Mysterious Skin does not feature identifiable transsexual characters or themes. The narrative centers on the aftermath of childhood sexual abuse and the protagonists' coping mechanisms, exploring male sexuality and trauma without engaging with transsexual identity. For instance, the main characters' journeys do not involve any aspect of transsexual identity or experience.

The movie does not contain any action or adventure elements.

The film "Mysterious Skin" is an adaptation of Scott Heim's novel. The main characters, Brian Lackey and Neil McCormick, retain their male gender from the source material in the film adaptation. No characters established as one gender in the novel are portrayed as a different gender on screen.

Mysterious Skin is an adaptation of a novel. There is no information or widely established canon indicating that any character's race in the source material was different from their portrayal in the film.