Wandering Son

Name: Serina

Grade: 12+

Title: Wandering Son

Author/illustrator: Shimura Takako

Shuichi Nitori lives an average sixth grader life with an annoying older sister and quirky parents that love him. He is quiet and well liked at his school, despite being a bit of a crybaby. But Shuichi has a secret. He wants to be a girl. Feeling alone and confused, he is happy to become friends with a girl who has a similar problem, named Yoshino Takastuki. Yoshino likes to dress as a boy and travel by train far away from her home so that she can walk around as a boy with no one noticing. And she wants Shuichi to join her in girls clothing. Shuichi is scared at first and resistant to dressing up like a girl, even though he desperately wants to, but when Yoshino begins to give him all the dresses she doesn't wear, he starts to tepidly step into the world remade as a girl. At first it is Yoshino's and Shuichi's secret, but it isn't long before things start to escalate. A girl in Shuichi's class discovers his secret and is determined to make his dream come true, even though he doesn't want her involved. As Shuichi and Yoshino come to terms with the gender they wish to be, hardship is not far behind, trying to thwart their attempts and crush their dreams. Will they have a happy ending?

Wandering Son covers gender issues like no other graphic novel. It is slow paced, realistic, and emotionally packed, with subtle scenes and appealing characters. This isn't your usual comedy gender-bender anime is infamous for. This is a heartfelt, cutely illustrated manga about what it is like to be young and struggling with who you are and who you want to be.

I picked this book up because the art was cute and it sounded interesting.

I finished this book because it was adorable and fascinating.

Rating: **** Really liked it!