"Leave it to a zombie show to take deadnames seriously."
December 7, 2018 9:57 PM Subscribe
To Zombie Land Saga's Lily Hoshikawa, The Best Trans Girl I've Seen In Anime: I’ve been watching anime for as long as I can remember and I never really found a character I could relate to over my gender troubles. That’s why I’m so grateful to know that you’re here. These days, I’m settled a little more comfortably as a trans person, but I saw a lot of myself in you and the turmoil we shared. You gave me a little push to be more expressive with my gender identity. I’ll always appreciate that.
Twitter is falling in love with this anime’s zombie trans girl: It didn’t take long for fans to confirm that Lily is a trans girl. The series’ creators treat her as a girl, gender her as such online, and previous episodes hint to her trans identity... For trans Twitter users, Lily is an easy character to love. She isn’t just petite and adorable, she literally dies from gender dysphoria. That’s way too relatable. She’s more than ready to stand up for herself, too, and assert her gender identity. She’s the perfect trans girl role model.
AnimeNewsNetwork review: [Lily's death] comes across like slapstick, and on the one hand, gender dysphoria shouldn't be trivialized, but on the other hand, this moment might also work as a comically exaggerated representation of relatable feelings trans girls go through. Your mileage may vary. Saki's peals of laughter at the absurdity of Lily's death and the manliness of her old name could also come across as insensitive, but it also fits Saki's boisterous character, and she makes it clear soon after that she accepts Lily. Moreover, the show ruminates on how zombification was actually a good thing for Lily, since now she doesn't have to worry about growing up and going through puberty. It's an interesting angle, but on the other hand, puberty blockers or hormone replacement therapy would have probably worked better than necromancy. So Zombie Land Saga doesn't stand out as a gold standard for trans representation or anything, but it still deserves praise for being kind and unambiguous in its portrayal of a trans character.
Some other trans women in anime.
"Traps" Don't Exist And Here's Why
The legal situation in real-world Japan.
Twitter is falling in love with this anime’s zombie trans girl: It didn’t take long for fans to confirm that Lily is a trans girl. The series’ creators treat her as a girl, gender her as such online, and previous episodes hint to her trans identity... For trans Twitter users, Lily is an easy character to love. She isn’t just petite and adorable, she literally dies from gender dysphoria. That’s way too relatable. She’s more than ready to stand up for herself, too, and assert her gender identity. She’s the perfect trans girl role model.
AnimeNewsNetwork review: [Lily's death] comes across like slapstick, and on the one hand, gender dysphoria shouldn't be trivialized, but on the other hand, this moment might also work as a comically exaggerated representation of relatable feelings trans girls go through. Your mileage may vary. Saki's peals of laughter at the absurdity of Lily's death and the manliness of her old name could also come across as insensitive, but it also fits Saki's boisterous character, and she makes it clear soon after that she accepts Lily. Moreover, the show ruminates on how zombification was actually a good thing for Lily, since now she doesn't have to worry about growing up and going through puberty. It's an interesting angle, but on the other hand, puberty blockers or hormone replacement therapy would have probably worked better than necromancy. So Zombie Land Saga doesn't stand out as a gold standard for trans representation or anything, but it still deserves praise for being kind and unambiguous in its portrayal of a trans character.
Some other trans women in anime.
"Traps" Don't Exist And Here's Why
The legal situation in real-world Japan.
As is typical these days, the usual man child reactionaries denied that all this was actually real, insisted it was all Crunchyroll translation errors and [sarcasm]You're enforcing your own politics on what's just a cute girls show and none of this is intentional[/sarcasm], including that shot of Lily with a literal rainbow shooting out of her hand in the very next episode.
I had no expectations for Zombieland Saga going in, but the first episode won me over and I has just kept getting better each episode. Lily's back story was great, but the very next episode had Saki's lesbian biker gang which was just as good.
The strength of the show is that it takes its core idea: idols, but zombies seriously and it sort of follows the formula for idol shows, but in a way that allows it to do whatever it wants in the mean time.
It also does the "let's extoll the charms of this charming rustic region of Japan in order to get some tourism going and revitalise" routine P. A. Works normally specialises in, which adds another layer to the show.
