Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl

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Just reading the synopsis of this manga you might be thinking that this series isn’t worth your time. But you would be wrong. Before starting this you need to be sure of two things, you aren’t offended by girls in love with other girls or boys who become girls. Working in this books favor though is that the main is really a girl and not a boy cross dressing as one.

The overall premise for the story is pretty silly. A boy who is rejected by his crush is accidently killed by aliens while out in the forest. For reasons that ... are never really logically explained he is brought back to life… but as a girl. Yeah this took a few pages to swallow down for me too. Anyway, Hazumu (our hero/heroine) was already kind of girly to begin with and seems to take his fate rather well. Eventually what develops from these silly beginnings though is a very charming romance full of teenage angst and nose bleeds. Hazumu most cope with her new feelings as a girl and with the two main love interests, Yasuna the crush who rejected him and Tomari her lifelong friend. A major twist is thrown in about halfway through the story that brings some urgency to it. In the end I was very pleased with it, as I got the happy ending I craved for and was left guessing as to how it would be resolved until the very last page.

The characters are very well done even though none of them are really very original. They pretty much fit all of your normal archetypes, which is a bit disappointing since every once in a while you would like to see something new. Hazumu is very well developed and a likable character. If the story hadn’t told you that she used to be a he, then you wouldn’t have noticed. The feelings of love, confusion, conflict that she and the other characters have are very easy to relate too. It makes no difference that the object of love happens to be between girls. Tomari and Yasuna are also fun characters though Yasuna comes across as a little bland in my opinion. Tomari is definitely the most interesting of the pair. Personality wise they are pretty much complete opposites but I think it makes a nice contrast. The supporting cast is good and provides a lot of the comedy. Asuta, who is Hazumu's best friend from when he was a boy, is particularly funny. He finds himself conflicted in his feelings for the now very cute and female Hazumu which often result in nosebleeds and hilarity, though he never develops as a serious love rival.

Overall the art is solid though I felt it was a little inconsistent at times. The mains are very cute and appealing to look at, though some of the minor characters, such as Hazumu's parents were a bit dull and boring looking. The backgrounds were also pretty sparse as well.

I have to say that my enjoyment of this series was very high. The ending was emotionally satisfying and all the major plot lines were wrapped up. I would recommend this series for anyone who wants to read a sweet romance. It’s yuri but there isn’t anything here that I think would offend anyone.

The story of a boy who becomes a girl and has to decide between two women and entering a Yuri relationship.

The anime ending and the manga ending are different as far as I know. I like the manga ending 100x more. The story and the line it takes with yuri gender-bending is interesting and doesn't feel cliche. The art is good, but the character interaction really shines and feels genuine. I enjoyed this type of manga and had a great time reading it.

Looking back on this series from when I first read it in high school, as a "boy" I gave it a then harsh score of five. I can't quite pin exactly what drew my ire. I think it mostly boiled down to feeling as though the "wrong" choice was made, or yet a deep seeded envy over how easily a trans girl was loved by her parents, and a lack of overt admission that even before, Hazuma was always a girl. It's left to subtext, which much like Class S of yore is a product of its time perhaps?? I'm not so sure, though, ... given how like nearly a decade and a half later we haven't had like a trans female lead in a serialized GL of this length like at all. In any case, my re-read was brought these to a head.

I definitely could feel the weight of an unspoken transness sort of suffocate and crowd out where this could have gone. There's a small glimmer of like, oh this major character finally stopped misgendering her, will everything else follow suit? Nope! Ok, will she assert herself? Nope! Does she have those happy moments of "holy shit im a girl now" Absolutely. but that's about it. On the flipside, everything about the narrative seemed to build towards a daring gamble, a divergent, third option, that even alien-san seemed to subtextually acknowledge. That being polyamory. The two interests were happy to form an alliance with one another, and the text, in my opinion at least indicated that their shared love of Hazuma could bring them close enough together. Just a sorely missed opportunity. Chapter after chapter of "I feel the same for each of them" and "If she's happy, that's what matters most" from Yasuna/Tomari. There wasn't really a rationalization of one person over another.

It was really disappointing. I hope the future brings us something better for the transbians out here. A not insignificant portion of us are polyam and/or find it hard to turn the envy off and sink into the fantasy it provides (an instant smooth transition that is socially accepted by all... minus egregious misgendering lol) to the point where I can't say too many will find what they're looking for here.