hello! this carrd was made to explain & educate
people about the transfem chihiro hc :)
please make sure to read the disclaimers!
disclaimer! this carrd was inspired by both this carrd & this article, please go check out both & make sure to support them <3before we continue, i want to specify that if you are cis or don't identify as trans, then this matter isn't your place to involve yourself in. however, if you are trans, you also need to be listening to what transfems have to say on the situation. do not silence transfem voices. thank you!warning! this carrd talks about transmisogyny, transphobia, death & spoilers for danganronpa THH aswell as bonus modes. i will only be using she/her for chihiro - note that this carrd will be fairly long, as i do dive deep into chihiro's backstory & writing as a whole.
why would you see chihiro as trans?
simple ; chihiro has transmisogynistic tropes throughout her backstory & character as a whole - because of this, transfems may want to reclaim her character. however, the transfem headcanon is of course not exclusive to transfems only. many also see chihiro as transfem because of her backstory and character. let's go over her character first - in chihiro's childhood, she was seen as a 'weak boy' and was bullied and harrassed for being so. to avoid bullying, chihiro started to present herself femininely.in THH ch2, there is a new motive introduced in where monokuma threatens to leak everyone's secrets if there's not a murder in the next 24 hours. chihiro's secret is that she was born a boy, and so chihiro goes to mondo with the courage to tell her secret, in hopes to become strong like him. however, mondo was jealous of how strong and brave she was to admit this, so much so that he was overtaken by his emotions and he killed chihiro.when the investigation came around, chihiro's body was violated for evidence. in the trial, chihiro's AGAB is revealed and immediately, everyone refers to her with he/him pronouns - despite chihiro going by she/her when she was alive, and the fact that chihiro cannot speak for herself now.how's this transmisogynistic?
chihiro is met with a lot of experiences that trans people experience daily, such as
➔ threatening to be outed against your wishes/without your consent
➔ coming out to somebody and to be met with shock, rejection, or violence
➔ having your privacy & body invaded
➔ gender assumption based on genitalia
➔ being deadnamed/misgendered after death.danganronpa uses transmisogynistic tropes & plot twists, such as the girl secretly being a boy, or the straight up misogynistic implication that women are, or should be weak and that men are, or should be the strong ones.this isn't the only example of a danganronpa character having offensive & terrible tropes or stereotypes in their writing, unfortunately.
but chihiro wanted to be a man!
nowhere does chihiro actually state that she wants to be a boy/man. her main desire in the series is to be strong - nothing about gender. In fact, even before her death - she states 'it's time for me to become a man', & 'it's time for me to become who i'm supposed to be' - notice how she says become? also - chihiro is implied to be brought up in an environment that thinks men = strong & women = weak, a good example of how society is for a lot of people, especially young LGBTQ+ members.many LGBTQ+ people, especially those who are young know what it's like to want to & try to conform to societal standards. usually, this outcome results in internalized transphobia & homophobia.with chihiro's backstory in mind, it seems like she only wants to meet up to the standards of what a boy is 'supposed' to be - strong, and that's why she admires mondo, because he's an example of that.
chihiro wasn't alive long enough to realize that she could be strong as a woman too. for a lot of people, it's hard to relearn stuff, especially if you grew up being taught that or were around people who normalized it.the only times where chihiro actually does state 'i'm a guy' (which is only once or twice, and granted, in a bonus mode) it seems disingenuous to her and it's reminiscent of trying to conform to society's standards. i will further address this in another section of the carrd
but chihiro was uncomfortable being viewed as a girl!
