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Stop!! Hibari-kun! #1

Stop!! Hibari-kun! #1

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When Kohsaku Sakamoto's mother dies, he is sent to Tokyo to live with the Yakuza boss Ibari Ozora and his four—er... we mean his THREE cute daughters, and one very cute son, Hibari-kun! Yep! The family keeps it a secret, but Hibari, the stylish all-star student and most popular girl at school is actually a boy!

Finally, get the chance to check out the beloved romantic comedy from renowned illustrator Hisashi Eguchi! With gags that don’t hold back, and one of the most unique trailblazing lead characters of its time, Hibari! The Complete Edition, Volume One, collects the first 17 chapters, with both full-color and duotone sections, author’s notes, and additional illustrations from the original monthly releases of the manga. Hibari is HIBARI!

280 pages, Paperback

First published July 16, 2009

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About the author

Hisashi Eguchi

116 books8 followers
Hisashi Eguchi (江口寿史 , Eguchi Hisashi), is a Japanese illustrator, manga creator and animation concept artist. Eguchi is considered one of Japan's most prominent illustrators of female characters. He has been nicknamed 'king of pop', for the strong influence of pop-art in the evolution of his drawing style.
Eguchi was born in the Japanese prefecture of Kumamoto in 1956. He started his career and earned fame as a gag manga cartoonist in the late 70's. After winning the 1977 Young Jump Award, Eguchi serialised his first comic series Susume!! Pirates in the pages of 'Weekly Shōnen Jump' from 1977 to 1980. His next and most famous comic series, Stop!! Hibari-kun!, was serialized in the same magazine from 1981 to 1983. The manga is a romantic comedy where the main female character, Hibari, is a cross-dressing teenager boy. It was adapted into an anime by Fuji Television in 1983-1984.
In the animation field, Eguchi worked as a character designer for the movies Roujin Z, Spriggan and Satoshi Kon's Perfect Blue.
Nowadays Eguchi mostly keeps himself occupied as an illustrator for Japanese magazines and advertisement.

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5 stars
34 (19%)
4 stars
77 (44%)
3 stars
50 (28%)
2 stars
8 (4%)
1 star
5 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
Profile Image for Nore.
868 reviews50 followers
March 1, 2021
Wow, I would not have expected a gag manga written to poke fun at the romance genre to have such awesome treatment of gender and sexuality - especially considering it was originally published in the 1980s.

Hibari-kun, who is a trans woman in all but name, isn't sexualised, fetishized, or treated as a freak, despite her loving family calling her a pervert - the bad guys in this manga are always the people looking to out her as male. She's genuinely badass, and the narrative acknowledges that. There's a lesbian character whose crush on Hibari; there's a trans man at the end (a trans man on hormones, in a manga from the 1980s); there's Kosaku, a heterosexual man who is pretty openly attracted to Hibari, though he's conflicted about it.

It's not perfect - I mean, Hibari sexually harasses Kosaku throughout the entire manga, that's The Joke - but I enjoyed this. A little too heavy on the gags, but it's a gag manga, what do you want.
Profile Image for Morgan.
413 reviews34 followers
April 20, 2021
more of a 2.5 rating

I understand how the story of Stop!! Hibari-Kun! is (at least I'm pretty sure it is) an important manga and anime when it comes to trans rep in anime/manga. But, personally, there were quite a few things within this manga that I didn't really like. So I don't think I will continue this manga series or watch the anime.
Profile Image for Lucas.
643 reviews7 followers
March 8, 2026
This was nothing like I expected. A deconstruction of romance manga, originally published in the 80s, that feature a trans girl as one of its main characters. The treatment is a little iffy by modern standards, but it's very clear that the author means well. The people mis-gendering Hibari and calling her a pervert are universally the butt of the joke. I'm very curious to see what direction this takes in further volumes, but so far it's an interesting take on gender and sexuality, and mostly it's absolutely bonkers hilarious
Profile Image for Stephanie.
221 reviews2 followers
September 4, 2025
3.5 rounded up
So. To start out with, not perfect as far as books about trans kids go. Hibari is consistently misgendered by all of her family, and the gimmick of this is that our main guy is attracted to her, but also disgusted with himself because she is a trans woman. On top of that, there were some visual gags that relied on racist charicatures of black people and indigenous people in vol. 1. It's only happened twice, but really, twice too many.

