I'm not fully caught up with the anime, but is the treatment of kiyo less transphobic than the manga? I remember the manga having a lot of the T****y slur usage. Plus the final battle in the manga upset me with how they made kiyo able to hurt the king. I'm only on episode 12, and already I've noticed that she is misgendered a lot less and called a cross dresser once by the main cast. Does it continue being more respectful later in the anime?
in a way, sort of ?? though, that’s because it’s shorter. as for the slurs in the manga, i believe they were said by kaname or those bullying her ( I don’t remember any main character saying something bad other than mikari, and the time in the manga in which riina misgenders her once ) ,though when they first meet she does get called an ok*ma by tsuyuno, which pisses her off. the king thing is....really bad...i guess they were going for the whole ““the king doesn’t see Kiyoharu as a girl!”” sort of thing..? it wasn’t portrayed or executed well...shouldn’t have been executed like that at all bc of kayos stick, though. id have to re-read manga and re-watch the anime but...the anime is a little softer since a /lot/ is cut out. kiyoharu doesn’t get the best treatment in either of them but it’s nice that her being trans isn’t a pun brought up every five seconds...she’s a genuine character and not like a trope.
tl;dr: i think so..