Trans Megathread for the Week of December 30th, 2024 to January 5, 2025 - The Summer Hikaru Died
Trans Megathread for the Week of December 30th, 2024 to January 5, 2025 - The Summer Hikaru Died
Here's to a new year! Here's my first mega try (also first time posting in a while due to reasons) but heya! Admittedly struggled a fair bit with self doubt and anxiety on this one as put it off for a while/other things caught up with me but I figure I'll be glad I did it once I've done it. It's kinda being done last minute though, so admittedly there's that...
I'd been intending to make the mega about something else originally when I signed up, but that would require more time on my part (and I just binge read this recently, so it all works out). Anyways, my subject of the week is The Summer Hikaru Died; it's a queer (BL) horror manga which is currently also scheduled for anime release next year (2025).
Content warnings naturally follow and further details will be spoilered.
CONTENT WARNINGS
Grief, body horror and (very debatably IMO) mild gore, supernatural horror (ghosts/"impurities", otherworldly entities), death I suppose though that one's a given
Premise
The titular Hikaru went for a walk in the woods, died, and something came back wearing his body, something that doesn't quite know how to be human or mortal; "Hikaru" returned, to ensure that his best friend, Yoshiki, would not be lonely. Romantic tension (and tension of a less pleasant kind) ensues.
The plot/things I like about it thus far (light spoilers)
Yoshiki and "Hikaru" have an absolutely great dynamic- their relationship may not be fully healthy, but their intentions seem to both be in the right place, as are their deep feelings (Yoshiki's for Hikaru and increasingly for "Hikaru," and Hikaru and "Hikaru's" own true feelings) and honesty in this regard, despite the latter "Hikaru" being effectively an imposter of sorts. (it's complicated, but these are increasingly distinguished separately and I really like that process as well)
"Hikaru" is, while not quite a blank slate, extremely new to the concept of even just "being" in the sense that mortal creatures and individual organisms(?) do. They've had to learn (and Yoshiki has had to confront them about) the value and significance of life and death; they've increasingly established boundaries, and they approach the world with a liveliness and curiousity that is really cute (the original Hikaru was also lively FWIW, but "Hikaru" is experiencing everything anew even if they retain the memories).
Yoshiki, on the other hand, is both grappling with his grief and loss of Hikaru, while finding comfort (and discomfort alike) in his imposter, and in guiding them through a new world or state of being. He's finding his resolve and moral/ethical backbone interacting with "Hikaru" (very blue-and-orange morality dynamics, though they're learning), he's experiencing what could be described as a rocky but determined romance and queer experimentation at the same time "Hikaru" is being introduced to notions of attraction and desire (beyond instinctual desire to consume).
Their pairing in so many ways should not work (or rather would be usually destined for a tragic end). From the start, there have been several points where by all means it should have met such an end. But their determination and willingness to meet the other where they're at and gradually be understanding with the other is both fascinating and something I'd feel optimistic for (and interested in seeing play out further).
Anyways, I should cut myself short at this (and make sure to have something properly written beforehand for next time). But anyways, thus far it's a strong recommend (if you feel alright with the content warnings) from me.
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Hey, so who can tell me about the term "doll"? I've only seen it in usernames basically, so if it has any connotations or functions they are lost to me.
gonna respond here instead of on the week+ old post you replied to
contrary to the other user, I've only ever seen it used by younger trans women, especially on TikTok and Instagram - and while there are connotations of 'pretty' or 'cute', there are also connotations of 'toy', 'plastic', 'fake' and so on, which often reads to me like an attempt to try and 'defang' the idea of being a trans woman. I only saw the term start to pop up from around 3 or 4 years ago, and I've seen more 'millenial' trans women start to take it on now in order to try and feel relevant to the younger trans crowd.
If you want examples of stuff like this, pretty regularly I'll get served videos that are some variation of 'when he says he's not gay but he's never tried a doll' or 'dolls are more fun than real women', which both are pretty fucked ways to go about things, and are just one example of why that term regularly leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but even without those the term still doesn't sit right with me. Like I said in the rest of that thread you replied to, it feels like an attempt to leverage a bit of internalised transphobia at the hopes of being accepted by a cishet populace. I understand that this isn't what you've personally seen, but honest to god this is what keeps being sent to my for you page, what I keep seeing pop up in comments, what I hear IRL.
Oh god, fuck.
It's a good thing I asked because wowee, I sure as fuck didn't have any of that cursed knowledge before right now. When I hear a term like "doll" my impression is that it would maybe denote a weird relationship with femininity or something? Maybe a deliberate retaking of the thing where society at large tries to emphasize the apparent "falseness" of trans femininity, possibly even with cool aims? But no this sounds horrible
Is this from 4chan? It kind of sounds like it's from 4chan. I find it pretty hard to disagree with your assessment of those fuckin video titles... Goddamn social media is so brainrotted. I guess it's just a fresh new way to package the same old scuffed cisheteronormative narratives about trans women, again.
Like I say I have barely seen the term used myself, and the shit you describe is so far out of my range that I would be really blissfully unaware of it if not for your explanation. So thank you, and I have to apologise for assuming you were talking shit, or something.
Also the video titles you quote are some of my most hated brainworms. I will probably never unsee a 4ch poster saying "boys make the best girls" and I hate it to death.
yeah, my understanding is that it's 4chan /tttt/ slang
and no worries at all, totally get that no one has all the knowledge - sorry to burden you with this lil bit haha
It is always fuckin /tttt/
I'll try not to remember it too much lol
In queer terms it means like beautiful, cute, or pretty. Only really see queer people a decade or so older than another person use it to refer to younger queer people
Yeah, I associate it with older queer people. Never seen it used as a self-identifier though...
I feel like Iβve seen it used by a variety of trans people, I feel like itβs just kind of likeβ¦girly girls who get βdolled upβ are one of the dolls
The most typical use, I would suspect c: