#trans chihiro

[clarinettispaghetti]

Chihiro chillin'

[supersillycheeze]

If they ever met they would be very close friends!!

I was too lazy to draw pixals samurai x outfit

The girls who love technology

[mysteriousdoll]

I’ve been working on redesigns for a while now, and here’s the first batch! Rather than doing them in a specific order, I had people on insta drop characters into an ask box and went down the line! This wound up being a really, really fun practice! Going with a chibi-ish style helped a lot in trying to just get the base idea down and worry about tiny details later on. Explanations/notes under the cut!

Edit: Changed Kork’s uniform to a deep navy blue as opposed to the original green after being informed of the ill origins of that green. Also changed Kyoko’s hair slightly

Reblogs are appreciated!! They help a lot!!

Notes on photos in text form...

Korekiyo - Cut hair shorter, emblem replaces armband, shirt no longer hanging out; tucked in.

Chihiro - Hair pin from Junko, Ibuki dyed her tipes, new ribbon from Taka

Mikan - Kokichi cut her hair (for her, dw), leggings for coverage, longer sleeves, non-slip shoes. (for reference, i asked my mom just to make sure... and mikan's outfit does not at all suit a nurse, so i gave her more coverage while still keeping the fit there in a certain fashion)

Ibuki - Pigtails!!, they actually wear (part of) the school uniform, dyed their romper, white and black hair like hers would not go well as the black would quickly bleed into such small streaks of white. So i had their bangs and two sections in the front white with pink and blue streaks, while the rest of her hair is black with pink and blue streaks. Her horns are completely fake and are just attached to a headband.

Mondo - Emblem on the right jacket breast, overall just simplified certain things and gave him longer hair.

Kyoko - Butchered CUT her hair, pants for their own comfort, bracelet is smaller in actuality, it was a gift from Taka shortly after she was taken in by the Ishimarus (it's a whole thing), they got sneakers because their boots wound up not working as something to wear for long periods of time.

Hajime - Scar from surgery is there, just not shown due to simplified style (and not at all because i forgot), pride flag button, Usami keychain from Chiaki.

Chiaki - She's chubbier now :), gave her HP's uniform top and ribbon, hair color brightened to be a bit more pink, shorts under her skirt, tries to eat things she shouldn't.

Hina - Heterochromia (she's afraid of straight people), barrette is now heart shaped, swim club leader, she's got a bra because... her back would hurt hello?, i'm sorry- her shoes were tacky imo so I changed them

Sonia - Glittery bow, emblem on left arm--student council, 'dress' based on beta design, boots act as Kaz defense

Nekomaru - Uniform sleeves always rip, baggier pants because... reasons.

Makoto - His hair almost makes sense!, bro is falling constantly, ONE jacket, no doubling up... bland, but not too bland

Taka - Public Morals Committee chairperson, student council president, debate club leader, taller collar, more gold accents, NO arm band--it's replaced with the eye shown next to him, got matching boots from Junko after their original boots were ruined by bullies

Celeste - Her and Taka do one another's eyebrows, hair is curly--drills still fake, beta fit is superior, bunny from Hifumi (they're actually close, an attempt to give her more humanization was made), monster high esc shoes (she wears her canon shoes to most events, but the monster high esc shoes mix tennis shoes and heels for ease of movement and comfort)

Gundham - Oldest Ishimaru sibling, leader of the animal raising committee, partially blind, less layers

Mahiru - Still has her camera, it was just excluded here to focus on her design, romper with flowy shorts, matching bracelets with Hiyoko

Regarding the Hopes Peak emblem; I thought it may be interesting to change up the way uniforms are implemented into it... In that, there are basic uniform options, but students are relatively allowed to wear what they wish provided it followed guidelines (example being Miu's uh.. garters?? I think that's what they are? they wouldn't be allowed), and had the Hopes Peak insignia somewhere on the outfit. Following that, while the insignia can be somewhat customized in that students could change the white to be a different color, but students who lead clubs, committees, student council, etc., have the black part replaced.

(Note: assuming Nidai doesn't directly manage any teams at HP, he does not have an insignia implying such; subject to change.)

An interesting little fun fact here... well, to me... some of these actually called back to the beta designs! Mainly, with Sonia and Celeste! Admittedly a few characters got little to no changes, mostly because I just found that their designs already fit pretty well. Others, such as Taka, Makoto, or Mahiru, took the basic idea of their outfits and spruced them up. I'm not entirely sure when I originally implemented the Amy Rose rings on Taka's sleeves, but I felt it added a bit more of a dynamic pallet to his design. Or like, Makoto, a mix of simplification and sprucing up... I've never enjoyed the excessive layers he's got (lookin at you, gundham), wearing his school jacket over his hoodie always seemed... strange to me. So I figured with the change to HP dress code (considering these students don't even wear the uniform in school modes or anything), it allowed for him to just wear the hoodie with a HP insignia embroidered onto it. He's also got bandages given his canonically clumsy nature. Mahiru is someone else whose design I like but I wanted to change up somewhat, so I changed her dress to a romper with a flared bottom and a flannel pattern.

If you've got any questions regarding changes, feel free to ask!

[00waffles]

[grapemoon]

You know, I'm a little surprised there isn't more people headcanoning Chihiro as trans masc. Their backstory is about being forced into the persona of a girl because of being bullied for not being "boy enough". They died right after they declared that they're tired of acting feminine, and wanted to become stronger and assert themself. Like, I completely understand why people headcanon them as trans fem! Hell, I like it just as much as the next guy! But tbh I thought of trans masc Chihiro Well before I even considered them being trans fem, and I'm shocked by the lack of it in fandom

[danggirlronpa]

On Transfem Chihiro

Over the years running this blog, one of the most consistent asks I've received is regarding whether or not my inclusion of Chihiro as a girl is correct or not. I've been told that it's deeply meaningful for some people. I've been told that I'm an idiot and it's the biggest problem with my blog by others. So now, as I'm finally building out an FAQ, it seems like a good time to lay out my reasons for including Chihiro on this blog and how it personally connects to me.

Chihiro gender discourse has been around since Trigger Happy Havoc was initially released and translated. There's nothing I can say about this that hasn't already been said somewhere; as such, I ask everyone to have patience as I say things that have probably been said by 50 other people before. I know. They're right. Good for them.

However, I will not be fielding conversations about this. I am not setting out to argue with people; I am explaining the reasoning behind a blog policy. (This will also briefly discuss transmasc Chihiro headcanons, for purposes of thoroughness.)

This post will consist of three lists: a list of reasons why people generally headcanon Chihiro as trans; a list of reasons why they specifically headcanon Chihiro as transfem vs transmasc; and a brief refutation of popular reasons why people insist trans Chihiro is a bad headcanon.

For our purposes, I will be using they/them for Chihiro throughout this post; this is not in any way a commentary on which Chihiro pronouns are 'correct' or better, but a gender neutral convenience. Apologies for the really long paragraphs. I just like hearing myself talk.

Reasons People Headcanon Chihiro as Trans

Chihiro presents as one gender, but is "secretly" another. This is fairly obvious, and also the crux of the whole thing. Anything from here has a certain degree of reading between the lines, but this is explicitly canon. Where the discourse stems from is the reason Chihiro presents as a different gender, but it is an inarguable fact that they do present as a different gender - and obviously, that lends itself to a trans interpretation.

The secondhand retelling of Chihiro's story. Chihiro's portrayal as 'a boy who adopts girly traits' is never once stated from Chihiro's own mouth. The primary account of it comes from Monokuma, who is perhaps one of the least reliable narrators in Danganronpa, and who in the very same scene presents Mondo's survivors guilt as Mondo "murdering his brother," and should obviously be taken with a HUGE grain of salt. The only time when we see Chihiro come firsthand is in the School Mode alternate universe - in which the exact conversation is not explicitly lain out, but instead brushed over by Makoto's summary (after Chihiro briefly explains that their body is different from how they've been presenting). As such, the "canon" of Chihiro's gender is in fact very fluid, and as it's so deeply connected to gender and presenting differently from their assigned gender, there is an obvious thread to trans identities. The only definitive knowledge is that Chihiro has, when alive, gone by she/her and presented as a girl.

Real-world transphobic connections to Chihiro's death. The "trans panic" defense is a legal strategy that attempts to excuse murder of trans people under the justification that the murderer was shocked and/or disturbed by the victim's gender; in most famous examples, the assaulter is described as 'blacking out' and doing it in a 'fit of rage.' This has an obvious connection to the way Mondo reacts when Chihiro tells him about their secret, as he says he "felt something break", and who explicitly states he blacked out before murdering Chihiro and came to with them on the floor, covered in blood. In addition, historical trans people have often only been outed after death, and have then posthumously been treated differently from their actual gender despite living as that gender all of their lives. This is similar to the invasive way that Kyoko reveals Chihiro's secret after their death, and the way that the entire cast immediately starts treating them as a boy.(Disclaimer: this is not an argument that any THH characters are transphobic; rather, it is an argument that real world transphobia was used by the THH writers to emphasize Chihiro's gender.)