Lily being trans is just the cherry on the top of an already great show and it's great fun to be actually able to celebrate trans representation in an anime series.
Her and Henri in Hugtto Precure are some of the best trans/non binary/genderqueer characters to come out of anime in a long time.
posted by MartinWisse at 12:40 AM on December 8, 2018 [3 favorites]
I had no expectations for Zombieland Saga going in, but the first episode won me over and I has just kept getting better each episode. Lily's back story was great, but the very next episode had Saki's lesbian biker gang which was just as good.
The strength of the show is that it takes its core idea: idols, but zombies seriously and it sort of follows the formula for idol shows, but in a way that allows it to do whatever it wants in the mean time.
It also does the "let's extoll the charms of this charming rustic region of Japan in order to get some tourism going and revitalise" routine P. A. Works normally specialises in, which adds another layer to the show.
Lily being trans is just the cherry on the top of an already great show and it's great fun to be actually able to celebrate trans representation in an anime series.
Her and Henri in Hugtto Precure are some of the best trans/non binary/genderqueer characters to come out of anime in a long time.
posted by MartinWisse at 12:40 AM on December 8, 2018 [3 favorites]
Holy shit leading off with a BIIIG spoiler there aren't we?
posted by ardgedee at 4:17 AM on December 8, 2018
posted by ardgedee at 4:17 AM on December 8, 2018
It's heartening to see this get the coverage and boost it deserves. Huzzah for Lily and this kind of representation, it matters greatly to so many people.
posted by Fizz at 6:03 AM on December 8, 2018
posted by Fizz at 6:03 AM on December 8, 2018
So I LOVE this and it looks super cute but how zombie is zombie? I like supernatural stuff but dislike gross zombie brain munching. Is this more the premise of "idols, but they're dead" or is it more classic zombie stuff?
Either way I'm happy, give me more supernatural trans girls.
posted by brook horse at 6:53 AM on December 8, 2018
Either way I'm happy, give me more supernatural trans girls.
posted by brook horse at 6:53 AM on December 8, 2018
Is this more the premise of "idols, but they're dead" or is it more classic zombie stuff?
Completely (at least so far) the former, and none of the latter. It's a fun show, and as MartinWisse points out, takes the premise of "idols, but they're zombies," completely seriously.
posted by ralan at 7:18 AM on December 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Completely (at least so far) the former, and none of the latter. It's a fun show, and as MartinWisse points out, takes the premise of "idols, but they're zombies," completely seriously.
posted by ralan at 7:18 AM on December 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Holy shit leading off with a BIIIG spoiler there aren't we?
I did think about this, but I came to two conclusions:
1: No, not really. On a plot level, the episode isn't even about her being transgender: it could have hit all the same major story points if she were a cis girl. She's just (very unambiguously) trans because some people are, and it doesn't come up in any of the previous episodes, because why would it? Some of the links do go into more detail about the episode's actual events, but I made sure not to quote those parts.
2: Some things are more important than spoilers.
I like supernatural stuff but dislike gross zombie brain munching.
The first episode does play with horror, but it's generally dropped after that, and the most obvious way their zombiehood manifests is their limbs occasionally falling off, which is always played for comedy. There's no gore I can think of.
posted by one for the books at 10:50 AM on December 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
I did think about this, but I came to two conclusions:
1: No, not really. On a plot level, the episode isn't even about her being transgender: it could have hit all the same major story points if she were a cis girl. She's just (very unambiguously) trans because some people are, and it doesn't come up in any of the previous episodes, because why would it? Some of the links do go into more detail about the episode's actual events, but I made sure not to quote those parts.
2: Some things are more important than spoilers.
I like supernatural stuff but dislike gross zombie brain munching.
The first episode does play with horror, but it's generally dropped after that, and the most obvious way their zombiehood manifests is their limbs occasionally falling off, which is always played for comedy. There's no gore I can think of.
posted by one for the books at 10:50 AM on December 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
Mother's Basement has a review of Zombieland. Geoff points out that it appears to be presenting multiple aspects of femininity that aren't usually represented in idol groups (fictional or not.) The girls are also from different time periods (except two) which allows them to explore some temporal differences as well. (One's an Oiran; I'm curious how her story will unfold.)
There's no gore I can think of.
