Akira Asaba

AKIRA ASABA

## Appearance

Akira is slightly taller than average for a teen boy, and has a noticeably thin body size and shape. He has a rounded face, but with a slightly pointed chin. His hair color is a darker blue-gray blend, with medium blue highlights. There are long, tiny bangs scattered across his high forehead, and all around the sides and back of his head and neck, with the length of the hair almost touching the top of his shirt collar. He has somewhat larger eyes for a male, that are narrowed and slightly oval shaped, with that feature giving him a more masculine appearance. His eye color is the same as his hair, a dark blue-gray combination. Akira always wears squared glasses, along with his high setting eyebrows, gives him a dignified, intelligent, but also mysterious look. Akira has a beige / dark pink skin tone, that is even all over. He has long arms and legs, that are a bit sinewy. His chest is flat, and together with his shoulders, are not muscular or pronounced in any way. He has average sized feet. Overall, Akira gives off the typical 'geek and nerdy' boy's look.

For school, Akira wears the standard boy's school uniform. consisting of a business suit with shirt and tie, a business jacket, and dress pants held with a wide, black belt. For causal wear, he opts for a t-shirt or a button-up-the-front dress shirt and pants, or a t-shirt and shorts for warmer weather.

## Personality

Akira's personality seems to be two differing personalities welded together. He was raised to embrace and institute many positive personal attributes. However, while leading an average life of a sensitive and mindful boy, he nonetheless, was drawn to the lifestyles of the various villains that he would see and read about in anime and manga. Thus the good boy would by his own choosing, be bent towards the 'dark side of the Force', although he comes into conflict with himself for doing so.

Akira does have positive traits and attributes. He is scholarly, and does well in school academically, getting excellent grades on the mid-term and finals tests. He always ranks in the top ten lists of the school rankings. His interests drew him into the world of intellectualism, which lead him to embrace being a 'geek and nerd', something that he is proud of. Akira can create and work with Artificial Intelligence, allowing him to create the iphone app that facilitates his cross-dressing as a teenage girl. He has the devotion, self-motivation, and self-control to pursue his goals, and to meet and even exceed them, no matter the social cost or difficulty of the project. He knows and values his self-worth, even when others tease or make fun of him because of his lack of social or interpersonal skills.

On the other hand given his intelligence, Akira is lacking in the social skills that one needs to get along in not only school, but in society in general. At school, Akira is a loner, keeping to himself, and resisting any offers of friendship or companionship by the other boys. Relationships with girls are an even greater problem for him. For whatever reason or experience, he has resigned himself to avoid all social or personal contact with all girls at all time. Boys who interact with him are treated coldly, and girls know not to ever come near him, let alone talk or interact with him. Akira at school and otherwise, lives in a world all his own, with himself alone as the only resident and caretaker of his life.

For whatever reason or motivation, Akira likes to emulate the many questionable personality traits of the villains that he finds in anime and manga. This so much so, that he creates an app that directs and allows him to take on a persona of a cute anime girl, but who has a dark heart and motives. He calls her 'Dark Lord Kaiserk', and cross-dresses in a female costume to fulfill her presentation. As the Dark Lord, Akira tries to emulate the less than desirable personality traits that make up a typical villain, like intimidation, boastful attitude, and threatening words and actions. However, Akira slowly comes to find out that presenting such bad traits only makes him seem to others as foolish and conceited. Plus he many times has to break off from his bouts of intimidation towards the girls of the Maho Shoujo Club, simply because he becomes so embarrassed and resentful of his own efforts that he can not continue and has to withdraw from their company.

Akira may be having these conflicted personality traits for another entirely different reason. That supposition is covered twice in the Commentary and Opinion section, shown below.

## Akira's Story

Akira was born a male, and continues for the most part in regular day-to-day life to present themselves as a cis-gendered male with a male gender identity. However, Akira, while retaining his male gender identity, does have, due to an unexplained iphone app that he invented and programmed, the uncanny ability to trigger an instantaneous masquerade, which enables him to dress and present themselves resembling a teenage fantasy Maho Shoujo anime 'girl' ( see Maniacal Girl Lord Kaiserk profile ). And while not dressed in Lord Kaiserk's battle maiden outfit, he can, nevertheless, dress and present themselves as a cute teenage 'girl' ( see Kaitani Zakurow profile ). Thus he appears to fit under the umbrella term of a gender-bender male.

Akira does seem to have a paradox with regard to his character standing and personal social outlook. The times that he is presenting as a male with a male gender identity, he seems to have an aversion to having any social contact with members of the opposite sex ( females ), or of even looking at pictures of teenage girls. He seems to prefer socializing only with other males, but only to be considerate, not that he is even remotely interested in what the other boys are talking about or doing. But even then he 'keeps his distance' by not becoming intimate friends with them. However, when he decides to change into a fantasy anime character, he strangely selects to present himself as a teenage female ( see Chapter 18 ), although he refers to himself as a " Lord ", a male designation. And during the special times that he is wanting to present as a 'girl' not dressed in his battle maiden outfit, he will dress in the female attire of that of a cute, pretty, typical teenage 'girl'. Why he chooses to present as the opposite sex and/or gender, when he is so adverse to having any contact with females on a social basis, is a mystery not well explained in the manga. However, Akira does have his reasons, at least in his own mind, for doing so.