Gender roles. This is briefly addressed before, but Chihiro's preoccupation is never presented as being with 'boys vs girls' (except by Monokuma, who, again, Grain Of Salt); it is presented as being 'strong vs weak.' Chihiro never says 'I want to be strong like a man,' just 'I want to get stronger.' There is an argument to be made that Chihiro's internalized toxic masculinity plays a part in their inability to recognize they identify as a girl because they are a girl, rather than out of 'weakness'; there is an argument that Chihiro's desire to become strong actually plays into internalized masculinity in that they conflate 'I'm actually a trans boy' and 'boys are stronger than girls.' Either way, there is no reading of Chihiro's perspective on gendered strength that is truly disconnected from transness.

Conclusion: There are many reasons that Chihiro can be interpreted as a trans character which do not contradict canon, and, in fact, it is an extremely likely reading of the character for people who are closely connected to transness in the real world.

So, Transfem or Transmasc?

The reason people often headcanon Chihiro as transfem (AKA a trans woman, or MTF in old-timey terms) is because this aligns most closely with Chihiro's actual presentation in the games. Chihiro goes by she/her when they are alive; they are visibly feminine, including in ways that only possibly be intentionally done to emphasize their femininity, such as posture; it is indicated several times that they have a flat chest and a penis. Additionally, a very large number of trans women really enjoy computer coding, which was definitely not intended but does lend itself to the interpretation.

The reason people often headcanon Chihiro as transmasc (AKA a trans man, or FTM in old-timey terms) is because of the way others treat Chihiro in the games. It can be difficult and even triggering for people to see Chihiro's friends, including ostensibly good people, actively calling a trans girl "he/him" and a "boy"; as such, the easiest way to remove this issue is by interpreting Chihiro, not as a trans girl who comes out as having been a trans the whole time, but as a trans boy who still isn't out to their friends (and potentially hasn't even realized they're trans yet themselves).

These interpretations are both perfectly valid. Neither of them are actively transphobic. They conflict with each other solely in that it isn't possible for both to be canon at the same time. However, many people who believe strongly in one side can feel uncomfortable or even be directly triggered by the other, due to the perception of "misgendering" a comfort character and the feeling that their own interpretation of the character is being disrespected. As such, it is perfectly normal to see both sides avoiding each other.

This blog puts forth the perspective of transfem Chihiro because it is what the blog owner most closely identifies with, and it is more popular in the fandom. This is not a commentary on transmasc Chihiro headcanons! If transfem Chihiro bothers anyone, this blog is carefully tagged, and will happily add more tags at request. However, I will not be fielding discussions about it.

Common Arguments Against

Now, if you've kept up so far, you may still have some common arguments to bring up. Here's some responses to save you from heading into my inbox!

Actually, Chihiro is a commentary on a specific gendered trope in Japanese media!: This is like saying that because drag queens exist in the USA, headcanoning any American character as transgender is disrespectful to them. Japan has a number of trans people who face discrimination every day in a country that has no anti-LGBT discrimination laws and has had regular reports from the Human Rights Watch over the years that are increasingly worrying. My gender and sexuality studies have largely been Western, and I do not claim to have thorough knowledge of Japanese relations to gender; however, acting as though Japanese people cannot be trans is both racist and reductive.

But Chihiro says "I'm a boy!": The context in which Chihiro says "I'm actually a boy" is, 100% of the time, with no exceptions, when they are coming out as trans. For a transmasc reading, this is fairly obviously connected; for the more popular transfem reading, as a teenager in Japan, Chihiro likely does not have in depth knowledge of transness or LGBT terminology. It is very likely Chihiro has no words to describe their experience except "I'm a boy, but I want to be a girl" or "I want to be a boy but I'm not." This is a well-documented phenomenon among real world trans youth, too - people often use language that people in the community consider offensive simply because they have no other words to describe their experience. That does not make the experience less valid.

But the Danganronpa writers have said Chihiro's a boy!: 1. Look up 'Death of the Author.' 2. The writers also have not said that Kyoko and Makoto are dating, but this is near universally agreed on amongst friends as the most 'canonical' interpretation. That's what headcanons are.

I just don't like it! It just makes me mad!: You're transphobic. Consider why it bothers you so much that people want a character to be trans. Is there a valid logical reason? If not, why is this your instinct? Is it a good instinct? Is it possible you are hurting people around you by blindly acting on it?

