Warning: Spoilers for episode 8 of Zombie Land Saga follows.
Trans women just received representation from an unexpected source: a comedy anime about zombie idol girls. Cygames’ Zombie Land Saga revealed that idol Lily Hoshikawa is a young transgender girl, and the series’ trans fans are ecstatic.
For the uninitiated, Zombie Land Saga follows a zombie idol group called Franchouchou. Its members come from various walks of life across Japanese history, from courtesans to biker gangs, and they’re all zombies. That’s right, they’re all undead. That includes a young child actress named Lily Hoshikawa, who passed away when she was 12 years old.
In the series’ eighth episode, Lily reveals that she was previously assigned male at birth under her deadname, “Masao Go.” She passed away after noticing her first black whisker on her face, causing her to die from sheer anguish.
Of course, being a zombie is a blessing for Lily; now that she’s undead, she won’t go through puberty. She proceeds to come out to her fellow idols, who struggle with her trans identity at first, but ultimately accept her as a fellow girl.
“I’m still Lily, and that’s who I’m always going to be,” she says in the episode. Later on, she stresses “I am not Masao anymore! My name is Lily!”
💖 LOVE HER 💖
— ZOMBIE LAND SAGA REVENGE (@SagaZombieLand) November 23, 2018
✨ RESPECT HER ✨ pic.twitter.com/Mu7wneLqhW
A family can be just a girl and a professional wrestler. pic.twitter.com/ynlKX9RIhK
— ZOMBIE LAND SAGA REVENGE (@SagaZombieLand) November 25, 2018
It didn’t take long for fans to confirm that Lily is a trans girl. The series’ creators treat her as a girl, gender her as such online, and previous episodes hint to her trans identity. In short, Lily’s character arc is a trans one—and it’s pretty obvious.
https://twitter.com/xingtuxue/status/1066441735805562881
https://twitter.com/xingtuxue/status/1066443854688198656
https://twitter.com/andrearitsu/status/1066487980074954752
https://twitter.com/Viviamano/status/1066605530968457216
For trans Twitter users, Lily is an easy character to love. She isn’t just petite and adorable, she literally dies from gender dysphoria. That’s way too relatable. She’s more than ready to stand up for herself, too, and assert her gender identity. She’s the perfect trans girl role model.
https://twitter.com/lTofSmitia/status/1065989731970895872
Lily Hoshikawa is a trans girl!!! pic.twitter.com/5cvfPy5AKB
— meghan 🌺 (@mahimahimeghan) November 22, 2018
https://twitter.com/tomohimatxt/status/1065835498940305408
I have never watched Zombie Land Saga but if you motherfuckers start misgendering my angel Lily we bout to have some fucking issues. I stan a cute, trans zombie idol and she’s my fucking baby
— Esther (@T0nightornever) November 24, 2018
https://twitter.com/godoka/status/1065772651224944642
In this house we stan trans idol lily hoshikawa. She bested puberty by literally just fucking dying. pic.twitter.com/o0wMxbFF52
— ʚ🍯ɞ Commission Open (@rhondoru) November 23, 2018
https://twitter.com/andrearitsu/status/1066767308390088704
Lily fanart is also taking over Twitter, as artists drape her in the trans flag’s colors.
#zombielandsaga respect her pic.twitter.com/h7MjrcARTh
— donnie (@poyopoppin) November 24, 2018
Lily full of pride~ love her, respect her <3 #ゾンビランドサガ #星川リリィ @zombielandsaga @SagaZombieLand pic.twitter.com/cpEUjGRG8j
— Kiln (@KilnFirelink) November 25, 2018
https://twitter.com/heckblenberr/status/1066789381695045635
https://twitter.com/rfahacker/status/1066573040400703488
https://twitter.com/deepseaghost/status/1066404412455817222
https://twitter.com/RenRuska/status/1066082888477757440
my beautiful trans daughter, lily hoshikawa, #zombielandsaga pic.twitter.com/E0rwawalH8
— Elfy (@elfowlgirl) November 23, 2018
The girls and their manager, Kotaro Tatsumi, make for pretty great allies to boot.
https://twitter.com/lTofSmitia/status/1065990618969751552
https://twitter.com/emi_abo/status/1065674503785656325
It goes without saying that trans fans received plenty of pushback over Lily. Some anime viewers keep calling her a “trap,” a derogatory term used against trans women that conflates trans girls with crossdressers. Lily’s fans have since hit back, pointing out how the show pretty explicitly treats Lily as transgender and criticizes anyone who says otherwise.
https://twitter.com/tomohimatxt/status/1065857258326827008
Lily: i am a trans girl and i literally died from seeing myself hit puberty
— Snappy @ art hiatus (@sweatybird) November 24, 2018
Troglodytes: damn… guess we’ll never know her actual gender… she’s just a crossdressing boy if nothing else.. what a mystery
You guys do know the studio making Zombieland Saga, right? It’s MAPPA. They’re NOTORIOUS for adding LGBT characters to their series. Even ignoring their anime with focus on gay characters, like Banana Fish and Yuri on Ice, Lily is not even the first trans character they’ve had. pic.twitter.com/ou4ykTle7h
— usada unchained (@usadapyo) November 24, 2018
So ppl are once again lying about CR b/c, why ever make a valid complaint? It’s being said that the translators “made” Lily trans, when in fact she’s MORE explicitly trans in Japanese, literally the opposite. This line more closely translates 2 “the name I abandoned/got rid of” pic.twitter.com/0HR46jPOCO
— ً (@PedanticRomantc) November 24, 2018
me seeing brainless anitwit losers scramble trying to find reasons to argue lily isn’t a trans girl after they get shut down by people who actually know japanese and LGBT issues in japan pic.twitter.com/ZsdYKnOzax
— bat guy 🦇🪱 (@leechkiss) November 24, 2018
I love anime nerds thinking japan is some hivemind based on the particular brand of heteronormativity on their shows, it’s like if I based my views on north american society on the heteronormativity of hollywood movies and disregarded all the history and friends I got there…
— Just a soft cat 🏳️🌈 (@Nekoyote) November 26, 2018
And then theres the weebs who try and claim that “tr*p” isnt a slur
— ISLAND: The Man that Walks like a Krakoa! (@purblebirb) November 24, 2018
Trans.
— Retro⚡Ranger RS | NEW VIDS COMING 2024 (@Retroranger18) November 23, 2018
Girls.
Are.
Not.
Traps.
I don’t watch Zombieland Saga but I’m pissed at ppl I see calling Lily a “Trap” or by her deadname. I was happy a pretty mainstream anime wasn’t afraid to have a trans character. Then here come the transphobes & ppl who think they’re being funny… pic.twitter.com/nDhVCnN9R5
Last but not least, if the studio intended for “Masao Gou” to be her “real” name, it’s likely they would have written that in the credits. But the credits list “Lily Hoshikawa”, and not out of laziness (the credits sequence was even unique this episode). [Zombieland spoilers] pic.twitter.com/YjegYUqcaH
— Allie ✨@tumblr活 (@olgamallie) November 24, 2018
READ MORE
- What it means to be transgender
- How big is the transgender population, really?
- Trans and nonbinary people explain what gender dysphoria feels like
This isn’t the first time an anime series became a flashpoint for trans issues. Last December, a reveal trailer for Catherine: Full Body’s upcoming character Rin received criticism in light of the original game’s transphobia. Meanwhile, Doki Doki Literature Club creator Dan Salvato vocally criticized fans who were calling one of its characters a “trap.”
While trans anime fans face an uphill battle with combating transphobia across fandoms, it’s refreshing to know there’s at least one character that has their backs—even if she’s undead.