Lily's heart does tend to leap out of her chest, but it's so cartoony that you might not realize it's literal until another character points it out.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:42 AM on December 8, 2018
There's no gore I can think of.
Lily's heart does tend to leap out of her chest, but it's so cartoony that you might not realize it's literal until another character points it out.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:42 AM on December 8, 2018
Wobbled back and forth between "cannot stand this show" and "okay, there's something here."
I despise the over-reliance on anime tropes that well, most anime relies on, and in the end, this show wore thin on me for a lot of reasons that are too pedantic and personal to bother to go into.
All that said, couldn't happen to a nicer show. This show isn't for me, but it's for a whole lot of people and it's largely just innocent fun, and it's nice to see reasonably-decent representation come up, especially from anime, which - let's face it - doesn't have a great track record with this kind of stuff.
posted by Imperfect at 7:01 PM on December 8, 2018
I despise the over-reliance on anime tropes that well, most anime relies on, and in the end, this show wore thin on me for a lot of reasons that are too pedantic and personal to bother to go into.
All that said, couldn't happen to a nicer show. This show isn't for me, but it's for a whole lot of people and it's largely just innocent fun, and it's nice to see reasonably-decent representation come up, especially from anime, which - let's face it - doesn't have a great track record with this kind of stuff.
posted by Imperfect at 7:01 PM on December 8, 2018
It's worth noting that all the deaths are pretty ridiculous. The main character is hit by a truck, like, immediately on the start of the show. This show is still fundamentally a parody--but it's a parody that's actually sensitive in the ways that the source genre really doesn't tend to be.
Which is kind of where I am with another favorite this season: Double Decker: Doug & Kirill doesn't handle everything what I'd call perfectly, but it *likes and cares about* all its queer and trans characters, and therefore the good guys are all actually being decent human beings and the bad guys are the ones who actually make trouble about it. It's such a low bar, but it makes the world feel like it sucks less.
I'm still very much not a fan of idol shows but largely because I don't really like the music and they're so reliant on that, and I'm missing in Zombieland the beginning bits where they did music that wasn't that, but I still think the end result is cute, and better than when all of what they're parodying is played straight. I can see how it wouldn't be someone's cup of tea, but I'm hoping in the next few years we see more stuff where this is handled this well without the idols.
posted by Sequence at 10:56 PM on December 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Which is kind of where I am with another favorite this season: Double Decker: Doug & Kirill doesn't handle everything what I'd call perfectly, but it *likes and cares about* all its queer and trans characters, and therefore the good guys are all actually being decent human beings and the bad guys are the ones who actually make trouble about it. It's such a low bar, but it makes the world feel like it sucks less.
I'm still very much not a fan of idol shows but largely because I don't really like the music and they're so reliant on that, and I'm missing in Zombieland the beginning bits where they did music that wasn't that, but I still think the end result is cute, and better than when all of what they're parodying is played straight. I can see how it wouldn't be someone's cup of tea, but I'm hoping in the next few years we see more stuff where this is handled this well without the idols.
posted by Sequence at 10:56 PM on December 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
She's just (very unambiguously) trans because some people are, and it doesn't come up in any of the previous episodes
Not quite, but it's one of those things that if you blink, you'll miss it yet makes perfect sense in hindsight: in the hot springs episode (which btw is hilarious), when the announcement is made that they're going to the hot springs, all the girls respond enthusiastically, apart from Lily, who is shown slightly panicked.
I like supernatural stuff but dislike gross zombie brain munching.
Only the legendary Yamada Tae does any zombie munching after the first episode and that's mostly of actual food rather than people. In general, it's all slapstick violence.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:00 AM on December 9, 2018
Not quite, but it's one of those things that if you blink, you'll miss it yet makes perfect sense in hindsight: in the hot springs episode (which btw is hilarious), when the announcement is made that they're going to the hot springs, all the girls respond enthusiastically, apart from Lily, who is shown slightly panicked.
I like supernatural stuff but dislike gross zombie brain munching.
Only the legendary Yamada Tae does any zombie munching after the first episode and that's mostly of actual food rather than people. In general, it's all slapstick violence.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:00 AM on December 9, 2018
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posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 12:04 AM on December 8, 2018 [1 favorite]