In Conclusion

This is my official, catch-all, "Chihiro is on this blog and you can't do anything about it" post. My current policy is that every time I receive in ask against trans Chihiro in my inbox, I add a post that is specifically about Chihiro being trans to the queue. I will keep doing that. And I will @ you. With a smiley face. I will not respond in any other way. ✌️

[77ngiez-archive]

this is what kodaka stole from us </3 (design by @stargloom)

[oniongardener]

happy birthday to the chis! (she/her for my chihiro)

[jadeofblades]

@dr-rarepair-week-blog Day 3: Shopping

Taking your gf out to get her some new clothes and seeing her in a cute dress <333333 no he/him 😐

[protagchihiro]

happy birfday 🎉🎉🎉 ft chiakers

[supersillycheeze]

[crayonverse]

Sapphic Chitoko textposts

[v-4-l-0-n]

Broke: Chihiro is a cis man

Woke: Chihiro is a trans woman because of the context in-game and her backstory, as well as unfortunately being based on transmisogynistic stereotypes

Bespoke: Chihiro is a trans woman because she’s a programmer

[hecku-luna]

So I'm just gonna come out and say it.

I am INCREDIBLY proud of some sects of DR Tumblr for being on the side of trans Chihiro! And if you try to say she's male-leaning in the slightest, I'm just gonna block ya on sight without even giving you the satisfaction of an argument! o7

[yourfavusescontradictorylabels]

chihiro from danganronpa is a transfem non binary genderfluid pan lesbian femme lesbian

Chihiro from Danganronpa is a transfem, nonbinary, genderfluid, pan lesbian, femme lesbian!

[danganfan42069]

Why i hc Chihiro as transfem (but also think that nb and transmasc hcs are pretty neat too!)

A few warnings first, since you're here to read it I recommend reading these paragraphs extra to avoid stress for you and me :)

To be honest I'm not posting my opinion with the intention of changing someone's opinion or starting some kind of debate, I just want to express my opinion and that's all. It's like a public diary, it's one of the definitions of a blog after all ^_^

This isn't exactly a theory or an attempt to change anyone's mind and I know that none of this is canon and most likely not intended as I see it. I'm just want to talk in more detail about my headcanons and my lines of thoughts on them.

I already made a post with a carrd and article about transfem Chihiro and I also made a post about what I disagree with, now I would like to make a post that would be the parts that I agree with carrd and more other opinions of mine about it. (I will mostly use she/her for Chihiro since I hc her as transfem)

I see a lot of people talking that they think Chapter 2 had great critics about gender stereotypes and... I have to disagree.

In my interpretation I understood that Chihiro thinks that feminine = weakness, fragile lack of strength and that's it. And then she wants to become strong by running away from everything feminine.

This thought was never refuted and it was never explicitly established that women can also be strong, we have Sakura but she is seen as an exception and still doubted that she is a (cis) woman.

About this part, it seems to me that the writers simply have this transphobic mindset and see trans people as insecure with their own gender (this art could explain it in better words) or think that trans people are lying to everyone about their gender (when in reality is opposite, we feel like we are lying when we are in the closet and saying we identify with agab)

Just like I said before, it feels like the transphobic mindset where trans people are lying and insecure and being "just a phase"

And Mondo is a great ally (yes he killed her but it wasn't out of transphobia but an attack of anger and stress) and tried his best to keep Chihiro's secret

One thing I see a lot is people saying that hc Chihiro as transfem is erasing her entire backstory but it's important to remember that her backstory is completely fictional and nothing like this has ever happened in real life. Chihiro doesn't exist, but the people (mostly trans) who relate to her (the transcoded part of the character, I mean) exist.

This is why many people "reclaim" or hc Chihiro as transfem, transmasc and/or nonbinary. Chihiro is a very transcoded character, whether intentionally or not.

Despite not having Chihiro's hc be non-binary or transmasc, I understand where they're coming from. I can only remember the song Am I a Girl by Poppy for the non-binary headcanon. And for transmasc it's a cool interpretation too (still has the problem but feminine=weak but I'm sure whoever has this hc re-imagines that part in a non-sexist way) where Chihiro kinda comes out of the closet in chapter 2 to Mondo and wants to be himself. As I said before, Chihiro is a very trans coded character, like it or not, then every interpretation that trans people have about this character is valid. People can relate to this in a lot of very different ways and that's ok.

To me, anything is more interesting and makes more sense than a cis man in the closet. This is too nonsense to me. I know there are many things in the game that are also nonsense but I have my personal limits like everyone else (Ps: Not saying that whoever has the hc of Chihiro being a cis man is invalid because this is canon lol, its just not my cup of tea)

In summary, I have this headcanon of her being transfem because from the beginning she is presented as a woman and in all the merchs she continues to be treated as such, so that's what makes the most sense to me. Maybe if it was established that feminine doesn't equal weakness, maybe she would stay the same. And just look at the picture of her with her dad! He supports her unconditionally! It's a very beautiful thing to see and makes me happy.

I like to look at this scene as if someone were misgendering her, she wouldn't mind.

Edit: I found an excellent post that makes some great points too, here are some highlights: