Otokonoko

This story is set in Japan in the 1920's and follows the life of a nineyear- old Japanese boy named Takeru Kitagawa, who was forced to endure a childhood of psychological abuse, and who later, following the attempted rape of his mother by a yakusa gang member, he was cruelly mutilated for trying to defend her. As a consequence, he sustained a cruel and malicious life-changing injury, which in turn led to his mother's subsequent decision to abandon him. Takeru now finds himself completely alone, in discomfort and pain, and now abandoned, he is left to survive on his own, and fearful in his desolate home. Whilst he struggled to cope with his debilitating injury as a eunuch, he tries his hardest to survive in the cruelest of situations. Ultimately, he ends up being sent to a Yokohama orphanage by the authorities, which was located some distance away from his old home in Spring Village. The only glimmer of hope that he was left with was to seek out his grandfather, who he had never met and who he was told, lived somewhere down south in Wakayama prefecture. We are able to follow his life's twists and turns and with him, explore his emotional journey, as he transitions from being male to being seen as female.