Yuri na Watashi to Akuma na Kanojo(?)

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I didn't really like this manga much. Really what gets to me is the portrayal of the characters. First off, you have Yashiro. Yes, she is clumsy, cute, and all, but she is also a complete doormat. She has a fear of boys. So the story almost feels like it's about developing her character so she can conquer her fear of boys, and Mikoto says he can help her by kissing her all the time, but that's acknowledged like once so she never truly does. Maybe that doesn't matter too much. Maybe she doesn't need to overcome it for this story. The thing that's frustrating ... is that she doesn't go through any character development at all, so that could've been an opportunity for it. Actually what would've been even better would be if she overcame her doormat status. She just lets Mikoto use blackmail to manipulate her into kissing him, so the whole ordeal with the two of them feels so unconsensual. Making me want to yell at my iphone constantly to tell her to dump his ass or do anything really. It's not romantic. It's kind of gross.

Another frustrating aspect is the lack of consequences for the characters. As I mentioned, Mikoto manipulates her for his personal gain. See he wants to use her lips to keep his dick (gee try reading that sentence out of context). Now, there isn't an issue with him wanting to keep his dick . The issue is that he uses Yashiro to do it with coercive methods. The right thing to do would be to ask her, and if she rejects; leave it. Now character doing immoral things isn't necessarily bad. In fact, it can be a very good thing in storytelling because it's an opportunity to see characters grow from their mistakes, but Mikoto doesn't really do that. He doesn't really face consequences or grow as a character. I mean, he acknowledges what he did was wrong for a brief second then turns into a woman. I guess that could be a consequence, but I don't know. It wasn't truly impactful. Like being a woman isn't the worst thing in the world you know? It's not like being shot in foot or having severed relationships or something. Yes, it's probably uncomfortable, but not a strong enough consequence. What would've really been more impactful would be if someone told him off. Like Yashiro for instance. She could've called out his bullshit, dumped his ass, and give him the cold shoulder. We would see him suffer with the isolation. We would see him realize in that isolation that he had hurt her. Yashiro lashing at him would've been an eye-opening moment for him, and he would think "holy shit what did I do?!". Then we would've seen him work to gain her trust again, and their relationship would grow immensely, and he would get character development. Both of them would have actually.

Now there are two other characters. Honestly, they are kind of just there to cause some kind of drama in their relationship. Other than that, it kind of feels like they are taking up space. Firstly, you have Maria. The reason she was there was because Mikoto was motivated to be boy because of her I guess. She is greedy, and wants a harem of girls. Can't say I don't get her, though remember the thing I said about consequences? Well she doesn't get any either. She drugs and kidnaps Yashiro and Eris because she wants to keep Mikoto as a girl since girls are hot, and she'd be a good addition to the harem. After the whole ordeal, this event is sort brushed off. The characters are like "whatever" or have completely forgotten it, and that's frustrating because she should've received some kind of consequence for that, right?

Finally, as for Eris...I actually sort of like her. Though again, she doesn't seem to have much purpose outside of adding drama to the Yashiro/Mikoto relationship. She is a foreignor who has a hard time adapting to Japan. This is demonstrated with her introducing herself to the classmates in a Haruhi Suzumiya style, which weirds them out. Then she is convinced that kissing is how friends show affection, but other than that, they don't touch on it that much. I do feel they could've touched on it more, but eh. Either way she needed a bit more depth to her character. There isn't much outside of tsundere, temporary outsider, and crush on Yashiro. The crush on Yashiro seems to take up a lot of her character, which is slightly sad because they could've added more I think. It seems her crush is on Yashiro is only there for a)fanservice b)drama. It would've been nice if there was more to this relationship then "oh she cute" and yuri kisses. That definitely could've added more depth to Eris' character. She acts like a jerk when she is about to blackmail Yashiro and Mikoto by exposing their kissing to the school because she is jealous that Mikoto stole her spotlight. She doesn't face much consequences, and is forgiven easily like the other characters though what she did in comparison to Mikoto and Maria way less morally reprehensible, so I can easily brush this off. I do like how she gracefully lets Yashiro go to be with Mikoto Somehow it was kind of sweet, and made her the least shitty character in my eyes.

