This show treats gender dysphoria like a real thing that happens to real kids, not a plot device or a phase to resolve by episode three. It moves slowly because there are no easy answers, and Shuuichi and Yoshino's friendship is built on the kind of quiet understanding that only exists between people who are afraid of the same things. The art is soft and careful, like the show itself is handling its characters with actual tenderness. Nobody else in anime was doing this in 2011, and almost nobody is doing it like this now.

Shuuichi is seen by most classmates as one of the prettiest girls at school, but she is biologically male, and that fact troubles her. Her childhood friend Yoshino, a tall tomboy, is biologically female yet does not see herself as a girl. Sharing the same secret, the two grow close and find comfort in each other. Now in middle school, everything becomes harder. A new school means unfamiliar faces, new friendships to build and old ones that are difficult to keep. Romance enters the picture too. As puberty brings its own troubles, Shuuichi and Yoshino must face hard choices about growing up, gender identity, relationships and acceptance while searching for who they truly are. Takako Shimura's manga is the basis for this quiet, serious drama.