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It's hard to write reviews for oneshots like this one.
It hard because the stories are short, and giving away too much is too easy.
So to make this short and to avoid accidentally handing out the enjoyment of exploring and discovering every twist and turn of Komi Naoshi's latest brilliant one-shot...
Let me just say this.

Komi Naoshi is a sadistic man.
He's a genius.
And he will make you cry over and over again with his creative one-shots.
Toki Doki is no exception.
This one hurts.
This one hurts a lot, and you'll love the pain, 'cause it's so bitter-sweet and beautiful.

I recommend this manga to people have read gender-benders before, and to people who are tired of a cut-and-paste RomCom full of sexist fan-service and unrealistic character behaviors.

I'm a big fan of the gender-bender genre I think it adds a really interesting and unique-to-its-genre dynamic that you just can't compare to the other genres out there.
That said, there are a lot of problems that a lot of gender-bender writers fail to work around. A lot of works tend to be sexist and blatantly unapologetic for it. As much as I love the genre for its potential, too seldom is it written with the potential it ... deserves.
Idol Pretender IS NOT one of those mangas.
It's so much BETTER!
It actually took a much more mature approach about the situation and the emotional effects of the bend.
Now it's not perfect... it is still a manga aimed towards young boys and it has a lot of fan-service that really doesn't fit very well with the maturity it shows elsewhere, and its humor isn't amazing either. It's funny, but not brilliant.
The thing about this manga is...

...It has a great message. "Gender doesn't matter."

And I loved that. It's not a perfect work of fiction, but it is SO MUCH MORE progressive than a lot of other examples of the gender-bender genre.
It never made fun of the fact that the main character, who used to be a guy, is unsure of whether he identifies as a man or a woman.


It clearly states word for word, that gender doesn't matter. I makes it okay for someone who calls himself a man's man, to love another man. It never pokes fun at the characters who cross-dress as men or women, despite the typical revulsion you usually see in Japanese media.


It really is very progressive compared to a lot of Japanese manga, especially considering that its a gender-bender, which usually only acts a a scape-goat for boys to get to imagine themselves as the suddenly-a-female character groping themselves and bleeding out the nose in the hot springs among all the other girls.
Now... understand that it's once again, NOT PERFECT.
It has those things in it too, BUT it doesn't make a huge deal about it.
THAT'S WHAT'S IMPORTANT ABOUT THAT.
It doesn't make fan-service the focus of the series, which is where so many gender-benders fail. The story, a love story... a love story with a rare flare... is the most important and intentionally aided part of Idol Pretender.

If you know anything about Japan, and you probably do, you know that its a very, very. very very sexist country.

I'm absolutely amazed that this work made it the printing press. If I had to guess, the only reason it had what fan-service it did have, was so that someone would allow it to get published (and you KNOW that the publishers think it's important to have it in their so they can target the teen boy audience).

I recommend this manga to people have read gender-benders before, and to people who are tired of a cut-and-paste RomCom full of sexist fan-service and unrealistic character behaviors.

While I'm not a big endorser of the main series or any of these spin-off titles, I was actually quite surprised and even impressed with the Picture Drama.

It was longer than most picture dramas, showed off a lot more animating (for what it was worth in a picture drama...) than most, and seemed to care enough to do more than bad puns and gags.

While clearly not a significantly well made picture drama, everything that was put into it was put in thoughtfully, and the characters pointed out its own flaws and accepted them gracefully without trying to make it seem like it wasn't a big ... deal. It wasn't a big deal... I mean, it's a six episode dvd bonus, but this Picture Drama made it fully known that it was nothing special. I liked that.
It took itself as seriously as it thought it needed to be.

That said, the story was really no better than the main series. Worse in fact, because of course there was a lot less time to do anything, yet each episode felt the way a longer episode would have felt if it was shortened. It didn't waste time.

Speaking of time, one of the things I was most impressed by was the length of each episode! I'm not used to picture dramas being as long as these were. That only made the voice acting even more noticeable.

The sound was good. No great, and nothing short of good... just, good. The sound didn't need to be anything specific or hilarious, or dramatic (despite it being a picture "drama"). The voices, provided by professional voice actors of course, weren't any less for being a dvd bonus. I have to hand it to the voice actors for being good at their jobs no matter what series they're working on. Even Princess Lover (which again, I'm not a big fan of).

Overall, it seems just as good as something as simple as this could be. Not very... which is to say, it's about as good as the work put in. The sincerity of it pulled out in the end I guess, because it stayed completely true to the main series, but was meta/comical/candid enough and I had to give it a little higher a score than I normally would have if those things weren't as gently provided as they were.

The Prnincess Lover! Picture Drama is a llot better than most Picture Dramas out there, or at least a lot better than the ones I've seen. Don't take my word for gospel though, see it yourself. I haven't seen a lot of picture dramas, so maybe the one's I've seen before were just flukes.

6/10

I simply must write this review. It doesn't matter to me if it's "helpful."
This anime is just amazing (yet still only my 15th favorite!). A strait 10 star show.I'll be honest, it's not so fantastic of a 10 star anime compared to others, but it's 10 stars never the less.
the reason being...
The ending of the first season gave me goose-bumps. It was amazing, and I expected as much for the ending of the second. It was even better. While the end episode for th first season was of a better design, the final moment in the second season's end episode completely topped the first's.

just... Wow! ... I really enjoy anime about otakuism and the like. This is the best one of that genre I've ever seen. And you can look at my list... I've seen a lot of anime. Sure opinions are different, but if I give it a 10 star rank, I guarantee there's no way it's not worth at least checking out.

Holy crap this is an awesome anime. It somehow has the ability to force me to feel every emotion i can think of. It's amazingly adapt at giving emotional experience. In all honesty it should not be as good as it is... yet is IS as good as it is. My theory for the extra bit of awesome, is the music. It's really good background music.
The ending is so good too. I won't spoil it for you, but it is a really good ending.

I'm gonna keep this short... as apposed to the other who saw this anime, I very much enjoyed it, despite the fact that it was canceled before it finished.
Good Watch... + It will only take an hour to watch them, so you don't have much to lose.

The Manwah Dorothy of Oz is a great series. Cut off before finished, I don't recommend it to anyone who dislikes not being able to finish a series. There were 4 volumes released in English. I have access to the 5th book, but it is in French with no English releases for that volume. I've read the first 4 volumes several times. Here is my opinion of it:
Dorothy of Oz is fantastic. In a general look at it, it is simply amazing at how some one envisioned the world of Oz that had told of ... so often before. It is really clever the way each individual characteristic of the classic story takes place here. From Dorothy "killing" the which of the East, to the military aspects of the the 4 corners of Oz.
Getting deeper into it, the genius behind the characters traits is evident. The scarecrow as we all know is a clumsy fool stuck on a pole, who lacks believe in his own brain, was interpreted brilliantly. He is now a (still stupid) person, who because of his idiocy was mistreated and eventually shamed and stuck on a scarecrow as a punishment. The hidden intelligence of the scarecrow shows itself through telekinetic powers. Still allowing for all the characteristics of the scarecrow he was completely reinvented into an amazing story. Even the aspect of his being a being of straw so easily created, was used in a new a surprising way.
I don't want to give to much away to those who haven't read the books yet, but please do read them. *Warning--- does contain more sci-fi then expected.