It's good to hear the anime captures some of the best parts of the manga. The manga actually released really early into my transition, so back then I latched on to it for all the reasons you described. Getting turned into a girl unwillingly is a really common fantasy for trans people because it removes the aspect of being responsible for your choice. I certainly fantasized about it a lot so I could tell my at the time unsupportive dad "hey, I wasn't the one who did this. Maybe it was an act if god. Guess we gotta accept it now."

It was also really great to watch a character slowly learn what life as a girl was like while I myself was doing the same thing. Made me feel better about not understanding certain things, especially because at the time I didn't have any women, friends or family, who I could ask sensitive questions to.

I may have exaggerated a bit with the hentai remark, but it did feel like the author eventually got bored of the original point of the manga and just started coming up with increasingly convoluted ways to put the characters in sexual situations. I'm also a lot more sensitive to stuff like that because of things that happened to me and people I know as a kid, so I may be overreacting a bit too. The beginning of it though was pretty tame even in the manga.

If the anime let's me relive reading it for the first time, I'll certainly give it a shot at some point. I did love what it was going for at the beginning.