Another issue I have is the transformation of Mikoto into a full woman. She laments that she is weak and can't protect Yashiro. It annoys me because women are fully capable of defending themselves. Yes, they are generally physically weaker than men, but even then, they can defend themselves. They can hit the gym, they can take self defense classes, they can carry knives or pepper spray. So the fact that the author was kind of implying that women can't defend themselves rubs me the wrong way. Actually, there was a bit of a missed opportunity regarding the transformation. Mikoto could've used this opportunity to empathize with Yashiro's fear of men, thus helping their relationship grow, but they didn't do that so whoops.

Additionally, some of the things feel too contrived. Like Mikoto conveniently having a disease that makes him turn into a girl if he kisses a girl when he is young, he has to keep kissing that same girl constantly, his parents conveniently die so he can't find out how to be a permanent guy, and he happens to find out where Yashiro goes to school? Very coincidental, but perhaps someone can write this off as manga logic or whatever.

So what about things I like about the manga? I do enjoy the artstyle. It isn't really super stylistic or impressive enough to write home about, but it's pleasant to look at. It's simple, but I think it suits the light romance it's going for. The girls are all cute. I like Eris' design the most. It's the most unique. I love her twintails, and eyes. The eyes are drawn differently than the others. It fits a lot with that foreign aspect of her character. I also like Maria's design. Her short hair is really pretty, her breasts, and whatnot do make her look mature. Reminds me a lot of Meiko, my favorite vocaloid. I also liked some of the expressions of the characters. They were exageratted and funny. I like that. Some of the moments with Yashiro and Mikoto are kind of sweet. I like how the author makes Mikoto standing up for Yashiro a running theme of their relationship. An almost integral part of it. Though this is soured by the aforementioned manipulation of Mikoto anyways. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this manga. While I'm not super familiar with romance manga, there has to be better written ones out there.

What if I told you that

- I'm a guy
- But as a kid I used to crossdress
- Also my family has this weird "condition" that makes the guys slowly turn into girls if they're kissed before they're adults and the only way to counteract this sorcery is if the person that they kissed keep kissing them and making them hot and bothered, which in turn increases the level of testosterone but not enough to fully turn them back into guys
- ?????? uuuuhhhhh... I lost my train of thought

This is the basic (LOL "BASIC") premise of this manga. Since I read this in the middle ... of the night, I couldn't be bothered to remember their names, so let's just call them: "Lesbian" and "Transperson".

What interested me in this manga is because Lesbian is afraid of men and yet her crush IS one, even though he looks like a girl. Then I found out that he was BECOMING a girl and he needed her help to be in an in-between state: basically, a girl with no boobs and a penis.

And the way the manga treats this is that the thing between your legs is what dictates your gender.

Look. Transperson was a cisboy and still identifies as a boy, so I let that slide. But that was the first problematic signal I caught from the manga.

The second one was that the manga treats girls as fragile beings (physically speaking). **Look**, it's true that guys *tend* to be stronger (physically) than girls, but that doesn't mean that it's a "rule". There are many guys that are weak, there are many girls that are strong and there are many people with roughly around the same strength. But in this manga, **EVERY GIRL** is automatically weak, even Transperson (!).

Also, let's backtrack a bit: remember the premise, about that weird family disease? Not that this is problematic per se, but it's SO BADLY WRITTEN that it's actually laughable lmao

This could easily be explained by a curse or some supernatural/paranormal explanation. But no, this is "normal" for his family (and ONLY his family, no other human being goes through that). Also, the "fix" is very specific: it HAS to be the first person they kissed and it HAS to happen every day or else by midnight he'll turn into a "full" girl forever (basically, a cis girl).

It's obvious that the author wanted Lesbian and Transperson to have an excuse to make out every day and nearly every chapter. And that's fine by my book, that's pretty much why I read it anyway! BUT. If you're gonna try to introduce plot into the mix, would it kill you to come up with a believable scenario?

Every plot point in this manga is crazier than the one before, AND YET.

**AND YET**.

I liked it. It was easy for me to ship Lesbian and Transperson. The tension moments made me keep reading, my eyes glued to my phone, wanting to know how this could possibly end. The kissing scenes were very hot and if I was rating this based ONLY on that, I'd give it a 9 (not a 10 though, 10 would be if there was a sex scene :P). The drama parts made me feel bad for the characters, so I suppose they weren't just stereotypical figures with cute faces, they actually had some layer of depth.

And I absolutely adored the art, it's very much a 10/10 to my tastes.

