I have a soft spot for Shimura Takakos idiosyncrasies as a writer. She tells mundane stories about mundane people even if the subject matter is something fantastical like Sayonara Otokonoko its still told in a way that resembles everyday life but the way she does it is not very conventional in itself. The story is always jumping from present to past and then to present again from a real situation to a imaginary one from reality to dream. Sometimes a conversation is being held by two characters and in the next panel without warning or proper closure different characters are now the ones talking about the same thing. The flow of time always feels off: days weeks and sometimes months can pass by from one chapter to the other with the only indicator of it being few very easy to miss hints. She seems to really like this little tricks and abuses it sometimes to the point of incomprehensibility thats true but its generally easy to follow. Hourou Musuko is the work where her techniques shines the brightest. The reason for this became quite apparent for me this time around: its because of its length and the nature of the story itself. HMs major selling point sexuality and gender nonconformity isnt explored in a big dramatic fashion but rather in a very grounded way. Its a important thing to understand about the story: it isnt so much about depicting nonconformity on the usual onyournose way instead of being concerned with passing down a message its more about following Shuuichi and Takatsuki and observing how theyll deal with this feeling of not belonging while slowly and I mean slowly growing up. This is a character piece before being a thematic driven story. Making that distinction is vital to knowing what youre getting yourself at. The first 2/3 of the series are spent introducting and getting us to know the characters which will form Shuus group and their Ill be using they to refer to Shuuichi see below family. We follow these kids living their every day life slowly growing up. New characters are introduced others are forgotten others are reintroduced with the passage of time. Different combinations between the characters are explored conflicts also show up but it never feels bigger than it really is think about how Shuu being bullied after that event is portrayed. However the point where the series full strenght resides is for me the last third which ironically is the most criticized section of the manga. While before there was a feeling of steady progression for Shimuras standart that is and familiarity with the cast and their environment now starting with the last year of middle school they have to face separation. For Shuuichi that also means that their body will start developing into a males one. The ground on which everything was built upon is now no more. That separation isnt only there as a stone cold fact but its felt organically through storytelling. What I mean by this is that the way that Shimura was handling the whole thing until that point starts to change. The progression of time which was never very clear becomes even more unsteadier. Shimura also takes an interesting decision: instead of parting from the other kids and shifting our POV completely to Shuus high school life Shimuras allows us to see even more than before tiny pices of each characters life. The usual criticism thrown at HMs endgame actually in its entirety but especially the last part is that the focus becomes so lacking that it feels like that it is a story about nothing at all but said argument couldnt be further from the truth. The beauty of the whole thing is that Shimura backs away from one character and let us witness something much bigger than just that single perspective. By seeing a bit of each character little by little without us noticing a much bigger picture is formed right in front of us. Its by seeing how them not only Shuus group but their mother father sister sisters boyfriend Yuuki Shii the crossdresser they met while working as a waitress in short everyone really everyone lives their life that a larger than life feeling is born. Shuuichis still is the central character but what were shown is the network that sorround they even if theyre not aware of it. What makes it so poignant is the fact that everything is really mundane: no major conflicts no high stakes so theres no chance for a happily ever after ending. Its like that quiet sad feeling you get sometimes without any specific reason. This feeling is born from the awareness of the passage of time. The constant shifting of focus and the ambiguous nature of time in HM creates a blurring feeling that dominates its pages. Im talking about Shuu suddenly thinking about their friends from their first school and how theyre a distant memory and then recalling their girl friends faces or when Shuu and Sasa meets and they just chat a little or when Takatsuki sees Shuu and all they can do is exchange fast greetings or when Shuu is thinking back when they used to be confident about wearing girls clothes but the image were actually seeing is they shaving their now manly face. Time is passing were aware of it and from that awareness a bittersweet feeling is born. We see the characters changing growing up. Some of them are still together some grew apart some are making new bonds and none of this really has any big significance or serves for advancing the plot because theres barely one to begin with. Time will continue to pass some things will be forgotten others will be remembered and nothing will ever be like it used to but theres no real tragedy about this fact its a universal truth that affects not only these fictional characters but also us real people. Spoilers bellow One wanted to be a boy. One wanted to be a girl. One stopped wanting to be a boy. Thats all there is it to it This cathartic moment is simultaneously Takatsuki and Shuus much needed resolution and the best way to end and summarise what everything is about. Its where everything in such a loose story comes full circle. Because thats really all there is to it. Thats the story of the life of two kids and some others who were once closely bonded but arent anymore. Takatsukis crying while thanking Shuu for holding her hand is just that. She knows that they arent like they used to be that they chose different paths and because of that the very thing that made them once kindred spirits is now the one that separates them and she feels sorry and sad for it. But Shuu will keep walking for its already decided: shes a girl. Shimuras choices as a storyteller that I mentioned earlier is precisely what makes the ending such a heavy blow. The climatic interaction between our two main protagonists has already happened in the past but we as readers only get to know how it really ended on the last chapter where in a context where Shuu is getting ready to leave home and move to the beginning of their adulthood the flashback from Takatsukis crying face is revealed and its that single page that takes our emotional awareness to its climax. What happens afterwards just a few pages that is is such a small nonepic almost matter of factly way of ending such a huge story that it has precisely the reverse effect. It feels huge real and important I personally think that the story plays out much better if you read Shuu not as a representative of what a transsexual woman should or should not be but as a person who wants to live their life as they please. You can call them a trans woman or a man with a clothes fetish but this doesnt diminishes Hourou Musukos power. This is really at heart a coming of age story even though gender and sexuality plays a big part in it this still is a story Shuus story but also about the ones around them about growing up and everything that comes with it. Someone pointed out perfectly in the discussion thread: Yuki is not the transexual. Yuki is Yuki. And this doesnt mean that being transgender is unimportant to who Yuki is this would be an exetremly naive assumption but rather that her identity a transgender woman doesnt tell us everything there is to say about her. She as a person doesnt end in the transgender label. The same goes for the others: Mako is Mako. Shuu is Shuu. Chiba is Chiba. Takatsuki is Takatsuki. Thats the story of their lives and how theyre interconnected. To achieve this is really so exemplary and just proves how great and worth of its length this series is.