Otomen

Otomen is one of the funniest manga I have ever read. Ever since I saw it in Shojo Beat Magazine, I just had to have it, even though the cover of the first volume is indeed really really lame. The covers after that however are absolutely amazing, playing on the fact that Asuka Masamune is an otomen or in translation a man that has girly interests.

When Asuka was a young boy, he had very girlish hobbies. During that time, his father ran away from his family and right before he left he told his son and wife that he was going to go and become a woman. After that, Asuka's mother made him swear to give up girly things or else she would die. Asuka took up kendo and martial arts and then years later when he is in high school he is known as the cooliest, manliest, toughest guy in high school. Not only that, he's pretty good looking too so all of the girls usually fall for him. The upside is that he's not a jerk, he's actually very gallant and is always nice to every single person. He still keeps his secret of being girly in his stomach however. He's a guy who likes girly things. Asuka ends up meeting the new girl. Ryo Miyakozuka looks very feminine, but in truth she's more of a guy than Asuka! She can't cook or sew or anything! Asuka falls for her and his girly side shows when he's in love. Soon he and Ryo become friends and even sort of start dating (it's not officially said but Asuka has said so many times even if Ryo did not confirm). Along with Ryo, the only other people who know he is an otomen is his friend Juta Tachibana. They all cope with him being an otomen.

The manga is very funny and it has the occasional moment of love between Asuka and Ryo. The story line is upbeat and it keeps you going, never does it go into a "traditional" shojo manga thing. It is shojo, but it is nothing like the other shojo manga where you can predict what is going to happen before you even read the manga. It's original and the art is pretty good too. The only instances where I don't like the art is when the artist has scenes from Yamato's (Yamato is a minor character) imagination on how Asuka is suppose to be and it goes into serious old style shojo drawing which to be is just yuck. Haha. But those don't occur that often and the art is very good. This manga will be something new and totally fun for all readers since the main character is a boy, but not only is he a boy but he's an otomen coping with struggles on what to do.