History Main / GenderBenderAngst

For some this might be a positive experience; for the EscapistCharacter experiencing life as someone of a different gender can be a new adventure or WishFulfillment for the audience, and for the character who is not comfortable with who they are, the SecondLawOfGenderBending will often lead them to their personal HappyEnding. Not so this character.

** Although Ranma Saotome [[SexShifter can revert to being male as readily as he becomes female]], he considers his female form [[IWantToBeARealMan an insult to his masculinity]], strongly dislikes [[AttractiveBentGender the male suitors it attracts]], and eventually has to worry [[HonorRelatedAbuse his mother will make him]] [[{{Seppuku}} kill himself]] because of it. Although he eventually becomes fine with using it to his advantage (to the point of being comically ready to seduce men in a later manga story), whenever a possibility to remove the Jusenkyo Curse presents itself, he immediately jumps to it.

** Matsuri is a DoubleSubversion: He explicitly experiences no physical dysphoria from being magically made female, and generally treats things being DifferentForGirls as just an annoyance. However, [[FirstLawOfGenderBending as time wears on]], Matsuri becomes quite frustrated that [[spoiler:he realized he was in love with Suzu from living alongside her as a girl]], but thinks Suzu can't be any more than a friend unless he changes back. The ends up being PlayedForLaughs when he reveals, beyond an (incorrect) assumption of IncompatibleOrientation, he feels he's [[LossOfIdentity "not really [him] right now"]], so dating Suzu as a girl [[AccidentalAdultery would be cuckolding his male self]]. [[spoiler:Upon finally gaining the ability to become a boy again, [[AmbiguousGenderIdentity Matsuri isn't sure if they want to be one again]], and so elects to stay a girl for at least the next several years, but [[DiscoutLesbians date Suzu anyway]].]]

** Matsuri is a DoubleSubversion: He explicitly experiences no physical dysphoria from being magically made female, and generally treats things being DifferentForGirls as just an annoyance. However, [[FirstLawOfGenderBending as time wears on]], Matsuri becomes quite frustrated that [[spoiler:he realized he was in love with Suzu from living alongside her as a girl]], but thinks Suzu can't be any more than a friend unless he changes back. The ends up being PlayedForLaughs when he reveals, beyond an (incorrect) assumption of IncompatibleOrientation, he feels he's [[LossOfIdentity "not really [him] right now"]], so dating Suzu as a girl [[AccidentalAdultery would be cuckolding his male self]]. [[spoiler:Upon finally gaining the ability to become a boy again, [[AmbiguousGenderIdentity Matsuri isn't sure if they want to be one again]], and so elects to stay a girl for at least the next several years, but date Suzu anyway.]]

** Matsuri is a DoubleSubversion: He explicitly experiences no physical dysphoria from being magically made female, and generally treats things being DifferentForGirls as just an annoyance. However, [[FirstLawOfGenderBending as time wears on]], Matsuri becomes quite frustrated that [[spoiler:he realized he was in love with Suzu from living alongside her as a girl]], but thinks Suzu can't be any more than a friend unless he changes back. The ends up being PlayedForLaughs when he reveals, beyond an (incorrect) assumption of IncompatibleOrientation, he feels he's [[LossOfIdentity "not really [him] right now"]], so dating Suzu as a girl [[AccidentalAdultery would be cuckolding his male self]]. [[spoiler:Upon finally gaining the ability to become a boy again, [[AmbiguousGenderIdentity Matsuri isn't sure if they want to be one again]], and so elects to stay a girl for at least the next several years.]]

** Matsuri is a DoubleSubversion: He explicitly experiences no physical dysphoria from being magically made female, and generally treats things being DifferentForGirls as just an annoyance. However, [[FirstLawOfGenderBending as time wears on]], Matsuri becomes quite frustrated that [[spoiler:he realized he was in love with Suzu from living alongside her as a girl]], but thinks Suzu can't be any more than a friend unless he changes back. The ends up being PlayedForLaughs when he reveals, beyond an (incorrect) assumption of IncompatibleOrientation, he feels he's [[LossOfIdentity "not really [him] right now"]], so dating Suzu as a girl [[AccidentalAdultery would be cuckolding his male self]].

A character has undergone a complete physical sex change, usually through magic, ForcedGenderReassignmentHorror or AppliedPhlebotinum.

A character has undergone a complete physical sex change, usually through magic or AppliedPhlebotinum.

* In ''LightNovel/SoImASpiderSoWhat'' the male Japanese student Kanata was reincarnated as the female Katia. Katia suffers from gender identity issues well into her teenage years, to the point that she spontaneously developed the Parallel Minds skill and [[MultiGenderedSplitPersonalities had a male and female mind co-existing]]. She finally fully identified as female after the male mind sacrificed himself to break her free from mind control.

