" I am Juliet ! I am JULIET !! I AM JULIET !!! "
---Ariga Makoto
Makoto, also known as Mako, is a transgender male-to-female teenager, and a classmate of Yoshino, and Chi, and a close, personal friend of Shuichi.
( Because Mako is a male-to-female transgender teen, Gender Neutral Pronouns may used when referring to Mako's perceived birth gender. Female pronouns are used when she is presenting as a female teenager. See this article. )
Appearance
Makoto is about the same body size as Shuichi, however, they are just a bit shorter. Makoto has a slightly rounder body, but is not overweight at all. Likewise, they have a round face that has a feminine look to it. Mako has medium brown hair worn in a bowl cut, with tiny bangs across their forehead. They have round anime girl 'big eyes', also adding to their feminine appearance. Mako has dark blue eyes and wears big glasses. Their skin tone is pale for a male, but that also adds to their attractiveness. Mako also has freckles, but they are not all that noticeable.
Most often, Mako is seen wearing their school uniform, as they have to wear the male uniform to school. Outside of school, they wear, whenever possible, cute dresses, and other teen girl outfits, that reflect their desire to present as their correct gender identity and expression of that of a teenage girl. With many features about Mako seen as feminine, it is surprising that they ( wrongly ) believe that they are not able to be themselves because of their physical appearance is ( supposedly ) greatly lacking. Mako actually has the ability to dress and present as a cute, teenage girl, but lacks the self-worth and confidence to actually do it consistently and without any regrets.
Personality
Makoto is unusually mature for their age, and is able to think calmly and objectively while providing advice to friends. Makoto also gets along well with boys and girls of the same age because of their good listening skills; Makoto often becomes an onlooker to what is going on in the other characters' lives, ready to offer thoughts about how to make things better. However, Mako's maturity is often tempered with a lack of self-confidence and self-worth. Mako repeatedly tells best friend Shuichi that they can ( supposedly ) not ever present out in public as a girl as well as Shuichi can. Because Makoto frequently compares themselves to Shuichi, that undesirable trait contributes to their low opinion of themselves, as well as their ever present lack of self-confidence. In respective, Mako occasionally shows mild jealousy for Shuichi's looks and feminine behavior. But for Mako, friendship is vital to their well being, and they show unwavering loyalty to Shuichi. They both have frequent, very intimate conversations with one another about all things feminine, and enjoy trying on dresses and feminine attire together from time to time.
Makoto is an only child, whose parents run a bakery.
Mako's Story
Makoto first appears when the schoolmate circle of friends is in sixth grade, although being in a different class. Known as Mako for short, though mostly only to Shuichi, Makoto was also assigned male at birth, but has a female gender identity and wishes to be a girl, and shares Shuichi's interest in dressing as their correct gender of a adolescent teenage girl. It is this that spurs Makoto to become Shuichi's closest male-to-female transgender friend. Due to facial freckles and round glasses, Makoto is not able to ( supposedly ) appear as attractive as Shuichi when wearing feminine clothes and presenting as a teen girl, but this does not hold Makoto back from wearing clothing that affirms their female gender identity. A factor in Makoto's reasons for wanting to be a girl may be due to a social attraction to other boys, and their desire to be seen as attractive by other boys, something Shuichi cannot relate to.
When the decision is made to produce a gender non-conforming play of Romeo and Juliet for the school cultural festival, Mako is chosen, by a lottery system, to play the role of a male-to-female transgender teenage girl named Juliet. Mako at first is very apprehensive about the role and assignment, but slowly gains the self-confidence to practice and rehearse the lines and movements. At the beginning of the play, Mako, dressed in a girl's old-fashioned ankle-length empire dress, freezes up, and can not remember her opening dialog. But with a look of 'do or die trying' & 'death before dishonor' from Saori behind the curtain, playing the female to male Romeo, Mako is emotionally jolted and jump-started, and quickly begins the opening dialog for the play. Given Mako's shyness on stage, surprisingly, toward the end of the play, Mako now ignites with rapturous spirituality, and becomes a supernova, burning with pure passion for presenting as the transgender teenage girl Juliet on stage. She 'brings down the house' with the very convincing suicide death scene that Juliet does at the end of the play, when Romeo and Juliet both commit suicide together because nobody would honor or even accept that they have transitioned to their correct gender identities. At the after-performance party back stage, Saori presents Mako with a pretty bouquet of flowers for her portrayal of the dying Juliet. Unfortunately, Mako's mom thinks that her portrayal of the death of Juliet was supposed to be a comedy, thereby actually insulting Mako's stunning performance.
Relationships
Towards Shuichi : Both Mako and Shuichi love to wear pretty dresses, as well as dressing in other feminine attire that is typical of young and teenage girls. Their friendship, as well as their fashion styles, helps to bolster each other's resolve to affirm their correct female gender identity. Later, Mako bitterly complains to Shuichi that they feel that they are not cute or pretty enough to be socially attractive to boys, but Shuichi points out that Mako's pleasant female personality and compassion is what is important, not necessarily one's unchangeable looks.
Trivia
In the Japanese language, the first name 'Makoto' is feminine, and means true to one's own mind, heart, and soul.