Oniichan wa Oshimai!

Imagine waking up in the morning and suddenly being a cute girl. That's exactly what happens to 20-year-old hikikomori Mahiro Oyama when one day his sister, the brilliant biochemist Mihari, administered a drug to him that changes his gender. Instead of spending his days gaming and reading hentai magazines, he is now trying on cute dresses, doing his hair and meeting friends.

Sounds like a typical sex shift anime à la Ranma 1/2, but it's so much more. Initially shocked by this situation, Mahiro accepts his new role only reluctantly and tries everything to counteract his forced role with his masculinity. However, with time - ... to his suprise - he finds his way around it very quickly and you notice how he becomes more and more absorbed in the role of the sweet imōto- which even goes so far that not only he, but the viewer himself, at some point forgets that Mahiro is actually a man. This raises the question of whether Mahiro might not be comfortable with his gender before his transformation and what the boundaries of gender and identity actually are, but the anime deliberately keeps a low profile on this point.

The sex shift doesn't just only function here to create funny situations - which you'll find plenty of in this title - rather the
feminization drug is a kind of therapeutic option to give a young man who has lost touch with society a new chance. The fact that Mihari chooses to transform her brother into a 14-year-old girl as a resocialization measure suggests how difficult it must be for young hikikomori adults to find their way back into society in reality. As a man, Mahiro spent his days in seclusion, but his new role allows him to experience the beauty of youthful carefreeness again. The way Mihari is happy to find her way back to her big brother by transforming him into a little sister really makes your heart warm and is something that makes the title unique.

From the second half onwards the anime shifts more from Magical Sex Shift towards CGDCT. Mahiro spends a lot of time with his new friends in middle school, who are admittedly very stereotypical and the typical characters you find in every CGDCT anime, but it's still a lot of fun to watch them in their little stories. There is an episode that shows the group baking cookies together, which I dare say is one of the cutest episodes I have ever seen in anime history. When you watch, you sometimes really feel like you're part of the group and you start thinking about whether you'd like to take a drug that would make you feel like a 14-year-old middle school student again oneself. If you're reading this and are still a student yourself - enjoy this time to the fullest before it is over.

I was considering deducting a point because of the unnecessary sexualization in some places. If you've already seen hundreds of titles, like me, you won't be surprised by anything, but if you're relatively new to the anime genre, some nudity or breast scenes might seem uncomfortable. I didn't notice it that much in the manga because the characters there are generally very small and slightly "chibi"-like, but in the anime you see really skinny students taking a bath or something similar - we definitely don't need this. Mihari is a biochemistry student at university - there's no reason to make her look like a 14 year old. But since even adult characters are generally depicted in a chibi-like manner here, even in the manga, that simply seems to be the drawing style.

The art style generally reflects the sweet nature of the title. The coloring is particularly noteworthy here. In many places it is possible to create a rich and bright image by using a small color palette (often yellow, blue, pink). The music is also good. OP and ED are a banger and have been playing on my mp3 player for weeks. The voice actors all do a good job - at first I was surprised that Mahiro's thought voice was spoken by a female speaker (in the manga I always imagined his thoughts with a man's voice), but that once again underlines the fluid boundaries of the genders. In the German dub, I particularly noticed Daniela Molina as Mihari, who already had a very gentle and cheerful voice as Yor from "Spy x Family".

Mihari is generally my secret star of the series. Swings somewhere between sweet, charming, motherly, self-sacrificing, brilliant and loving. It is particularly remarkable that she can take on the role of both the little sister, who works hard to make her brother proud, and the big sister, who gives Mahiro almost motherly advices after his transformation. And since I have a weakness for cute scientist characters who - for some reason - wear their lab coat 24/7, I quickly took her to heart.

But the other characters are all lovable too. Be it Mahiro, who surprises with his transformation from a grumpy couch potato to a
helpful and friendly middle school student, or Momiji - a girl who meets Mahiro in the store and quickly accepts her into her group of friends and whose sister is friends with Mihari, so that she's often inclueded in the girls' group activity too.

I can only recommend everyone to accompany Mahiro on his journey. It's really one of the few anime that isn't ticked off just by marking it as "Completed" to your the list, but will stay with you for a long time after you've seen it. Since a second season is more than unlikely, I'll recommend the manga to anyone who is interested. Afterwards, other characters who have not yet appeared in the anime are introduced and all sorts of funny and exciting situations arise. Onimai shows us that the boundaries in gender boxes are dissolved and everyone can live the life they choose.

If you want to watch just one Magical Sex Shift anime in your life, Onimai is a very good place to go.

Don’t let anyone tell you what to watch, sure this show has questionable moments in it which can put alot of people off the show so I DEFINITELY wouldn’t say it’s for everyone but as someone who literally only watches CGDCT it is one of the best heart warming shows to come out these past years and really does the job at fulfilling the theme of CGDCT in general. I had alot more fun watching mahiro’s journey than I expected and I think the studio did an amazing job at adapting this story in a unique way that surpasses the manga. I will be ... there for S2. shoutout to kotesu senpai for recommending this banger.

The premise is from the get-go that a man (older brother, true gamer nerd/enthusiast, recluse but ultimately harmless) wakes up having been turned into what looks like a pre-teen girl by his "mad scientist" sister, via a drug. In her room she has a manual on her desk which deetails how she wants to turn him into her little sister, meaning this is entirely deliberate with an agenda.

It SOUNDS like this should be a hilarious comedy to give a guy what he deserves in order to appreciate what being a girl or a woman is like, as punishment.
That's not at all what it is. ... This is entirely about a selfish wish from the sister's side to get rid of her nerd brother and gain a cute little sister that she can dress up and take care of and the brother-turned-sister just goes along with it for no good reason with no strong opinions one way or the other.

It's dressed up as being wholesome and shows some awkward situations because it's a gender-bender, but really it just seems like a small girl's coming of age slice of life with questionable fan service. Gotta ask, why isn't that just the story?

So you're left wondering where the plot is going and why you're looking at pre-teen panty shots. Where's the joke?
If you think about the premise a little, this is a creepy story about a woman who abuses her sibling and psychologically manipulates them, besides the fact that she drugged him with what seems like permanent side effects.
Again, this could've been interesting, she could've been a genuine psychopath who mentally tortures her brother, but instead it's played off completely straight and even lovingly.

Moral of the story? It's better to be forcefully gender transitioned and socially groomed than be a male recluse.

You tell me how this isn't wildly thoughtless and even offensive.

I'd like to touch on another thing which is the topic of being transgender in the 2020's.
How odd and insensitive it must be to watch someone with no interest in becoming the opposite sex just get a pill or some liquid and magically transform with no effort, no pain or any cost.
I'm not an "ally", I don't particularly think encouraging being trans is at all healthy or the right thing to do, but I can't help but feel that this show has to just twist the knife for a person who wants to be the opposite sex and feels genuine grief with who they are.

It's not the show-maker's responsibility for how it makes people feel, but I think it's another thoughtless and irresponsible way of approaching what could've been a good and interesting story.

It's not impossible to view past its flaws and just enjoy a 'wholesome' story with a bit of ecchi, but man... this is in poor taste.