* In Chalker's ''The Four Lords of the Diamond'' series, the main character has his brain pattern imprinted on four prisoners, each being sent to a different planet in the Warden Diamond PenalColony. One of the bodies is that of a female. Fortunately for the protagonist, he is going to a planet that has the strange property of switching the minds of two people when they sleep with each other (in the literal sense). He jumps at the first opportunity to get himself back into a male body, and never looks back--even though this ''inevitably blows his cover''.
* In ''Literature/TamirTriad'', Tobin was [[GenderBender magically turned into a boy]] as a baby and [[RaisedAsTheOppositeGender raised as male]] to avoid her EvilUncle. Growing up she felt loneliness and some confusion, such as when she wanted to go play with dolls but was told that boys don't play with dolls. Things got more confusing as she aged.

* The title character in ''Film/{{Sam}}'' is a HeManWomanHater who undergoes extreme angst after being transformed into a woman. She even considers undergoing gender reassignment surgery to become male again (an option that's almost never mentioned in most GenderBender works).

* Mai Natsume of ''Manga/BlazblueRemixHeart'' was a guy who accidentally became a girl because of an artifact. As she had to live with other girls in the Academy's dorms, she feared that she might be "losing himself" because she acts more and more like a girl; at the same time, however, she doesn't want her friends to know her condition. [[spoiler:By the end of the manga, however, she realized that this new life has given her more happiness that when she was a guy, so the SecondLawOfGenderBending prevails instead.]] As a relative downplayed element of this, she still retains a couple of masculine behaviors, and some of her internal thoughts reveal that not only does she still think of herself as a guy to an extent despite perfectly loving her new identity, but still misses it too.

->'''Rumisiel''': Before I put this all out there, what are the downsides of leaving things like they are? Humor me, I want to make sure I cover everything.\\
'''Ash''': Mostly just one, but it's the BIG one. I'm not a girl. I've never FELT like a girl. Deep down inside at the core of my essence I am and always have been a boy and being anything else just feels... Wrong. It's like a constant disruption gnawing a hole in my very feeling of being every moment of every day.\\
'''Rumsiel''': Oh... Well here I was thinking you were going to say bras and periods and stuff.\\
'''Ash''': Well, those too. Also, random dudes hitting on me. Like, that's just the worst. Still, mostly the deep seated agony of wrongness in the core of my very soul though.

* Occurs in the ''ComicBook/{{Excalibur}}'' story where the heroes were subjected to a FreakyFridayFlip with their enemies the Crazy Gang. Not only was Meggan not very happy with the Knave's male body, the Knave was ''really'' unhappy with ''hers'' too. (Although given what he said, it may have had more to do with him not being able to control Meggan's shapeshifting ability than the gender issue.)

--> "Lady," she began, only to be interrupted immediately as a frown appeared on the troll's face.
--> "Lord, Marda corrected, and added "I am male," upon noticing her guest's puzzled expression.
--> The troll's irritation grew as Ami kept looking incredulously at the two prominent bumps bulging underneath the creature's chain mail shirt. "Ignore the body. It is merely the result of a very juvenile curse, the creature said, gritting her teeth. "Mukrezar, may the dark gods feast on his entrails for all eternity, found it so amusing that he made it permanent."
--> Ami stared. "Oh. That must me awkward. Um, he was the Keeper who originally conquered the Avatar Islands, right? I thought he was dead. Shouldn't his magic have faded away?"

* Mai Natsume of ''Manga/BlazblueRemixHeart'' was a guy who accidentally became a girl because of an artifact. As she had to live with other girls in the Academy's dorms, she feared that she might be "losing himself" because she acts more and more like a girl; at the same time, however, she doesn't want her friends to know her condition. [[spoiler:By the end of the manga, however, she realized that this new life has given her more happiness that when she was a guy, so the SecondLawOfGenderBending prevails instead.]]

* ''Manga/FantasyBishoujoJunikuOjisanTo'':
** Initially, Tachibana isn't ''too'' broken up about having a female body, and even seems to enjoy the attention of being so pretty. Eventually, he gets very frustrated by what his attraction to Jinguuji says about his own (current or former) sexuality, then comes to the [[LossOfIdentity alarming realization]] that he's forgotten what ''his own face'' looked when he was male. Tachibana is only able to distract himself by focusing on how he's still attracted to a girl, insisting only those are his "real" feelings.
** Jinguuji actually takes Tachibana's change much more harshly and right off the bat, literally [[WaterfallPuke vomiting]] in response and telling the Goddess of Love that she's robbed him of his LivingEmotionalCrutch. Jinguuji is consistently disgusted whenever he feels attracted to Tachibana's female form--seemingly less about his own sexuality (whatever that is) than feeling it [[BetterAsFriends cheapens their friendship]].