That being said, Hibari is 100% written as that girl. She is unbothered by the way people treat her and despite them being so transphobic, she's still got them all wrapped around her finger, and helping her keep her secret at school. Her rolling with the punches really lightens the mood and keeps the manga funny, alongside some fun slapstick moments too. It's clear that the author wants us to root for her. While not perfect, I did enjoy reading this and I will probably read to finish to the series in the next couple of days.
Profile Image for Luka.
463 reviews12 followers
February 21, 2024
hibari is a whole vibe and she should give up on that loser and find herself a good guy. she's a teen, she'll figure it out. also, i wasn't prepared for this to actually be funny. yeah, some parts aged poorly but judging from what I've heard people say about this, i thought this would be like,, unreadable. it's still so good? I mean, ofc i wish the family was more supportive of her and ik a lot of the jokes have the "haha, it's a guy" punchline, but even not reading these parts as like,, jokes, this still weirdly works very well. I'm really into this, i can't wait to read the next volume
Profile Image for birdbassador.
286 reviews19 followers
Read
March 9, 2026
i don't normally review the comics that i read on goodreads since it would sort of clutter things up but i mean it was either this or a nigh-unreadable blog post, so.

there are now multiple like 30+ minute youtube videos about if you look past x, y, and z (the racism, the fact that it's from the 80s, etc. etc.) hibari-kun is actually pretty solid trans representation. and, like, i get it. the usual dodge is that, yes, sure, hibari's family and her dull-as-dishwasher love interest consistently call her a pervert and a guy, and that's The Joke, but that it's okay because hibari sort of runs the show, has a rock solid identity (like, despite the masculine honorific in the title and the usage/translation of pronouns in the manga, i can't imagine using anything other than she/her pronouns for her), and anybody who tries to out her is consistently shown as the villain she often effortlessly defeats through charm/wits/literally showing up to their house on a motorcycle and wielding a tommy gun, and that generally feels good. i sort of wonder if that's the main appeal of the representation here, that it's trans problems (getting outed, body dysphoria, navigating relationships etc.) without trans angst. i think this particular combination is where this being a silly little gag manga sort of helps things, because most of the problems that get introduced have to then get resolved within a single issue or two, or are kept light-hearted and fun so they can be reused as sources of jokes again and again, and "dealing with deep struggles with personal identity and coming to know both oneself and the other when we are at our most raw and vulnerable amid a hostile society" are not problems that fit that particular mould.

i think, however, that the focus on what does or doesn't "age well" and/or "need to be overlooked" to determine if within hibari-kun beats the heart of some affirming and fundamentally unproblematic trans representation is a little odd. i mean, eguchi straight up says that the origin of the manga was, more or less, "ha, wouldn't it be funny if there were one of those romance mangas but the love interest was a crossdressing guy", and he was doing this in the 80s from behind a practically rawlsian veil of ignorance of transgender issues/identities. the fact that anything about hibari-kun's identity resonates with anybody at all should be considered a minor miracle. it's like having a blindfolded william tell competition of first time archers and and complaining that somebody didn't hit the apple: buddy, you should be happy nobody died.
Profile Image for Clara Limón.
122 reviews2 followers
March 20, 2024
Isto é o que pasa cando o mangaka máis eggy do mundo criado nunha sociedade ultramisóxina debuxa un gag manga nos 80 sobre unha rapaza que *GASP* é un rapaz.

Adoro a personaxe de Hibari, difícil non querela: é alegre, cariñosa, espabilada e monísima, pero por desgracia o manga está empeñado en que o resto dos personaxes que saben que naceu chico a chamen "pervertido" :(


Nos 80 foi seguramente moi revolucionario: por moito que lle fagan misgender e a chamen "drag queen", a premisa do manga é que Kousaku, o prota masculino, sabe que é un pibón, e jódelle "bc hes not gay" or some other shit. De feito todos os homes do manga caen namorados dela, pero Hibari só ten ollos para Kousaku, hilarity ensues etc.


Como é un gag manga, non profundiza en case nada serio, o cal é unha pena, e en vez de máis momentos sentimentais, temos unha mestura de chistes graciosos, escenas con Hibari tirando fichas e Kousaku ao borde do ataque, referencias xaponesas de fai 40 anos que vai saber ti quen as pilla, e unha pizca as "bromas" máis racistas/misóxinas/homófobas/capacitistas/gordófobas que poidas imaxinar, todo iso máis debuxos de xente caendo patas arriba cando pasa algo que risas enlatadas en Big Bang Theory.


