Back to Ryan_Henry's Profile Ryan_Henry's Profile

Boku girl is a manga series that reminds me of Ranma 1/2. If you know ranma 1/2 then you know that this story fits in the "gender bender" category. The similarities between Ranma 1/2 and Boku girl are uncanny but there are certain things that really make Boku Girl its own thing.

Mizuki and Ranma were raised to be fighters. (this is downplayed in Boku Girl). They both can disguise as a boy or girl when necessary. (ranma can do this cause he can physically switch back and forth while Mizuki can do this cause he was androgynous to begin with.) Both of them ... identify as male even in female forms and both of them are trying to get this whole thing that happend to them "undone" (They more or less forget about it for dumb reasons. Eh, we'll figure that out later... its not important ).

And to top all of this the formula for Ranma 1/2 is seemingly cloned here as well. Mizuki is turned into a girl. There is a very select crowd that knows about his secret. Mizuki is placed in some position (often very hilarious) where his issue might be revealed and finds some way to get out of trouble. The fighting aspect from Ranma was removed but the rest of the elements are still there.

But what sets Boku Girl apart from a direct rip-off (like the likes of Kampfer) to Ranma 1/2 is how deep they go into the characters of our protagonist and his friends also how Boku Girl can seemingly turn the formula on its head.

[this next parts may contain light character spoilers if you want to call them that tons of them can be pulled from the first two volumes its mostly just expounded on through out the story]

Mizuki has always been androgynous and has always been into "girly" things even from a young age. He was raised under strict guidance to always be manly. All of this stems from his father who is trying to raise him to be a true man. (i won't spoil too much about the father.) But he's always had an affinity towards feminine things despite how he was raised. He denies this. He fights against this. but in the end when he's now a girl he more or less finds himself more comfortable expressing a more feminine attitude and starts dressing up like a girl more often. The best equivalent i could think of he's tsundere to the idea of being a girl. Which is an accurate depiction to those who have not come to terms with their gender identity. (i should know wink wink)

On the other hand Mizuki has not come to terms with his sexuality as well. This may have been there as part of the magic aspect of the story because Mizuki has shown no signs of liking the male gender before his switch to female. The only reason Mizuki likes boys now is the fact that he's a girl now. "so its okay. Right?" This may have been expounded on in some part of his past when expounding on his friendship with his best friend Takeru. My guess its mostly just fan service but i'm glad they didn't rule it out like it was in Ranma 1/2. Well even though it may never be expounded on, its a nice aspect to the character and to his friend (Takeru) as well who also has conflicting feelings about the whole thing. this creates a little love triangle or love octagon or what ever. because there are a tone of characters thrown into the mix but don't worry the three main get most of the attention.

final note while Boku Girl pulls a lot of Ranma's formula it also plays on the formula and kind of turns it on its head at some points i don't want to go into too much detail on what i mean by that because you know actual spoilers. but the plot seems centered mostly around its 3 main characters and other characters don't get caught up into the mix that often but often will have their own subplots. so we have a story about 3 characters. Mizuki Takeru and Fujiwara. Fujiwara is best girl and that's all you need to know going into this one.