Ranked #2155

F. Compo (Manga)

F. Compo is quite the hidden gem in my opinion, a Slice of Life comedy by the veteran mangaka Tsukasa Hojo, better known for the detective/action series City Hunter. It focuses on a young college student, Masahiko, who is adopted by his "aunt's" family after the sudden death of his father in a traffic accident- however, his uncle and aunt have swapped their roles as man and woman and live as crossdressers. Masahiko, too, is shunted into women's clothing as the plot demands, for both comic escapades and a light examination of gender identity, which generally takes a backseat to the romantic and humorous parts of the show but is nonetheless present.

The comedy, for the most part, works well. Masahiko himself is the most unassuming character of the bunch but his interplay with the others makes up for his relative lack of personality, especially his cousin Shion, a beautiful and sarcastic high school girl who he comes to fall in love with despite questions as to her true gender. Hojo's treatment of the genderbending antics that result in most of the jokes in the manga is light but sincere, unlike many genderbending manga where crossdressing exists only for laughs.

One thing that the reader may actually fail to pay attention to is the artstyle, which is fairly typical for the period but convincingly realistic, the characters faces and expressions conveying a sense of humanity that often fails to come across in the medium. The characters themselves are complex and deeply sympathetic, and it's likely that you as a reader will find yourself emotionally invested in what is not so much a story but a true "Slice of Life" in that it encompasses the family's life in its entirety in a over the course of a few years. In fact, F.Compo is really about family more than gender identity, and it conveys a sense of the beauty of family better than nearly anything I've read. Though it starts off fairly simple, I would recommend reading at least half of it to get a real impression of what it's about. read more

Family Compo isn't your typical family story!
I enjoyed this manga very much. The beginning of the manga was a bit slow and stereotypical for me, since it follows the whole "Abandoned kid gets rescued by forgotten family member" plot. As soon as it hits the later chapters, alot (and I mean ALOT) of crazy stuff happens that will make you say "WHAT?".

The art reminds me of something that could be featured in Shonen Jump more than Shoujo Beat but it doesn't distract too much.

Yes, the story is about crossdressing females AND males but doesn't follow the "bishounen formula" for the males (which, let's be honest - how many male cross dressers truly look like females in real life? ...Not too many). I appreciate this 'cause it does make the story realistic and does make it seem like it could happen anywhere.

Please give this one a try. It doesn't look much but it really is a great story! read more