Hodaka Akizuki, a seventeen-year-old high school student, has finally found a girlfriend. And Chihaya Shishizaki is truly the most beautiful girl at school, too. Just the thought of spending time with her practically has him pinching his cheeks. After all, she actually likes him back! The closer they get, the more his heart flutters. There’s just one slight little Chihaya has a secret—and it isn’t just the secret to stealing his heart.
With just one kiss, Hodaka is no longer Chihaya’s boyfriend, but her brand new… girlfriend?!
Oh, boy, does the reach ever exceed the grasp on this one.
We open with a seriously sweet meet-cute, which I appreciated because it explains why these two would go to the lengths they do when stuff gets real weird in a little bit. That’s something I wish more series would do.
Hodaka and Chihaya make for a believably loving couple and that part is fine enough. Chihaya is one of those all-star girl types that the entire school is after, which makes for some friction later on between Hodaka and a shark-toothed lout.
The main draw of this is that kissing Chihaya invokes a curse that turns Hodaka into a girl. And the drama of a relationship is now also full of gender issues, as this change will apparently soon become permanent over time.
My reasons for finding this kind of ‘eh’ are the way it handles the gender swap. This could be a broad comedy or a fascinating drama and it seems content to try and be both, but not very well.
Firstly, and this is purely an aesthetic thing that I feel bad for saying, Hodaka does not make for an especially attractive girl. Chihaya’s design is quite good, so it’s clearly a choice, but one that I don’t think works in the story’s favour.
This comes into play when Hodaka meets with Chihaya’s parents, which is one of the most cringe scenes in a manga I’ve read in some time. After the super obvious reveal that Chihaya’s dad is now her other mom, there’s an excruciating bit of business where they basically imply they’ve poisoned Hodaka and he also decides to declare his love in a supreme overkill of emoting.
Also, dad-mom’s design is really rough. I may have gently ragged on Love Me For Who I Am for its immaculate cross-dressing for the boys working as maids, but that was clearly the right choice.
This is also wrapped up in Hodaka’s super awkward confrontation with a bunch of sort-of tough guys at school. And it’s not The Dangers in My Heart style awkward, either, it is just stilted and weird.
I like the implication that Chihaya and Hodaka love one another so much that they’ll get through this whatever the gender, even as they nearly get down to it during a bra shopping trip, but it’s (again) weirdly done. There’s a lot to unpack here that the story doesn’t even bother looking at.
Hodaka is shown to be clearly freaking out over this curse rather than dutifully adapting to it, so it really doesn’t seem like much of a love conquers all situation when he’s flat-out lying to Chihaya’s face.
His internal monologue makes it seem like he either doesn’t have the gumption to be honest or that he’s so into the idea of getting more physical that he’ll put up with this curse. It’s hardly the examination of gender you’d want. It’s hardly much of anything.
It says a lot that the reason I want to read another volume of this is largely down to the last part before the cliffhanger, which promises more gender-swap hijinx and an evil character torn right from the parody manga in Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun.
This really misses the point for me. Even the similarly weakly executed I Wanna Be Your Girl at least had a very clear message about being the gender you feel is right for you. I know this isn’t a transgender story, per se, but it’s playing in the same space. Maybe I’m asking too much from this, but it wasn’t for me at all.
2.5 stars - it has a germ of a good idea, certainly, and seems well-intentioned, but there’s a lot missing that would really make it hum. It’s not enough of anything to be a truly recommendable story.
I actually wasn't going to rate this, but then I saw that there are nearly no reviews, and that seems unfair for a manga with such a fun premise and such nice art. I'm not usually someone who reads gender-bender manga (sorry trans women), so feel free to take my review with a grain of salt; it's probably more useful to people who are similarly unfamiliar with the genre.
The main reason I don't usually read gender-bender is that I think I still have some resentment towards the ways it relies on stereotypes of gender/sex. Recognizing these stereotypes is in itself step one to decontructing them, but almost all media playing off essentialist ideas of gender is not actually trying to deconstruct anything. Nevertheless, I keep meeting trans women who are absolutely obsessed with gender bender manga, and this one in particular had some rave reviews on Dynasty Reader (of course) so I gave it a shot.
And I think it's really cute! Admittedly, Akizuki is my type regardless of gender, but even discarding my personal tastes (entire chapter of bra-fitting? thank you god) I do think it's clearly a really nice take on the genre based purely on the gorgeous artwork and the potential of the premise. In particular I wish there were more appreciation for intentionally batshit premises in manga, and the decision often made to completely ignore all the 'unrealistic' aspects (how is kissing defined? how is sex defined? how is gender defined? I think Musawo is pretty aware this stuff is not as black-and-white as the 'curse' presents it) while simultaneously digging deep into the potential of the concept in other ways. You can get a lot out of a premise without ever really interrogating its central concepts. Sure this kind of thing could never happen... but WHAT IF it did? Let's play it 100% straight.
