ladybusiness | (Reply)

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This is a favorite theme of mine, too. Season 6 of beloved Japanese classroom drama "San-nen B-gumi Kinpachi-sensei" included a character who's a little difficult for me to describe, since I didn't have as much understanding of gender then as I do now, and it's been about 20 years since I've seen it, and I don't actually remember if the show takes a position on the character's gender. Ueto Aya plays a student who is perceived by others as a girl who should wear the girls' uniform (school standards were notoriously inflexible about gendered uniforms then--I think it's eased up a little now?). I'm sure it would come under criticism if it aired now, but at the time I remember it was praised by a lot of queer groups in Japan.

I haven't seen any Chinese shows like that or (OG) Coffee Prince, but there's a memorable side character in The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty who presents as a man to most people. I was pleasantly surprised by the ending of the character's story arc. (I don't remember if you've seen this one. There are like half a dozen instances of crossdressing in Sleuth, if not more, but the other occasions are for utility only.)

Of course anime is rife with gendered clothing shenanigans, from Rose of Versailles onward.

we know women in the Tang dynasty crossdressed like this a lot
We do??? Well, there's something to add to my "things to look up" list!