Best Gender-Bender Anime

Highlights

• Ayakashi Triangle had a troubled production but still has enjoyable elements despite its flaws.
• Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout offers a unique take on the isekai genre.
• Kokoro Connect explores friendship and the challenges faced by a group of students who constantly switch bodies.

Anime remains one of the most diverse forms of entertainment in terms of animation, as creators in Japan have different takes in terms of genres and tropes. For instance, the gender-bender anime genre remains quite a hit for romance fans. However, while all gender-bender anime share the same basic premise of a person switching genders, the way their stories work is almost always different from one another.

As such, it can be tricky for anime fans to find a gender-bender anime that’s worth the time and investment, especially now that there are so many available to watch. Thankfully, certain shows do end up rising above the competition. Just which gender-bender anime is the best?

Updated on February 4, 2024, by Mark Sammut: Gender-bender anime are rare, and none of the Winter 2024 series touch the theme. That said, quite a few older shows cover this topic, be it as a core concept or in one-off arcs.

13 Ayakashi Triangle

MyAnimeList Score: 6.45

To say that Ayakashi Triangle has had a troubled production cycle would be an understatement. Despite debuting in Winter 2023, the anime has had to wait until the Summer anime season to complete its single cour run, and that’s assuming it does not suffer any further delays. Due to its elongated release schedule, Ayakashi Triangle squandered a somewhat decent start, dooming itself to be nothing more than a footnote in the year’s anime output. Still, there is enough to enjoy here to recommend the gender-bender series.

The eponymous Ayakashi are essentially spirits, and they can be dangerous if they happen to find someone with a lot of energy. Kanade and Matsuri can both see these creatures, and the latter strives to keep the former out of harm’s way. One day, a cat-like Ayakashi transforms Matsuri into a girl, a change the shinobi takes in her stride.

12 Life With An Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated Into A Total Fantasy Knockout

MyAnimeList Score: 7.15

Fun as most of them can be, isekai anime often seem allergic to the mere concept of originality or novelty. Most shows are happy to repeat the same old tropes with almost no variety, a decision that enhances their mainstream appeal along with their forgettability. For all its flaws, Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout is at the very least memorable, and that comes down to its unique setup.

Two lifelong friends, Hinata and Tsukasa, are sent to a fantasy world by a goddess and tasked with defeating the demon lord. If that was not already hard enough, Hinata is also transformed into a girl who can magically charm almost anyone, a power that threatens to take their friendship with Tsukasa in an unexpected direction. Total Fantasy Knockout is, unsurprisingly, a comedy that, while not regularly hilarious, is frequently amusing.

11 Kokoro Connect

MyAnimeList Score: 7.74

Also known as Heart Connect, Kokoro Connect explores the lives of five students that have weird supernatural problems that force them to “connect” and bond with each other. Thankfully for the five students, all of them are members of the Student Cultural Research Club of their high school. They soon learn that an entity called Heartseed is causing the supernatural phenomenon to test them for unknown reasons.

The gender bender aspect happens when a supernatural phenomenon causes these students to constantly switch bodies with each other. Considering that their friendship is constantly tested, it’s interesting to see how far they will go to preserve their friendship and their knowledge of each other while inhabiting each other’s bodies.

Only Kokoro Connect‘s first arc involves gender-bending.

10 Onimai: I’m Now Your Sister!

MyAnimeList Score: 7.69

Considering gender-bender stories are rare, the fact Winter 2023 contained three anime that fit the theme was unusual. Ayakashi Triangle is what it is, while Reborn to Master the Blade follows a king who is reincarnated as a female swordsman, and while the protagonist does swap genders, the show does not focus too much on that part of the premise.

Last, there is Onimai: I’m Now Your Sister!, which revolves around a hikikomori guy who is converted into a (much younger) girl by his sister. The anime completely skips over the main character’s pre-transformation life, a decision that limits the story’s potential as a traditional gender-bender comedy. That said, the show does a good job of highlighting the protagonist’s attempts to adapt to life as a girl. While not devoid of frustrating or uncomfortable moments, Onimai becomes surprisingly wholesome once the protagonist starts to attend school.

9 No Doubt In Us

MyAnimeList Score: 7.52 (Season 1)

An ONA series based on a manhua, No Doubt in Us has produced two seasons so far, both of which are very good. While married, Emperor Jinyun Xiao and Empress Yu Xu have drifted apart over the years, to the point of basically hating each other. Their relationship appears to be beyond mending, at least that seemed to be the case before they swap bodies, forcing themselves to literally see the world from their partner’s perspective.

No Doubt in Us uses its gender-bending premise as fuel for its comedy and romance, the latter of which comes with a healthy side helping of drama and character development.

8 Girl Meets Girl

MyAnimeList Score: 6.63

A rather unique twist to the gender-bending concept, Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl tells the story of Hazumu Osaragi after he confesses his love to his close friend Yasuna Kamiizumi, who quickly rejects him. When a devastated Hazumu climbs Mt. Kashima, he’s killed when an alien spaceship crashes on him. While the alien Hitoshi Sora brings Hazumu back to life, he accidentally regenerates him as a girl down to his genetics.

So when Hazumu, now a girl, returns to school, she becomes surprised by all the new interactions she has to deal with. This is compounded by the fact that Hazumu’s closest friends – Yasuna who can’t see males and the tomboyish Tomari – start to like her as well. This results in an odd love triangle between the cast’s female characters and makes Kashimashi a unique take on exploring some of the many compelling aspects of the female personality.

