xim pronouns, which I think is cool as hell

As a lady flirting with gender-nonconformism, this was a lovely watch. Also this is the first video of yours I've seen and holy stromboli your voice is so soothing-

I read somewhere that in Japan, saying one has the "heart of a [gender]" is a more direct allusion to a perception of a person as trans than the equivalent phrase in English.

I'm honestly impressed with how the dub for Land of the Lustrous managed to never use a gendered term. It took a bit for me to even notice, but I really appreciate the effort put into the script.

1. It’s criminal you didn’t mention Kurama 2. Look at Level E for some transman rep. Some of the plot revolves around a transman that is chosen by aliens to reproduce and destroy the world. However since his biology doesn’t work for this purpose they change him biologically. (basically perfect gender affirming surgery). This takes time to be fully in affect and in the meantime we need a solution to prevent the world from ending. But instead of forcibly changing the transman’s biology back to “female” they come up with a different solution. Essentially giving trans people the right to exist and not have to sacrifice themsleves or their identity for the fate of the world.

I would like to thank you for including the Amazon Trio, The Starlights, Haruka, Ranma and Wandering Son. Wandering Son doesn’t get enough attention. This video made me happy as a non-binary he/they human. Thank you again.

Just discovering your channel for the first time, and I’m absolutely here for your energy. These past few videos I’ve seen of yours give off the coziest of auras and that’s exactly what I’ve been looking for. Thanks for passing the vibe check

Just gonna point out that the vessels from Hollow Knight are confirmed to have no gender, both with the pronouns used to refer to them, but also because the one sibling they have who *isn't* a vessel is distinctly referred to as "the gendered child." Ghost, Hollow, and their thousands of siblings are enby babies, and I adore all of them. Also, Eden from the Binding of Isaac is also confirmed by Edmund McMillen to be gender nonconforming. In his own words: "Eden isnt a man, nor are they a woman.. they just are." And it also ties into the gameplay, since Eden starts with randomly generated stats and items every run, they also are given a random hairstyle--which can either be masculine, feminine, or androgynous. And I love it.

One of my favorite gender-nonconforming characters is Emporio Ivankov from One Piece. Now the series has a lot of weird/insensitive jokes about genderqueer characters, but everything about Ivankov is so cool. He has the ability to control hormones and can use them on anyone he touches, which is like every queer person's wet dream. He was even made the King/Queen of Kamabakka Kingdom, where a majority of the world's Okama (yes this word is used a lot in the series for queer characters) live safely from the oppression of the World Government and other bigots. Ivankov literally uses his own Pride and hormones to fight an evil government with other Gay Anarchists. Hello, based department.

Please make more videos like this, it makes difficult conversations so much easier with such detailed descriptions and easy references!

I love this video. I wish I could present as masculine , but I have a hard enough time getting people to realize that I'm not wearing feminine clothing. Seeing the breakdown you laid out, and getting the sense that I shouldn't have to intentionally try to dress as nonbinary to be respected as nonbinary helps and also makes me want to cry. I wish I could also dress in feminine things and not have people default to " I'm glad you're getting over that tomboy phase". Anyways. Thank you for making these videos xD. I feel less alone even as I always seem to come away questioning things about myself.

If you want a really really adorable "they/them" character in media, may I suggest the adorable indie game "OneShot"? It came out before Undertale did, and features an adorable little child character called "Niko" (who is also a neko, but that is not the point of the name lol). They are... feminine, but childish and kinda tomboyish? Not even specifically androgynous, just "either/neither".

For gender nonconforming characters might I recommend Gowther from the anime Seven Deadly Sins. He's a doll given the face of his creator's girlfriend but assigned male by said creator. He likes to dress in gender ambiguous and feminine clothes. He's one of my favorite characters of all time and I wish I had his gender.

I loved this top 10 video because you discussed context and nuance before going into the actual list. There ought to be more videos with similar format!

