Gender Bender anime
Perhaps the most famous gender bender anime is ranma 1/2 which very much is a classic. While some people do want to make ranma into some modern trans character he very much wasn't.
At best ranma was something like a transmaxxer in the sense that he would sometimes willingly transform into a girl to achieve some goal but generally he very much preferred being male and that never really changed even if he over time grown more used to the female form. He would never however want to permanently change into a female.
Some later gender bender anime do however feature shows where the main character did like the change a lot more.
Interestingly most gender bender anime do not go into things like pregnancy or menstruation. The only show i can think of where it happened to a gender-bender character is tsf monogatari which is a hentai (i did notice some AGP after watching it but i don't know if i got it from that show).
Great (top 16):
0. Kashimashi girl meets girl
1. Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo
2. Kimi no na wa (your name)
3. tsf monogatari
4. Interspecies Reviewers Episode 3
5. Level 1 Demon Lord & One Room Hero
6. Kämpfer
7. Tetsuwan birdy decode
8. Heavenly Delusion
9. Ranma 1/2 (including the OVA)
10. No Doubt in Us
11. Ore twintails ni narimasu
12. Kaminaki Sekai no Kamisama Katsudou
13. When i woke up i became a bagel girl
14. Reborn to Master the Blade
15. Cheeky Angel
Good:
16. ayakashi-triangle
17. Kenja no Deshi wo Nanoru Kenja
18. Rei Rei episode 1
19. Qwaser of Stigmata II
20. Kaifuku Jutsushi no Yarinaoshi
21. The Witch and the Beast S01
Meh:
22. youjo senki (not really good as gender bender)
23. From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad's Been Reincarnated!
24. Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken (barely qualifies as gender bender).
25. Naruto & buroto (only some MtF moments).
26. Onimai: I'm Now Your Sister!
27. Amagami-san Chi no Enmusubi episode 18 to 19 (not really good as gender-bender)
28. Dog days season 2 episode 11
29. To love ru darkness 5,6
30. Gintama 275 to 277
31. Body Jack: Tanoshii Yutai Ridatsu
32. Maken-Ki OVA 2
33. Residence
34. Strike the blood episode 13 to 14
35. To love ru (only some gender bender)
36. The legendary hero is dead
37. Joshikousei Nobunaga-chan (Season 1, episode 9 to 10)
38. Gugure! Kokkuri-san Episode 7 to 8
39. kokoro connect
40. Sora no otoshimono episode 11
41. tayutama kiss on my deity episode 6
42. Faily Tail episode 19
43. urusei-yatsura episode 68
44. Shakugan no Shana S: OVA Series Episode 1
46. Tamashii Insert
47. The Ones Within: Knots of Memories
48. Sket Dance 62 to 63 (S02E13 to S02E15)
50. Oh! My Goddess Episode 21
51. Dokyuu Hentai HxEros
52. Konosuba episode 25 (S03E05)
53. The Man From; The Arrival of the Monarch
54. A Dark Rabbit has Seven Lives OVA
Crossdressing only (doesn't count as gender-bender):
45. hourou musuko.
49. Stop Hibari Kun.
Examples of great anime but very limited gender-bender is hunter x hunter 2011, stein;gate, Kumo desu ga, Nani ka?.
Dropped(for now): clockwork planet, Fantasy Bishoujo, Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka, GokuDolls, kaijin kaihatsu-bu no kuroitsu-san, The Mega-Burst Space, Gokudou-kun Manyuuki. Genshiken: second generation, hyouka (might not even have gender bender),
Waiting for bluray (still airing): A Wild Last Boss Appeared
The reason why i didn't place ranmna 1/2 higher is that it doesn't have proper story progression, instead the story goes nowhere despite consisting of over 160 episodes (with the OVA) and the manga that was used as the source really wasn't much better in that respect. I judged it based on the average quality of the episode episodes are being of the original version version of the anime (where good episodes are being weighted heavier than weak ones).
There is a ranma remake that started in 2025 but honestly when i watched it it came off as a significant downgrade. It has significant censorship (nipples and scenes of ranma being touched on her breasts removed, etc), music was significantly better in the original, etc.
If you like gender bender and want actual good romance kashimashi girl meets girl is far better. I liked the main character a lot.
Partly because of how rare good gender bender anime is and how little new is made i ended up resorting to anime that has a female main character but no gender bender. Here there are a lot of very good shows.
https://vintologi.com/threads/anime.7/#post-12143
If anything anime with female protagonist (at least partly) tends to be of far higher quality than loser male protagonist anime which is sadly far too common.
Why i recommended gender bender anime in the transmaxxing manifesto
I hoped that by at least watching some gender bender anime transitioning would become more exciting even if it isn't going to be the same as the anime. It might be that watching it could induce
AGP in some people (i would like to do a randomized controlled trial on that at some point).
But more importantly some gender bender anime is simply really good. I myself have watched Kashimashi girl meets girl 3 times and i will probably watch it more times. I got myself the bluray version of course (nyaa has a bluray remux so no need for animebytes account for that one).
I like how Gender bender anime allows us to explore things that are currently not possible like in a few seconds completely changing your sex or the ability to easily switch back and worth.
I also like how gender bender anime often promote the advantages of more traditional femininity such as how ranma 1/2 takes places in a somewhat traditional society with clear gender roles.
Anime like other media can be inspirational for creating a better society. A society where the good aspect of masculinity and femininity are embraced rather than trying to make everyone equal and everything boring.