And speaking of straight! Yes I am a yuri fan yes I'm reading this on a yuri website yes I hope it becomes yuri. It already kind of is yuri? I'm sorry but that bra-fitting scene was pretty gay and I think everyone involved was aware. Like W for trans men in that Akizuki is fully thinking about how Chihaya is feeling up "her boyfriend's" breasts before "he" can feel up hers but I did not read it that way.
This raises the obvious question of: if you are trans, and particularly a trans woman, what's the damage on this manga? And I think it's pretty minimal. Akizuki is constantly going on about how he* doesn't want to be a woman and is just okay with it for Chihaya, blah blah blah, but 1) I think it is intentionally ambiguous at this juncture whether this distress is genuine or manga-typical coyness 2) there is nonetheless ample evidence that things are gaytrans based on vibes, and I'm okay with reading for vibes as long as things don't get MORE cisgender/heterosexual. We all know the one girl who acts exactly like Akizuki because she's been out for -5 minutes and is afraid to breathe near you. It makes sense To Me.
(*I'm referring to Akizuki with he/him pronouns here for consistency and because, well, he Claims to not want to be a woman, but I'll go ahead and change them if things turn out transgender... which I hope they do. :D)
I have some quibbles, obviously. I mean, this is not a manga about Transgender People (thus far), and I don't have great faith that it'll become one. It's being published in a shounen magazine, which, while a giant W for closeted trans women, also implies to me that I should not expect it to genuinely become yuri. I would not recommend it to someone who just wanted straightforward manga about trans people. I like it because I think it's fun and silly and I'm historically pretty accepting of some terrible transmisogynist caricatures in manga (I genuinely really like Sister from Arakawa Under the Bridge and Grell from Kuroshitsuji), though this is not anywhere near that in my opinion. (I would be interested in comparisons between Chihaya's father and Haruhi's, though.)
Also, the boobs are drawn in a way that drives me a little insane, and not in a good way. Are all these chicks wearing cone bras?? And WHY DOES CHANGING GENDER MAGICALLY GROW AKIZUKI'S HAIR LMFAO said the butch enjoyer butchenjoyishly. Ideal true end for me would be Akizuki transitioning but keeping her androgynous ass lamegirl presentation. Truly woman of the year.
I'm at a loss for how such an interesting concept was executed in such a boring way. Stories about gender swap curses usually fall into 1 of 2 categories: 1) Funny and kooky (Mr. Queen, What Women Want (though dated), Tale of Nokdu) or 2) Thought-provoking stories about gender privileges and struggles (Crosswind, What Women Want (sort of)
This was somehow neither. The FMC has a family curse that turns the men women kiss into women briefly. Instead of it being funny with hijinks related to the MMC finding himself as a girl - he just sort of takes it in stride. The reaction was so muted, I wondered briefly if he somehow knew to expect the change. So far, there's no exploration of how different life is for girls, either. It's just sort of blah.
I'm not sure where this story is going, but it doesn't seem to be headed towards an interesting execution regardless. Not sure if I care enough to read vol. 2
Really dug this one. It's mostly because of how good Hodaka and Chihaya's back and forth is. They feel like characters who deeply like each other, and it’s clear their connection is built on more than just surface level attraction. They don't shy away from kissing, touching, or wanting to be closer, even having honest conversations on sex and the physical realities of their relationship. It's refreshing compared to many other romance manga that move at a snail's pace. Gimmie more of this type of shit.
The twist is that a kiss from Chihaya triggers a weird Shishizaki family curse that turns Hodaka into a girl. It's funny enough, but it also touches on some really good themes, like the idea of loving someone no matter how they look. There's a serious underlying tension when Hodaka meets Chihaya's parents and realizes the change could eventually become permanent, which adds a lot of weight to their bond.
It does a great job exploring the intimacy of being close to one another while also highlighting the specific problems or perspectives one might go through when being a certain gender. Overall, a very fun and cute first volume that balances supernatural stakes with a grounded relationship. Also +1 point for the bra shopping storyline, that was a highlight and very cute/funny.
Eh I wasn't a fan of this one. I was expecting some more depth and the characters looked strange when transitioning/were transitioned. Nothing felt like it flowed properly and dialogue was stilted. The character art was a bit strange too with the eyes looking like bottomless animal eyeballs. Just strange.