7 Gintama’s Dekobokko Arc

MyAnimeList: 9.06 (Gintama°) – Episodes 275–277

Over the course of roughly 400 episodes, Gintama did everything there could be to do in an anime. Whether parodying battle shonen series or crafting tense action that can sit among the genre’s greatest efforts, the beloved show could always be relied upon to tell creative and memorable stories featuring an incredibly likable cast of characters who love to get irreverent every once in a while. Considering the series features an arc around a real-life popularity contest, Gintama‘s decision to tackle the gender-bender trope hardly came as a surprise; more importantly, just like the Character Poll saga, the Dekobokko arc pushes the concept to its absolute limit by producing hilarity and also heart.

Angered by humanity’s weak appreciation of gender roles, an alien cult fires a god-like beam into Edo’s Kabukicho district, transforming (nearly) everyone within into the opposite sex. To transform back and avoid this attack spreading to the rest of the world, the impacted people have three days to embrace their new genders. However, Gintoki (aka, Ginko), Tsukuyo (aka, Tsukuo), and the rest of the usual crew opt for a different solution.

As this is Gintama, the arc largely focuses on humor, with all three episodes coming packed with big laugh-out-loud moments. While it is neat to see the gender-bender versions of Gintama‘s main characters, the most memorable and funniest transformations are completely silly and bear little resemblance to the original designs. Kagura is particularly hilarious. The storyline is not devoid of nuance either, particularly concerning Tsukuyo.

6 Birdy The Mighty: Decode

MyAnimeList Score: 7.42

It’s not often that a gender-bender anime branches into action, but Birdy the Mighty: Decode is a great way to showcase just how flexible the genre can become. The story explores the life of Birdy Cephon Altera, a supersoldier created to hunt down interplanetary criminals that use Earth as a secret hideout. Unfortunately, one of her chases leads to the accidental death of Tsutomu Senkawa, a high school student. Thankfully, the advanced tech of the Federation allows Tsutomu’s body to be “reconstructed,” but in order to complete the process, Birdy now has to share a body with him.

As a result, Birdy and Tsutomu have to “swap” places every so often, especially when Birdy has to chase down bad guys. On top of that, Tsutomu must ensure no one gets to know about Birdy, for the sake of their safety. This unique dynamic makes Birdy the Mighty quite an enjoyable story.

5 Our Home’s Fox Deity

MyAnimeList Score: 7.19

Our Home’s Fox Deity is a different type of gender-bender anime since it revolves around a youkai who can change genders at will. After being sealed away for a long time, Kuugen Tenko is freed in order to serve as the bodyguard of the Takagami siblings. Naturally, this entails occasionally taking on a spiritual threat, although it would be a stretch to describe Zexcs’s anime as action.

In reality, Our Home’s Fox Deity is closer to a fantasy slice of life anime. Comedy is also a big part of the equation, although its mileage may vary depending on someone’s tolerance for tropes and fish-out-of-water jokes.

4 Yamada-kun And The Seven Witches

MyAnimeList Score: 7.55

Now exploring the mystical side of the genre, Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches follows the adventures of Ryu Yamada. An ordinary high school boy, Ryu’s accidental fall onto Urara Shiraishi has them switch bodies, a process that is only cured with a kiss. This weird circumstance sparks the revival of the Supernatural Studies Club, where Yamada and its members discover the existence of witches in the school, all of whom possess special gifts and abilities.

Soon, they discover that Yamada’s kiss not only activates the witches’ powers but also does other magical things. Unfortunately, various disasters start happening around the school that the club has to somehow prevent or stop. This magical girl spin on the genre is quite unique, making the anime quite a must-watch for gender-bender fans.

3 Cheeky Angel

MyAnimeList Score: 7.43

An early 2000s anime that has been slightly forgotten, Cheeky Angel holds up as one of the best gender-bender anime of all time. To the unknowing eye, Megumi is just a high-school girl who enjoys the occasional fight; however, she used to be a boy, at least until she/he was granted a wish that changed her life forever. All these years later, Megumi is still searching for a way to reverse her transformation, all the while she engages in school shenanigans.

Cheeky Angel lives and dies on the strength of its main characters, and the show knocks this area out of the park. Megumi is a fantastic lead, and she is accompanied by a roster of lovable support characters who are hilarious.

2 Your Name

MyAnimeList Score: 8.84

Perhaps one of the most compelling anime films of the past few years, Your Name is a gripping story regarding two star-crossed individuals. Set in 2013, the anime stars rural girl Mitsuha Miyamizu who wishes to become “a Tokyo boy” in her next life, whereas Taki Tachibana from Tokyo simply wishes to have a simpler life in the province. They suddenly switch bodies the next day, being forced to live each other’s lives.

Throughout Your Name, the two of them leave each other notes to communicate with each other, soon becoming close with one another as the series progresses. However, with their distance means potentially never being able to meet, their fates become intertwined with the arrival of the comet Tiamat.

1 Ranma ½

MyAnimeList Score: 7.76

Perhaps the quintessential example of a classic gender-bender anime, Ranma ½ explores the adventures of Ranma Saotome, who becomes cursed when he falls into Jusenkyo’s cursed springs during a training journey. According to legend, those cursed by the springs will take the form of anything that drowned there years and years ago — and Ranma takes the form of a drowned girl. Thankfully, being exposed to either hot or cold water will revert him to their other form. And unfortunately for Ranma, this begins an odd adventure as he tries to balance his life with this newfound supernatural gift — or is it a curse?

Despite its age, Ranma ½ remains a delightful watch given its take on a mix of slice-of-life, light martial arts, and romance. The shenanigans involved with Ranma constantly switching forms are a breath of fresh air, especially when he starts juggling the many relationships involved in the process.