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The plot is straightforward, making it a relaxing read for those seeking an escape rather than a mentally taxing mystery. Here, we have a hero with a feminine appearance and a heroine resembling a male bishonen. Beyond the gender-bender aspect, this series doesn't significantly differentiate itself from other works by Shinjo-chan, which often revolve around themes of lust, possession, and childish romance.
Overall, this is a guilty pleasure read. If you're searching for something beyond the superficial allure of lust and immature romance, I'd recommend passing on this one. However, if read without high expectations, the series remains entertaining.
This story is genuinely excellent. I am quite pleasantly surprised. I attempted to read this tale about four times before I finally committed and caught up to the available translations, which is where I've reached so far. The issue wasn't due to any confusion. It stems from getting accustomed to seeing the sudden difference in gender roles.
In most gender-bender stories, male and female roles are rarely contrasted directly. Typically, it's one character who changes gender, and their lover knows about the change early on or discovers it soon after.
In this case, these two characters aren't swapping genders—they're simply mistaken for different ones, and when they're together, the contrast becomes even more pronounced. Mizuki is the girl who looks like a guy until she puts on girls' clothing, revealing her as one of the most beautiful. Akira is a guy who gets mistaken as a cute young girl and, when he wears female clothing—which he tends to do due to certain circumstances—he's incredibly cute as a girl.
Even Mizuki, when she first met Akira, thought he was a girl and was confused by him. The story truly reflects the insecurities of growing up, puberty, gender, sexuality, and sexual roles. Mizuki's complex began in elementary school when she grew taller than the other girls in her school. So she's been dealing with those issues and understanding them. In one scene, you can tell she had gender role problems because she couldn't bring herself or even think of another girl in a sexual manner, but due to her appearance, she feels life would be easier if she could. This is the same when another male shows interest in her, who 'looks' masculine. When she's with him, she's a girl, and her role is clearly defined as such.
Akira has no such problem accepting who he is since he seems extremely confident. So even his issues with playing gender roles bother him, like dressing as a girl since he's a guy, and having male admirers, aren't portrayed as insecurities but rather as nuisances. However, he's in this situation because he's the youngest of four brothers in a family of renowned fighters. He's extremely strong but being the youngest, possibly due to a lack of milk in his diet (you'll understand what I mean), he's somewhat stunted, leading to his feminization.
Note that this does take some getting used to. I had to struggle to realize that she's a girl, not a guy, since she fits SM's archetype of the ideal guy, and Akira is definitely the ideal girl for SM. However, once past that, the story flowed well and was enjoyable.
There are, as with much of SM's work, attempted rapes—surprisingly, one by a girl onto another girl. Mizuki's character is almost very similar to any other girl. However, she's extremely innocent/naive about sexuality. This can be a bit annoying for the reader, but luckily, SM managed to make it more comedic, so her naivety doesn't grate—evidenced by how at times she appears to be a tease when she just doesn't realize the effect she has on her guy. Nonetheless, she does love him. Akira is extremely strong and confident in himself. It makes you wonder if he's been with a girl before due to his confidence. Either way, he's your typical guy who comes on a little strong, but I think it's because he doesn't realize how naive Mizuki really is.
All in all, it's actually an entertaining read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's not long by any stretch of the imagination or overly complex in its themes. It's just about familiarizing yourself and realizing that gender swapping here is taken to an extreme. ^_^
What resonates with me about this is that it elicited a lot of laughter. I believe humorous elements contribute to happiness. The AI ORE manga is definitely one worth reading.
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