Because Akira is at such a disadvantage because of their own particular aversion of anything to do with the opposite sex, or of anything remotely feminine, he finds himself severely handicapped when dealing with the members of the Maho Shoujo Club, who by the way, three are cis-females, and one is a male-to-female transgender teen. When Akira is masquerading as the Dark Lord, he likes to think of himself as the most powerful of the Maho Shoujo girls. But with his handicap, time and again when he confronts the members of the Maho Shoujo club, he comes off with 'egg on his face', and has to retreat in confusion and shame. Therefore, Akira begins a 'scientific research' project that is supposed to allow him to settle himself into the female social mindset. But with each research effort, it seems that he is 'one step forward, two steps back' ! Surprisingly, the girls of the club see the need to help Akira/Dark Lord/Kaitani with his 'feminine social problems', and they, little by little, step forward to become more sociable with him, and help him be more sociable with girls. The club members especially try and accommodate him when they meet him on the beach, presenting as a teenage 'girl' dressed in a cute one-piece tank style little girl's swimsuit ! This despite the fact that he continues to proclaim himself as a 'dyed in the wool' adversary to the girls, and continues to cross-dress and masquerade as both a Dark Lord Maniacal 'Girl', as well as an ordinary teenage 'girl'.

## Trivia

In the Japanese language, the first name 'Akira' can be both masculine or feminine, and means bright as the sun, light-bearer, enlightened one, bright outlook.

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      **Commentary and Opinion** by MidnighTea

My theory is that Akira is in a weird headspace where... he was brought up as a very respectable young man and he takes the privacy and comfort of women very seriously. Even if he himself is a bit of an aloof jerk on the outside. It's true he's definitely repressed in a sense -- he doesn't want to "violate" the privacy of Kaiserk, whom he still perceives on some level as a woman separate from himself. As someone said, this is a bit more of a "generic" [sexually repressed] main character type which is part of why it's kinda funny he's the "villain". It kind of speaks to how progressive in attitude *Magical Trans (Majitora!)* is that it doesn't put a premium on repression or the perception of purity. No, the actual main character (Minami) is highly liberated rather than contributing to the idolization of purity. I think that's really cool and positive for the manga itself. Akira helps offset or emphasize that by offering a contrast that's more status quo.

While some of us have openly speculated on Minami's [correct] gender identity being comfortably fluid, I personally think the jury is still very much out on Akira. Given his behavior he very much still totally 100% identifies as a guy, but he's so stimulated and awed by his tentative gender exploration [as a female] that it's hard to take that confidence at face value. It's kind of a shame he's so repressed. I hope the others become a good friend to him and help him embrace Kaiserk/Kaitani as part of himself.

**Commentary and Opinion** by CuteDress&TwinPonytails

MidnighTea brings up an interesting point about Akira/Kaitani/Lord Kaiserk. The jury is, indeed, still out as to his correct Gender Identity and/or Sexual Orientation. A casual review of this character would seem to indicate according to the evidence in the storyline, that he is no more socially than a cross-dressing teenage male. He would be labeled as a 'gender-bender'. This, so far, is how he has been portrayed in this Wiki, edited by myself as the Admin. However, there is a deeper, more complex possibility about Akira that could be an alternate explanation regarding their inner self that would also fit the evidence about him as presented by the mangaka. That is, it seems possible, although a longshot, that they may actually be, like Minami/Maho Curry/Karii Maki a transgender male-to-female teenager themselves.

Assuming this is the case for the sake of argument, Akira is unwilling at this time in their life to even admit that to themselves, that they may be a transgender teen. In other words, they are unwilling to do a 'coming out' to themselves wherein they actually acknowledge in their mind, heart, and soul that they are a transgender male to female teenager. The Urban Dictionary says that the slang term for this is that Akira is an "Egg". Half of Akira's mind would be telling him that he must embrace his perceived birth gender of that of a male, whereas the other half of his mind, plus his heart, plus his soul, is telling him to begin transitioning to his correct gender identity of that of a female. But with this action of transitioning not being an option for Akira at this time, they then rack their brain to think of a way to enjoy being a girl in some fashion or another, without violating their self-proclaimed status as a 'dyed in the wool' male. This all the while half of themselves are trying hard to convince the other half that they ARE NOT TRANSGENDER IN ANY SENSE. So, to keep their sanity, the deal that Akira has struck with themselves in their own mind is that they, on a day-to-day basis, will try and present themselves as 100% male. But just for the hell of it, they will allow themselves to be a "bad girl", or even just an "ordinary girl", at select times and occasions. This just for fun, mind you ! Thus, Akira can 'have their cake and eat it, too', at least until their own mind can sort out just what they truly are with regard to their correct Gender Identity, Gender Expression, Sexual Perception and Appearance, Sexual Orientation, and the resultant social repercussions.

Of course, all of this is just speculation. The only one who knows for sure what is in Akira's mind, heart, and soul, is the creator, the mangaka of *Majitora!* One will have to see how the story, as far as Akira, and as far as the others, plays out. If the majority of evidence turns out to present Akira as a transgender male-to-female, the Admin will go back and redo all the chapters and profiles with this concept in mind.

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