nowhere does chihiro express or state this. the only place i can find this information is on the fandom wiki - which, i have to state, is not a credible nor reliable source. the wiki is made by fans, and while some information is stated to be true by creators & linked with sources, not all of the information is true. this phrase is not, 'Though he tried to hide it, he gets uncomfortable when others treated him as a girl, and he would rather spend time with other boys instead of girls.' this is never stated, shown, or even implied in any of the games. as mentioned previously, chihiro has stated that she's 'actually a guy' once or twice, but nowhere did she ever express, imply, or state that shes uncomfortable being viewed as a girl ; her only want was to become strong.as i previously went over in the last section, chihiro seems to also feel the need to conform to societal standards, which, in japan, there's unfortunately a lot of misogyny and unrealistic standards & expectations to meet and uphold.now, i'll address where chihiro comes out to makoto in school mode. now - chihiro states that she wants to tell makoto something, where she reveals she's a boy. makoto is shocked - chihiro says it again, and makoto is still surprised. chihiro grows tearful, and says that she was trying to be like him - and asks if it doesn't suit her. makoto's response is that, 'it's not about it suiting you. i mean, you're a girl...' where chihiro, still tearful, says she means it - that shes a guy. she then offers to let him 'check' to make sure it was the truth. makoto says he couldn't do that, but chihiro then takes his hand and places it on her chest, catching makoto off guard as there is no boobs like he expected there to be, only then does makoto fully believe chihiro.this is wrong on so many parts. the genitalia or parts you have do not define you or your gender, so the implication that she must be a guy because she has a boys body is transphobic. not to mention - many women are completely flat, so chihiro being flat doesn't mean a thing in contribution to her gender or sex.due to the environment she was raised in, it's very likely chihiro was dealing with some form of internalized transphobia ; especially given how her only proof of her being a guy is her body and how she isn't confident in herself when she tells makoto she's a boy. after all, when chihiro was alive, she went by she/her pronouns.nobody ever thought to consider what chihiro would've wanted after her death, everyone refers to her as he/him simply because she had male genitalia, even though she had only went by she/her when she was alive as mentioned above.i would also like to say that they were only given 24 hours before their secrets were leaked. for someone like chihiro, who was still dealing with fear and alot of emotions at the time, this isn't nearly enough time to be fully confident in gender identity. it seemed like she was still coming to terms with who she really was, and if given more time, chihiro could've been taught that she can be strong even as a girl.
another experience chihiro shares with trans people is being scared that everyone will hate her if they find out the truth - that she's been 'lying' to them about the fact that she wasn't born a girl. she expresses this fear multiple times, this was why she was terrified of her secret being leaked - however, you can't lie about your gender identity. if someone tells you they're a girl, then they are a girl. to be outed without consent is a fear and a nightmare for trans people. chihiro is not exempt from this.she tried to come out on her own terms, but was met with violence from somebody she trusted, someone she thought she could tell but ended up betraying her trust & killing her. unfortunately, this is a reality for trans people, and has been for centuries.now this is different than being attacked by a transphobic person, as mondo did not attack her for being born a boy or her gender identity, but it still does not erase the fact that he was the one to end her life.for many, coming to terms with being transgender is hard. this is because of internalized transphobia, or the fact that they're scared people will view them differently, which is a fear chihiro had. not to mention - all of the information about chihiro near the end of the trial was not told to us by herself, but monokuma, who, was infact, not chihiro. nobody can speak for her and confidently state how she felt during this time. nobody can confidently say that 'chihiro was a man', but they do so in the trial because chihiro has the parts of one, which is disgusting.unfortunately, nobody was there to uplift chihiro through this, to try to help her with the pressure of wanting to live up to society's standards, and ultimately no one was there to help her.
➔ "this erases chihiro's trauma/arc!"
➔ "coding is intentional, and kodaka didn't intend for chihiro to be trans"
➔ "can i HC chihiro as transmasc then?"
➔ "i just can't support trans chihiro"
"this erases chihiro's trauma/arc!"
a simple change of gender identity does not erase her trauma. nobody who hcs chihiro as transfem denies her being bullied. also, there is unfortunately no arc for chihiro. she died before she could have one. but another thing - is that this doesn't erase anything. at the end of the day, chihiro is a fictional character.there is nothing to 'erase' from her - you cannot erase a cis persons identity, just as you cannot erase a straight persons identity, as they are the majority of representation in media and are not oppressed.
"coding is intentional, and kodaka didn't intend for chihiro to be trans"
whether or not coding's intentional, this does not erase the transmisogynistic tropes chihiro was based upon, and the transphobia dealt with in THH ch2.it is not a crime to reclaim characters like this who have terrible writing to them.
"can i HC chihiro as transmasc then?"
no! if you've gotten this far, then i'm assuming you've read the rest of the carrd and know that chihiro was based upon transmisogynistic tropes. to headcanon her as transmasc is disrespectful.you wouldn't, and shouldn't, headcanon a canon trans woman as a trans man, so do not do the same for a transfem-coded character like chihiro. also - for someone to be transmasc, they need to be AFAB. chihiro was not.
"i just can't support trans chihiro"
then you don't support trans headcanons. nobody is saying you have to view chihiro as transfem, but at least respect & support those who do.
if you've read this far, thank you! i would like to put out another disclaimer that this wasn't meant to force the hc onto anyone necessarily, but dive down into chihiro, and why people view her as transfem. you do not have to view her as transfem yourself, but please respect & support those who do. if it truly bothers you, just block & go on with your day. before this carrd ends, i want to remind people that this was inspired by this carrd & this article, please go check out both & make sure to support them <3