In the end, if the story was:
- longer (it has just 12 chapters, which I personally think that were not enough to properly develop... what needed to be developed)
- not problematic at all (the things I pointed out in this review)
- and better-written plot-wise (i.e: a better explanation about the "boy turns into girl" thing, among other things)

This could've been SO MUCH BETTER. But even as it was, I enjoyed it.

This is a manga about a girl who is too embarrassed to admit that her first crush was a girl. Since she was a child, Yashiro has been weak and clumsy. She was often bullied by boys for how weak she was and ended up with a fear of men. Her first crush was a girl who saved her from some bullies one day. They became friends, but eventually Yashiro became so enamored with her savior that she kissed the girl, who then ran away never to be seen again. She didn't even know the girl's name.

Fast forward to high school and a transfer student ... is admitted into Yashiro's class who looks strikingly similar to the girl from back then. The girl's name is Mikoto and she even calls out to Yashiro to have Yashiro show her around the school. When in private, Mikoto tells Yashiro that she remembers her and begins kissing Yashiro. In the midst of kissing, however, Yashiro accidentally touches Mikoto's groin and feels something hard, something most girls would not have.

Turns out Mikoto is actually a boy, and because of Yashiro kissing him as a child, he will turn into a girl if Yashiro does not passionately make out with him every single day. And this is the story.

The story follows their rom-com attempts at making out while keeping it a secret. The drama in the story primarily comes from Yashiro feeling as if Mikoto has no real feelings for her and is only using her in order to keep being a man. On top of that, Yashiro is still afraid of men and is horrified to find out that her first kiss was a guy.

As for the characters, I actually really enjoyed them. As dumb as some of the situations they are put in are, the characters are executed well considering how bizarre and unrealistic this setup is. The two main characters and three supporting characters are really the only important cast in the story, but they are all unique and enjoyable to read about. Some have stupid means to achieve certain ends, specifically one side character later on though. Still, the interaction between Mikoto and Yashiro is the best part of this story. Watching them grow, fall apart, and grow back together is the manga's strongest point in my opinion.

The art is well drawn and the characters are quite sexy, not going to lie about that. Mikoto may be a guy, but he is a pretty sexy trap. The story is not that ecchi, but it does have moments here and there, like one bathhouse scene that are a little more revealing, and some darker scenes towards the end of the story, though never full nudity.

Basically if you want a good gender bender manga and don't care much for the plot and just want to see some pretty good character interaction and some sexy moments between the characters, then read this manga.

Don't read it if you find rather pointless transsexual sexual moments with not much plot substance off-putting or offensive. It's not really meant to be aimed at a trans audience, as it definitely has yuri and ecchi manga fans in mind for the most part as far I could tell.

Non-spoiler review below:

"Gender bender" is one of my favorite troupes and its tag is always on my radar. That said, not all of them are Boku Girl or Bokura no Hentai.

Yuri na Watashi to Akuma na Kanojo (?) tells the story of Yashiro Nonoyama, a girl that has androphobia that discovers her first love transfered into her class and is named Mikoto Saionji. Mikoto immediately recognizes Yashiro and starts to hang out with her. Oh, they make out too because why not?

She says there's a deep reason for it tho..


...and that's it, as far as non-spoiler goes.
...
Let me tell you right now that if you are a reader who is sensitive to negative portrails of feminility, implied sexual assault (I understand that this is kinda~ debatable BUT this is a no-spoiler review so let's leave it at that) or a tad bit of agressive-almost-smutty behaviour, you should either put these in a box while reading or else.

That said, I liked the art and pacing (up until the introduction of a certain person *cough cough* Maria) and disliked story and the ending, since both are contrived and kinda suck, actually.

tl:dr below

If you put away your SJW googles you can read it BUT don't expect a deep and thought out story with believable characters with clear and compeling motivations. You won't have that.
Instead you will have steamy kissing scenes between girls, some very light smut and a manga that doesn't overstay its welcome.

I enjoyed reading this quite a lot. I was rather dissatisfied with the ending. It undercut the character development that began to emerge.
Mikoto is a character that could experience growth throughout the series, but ultimately is coddled and is allowed to stay emotionally unchanged. His romance plot line ultimately left me dissatisfied because of his continued stagnation.
I liked Yashiro and Eris's characters. Both of them were bumbling lesbians with a braincell between them, which is a character type I whole heartedly enjoy.
It's no masterpiece regardless, but it is a fun read if you want a horny crossdressing manga.