** Matsuri is a DoubleSubversion: Shortly after being magically turned female, he treated things being DifferentForGirls as just an annoyance, and barely hesitated to almost sacrifice any chance at a cure for TheNeedsOfTheMany and to protect [[{{Protectorate}} Suzu]]. Although he never takes personal issue with having a female ''body'', [[FirstLawOfGenderBending as time wears on]], Matsuri becomes quite frustrated with how he's treated and how he assumes his life will play out if he remains a girl. Chief among them is that [[spoiler:he realized he was in love with Suzu from living alongside her as a girl]], but thinks Suzu can't be any more than a friend unless he changes back ([[DramaticIrony which probably isn't accurate]]). [[spoiler:Then they confess their love to each other, but Matsuri ''still'' insist they not date until he's male again, because if Suzu isn't dating the "real" Matsuri, she may as well be cheating on him.]]

** Matsuri is a DoubleSubversion: Shortly after being magically turned female, he treated things being DifferentForGirls as just an annoyance, and barely hesitated to almost sacrifice any chance at a cure for TheNeedsOfTheMany and to protect [[{{Protectorate}} Suzu]]. Although he never takes personal issue with having a female ''body'', [[FirstLawOfGenderBending as time wears on]], Matsuri becomes quite frustrated with how he's treated and how he assumes his life will play out if he remains a girl. Chief among them is that [[spoiler:he realized he was in love with Suzu from living alongside her as a girl]], but thinks Suzu can't be any more than a friend unless he changes back ([[DramaticIrony which probably isn't accurate]]).

** Suzu falls under the "friend who angsts more" subtype: Since Matsuri was changed by an ayakashi that came after her, [[ItsAllMyFault she feels responsible]], and also thinks Matsuri is acting too self-sacrificing, especially on her behalf. [[SecretlySelfish What Suzu doesn't say aloud]] is that she wanted to pursue a romantic relationship with Matsuri, and [[IfItsYouItsOkay though she still finds him attractive]], she's [[{{Gayngst}} uncomfortable being in love with another girl]]. It's actually only because of Suzu's insistence that Matsuri spared Shirogane in hopes he could eventually change Matsuri back. Eventually, Suzu starts to dislike the idea of Matsuri staying even if he ''[[SecondLawOfGenderBending wanted]]'' to, because she finds him more attractive as a guy and is afraid that would [[JumpingTheGenderBarrier make him more interested in Soga than her]].

** Elliot [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2002-06-11 is not happy]] when Tedd turns him into a girl, and when he finds out that he's going to be stuck like that for a month he's willing to sneak off into a secret government warehouse and use a mysterious cursed artifact to try and get back to normal. He doesn't take it much better when complications from the cursed artifact wind up forcing him to turn into a girl and back several times a day for the better part of a year, not to mention needing to sleep as a girl.[[note]]Although he eventually realizes that he doesn't significantly mind ''being'' a girl; the aspect he disliked was being ''forced'' to transform (and having been involuntarily zapped into a girl in the first place).[[/note]]

** Elliot [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2002-06-11 is not happy]] when Tedd turns him into a girl, and when he finds out that he's going to be stuck like that for a month he's willing to sneak off into a secret government warehouse and use a mysterious cursed artifact to try and get back to normal.
** He doesn't take it much better when complications from the cursed artifact wind up forcing him to turn into a girl and back several times a day for the better part of a year, not to mention needing to sleep as a girl.

* A case on ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'' had the same plot (again, likely based on David Reimer). In this episode, the "sister" involuntarily given a sex reassignment identified as a boy. With his twin brother he got revenge by murdering the doctor who did it.

* In ''Literature/TamirTriad'', Tobin was [[GenderBender magically turned into a boy]] as a baby and [[RaisedAsTheOppositeGender raised as male]] to avoid her EvilUncle. Growing up she felt loneliness and some confusion, such as when she wanted to go play with dolls but was told that boys don't play with dolls. Things got more confusing as she aged.

* Tip from ''Series/EmeraldCity'' was turned into a boy as a baby using magic. He's transformed back as a teenager but he's shown very uncomfortable with living as a girl. He still sees himself as male.

Can be considered the FantasticAngst counterpart to TransTribulations and IntersexTribulations.