I've been playing Project Sekai since its initial global release four years ago, and I immediately grew attached to Akiyama Mizuki. Their fashion style is adorable, and they're part of Nightcord at 25:00 - my favorite music group from the game - but, as a non-binary person, Mizuki's concerns with identity and belonging have resonated with me from the very beginning.
Although Kanade has referred to Mizuki using she/her pronouns in the past, the majority of Project Sekai characters and official media refer to them using they/them pronouns or just their name. In the game's four-year history, Sega and Colorful Palette have heavily implied that Mizuki is transfeminine, showing us younger versions of them wearing male school uniforms and shorter hair, along with the cruel things that their classmates say about the cute way they choose to dress. While being pretty easy to put together if you know what you're looking for, the most recent event, "Whither This Path of Thorns", or Mizu5 as the fandom calls it, finally blew this beloved character's story wide open.
There are a couple of reasons that I think this story is so important. The first is that any trans representation in videogames, especially those made in Japan, where trans acceptance and legal rights are significantly different from those in the UK and US, is vital for helping the wider world to accept our existence. The second is that Mizuki's story shows another side of the trans experience that people know less about. While a lot of trans media in the West tends to follow a coming-out story, Mizuki's central anxieties revolve around "stealthing." Being "stealth" is a trans term for living as your true gender in a group of people without telling them that you are trans.
While this isn't really possible for people like me who fall outside of the binary, Mizuki is able to freely present as a girl around the other members of their group, because that's the only way Kanade and the others have ever seen them. Living stealth is a perfectly valid way of being trans, but it comes with its own problems, which is exactly what this story shows. Mizuki wants to tell their group everything before the Kamiyama High School festival so that their friends don't end up hearing the news from some ill-intentioned classmates, but sadly, their worst fear comes true.
Project Sekai is primarily a mobile rhythm game, but Mizu5 really utilizes the visual novel game-style storytelling to its fullest. You can feel Mizuki's nerves as they try and fail to organize a chat with Ena ahead of the festival, because although they desperately want their friends to know the real Mizuki, they also don't want to blow up the beautiful friendship they already have. The climax of the story made my jaw hit the floor, as one of Mizuki's classmates callously says to Ena, "Are you a pal of Akiyama's? […] Does that mean you're also a dude?" I'd read the fan translation of the Japanese version last year, but the official English transcript hit so much harder.
All of this results in Mizuki running away, knowing that their friends will kindly accept everything 'on the surface', but unable to believe that they'll ever truly have acceptance. Before you play the final episode of the story, the game warns you that doing so will cause Mizuki not to appear in the overworld for a while, and the episode ends with them saying, "I want to disappear." In the four years we've had Project Sekai globally, Mizuki has come so far in their friendships and expression as their true self, but this one event set them back to the despair that formed Nightcord at 25:00 in the first place.
I know from the Japanese version that this isn't the end of Mizuki, and that they do return eventually, but I think this dramatic ending to the chapter serves as a powerful reminder of the way transphobia and judgment in general can affect the mental health of those affected. Trans people consider and attempt self-harm and suicide every day around the world due to bullying, abuse, and lack of access to healthcare. Project Sekai is a casual, cute rhythm game, but it's able to deliver this powerful message to its wide audience of Vocaloid-loving mobile gamers, and I really hope that seeing Mizuki's pain helps some people to see trans people as just that. People. We just want to live as our true selves.
If learning about Mizuki's story has piqued your interest, I recommend checking out our Project Sekai events guide to keep up to date with the latest goings-on, and take a peek at our Project Sekai cards guide to see which characters are available to pull. Yes, Project Sekai has gacha, and I think it's one of the best gacha games out there right now.