The cute anime girl in question
I Want to be a Cute Anime Girl
is a webcomic by Azul Crescent, following the life of a 15 year old transgender girl named Cheryl as she discovers her identity. Initially a boy named Charon, Cheryl's older sister dressed "him" up as a girl, starting a process of self discovery for Cheryl. Now she has to navigate coming out to those around her and forming new relationships, all while figuring out what her new identity means for her.
The webcomic provides examples of:
- Alliterative Family: All three siblings' names start with CH, the C coming from their mother's first initial and the H from their father. Lampshaded when Cheryl questions her parents for using the naming convention when last names are better for distinguishing relatives.
- Attractive Bent-Gender: During her first public appearance, Cheryl waves at a boy in her class who subsequently begins crushing on her (much to "Charon"'s dismay). When Delilah sees a picture of Cheryl, she calls her "really pretty". Even her best friend Zack calls her "cute" before realizing it's her, and seems quite flustered when meeting her girl mode in person.
- Cannot Keep a Secret: Zack outs his sister as sapphic to Cheryl while the two are discussing identity, and then when apologizing to his sister over the phone for doing so, he outs Cheryl to her. He's trying his best.
- Curtains Match the Window: Chelsie, "Charon", Chloe, and their mother Carleen all have brown hair and brown eyes.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The first page was originally created as a one-off, and has a much simpler art style than the rest of the comic. Cheryl also retains her natural brown eyes, having not yet adopted the blue contacts she'd have later on.
- Freudian Slip: While Cheryl has her below mentioned Insistent Terminology, she catches herself in her thoughts about to say she wants to be a "g-", quickly correcting herself to "anime girl".
- Genki Girl: Cheryl is quite bubbly and energetic, much to the surprise of those familiar with Charon, who was much more timid and introverted.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Cheryl is an All-Loving Hero who wears a blonde wig. Also Zack, who has natural blonde hair and is her closest and most supportive friend.
- Harsh Word Impact: Zack does it to Cheryl (unintentionally) and then to Tristan (not so unintentionally).
- I Have This Friend: When Cheryl first 'appears', so to speak, her dad sits down for a talk, and she briefly pretends to be a stranger in order to ask about, well, Charon. Obviously in this case, it's just a veneer so that they feel more comfortable hashing things out.
- Incompatible Orientation: A possible case. One of Cheryl's classmates reveals to "Charon" that he's planning on asking her out. When talking about this to her sisters, Cheryl initially dismisses it, saying she doesn't think she's into boys, but after a bit of questioning prompted by Chelsie, the question is pushed into the future, as she doesn't want to be questioning her identity and her sexuality at the same time. Also possibly the case with Zack, who acts quite awkwardly towards Cheryl when meeting her (Chelsie certainly seems encouraging of the idea).
- Innocently Insensitive: After Cheryl comes out to Zack, the latter assures her that she'll "always be Charon to me." After a pause, Cheryl recognizes that what he meant to convey was that they'd always be friends, and thanks him. Later, Zack comments that her voice still sounds like Charon's, which is represented by a Harsh Word Impact.
- Insistent Terminology: Cheryl definitely just wants to be a "cute anime girl", not a regular one. However, when Zack questions her about what the difference between the two supposedly is, she doesn't have an answer.
- It's for a Book: Delilah, worried about Cheryl's situation with trying to come out, asks her friends a hypothetical question about how they'd react if she said she wanted to be a boy. When confronted about it, she responds with this as she doesn't want to out Cheryl to them.
- Larynx Dissonance: While Cheryl likes her appearance as a girl a lot, she stresses a lot about her voice (though her older sister calls it "androgynous"). In particular, when Zack first meets her in person and says her voice "sounds like Charon's", Cheryl is quite hurt by it.
- Once More, with Clarity: It's assumed that dressing "Charon" up as a girl was a spur-of-the-moment joke on Chelsie's part, but her own flashback chapter reveals that she actually did it because she was worried about his mental health and had seen the signs that he was actually a trans girl.
- Open-Minded Parent: Hank's initial reaction to learning that "Charon" wants to be a girl is to make a pun about it. Later on he assures Cheryl that he'll support her no matter what and just wants her to be happy. Her mother has more trouble with the idea, but is likewise supportive.
- Shipper on Deck: Chelsie pulls double duty, being very interested in hearing about Delilah after Cheryl befriends her, and remarking gleefully that Cheryl's first proper meeting with Zack is like something out of a romcom.
- Shout-Out: When Cheryl denies being trans because she likes girls, Zack cuts her off Ace Attorney-style."OBJECTION!"
- Sobriquet Sex Switch: Charon becomes Cheryl, retaining the ch, though the common pronunciations differ.
- Stealth Pun: In Classical Mythology, Charon is a ferryman who guides souls to the afterlife. Which means it is quite literally a deadname.
- Trans Equals Gay: Cheryl appears to suggest this as an argument against Zack saying she's probably not trans, because she’s interested in girls, to which Zack points out that it's possible to be a girl and like other girls, as exemplified by his older sister Stella.
- Wham Line: When Delilah asks her friends a theoretical question about how they'd react if she came out as trans, they say they'd be supportive, but then Gina casually acts like it's normal for girls to want to be guys, drastically shifting the tone of the conversation as the rest of the group processes the fact that they might have a friend who's actually trans but unaware of the fact.
- "Which Restroom?" Dilemma: While visiting the mall with her sisters in girl mode, Cheryl needs to use the bathroom, but gets yelled at for going into the men's room. She eventually decides to hold it until they get home. The dilemma appears again when going out with Delilah, but she solves it by dragging Cheryl into the girls' bathroom and assuring her she can use it normally.
