#that's usually used to justify a stance against Mizuki's trans narrative

[project-sekai-facts]

I want to preface this by saying that I’m not trying to be antagonistic! I don’t participate in discussions like this often but this event has sparked many discussions and a lot of intense feelings on this blog and I wanted to give a different perspective maybe?

While I fully agree that clpl took a cowardly route and didn’t have Mizuki state their secret on screen and that people have a right to feel upset by that (as I do as well; it genuinely pisses me off that they tell everyone off screen, locked behind a card story) I feel that saying that we were baited and that Mizukis story has no meaning and is pointless now is a bit much? Mizuki is still a queer character, their queerness wasn’t disproven or erased or anything like that. Yeah they didn’t have them literally say what they are, but that doesn’t diminish their story and what they mean.

Their trans identity is something that can’t and shouldn’t be disconnected from their character. It sucks that this aspect of them is hidden behind a (quite frankly) absurd amount of subtext. I will say though that the sentiment of ‘Mizuki is Mizuki’ isn’t necessarily a bad one? I can see a little how that could be seen as dismissing their identity, but they ARE mizuki. There’s far more to that character than just their Trans identity. While obviously it’s an important part of their character and part of the main conflict for this arc, I don’t believe that clpls emphasis on Mizuki being Mizuki was meant to dismiss her identity.

Mizuki has always been a kind and selfless character, Ena and the rest of niigo are very endeared to her and want them in their lives because of this! Ena states that she may not understand all of the grief that Mizuki has endured and continues to deal with because of being othered by people at school and in society, but that she is willing to learn and stay by their side. Their identity isn’t something that warrants the end of their friendship, it’s not something that Ena cares about in the sense that it doesn’t change who Mizuki is as a person.

I’m not sure how the Japanese fanbase is reacting to this but I feel that the Western fanbases focus on having them literally say what they are seems in line with how queerness is expressed in Western countries like the US. (I myself am an American, and a queer person.) I can only go off of what I’ve seen in Japanese media, but they seem to be a bit more reserved when talking about being queer. It’s usually alluded to, and not explicitly stated all of the time. There’s clearly a cultural aspect as to why this story was told the way that it was. (There was also most likely corporate meddling as well though, lmao)

I do believe that clpl had good intentions with this particular story. It is very unfortunate that some things happened the way that they did, but I think that it’s important to look at what we were given and try to see what was trying to be conveyed. Perhaps that is a bit naive, and I’m not saying that everyone needs to accept the story that we were given and not look at it critically. Leaps and bounds still need to be made in terms of how stories like these are told. I’m saying that we should be a bit more open minded to the various aspects that gave us the story that we got.

I hope that that was coherent, this is something that I’m a bit passionate about as well! Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts, I hope that you have a lovely day/night!

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