Nozomu Nozomi

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Nozomu Nozomi is a primarily genderbender manga that stands out from it's peers for several reasons: it's fairly short and to the point, has full colour art throughout and treats it's sexual content in a interesting way.

Story 6/10:
Apart from what can be gleaned from the synopsis the story of NN is very much affected by the length of the series. With only two volumes to work with there isn't much time to go off sidetracks or moments that doesn't move the story forward and NN manages to avoid this to a satisfying degree. My main complaint here is that the ending, like many other ... shorter genderbender manga, comes fairly abruptly, leaving the reader wanting more and to see what will be become of the characters after all they have gone through in the short span of the story. There is no real structure to the series as such, the stories follows the main character and those around him/her as they deal with the changes that have come upon them. The adult scenes and themes included in the series are handled with surprising maturity and felt like the fit into the story naturally rather than just inserted for fan-service (though there is plenty of that).

Art 7/10:
The art, as mentioned, is in really nicely rendered full colour and the characters have nice and distinct designs. Censorship for the adult scenes is to be expected but doesn't detract from these at all.

Character 6/10:
One of the main problems with NN is that other than the MC, the other characters in the story are not given enough time to be developed. There is no story told from their perspective and for a series that deals quite a bit with mental change this is a big minus for me.
Bonus points for a MC that deals with the changes to his gender without the now cliché over-the-top reactions of the genre.

Enjoyment 8/10:
For me, NN is such a short series that, while what has been said above about the series faults still apply, there is still much enjoyment to get out of it. For someone who likes genderbender I have to admit that NN hit a lot of great buttons for me, concerning the gradual change of the MC in particular.

Overall 7/10:
To me, if you enjoy genderbender manga and don't mind reading a story that doesn't try to be a longer, more in-depth story, NN will hardly be a waste of time. There is enough there to enjoy to cover up for the faults but adjust your expectations accordingly. That being said, I'm sort of getting tired of these shorter series almost always having rushed endings.

Eh......

This sounded interesting but was just weird. Normally i like gender bender genre just because it tends to be funny and interesting. But this just annoys me more i guess.

Now credit where credit is due. The Art and character designs are nice and we do get fully colored chapters. The first couple chapters are alright too i guess.

I also very much like the sister in this. I kind of wished she got more screen time. I kind of wished this focused on her and not the MC. I also very much like the character design of her. I would have loved if when ... the MC changed genders. He got the sisters character design.

But the problem is that nothing of note really happens besides the MC changing his gender. It's not tell chapter 13 or so that something interesting happens and it's something i find annoying.

The thing that happens is that all of a sudden the MC's sister ( Only character i actually like) Suddenly turns into a guy. I always hate when there are gender benders and then have some other character turns into another chapter. Unless its explained at the start that this can happen.

I also really hate it when chicks are turned into guys. It never comes across well and i don't think it can. Only if it last for a couple chapters or episodes will i find it alright.

In this it seems even worse sense the only likable character for me was the MC's sister. She doesn't want to be a guy. I feel a whole ton worse for the sister than i do the brother turned into a chick. Because the brother was actually wanting. So not only is the story doing something cruel to the only likable. But it's doing something that's just dumb in general.

I could go on about how much i hate this part. But i don't want to be hear all day. Just to wrap it up. This is a dumb thing they did and only damaged by opinion of the story.

There is also a weird amount of sexual crap happening mostly with the guys. It honestly is weird.

Only other problem is that the story ended so rushed and on such a bad note it. Kind of sad they didn't go wrap up other stuff.

Overall this could have been an alright story but wasn't fun. The art was nice though.

A fairly interesting approach to the gender bender genre. It explores both the anxiety, angst and changes in mind and body of the character at all steps of the transformation ( except for the sudden gender bending ).

The best aspect is how the psychological process is treated and how Nozomu evolves from a rowdy boy into the delicate Nozomi, seeing how Nozomu's mental process and worldview change ( with a little help from Nozomu's supporting imouto Kanae ).

The art is good enough thugh nothing exceptional, it serves the purpose of the story and that's perfectly fine.

The problem is the running of the manga ... : it's too freaking short. Not only that, but the story ends the moment it starts getting interesting from the psychological point and from we could possibly start seeing a development in the form of "OK, Nozomu accepted she is a female now with her full womanhood....where does she go from now?". We never get to see if Yusa ends up winning Nozomu's heart in the end ( besides Nozomu' s tsundere moment in the last page ) nor we see how Ide finding out Nozomu's secret and dealing with it. In that sense the manga ends up leaving a very frustating taste ( given how good the story is narrated ) and the sense of "this had potential to be something even greater".

What a shame - that the artwork was so good, but it was wasted on such a sleazy plot.

Really, the idea of gender bender comes with so much potential to explore open waters of psychology, gender norms, and so on - and this basically becomes a shell story about the mangaka fantasizing about the topic of youth sex culture, 'barely' touching on gender norms much less.

There's no story about the characters, thier ambitions, not even what they enjoy. But there's no shortage about self exploration and sexual fan-service. One migt defend this saying, "he's a immature boy in a girls skin", and that'd only ... be valid as a plot narrative if nearly 100 of the manga wasn't about sexualizing Nozomu to the reader. Again, its almost entirely about sexualizing him, not about him actually being a woman, what it means to be a woman, or the psychological dillema of transitioning from a boys mind to a womans. Also the fact there's barely a conclusion to the story and the total loss of what'd have had an interesting social position swap. It ended up become all plot telling, no showing so they could can it. Again, how disappointing.