Pero ten cousas moi boas tamén, de cando en vez sóltache unha muller lesbiana que intenta ligar con Hibari, un home trans, ou incluso no último capítulo, que aparece un rapaz trans tamén (que se inxecta hormonas!!), pero o manga cancelouse xusto despois, e é unha pena porque os personaxes non eran parodias. Excéntricos, si, porque están nunha comedia, pero o chiste nunca era a súa identidade. Incluso nas escenas onde Hibari lle tira os tejos a Kousaku, está claro que o autor está a favor de Hibari, e ti como lectoR (era unha revista masculina) tes que querer abofetear ao rapaz por ser tan parvo e non dárlle un bico!


Non sei, dáme pena. Obviamente sendo eu trans 40 anos despois voulle ver todas as faltas ao comic, e é inxusto ser tan esixente con algo que no seu tempo era a vanguardia da representación tras en xapón, pero para unha audiencia contemporánea, non hai moito que sacarlle. Iso si, as portadas cos debuxos de Hibari son todas preciosas, como se nota que para o autor era unha personaxe especial (en serio, o tipo dixera nunha entrevista que como non pode ser muller, debuxa a mozas guapas que foran como a el lle gustaría ser. 🥚🥚🥚)
Profile Image for Rebecca.
4,616 reviews69 followers
December 24, 2025
There are at least reasons why you might want to read this manga. First, it's an early 1980s depiction of a trans girl, which is historically interesting. Second, it's a 1980s gag comedy, which is its own special flavor of gag comedy. (See: Le collège fou, fou, fou ! - High school ! Kimengumi, Tome 5 :.) But if you're reading it to see a trans girl treated with respect, you're probably going to be disappointed. It's a good time capsule, but very, very dated.

It also could have used a few more cultural glosses, but that's more me being picky.

The English edition, however, is a gorgeous book, with both a dust jacket and an obi, as well as a top-notch translation. If you're a collector, it's worth picking up just for that.

CW: Transphobia, misgendering
Profile Image for Brett Marcus Cook.
Author 8 books10 followers
June 7, 2026
Early 80s gag manga with a trans lead! I've admired Eguchi's super clean illustrations for a long time, and he's always drawn amazing women, but this the first manga work of his I've read. It's mostly dumb, and dated, and it hurts anytime someone calls Hibari a pervert or whenever her Yakuza father freaks out at her, but it's still fun mostly because Hibari herself is delightful as she easily outwits or beats up anyone who tries to mess with her or out her to others.

Something I haven't been able to shake since watching it years ago, is in an episode of the Japanese documentary show toco toco, Eguchi talks about how he draws beautiful women because he wishes he was one, and yeah, you can feel it reading this despite how crude it gets. He just seemed so sad talking about it in the show, and it's a feeling I experience even more strongly myself now that I've been on Estrogen for over a year and a half with very little change to my aging body.
Profile Image for Eliot_vibes.
110 reviews
July 11, 2026
I’m a big fan of Hazel M’s work. She’s the editor for the official English translation you can now find from Peow publishing. I’d heard of this series from an old YouTube video by her and from Pyramid Inu’s video on it. I knew going in it wasn’t going to be perfect. As the author himself notes in this release, he was writing these chapters in 1982. Our modern understanding of gender and sexuality just was never going to be featured here, especially not in something that was originally published in Shonen Jump. Still, I didn’t fully click with it. I think by the end I was able to fall into the way the story is being told, but that gag manga nature isn’t what I’m used to. There are questionable choices all around on the part of the work, but I’m still glad that there is an official translation of it at all. The more info we have about the history of queerness in media will always be important.
Profile Image for Jack Harrison-Quintana.
22 reviews1 follower
June 22, 2026
I had heard that this was being published in English for the first time by a small press, and I was frustrated that I couldn’t get my hands on it very easily. But that made it all the more thrilling when I walked into my local comic book store as usual for new Wednesday books and saw a copy on the shelf.

I have to say, the volume itself is beautiful, and I found the translation great. It’s funny that this has never been translated before, but I guess it’s kind of in a weird position where it isn’t consistent with contemporary trans politics in a lot of ways, nor is it quite right for a raunchy straight male readership anymore. But we have it now, at very least as a historical document, and I hope it circulates as widely as people wish.
112 reviews
August 6, 2026
There are some things in this that are pretty offensive, like some caricatures that definitely age this manga.