There were parts of this volume that I really liked, and others that I thought were just okay. I really like the overall message that it’s what’s on the inside that matters. Both Chihaya and Hodaka express their feelings for the other on a deep level—neither likes the other purely for aesthetic reasons, and I enjoyed this! We hear a lot about how Hodaka likes Chihaya for her straightforwardness and kind personality… But we really don’t hear all that much about exactly why Hodaka likes Chihaya. We know that it’s clearly not a surface-level reason, but we’re left in the dark nonetheless.
In terms of what I didn’t enjoy all that much, I would have to say the biggest thing that stopped me from really enjoying this volume was how quickly the romance ramped up. The first half of the volume was about how scared Chihaya was to kiss Hodaka, so I had assumed this would be more of a slowburn story, focusing on the two characters learning how to accept each other. I was incorrect in this aspect, as we quickly move onto Chihaya helping Hodaka buy a bra as his chest is too big when he’s in his female form. I really wasn’t interested in watching the two of them try to shove his too-large chest into a small bra. This part felt rather fanservice-y.
this one was a 4 out of 5 for me. i thought both main characters were both really cute and sweet. i think the fact that they had similar personalities--more polite, a bit introverted perhaps, and easily flustered when it came to the person they like--made me appreciate the story more, as a lot of manga involving romance that i've read has that "opposites attract" theme/trope. i will be checking out vol. 2!
Gender swap manga that focuses more on romance and not sex... well that's different and refreshing.
Maybe it's the translation, but I feel like this manga is oddly hetro for the topic, I would love to see more about the "dad" choosing to live as a woman, and the MC not just lying about enjoying being a girl to stay dating, rather I would hope that the MC grows to enjoy the transformation, but wants to be able to go back and forth, so breaking the curse is still a objective of the story.
I see that this manga wasn’t for everyone, but for I’m someone who loves a good fluffy story and this manga brought that to the table. I found the curse plot to be quite interesting and I kinda wish to see what happens after they continue their relationship.
Cute romance story but there are some points in the manga that felt a little weird. Like yeah it's progressive but also not the characters choice to change so it overall fell a little flat. We will see where it goes though
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Not sure if this is actually yuri yet or not, but Ranma 1/2 type genderswapping and playing with orientation and presentation is actually really interesting. I just wish MC was a little less "average anime boy", but this is the first volume so we'll see
I received this manga from the publisher/Edelweiss in exchange of an honest review.
I am always on the hunt for new manga to read so when I came across this one? I had to request it! I was definitely curious about the “Love changes “everything” for a boy.” in the blurb.
In this one we meet Hodaka, a boy who finally dared to confess to the school’s madonna, Chihaya! He thinks she is going to reject him, but instead she says yes. It was such a great start to the book, sometimes confessions take a while and though the blurb made it seem like it would happen early you just never know. So I was delighted by this!
I loved seeing how they met the first time! They were both on the beautification committee working late when the power went out. They found each other and had a great time just chatting in the dark. It was so cute to see them click and I was hoping that they would be able to see each other (aka the lights going on), well they do! I loved their reaction when that happened, so adorable! Especially hers~ And then it was figuring out who that mysterious girl was and swooning over her. Haha.
They are just the cutest but I was definitely curious why Chihaya was acting so anxious around Hodaka. I mean, I could understand, first love and all that, but there was just more. And we soon (well, around the middle of the volume) find out what is going on and why Chihaya was acting so nervous and why the title of the manga is Boyfriend, Sometimes Girlfriend. Normally those things would make me laugh (I mean it is often a comedic relief thing), but now it just felt very serious and I was mostly confused/worried for Hodaka. Thankfully, unlike a lot of manga/anime, things are quickly explained and I was just relieved. Well, OK, also saddened because dang that is just cruel. Poor Chihaya, poor her family. While it did get a bit dark, I love what Hodaka did there when he realised things. That scene afterwards, WOW, Hodaka. He’s got balls! That was just so swoony!
But yeah, since he has agreed to things, that means he needs to adapt to certain girl things. Like wearing bras. Yep.
We also meet another guy (who is dissing Hodaka) and I thought oh how fun, maybe he is getting a bigger role next time. Well, I didn’t have THAT in mind. And now I have questions.
The art was a lot of fun, I especially love Chihaya’s design, her eyes are so pretty! I also love the blond guy with shark teeth (fangs for life) but I didn’t like how he looked in that almost last panel, the teeth looked so weird and out of place.
All in all, this was a manga that was fun, but also a dash of sad and tragic, with plenty of romance and swooning. Yep. it is a mix! And I love it. I had fun! I want more! I need more! I would recommend it!