Great list! Now I really wanna watch Ramna 1/2 again. I was too young when I first watched it. It might be a fun time. I think my favorite one is Link. Also, it's weird being in my late 20s starting now to question my gender, but I guess we learn new things every day. I don't feel like a woman and never did, so I don't think I'm trans, but lately, I've been questioning if I really wanna just fit in as a man, so might be enby, or just a non-conforming man. I love your videos, so keep up with your good work!

Kino from Kino's Journey is notable to me as a character with a deliberately ambiguous gender who has verbally denied being gender as either male or female, they only wanna be referred to as Kino, there gender was originally planned to be just a surprise but the author choose to leave it ambiguous for the reader's interpretation

Is Nadeshiko/Nagihiko not mentioned at all here? I would've thought they'd show up at some point. In Shugo Chara, a character named Nadeshiko is introduced, who is admired by the protagonist for how feminine and beautiful she is. She's an extremely talented traditional dancer on top of that. When she moves away to travel abroad, she's gone for a while until coming back as Nagihiko. It's explained to us that Nagihiko had identified as Nadeshiko for a long while in order to better fit into the genre of dance she's talented at. He later develops a passion for more relaxed, hiphop type dancing, and it's explained that neither Nadeshiko nor Nagihiko are fake, that they identify differently as they feel is right to them. This is shown in the fact that they get two Shugo Charas (small guardian spirits that embody one's ideal self) for their more feminine and masculine presentations. Using varied types of dancing AND a unique magical system as a way to explore their genderfluidity and self-expression is SUCH a unique way of tying a genderfluid character into a story. Shugo Chara's biggest theme as a WHOLE is self-identity and exploration, and Nadeshiko/Nagihiko is one of the most obvious examples of the theme as a result. I never see enough people talk about them, even though they might be my favorite Shugo Chara character!

I loved how analytical this video was, and I also loved the moments where you cut loose and gushed for like 1.2 seconds. Was super great to watch!

I present another canonically non-gendered character: Hange Zoe. Only ever referred to by they/them pronouns, presents and sounds androgynous, and the author has specifically avoided talking about gender. People in the fanbase (of the anime specifically) tend to refer to them as a woman purely because the voice actor (i think) is a woman. However the character is given a much more androgynous and low voice (speaking from the chest as a man stereotypically would but with a vocal range in between the normal woman or man's). Are they intersex? Are they non-binary? Do they not give a fuck about gender? Who knows! All i know is that i love them and that they're my favourite character from AoT.

I highly recommend Astra: Lost in Space for another wonderful GNC character to add to your list. They are one of my favorite characters period and the English dub did so much to add even more depth to their character.

I'm surprised you didn't mention Haruhi's father from Ouran Highschool Host Club so I'll mention them here. From what I remember Haruhi's biological father (as in the person providing the sperm, rather than the egg or carrying the child to term.) Is portrayed as a man who dresses as a woman a majority of the time, and uses she/her pronouns, yet still uses the title Dad. Additionally, we're told that he's been doing this for a very long time including during his marriage to Haruhi's mother, and that she didn't care, and loved 'him' anyway. Which technically, means that Haruhi's mom was heteroflexible at least, and with two icons like that for parents, is it really any wonder that they turned out a gnc legend? (/hj) but more important to me was my reaction to seeing this character because looking back I didn't have any strong feelings. If I was really the person my parents were trying to raise me to be I should have been angry and disgusted but I didn't care. It didn't bother me. So what, Haruhi's dad dresses like a mom? That's silly, and kinda neat. It seems like he cares abt Haruhi, though, in his own way. Can we get back to the romance now? And I think having a character like that, that I could accept so casually, set me up to be accepting of more in the future, including my own relationship with gender, and the changing genders of those around me. Tl;dr, did Haruhi's dad make me queer? No, but she certainly helped.

