Feb 18, 2024
This manga is deeply problematic and difficult to enjoy.
Its offense is that there is not enough of it out yet.
Besides the amount of chapters, this manga (abbreviated as "OreTomo") is blessed. Like by the pope. Francis II took a spray bottle of holy water and sprayed it all over the drawing tablet while the mangaka was working on it.
The main character is one Koichi, affectionately called Kou-kun, or "Kou-kun, Kou-kun!" by his childhood friend Yukio (this reduplicaton is a VITAL detail -- it's cute). He is a standard-issue harem straight man foil to his orbit of funny men (all cute girls).
These girls, however, have a
...
fatal flaw and dark past: they were once boys. But before you click away in shock and indignation, let's remember why we are here. Ah yes, precisely because they were once boys.
Well, "were once" isn't quite right, since the TS ("転性", "tensei" = genderswap usually magical) variant this manga uses is one where the characters regularly swap between the two modes. Here, natal males become female randomly throughout the day or sometimes when excited, and revert to being males when sleeping.
This is a very clever TS system and, dare I say it, even believable/plausible with regards to the triggers.
This systems allows to put the focus fully on romance and gender situations (both exclusively of the lighthearted comedy kind) without worrying about the actual magical switching event becoming a major consideration, a distraction.
This is my main criticism of most oldschool (pre-2010s) TS anime/manga: there's misguided focus on the swapping aspect. This is why I frankly hate the grandparent of all TS, Ranma ½, a bit. So much time and so many story beats are wasted on the issue of not coming into contact with water, and if it happens then it's "oh no, a hijink has commenced! Anyway, this opposite gender episode in Ranma's life will last exactly as long as the episode of this anime (20 minutes) till he finds some hot water and reverts back."
There's just never any takeaway for Ranma from such episodes of his life, so we just almost never have room to explore gender and romance aspects, because reversion acts as a reset button.
One might interject that Ranma ½ is mostly episodic, whereas OreTomo is only semi-episodic (which is not surprising, since we have left chiefly episodic manga/anime on the trash heap of the 20th century next to various war crimes).
But OreTomo has no plot, either. The issue of gender identity is resolved within the first chapters: "It's fine I guess" is the childhood friend's and his mom's reaction to the prospect of staying a girl forever due to the progress of the TS-causing medical condition.
OreTomo is purely a sequence of cute and funny slice of life scenes, sometimes lewd, with the promise of a future romantic denouement to Kou's and Yuki's relationship.
But regarding the ecchi, this manga is very tame as of now (e.g. no making out), and actually seems like a prime manga to be adopted into an anime.
But who are the genderswappers?
The boy childhood friend of the MC is Yukio, or blessedly Yuki-chan in female form. S/He is the main love interest of the MC. Yukio's female form is "boosted" into sporting long hair, as medical conditions understand human ideals of beauty. More alarming for a healthy teenaged guy is the boosting of Yuki in the "frontend" so to say.
Yukio him-/herself seems to be much more into guys than girls, so there's that. But mostly, the sexual dimension of being a mammal has not yet managed to penetrate into Yuki's Terminal Dogma and s/he is still mostly shielded from overly lewd thoughts, instead being carefree about this living business.
With the TS condition, the male side is the more unstable one, as the reversion to a male is the only direction that is predictable, while the female direction is erratic, but as per Yuki's doctor, increasing in frequency. This is why Yukio now spends most of his time as a girl, and it's easy to forget "he's actually a guy" (not my personal philosophy). I believe Yukio him-/herself often forgets.
Fret not, chuds and conservatives, for this piece of literature follows the classic TS genre "It's not gay if it's cute" model regarding the romance between the two main natal guys, who everyone would love to see start dating (and honestly "see" more than just that). Right now, it's just flirting, teasing and surprise booba.
The creator made the to some risqué choice to extend the genderswap shenanigans to an early middle schooler, called Tsubasa. S/he is a competitive school swimmer and visually distinct from the others by having a bronze tan like a Greek god.
His/her bits never get sexual, just cute and funny (unless you think hugs are inherently lewd, in which case it's more of a you-problem, speaking as an European from a culture where between guy/girls we cheek-kiss as a greeting).
Anyway, Kou has added this imouto to his harem.
The (to date) last genderswapping student is a blonde-haired exchange student from Iowa. His/her gimmick is that the genders correspond to different personalities, where he treats his female side as a twin sister and his situation as one where the two inhabit one body, but share a common memory. Frankly, this is the only part I don't really like about this mango. This side character is just somewhat boring and the gimmick is not that interesting.
Finally, the standout character (next to Yuki) is actually Natsuki, the only natal girl in the harem. She is a beret-wearing mischievous tease who wants to see Kou and Yuki become an official item because it makes her heart go doki doki and hnnnnng, to the degree that she's a regular at the local heart clinic with her doctor often remarking that on the inside she has the body of a 85 year old retiree.
The endgame and raison d'être of Natsuki is witnessing cute things and making cute things happen. This is also the mission of OreTomo as a whole.
Concluding: 9/10. I love manga where everyone is completely straight (by some reckonings) and no one is confused about their gender (because everyone is perfectly ambivalent about it).
[Originally written 2022; Addendum 2024 after reading past chapter 16]:
Well, things escalated quickly ... I will just low-spoilery say the manga has opted to treat the issue of romance in a mature way (regarding plot pacing), rather than like shonen fare, which is great.
I was also wrong about the Iowa character. S/he is fine and used interestingly.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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