Boku Girl ( ボクガール 1)

Note: this is a review of the entire series, not just the first volume. Includes minor spoilers, but nothing that'll ruin the story.

Plot

Mizuku is a small and effeminate looking boy, who refuses to allow themselves to like feminine things because their father has severely punished them every time they showed any interest, and they've been bullied by their peers. The bullying leads to a friendship with Takeru who becomes their best friend, and protector, especially after they have a huge growth spurt that leaves them a tall, and muscular high schooler.

Then Loki - the Norse god - gets bored and decides to screw with Mizuki for some entertainment, by turning them into a girl.

The core plot revolves around the fact that Mizuki has romantic feelings for a girl named Fujiwara, but she has feelings for Takeru, and Takeru, eventually has feelings for Mizuki, and of course the complications that arise from waking up magically female one morning, and whatever tricks Loki feels like playing on Mizuki after enrolling in their school to have an up close look at the chaos they've wrought.

The gender change is revealed to Takeru almost immediately when Mizuki - screams their head off at the discovery. Takeru comes in to find them freaking out while wearing an open pajama top, and nothing on their bottom half.

Review

There are a few interesting aspects to this story that are - overall - written pretty well. Takeru almost instantly begins struggling with the fact that his best friend's feminine looks are now backed by an attractive feminine body. Fujiwara - towards the last third of the series - gradually falls in love with Mizuki without it being a big deal that Mizkuki is now a girl.

The final, and largest, core thread is Mizuki learning to accept that they do like girly things, that they've always liked girly things, and that despite their conditioning, and how hard they try to fight it, they like being a girl.

Takeru's attraction to Mizuki, combined with his struggle over the fact that Mizuki was a boy, and not wanting to hurt his best friend is handled fairly realistically. The complicating factor is that Takeru keeps getting turned on, and when he does show physical affection for Mizuki she's into it. She's internally confused, but definitely enjoying it.

This would be a great trans journey except for the fact that it was written in an era when any manga that touched on gender issues seemed almost required to have a cast of "pervert" characters who keep sexually assaulting the main character. This was somehow acceptable because someone always steps in before anything "actually happens" 🤦‍♀️ or someone comically punches the pervert through the floor, or hits them with a brick, or whatever.

Additionally, it has: the cross dressing pervert, the muscle-bound brute who can't take a hint, the little sister (Takeru's) who keeps grabbing everyone's tits, and the muscle-bound mannish girl.

There's also the father who was cruel to Mizuki for showing any hint of femininity suddenly being revealed as having a secret shrine to Mizuki's femininity and wanting to marry Mizuki the moment he discovers she's a girl.

The tropes all suck. They hurt the story every time they come up. The only good thing about them is that when they do come up the author seems to get bored with them and fairly quickly and go back to the main - well written - story. Unfortunately, they don't get abandoned permanently.

Additionally, Mizuki is constantly referred to with male pronouns, by literally everyone, even after it's revealed to the school that she's now a girl. This only changes in - i think - the final chapter. The English translation I read doesn't note if Mizuki is using masculine or feminine I / me or if that changes at some point in the story.

This feels like the product of a society, and author, who can't allow themselves to just talk about queer issues, especially trans ones, so they insert some violent mysoginistic bullshit, as if to say "but it's all a joke see". Normally this just sucks. In this case it just serves to hurt a really good story of a trans girl growing to accept her feminine side, and falling in love with her best friend.

From the perspective of polyamorous reader it's frustrating. Like many stories the protagonist ends up falling for two people Fujiwara and Takeru who both like him, and and friendly with each other, but it's just assumed by all participants that Mizuki will end up with one or the other, and the other one will just stand aside. I find this especially frustrating in a series like this because they're obviously pushing past boundaries that they / society aren't comfortable with so why not let the protagonist enjoy loving two people.

Overall a good story that is occasionally hard to read because of the cruel misogynistic tropes that keep getting inserted. I'd give it 5 stars if not for them.