Nice vid, thanks for making and sharing

I was looking at the group of characters you had near the beginning and I got such a big smile on my face when I saw Taako. I love the adventure zone

Y'all need to know about Cybersix, a genetically engineered supersolidier that presents female when she is a superhero, but as male when in his civilian secret identity. The animation is incredible, and the story is about her fighting against the evil organization that created him, against the 'monsters' created like she was. Him being a 'failed' experiment by her rejecting becoming a weapon. But is that something he can even reject? Assigned Weapon At Birth.

I wish you talked about Najimi, from Komi-san can't communicate. They're the most popular person in school and everyone likes them, and nobody cares about "what" they are, just their pesonality (Aside from Tadano in the start, because Najimi had presented as a man before to him). May not be the best example, but I think they're pretty cool.

one gnc character i really like is garry from ib. garry uses "atashi" to refer to himself in japanese and uses a lot of feminine speech patterns in both japanese and english, however he is still explicitly referred to as a man in both languages. also, kouri (the game's creator) stated in a comment on a drawing he made of garry in a kimono that garry "wants to cross the barriers of gender". so basically, garry is gnc as hell.

Frisk and Team Rocket were quite amazing to me as a child.

Surprised Stars Align didn’t get brought up here. Has a wonderful character who actually comes out as non-binary in the show. The show is very serious, as lots of people like to call it trauma tennis but it’s still a really good show with serious issues that’s really good at tone. Now if only we got the second half

link really is the GOAT

So glad my personal algorithm suggested your videos, I love these vids and I learn a lot from your content :3

This video is amazing! Thank you so much for making this!

I'll say this till the day i die: we deserve a Soul Eater Brotherhood. The manga has so much to animate and the story has been great so far! Plus we can have more Crona content to bless our hearts (btw now we have a new member to the gender nonconforming team, Yuka from Blue Period! They are such a good and complex character and they deserve the whole world)

I’d love to give a special shout out to Pisces Aphrodite from Saint Seiya for being absolutely gorgeous and the morally grey hero we deserve. As while introduced as one of the antagonists of the Sanctuary arc, Aphrodite is generally a heroic character, including being the biggest factor in defeating Loki in the Soul of Gold spinoff. And various other spin offs have also depicted them in very lovely dresses and fashionable blouses, pants, and heels. According to one interview with the creator, he even based Aphrodite off of a drag queen he knew. Also I hc Aphrodite as genderfluid, and basically being beautiful regardless of current identity or presentation.