And the way these characters interact and treat Hibari is definitely of its time. Even today some people would treat her this way.

But Hibari herself, and her relationship with Kohsaku, is so much more fun than I expected. I thought this would be very dated and hard to read, and I thought Hibari herself would be the target of crude or cruel jokes, but generally speaking this manga treats her well (for the time)

Hibari constantly asserts her own gender, even if other characters don't respect it. I'm not sure how this manga will end, but I'm excited to keep reading.
Profile Image for Soobie has fog in her brain.
7,425 reviews139 followers
January 2, 2023
Dieci giorni! Dieci giorni!! Dieci giorni!!!

È stata una tortura, non una manga.

Allora, io e la demenzialità non andiamo molto d'accordo. E questo manga è demenziale in tutti i suoi aspetti: protagonisti, situazioni, ambientazioni. Perfino i disegni sono esagerati.

Anche la storia non ha una vera e proprio trama ma sembra solo un insieme di episodi a se stanti.

Se li trovassi di seconda mano, potrei anche leggere i due volumi conclusivi (per modo di dire). Se no, ve li lascio volentieri.
Profile Image for Ari Chan.
39 reviews
June 15, 2025
2.5

La verdad no es mi tipo de manga, este tipo de humor japonés no es mi tipo

Aunque el tener a un personaje trans en los 80s es bastante atrevido y no está tan mal tratado como uno podría pensar, obviamente tiene cosas muy de su época (cosas homófobas y bastante racistas) pero creo que no estuvo mal ejecutado.
De nuevo esto fue hecho en un Japón de los ochenta, además Hibari es preciosa y es un personaje que fue retratado de forma muy linda.
Profile Image for Erik Wirfs-Brock.
348 reviews10 followers
January 10, 2026
The Peow2 edition is a beautiful printing that really highlights Hisashi Eguchi's appealing artwork. Otherwise uh it's a gag comic from the early 80s meant to appeal to young boys with some novelty because a main character is femmeboy/trans. Outside of that you'll get the typical exaggerated expressions, people falling down, sex jokes and pop culture references you probably won't get. So it's ok, but I doubt people reading it now will find it especially funny.
Profile Image for aaronzii.
27 reviews1 follower
May 12, 2026
Overall really cute, many of the gags were funny and Hibari is a delightful character. I really loved the scenes of her family all interacting with each other, and the teens at school goofing off together. The book is held back by some humor that doesn't land and many things about it that are super dated. Despite that, it was a fun read.
Profile Image for nukes.
466 reviews4 followers
July 8, 2026
i’m really surprised by this 🤔 what a contemporary take on gender identity and presentation for a manga published in the 80s. seeing that it’s advertised as a romantic comedy is really interesting to me… are we going to get a romance between kohsaku and hibari through an m/m lens or a m/f one? either way, somebody get hibari some estrogen neyeeowww
Profile Image for Hitzuji.
269 reviews64 followers
June 5, 2022
En sí está muy divertido y sorpresivamente (por la época) muy bien el tema trans.
Pero tiene una que otra cosita que me hacen ruido (de nuevo, por la época) y que hacen que no me encante. Sobre todo por ahí unos detalles de racismo. Igual lo estoy disfrutando.
Profile Image for jameslowfatmilk.
21 reviews
July 13, 2026
really cute. once i started reading it i couldn't put it down. it's definitely aged poorly but it's a way more considerate and thoughtful approach than i expected. i ordered volume 2 as soon as i finished it.
80 reviews
March 12, 2026
When you read this manga series, you should try and read it through the lens of 1981, when it was published. One of the first series that discussed gender and transgender.
Profile Image for Iago.
215 reviews26 followers
March 22, 2026
Dibujo maravilloso. Historia a lo dr slump, mas o menos. Se deja leer.
Profile Image for Vinsanty.
163 reviews
April 3, 2026
I liked it. The gags were hit and miss but the relationship developments were interesting to read.
Profile Image for David Austin.
414 reviews
April 3, 2026
Delightful. Dated, certainly, and I suspect some folks won’t be able to get past the dated elements, but extremely funny, sweet, and ahead of its time.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews