Otomen Vol 1 by Aya Kanno

[darkelf105]

Hee. I really, really liked this. I just bought the next four in the series because it amuses the hell out of me.

Asuka is a very manly, very cool high school student trying to hide the fact that glitter makes him weak in the knees and pink just sets him atingling. He can't help it; apparently, his inner man is really a very adorable, very sweet, very competent sixteen year old girl. Ryo is a "manly" girl who worships her testosterone driven father and admires everything about the art of being masculine. Junta is an insane mangaka working on a super popular shojo series stalking and manipulating befriending Asuka and Ryo in an effort to capitalize on Asuka's feelings for Ryo. He has been stalking Asuka for a long time, as apparently the perfect heroine of his manga is based on him. It is quite hilarious. Asuka is pretty damn awesome. I was a little worried about the gender switch, but Ryo is also made of awesome, and very sweet and caring, so I of course adore her...And Junta is quite possibly the best deus ex machina evar. Of course he is my favorite because I didn't think anyone in the series could be more ridiculous than Asuka, but I take it back because Junta is. I was concerned at first with the over-the-top gender stereo-typing, but I think that it's actually kinda insightful and really just draws attention to how silly heteronormative standards can be. I laughed out loud a lot while reading this. There is a fight scene in which Ryo and Asuka are both kicking ass and Asuka sorta halts in mid-combat and asks Ryo to stop so that he can protect her. She does because she likes to make her friends feel good. What I loved about this however, was the fact that it was absolutely Ryo who was in control. Did I mention that I find everyone adorable and the art is very pretty? Well I do and it is. And I absolutely love that the first volume ended with Asuka thinking about how cool Ryo is.