Japan has a long history of dealing with themes of gender and sexuality. Lines between genders were blurred in Kabuki, an all-male classical form of Japanese theater, with certain male performers exclusively playing roles of female characters and developing a strong fanbase of men. Takarazuka, a more recent theatrical phenomenon, consists of an all-female cast. One such theme is gender transitioning, as found in Tezuka Osamu’s shojo manga Ribon no Kishi (or Princess Knight) and Takahashi Rumiko’s Ranma ½. Ribon no Kishi is the first adventure shojo manga written. The protagonist is Sapphire, a princess of a land resembling medieval Europe where humans are born with either a blue heart of a man or a pink heart of a woman that gives them their gender. Sapphire is born with both a blue and a pink heart and she presents as male in order to inherit the throne.

In the shonen-marketed Ranma ½, the protagonist Saotome Ranma is a martial arts student who is originally male, but is cursed to turn into a young, attractive woman whenever he comes into contact with cold water. Hot water reverses this condition, and he can attain his original form. His condition becomes an interesting one to navigate in his relationship with Akane, his female friend and love interest. The temporary gender transitions that Ranma undergoes are treated mainly as comedy, but do provide some explorations of gender roles, though not enough to subvert them.