- #1
A gender-bender where the main character doesn't freak out over their gender identity. When you find yourself inside of the world of a novel where it's fate will soon hang on a balance, whether you are a guy or girl shouldn't be on the top of your concerns.The name and synopsis of this novel doesn't serve it justice. Yes, she (the MC) sits at the Right Diagonal Back Seat of the Heroine, but it doesn't have much significance after a while other than allowing the characters to interact. I'm so used to long titles that basically explain the plot, that this relatively short title setting the scene felt a bit weird, and perhaps redundant a few dozen chapters down the line. Which is fine, of course. Author can call it whatever, but it just gives people the wrong impression on the story in my opinion.The synopsis also gives you a very different idea of what kind of novel this is. At a glance it gives off the impression that the MC is sucking up to the heroine in a light-hearted story. However, the story will soon take on a darker tone as more details about the world is revealed which set's up the stakes, and we also witness the psychological state of the MC go up and down throughout the story. We see the perspectives of different characters which is nice, albeit still a bit lacking in my opinion, in terms of fleshing out other characters which need to be seem as more than just "in-universe fictional characters".Throughout all this, the gender-bender aspect of this story is mostly limited to preventing girls from falling head over heels towards the main character (if they were male) and providing an interesting relationship dynamic between the male in-universe protagonist and the now female main character; one side doesn't see themselves as female and has no interest in romantic relationships, or rather, is outright oblivious to it with the other side being hopelessly unable to make any progress as a result. This gives rise to an interesting basis by which the main character would need come to terms with their new identity if they are to be capable of being romantically involved with anyone, which is all character development I am hoping to see; the direction the author is taking with the gender-bender aspect is still rather uncertain currently, it's possible the MC never get's romantically involved with anyone. Anyway, I haven't seen anything that would make me cringe thus far typical of other gender-benders, such as the characters fussing over how they go to the loo, or what clothes to wear etc. The closest you get here is the main character refusing to bathe with other females (And they do this without making a fuss at all).This is one of the few good novels I have read in a while which really scratched this itch. I recommend you give it a chance.
