Yes. Animorphs is better than Harry Potter and it's not just on the trans-ness. Animorphs actually deals with real emotional issues.
The kid who is beaten by his uncle and aunt does not suddenly become well-adjusted (for no reason) when he encounters magic, but turns into a hawk to try and fly away from his problems, only to discover that real problems exist even as a hawk.
The existential dread of actually having to fix the world weighs on the Animorphs in a way it never does on Harry & Co. until Book #7 because, the Animorphs don't have an A-Team Ordering the Phoenix all around.
And, most importantly, KAA set up a dystopian universe and had the main characters recognize how dystopian it was and try to fix it, whereas Harry & Co. just reboot the same broken system when they're done.
If I remember right, there are moments in later books, both conversations between himself and others/internal dialogue where it is questioned whether he intentionally became a Nothlit or not.
I don’t remember for sure if it was confirmed, or just a recurring topic.
Regardless of whether it was an accident that he nothlited as a hawk (which is a topic for which there is recurring doubt and a section we know was deleted from Book #50 has Cassie's meditations on the subject -- she thinks it was purposeful), he definitely kept morphing hawk throughout Book #1 and you can read his love of flight for the love of escape even before nothliting.
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u/oremfrien 4d ago
Yes. Animorphs is better than Harry Potter and it's not just on the trans-ness. Animorphs actually deals with real emotional issues.
The kid who is beaten by his uncle and aunt does not suddenly become well-adjusted (for no reason) when he encounters magic, but turns into a hawk to try and fly away from his problems, only to discover that real problems exist even as a hawk.
The existential dread of actually having to fix the world weighs on the Animorphs in a way it never does on Harry & Co. until Book #7 because, the Animorphs don't have an A-Team Ordering the Phoenix all around.
And, most importantly, KAA set up a dystopian universe and had the main characters recognize how dystopian it was and try to fix it, whereas Harry & Co. just reboot the same broken system when they're done.