This was an awesome video. Love it :"D

I really love this video so muchhh It's really nice to see characters actually being recognized as just being nonconforming and not trying to force random labels to apply to them (because honestly, they're not even necessary most of the time) One small point I'd like to bring up though is at 15:25 - 15:50 (This is kind of confusing for me to word but I'm gonna try my best because I think it's an important point to be made) _EDIT: I said "small point" but after writing everything down, it is NOT small at all. Sorry for being so long-winded. lol._ While it is totally fine and valid to interpret or 'headcanon' a character as whatever you'd like them to be (I've definitely done that before myself) I think it's also important to remember that there's a difference between said character being headcanoned as something and actually BEING something. If one person does that, it's fine generally, but when a larger group or even whole community starts to accept that 'headcanon' or 'interpretation' as being canon when it's not, it can actually be really self-defeating. Like, for instance, earlier in the video, you mentioned that there is a lack of any notable transmale characters, which is entirely true. So hypothetically, let's say I'm transmale myself and I feel really bothered by the lack of representation one day, so I try to seek out a transmale character that I can identify and relate to. I can't seem to find any, but then I stumble upon an episode of Fairly Odd Parents where Trixie Tang crossdresses and disguises herself as a boy so that other people don't find out she has boyish interests. This isn't ever brought up again throughout the rest of the show, that entire part of her character is forgotten after that one episode, but I find myself relating to it so much that I just run with it. Soon, I tell my friends or post on Twitter about my headcanon of Trixie being trans, and maybe some people see the idea, like it, and retweet or post about it themselves. Then more people see those new posts, do the same thing, and the cycle repeats a few times until it's become a semi-popular headcanon. Suddenly, a random KZfaqr or news site catches on, and they decide to include Trixie Tang on their "Top 10 Trans Characters" countdown. Now, it REALLY starts to catch on, except now when people are talking about it, they neglect to mention it's a headcanon, or don't give the full context. Suddenly, Trixie Tang starts getting praised for being a trans icon when she never was one in the first place. Maybe the creators even decide to roll with it because "yeah sure that's cool". And now you suddenly have this character who, despite not actually being trans representation, is being presented as such. So now, when a new showrunner comes along and decides "I want to have a trans character in my show/novel/etc. too!" They'll stumble upon the now popular Trixie Tang, and only seeing the publicity, thinks that she's the perfect character to emulate for trans representation. Due to not having actually been a trans character or one that's representative of the trans experience at all, you suddenly get a new 'trans' character who's just a really shallow interpretation of what it means to be trans. Then, the media picks up on this shallow interpretation and praises it (because let's be real, the vast majority of major news networks have no clue what they're talking about with this stuff) and because the media praised this character, you have ANOTHER new creator come along (most likely not being trans themselves), and thinking that this is how you write a transmale character, decide to write their character in the exact same way. This keeps happening and now, suddenly, you've gone from a cute headcanon of a character from one of your favourite cartoon characters being transmale, to an entire army of shallow, poorly written interpretations of what it means to be trans. A real, actual example of this sort of phenomenon (although a bit different and perhaps less extreme) would be when J.K. Rowling tried to insist that Hermione had been black in the Harry Potter books the entire time, despite numerous pieces of evidence (and even lines of text in the actual novels) contradicting this. The media (and even fans) ran WILD with this, and tried to insist that Hermione was indeed black, and that Rowling and her novels were super progressive and empowering. Obviously in the play, Hermione was played by a black woman, but trying to insist that the original novel character herself was as well is just frankly dishonest. Almost the exact same thing happened with Dumbledore. He had never been shown, in literally anyway, to be gay. But after the original novels were finished, Rowling announced that Dumbledore was gay, and the press ate it up. Suddenly, he was considered gay representation for, quite honestly, no reason. You could say that Hagrid was actually a transman the entire time, but if we read all of the novels, he very clearly never shown to be one. And yet, even though that could be considered just as valid of an interpretation as Dumbledore being gay, the latter is praised as representation because....Rowling said so? Because some news network said so? Is Dumbledore how all gay males should be written now to be considered good representation? Thankfully, Rowling didn't completely get away with this, as after promising she would explore Dumbledore being gay in the second Fantastic Beasts movie and completely sidestepping the issue, she got rightfully called out on her BS. I can't help but wonder, though, that if it weren't for her coming out as TERF and transphobic, if anyone would've cared about Dumbledore's representation in Fantastic Beasts? Part of me wants to say some people still would, but at the same time, it feels much more likely that the media, and even fans, would've just "settled". And that's the thing--the point of that overly long fable and the JK Rowling situation is that we don't WANT to just "settle" for characters who SEEM like they could be gay, lesbian, trans, non-conforming, intersex, etc. (or in Hermione's case, black) Those can be nice for headcanons, but it's still super important we never stop pushing for actual, good, well-written representation of these sorts of characters. If we all always only "settle" for representation, then we're never going to get GOOD representation, because companies, producers, etc. will think they're already doing all they need to do to please us. We'll just get more Dumbledores, more Hermiones, more half-hearted attempts at representation that don't actually care if they're good or not. Obviously people ARE still fighting for good representation, and the fact that we've only just started to get good representation is all the more reason why it's important that we keep NOT settling so that we DON'T relapse. After all, the louder and stronger our voice is as a group, the more they'll have to the listen, and the more they'll be forced to actually give us the good representation we deserve. And of course if we push to get more gay, lesbian, trans, noncomforming, etc. people into more writing, directing, acting, artist, etc. roles, that would certainly be lovely too