rpanons | chortles fatly

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I've just finished catching up on the mobage stories and I want to give playing Arashi a shot, but I've got a question before I start making accounts.

I read Arashi much more as non-binary (probably genderfluid) rather than strictly male or female. I know that referring to Arashi as anything except a transwoman with feminine pronouns gets you ripped apart on twitter, but is it the same in DWRP? Basically, should I expect to be ostracized and get callouts if I go with my genderfluid/bigender/agender headcanon while playing them? I'm openly trans myself, if it makes a difference.

just play them as x-gendered using female pronouns, since that's as explicit as the japanese source material gets about it.

the leaning heavily into being a trans woman interpretation isn't invalid, but it's also just kind of applying a western perspective on the gender binary to it, which i've never been super comfortable with since japan has their own cultural approach to this (x-gender is a thing over there, and not one-to-one equivalent to non-binary over here).

that just feels like the safest bet.

I definitely don't begrudge anyone who reads Arashi as trans (I see why they would) but I'm in the same boat with being uncomfortable applying western gender expression standards to Japanese media. I'm also really uncomfortable viewing them as trans considering how much of their early characterization is ripped straight from terrible mid-90s anime gay man stereotypes. Especially the boundary pushing and stalkerish crush on someone that's clearly uninterested.

X-gendered with a lean towards female presentation is exactly what I was planning to go with, but it's sounding like even that might be risky it so I'll think on it some more. Thanks for your response in the meantime!

i'm in the same boat as you (non-cishet who doesn't think arashi is trans) and i can confidently say it's not worth it.

the people who care about identifying arashi as female care about it passionately and react with pure contempt to anyone who feels otherwise, no matter how valid their reasoning. the people that don't care won't admit it out loud because of how extreme the reactions of the the first group can be.

you might get lucky if you stick to PSLs, especially if you're up front about using they/them pronouns, but you'll just be a pariah if you join a game.

I'm of the same opinion as you, anon. Non-binary/genderfluid would be my guess.

Still as much as I love Arashi, I'm not sure if it's worth it. Even if most of DW rp is fine with that interpretation, there will be a very vocal minority that will sour the experience.

Wait. Actually... on second thought? Forget what I just said.

Your interpretation of this character is well thought out and comes from a place of respect. It might not be the SAME interpretation that others have, but that's okay. If anyone tries to start trouble with you because of it, they're not the type of person you want to be RPing with anyway.

while a lot of arashi's dialogue in the past few years is borrowed directly from japanese lgbt dialogue irl ("my body may be male, but i have the heart of a woman" is something you'll often see in japanese transwomen interviews), so it's not completely farfetched to interpret arashi as transwoman even in a japanese context, i think it helps to take canon holistically into account. even izumi notes in SS that arashi gets weirded out if you treat them 100% like a girl, and that they're best considered just arashi (also something you'll see in japanese lgbt discussions a lot).

i'd say feminine x-gendered is a valid interpretation, since you're approaching it with respect. people who would be aggressive with you for thinking arashi is anything but 100% female-identifying are fans you'd run into issues with elsewhere along the line imo, because that type of inflexible thinking (especially since you yourself, op, mentioned you're openly trans) is a big red flag.

arashi definitely isn't cis for sure; 2017-2018 have made that abundantly clear. but yeah, i think anyone reasonable would be wary of slapping western lgbt labels onto a character clearly informed by a japanese context of gender and gender identity (even the terrible okama stuff early in enstars's run, which was clearly before the writer did their research, you can see a big difference between how early stories by the head writer were written arashi's stories are written now).

sa sorry i meant *2017-2018 stories and *vs how arashi's stories are written now

never write a comment when you just wake up

as someone else who's openly trans, who does interpret arashi as a trans woman...basically, the only people who i think are wrong are the people who think arashi is cis; whether it's x-gender, trans woman, or genderfluid, i think they're all interpretations that the text supports, and i think it's great that non-cis people of all different viewpoints can see themselves in arashi. i don't know if that's reflective of the fandom in general, since i tend to avoid being a part of fandom at large, but it's disheartening to see that this is a question that even needs to be asked in the first place...good luck, anon.

i know little about this series but isn't he part of an all-boys school

male characters have been using female pronouns since the beginning of anime. last i checked, japan didn't suddenly become progressive enough to redefine that trope

if you know little about the series (and seemingly little about japan itself, since while there's certainly a lot of work to be done, there has definitely been a lot of strides made for acceptance of trans/x-gendered youth in particular in japan), then why are you commenting with any confidence as to what the situation actually is?

arashi literally has an event where they become frustrated with being perceived as a man and confide in another student about their dysphoria but go off about a canon you hardly know, i guess

can i read this event somewhere? sounds interesting!

it's "beasts"

https://ensemble-stars.fandom.com/wiki/Beasts

a quick and dirty summary is arashi is hurt and upset when tetora asks them how to become more manly, so they mess with him for a while and trick him into wearing a dress. tetora is totally into it, but arashi regrets it pretty much immediately after it starts because it makes them feel like they're bullying him for his self-image the same way they have been. tetora gets pulled aside and told that arashi's really not keen on being seen as manly, apologizes for not realizing they're "a woman on the inside" (harkening back to anon's point about japanese x-gender people and trans women) and arashi expresses jealousy that tetora will become what he wants to be without even trying, while they'll never become the woman they aspire to be. in the end they agree that it's important to love yourself, no matter your gender.

it's a really sweet story, and it pretty clearly illustrates the fact that no matter how you interpret arashi's gender, "cis boy" is the only one that can't be the truth.

"i know little about this series but isn't he part of an all-boys school"

you're immediately an idiot lol

chortles fatly

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