I have no idea about this manga until I browsed in Evanston Public Library. I was attracted with the art cover, and the title. From the cover, I imagined a coming-of-age, slice-of-life story like Goodnight Punpun which I genuinely love. (I’m a fan of slice-of-life genre, really–and it needs different post on why). The English version was translated by Matt Thorn and published by Fantagraphics, a well-known for publishing awesome graphic novels, comics, and mangas.

This is a story about two adolescences in the fifth grade–Shuichi Nitori and his friend Yoshino Takatsuki–whose lives crossing each other. They are both from happy families and liked by their classmates but they shared similar secrets: Shuichi wants to be a girl, and Yoshino wants to be a boy. And when the class planned to do a play The Rose of Versailles for graduation ceremony, another friend Chiba Saori suggests for girls play men role and vice versa. With the everydayness of school and home, friendship and family, Shuichi and Yoshino take a journey together.

Disclaimer: this volume has no physical violence but there is a scene of bullying and one word fa**ot when Shu was scared if Yoshino hates them. I will use they/their/them pronouns to refer to both Shu and Yoshino. If I write something that is offensive, please reach out so I can correct it.

Shimura tells a very gentle story in a patient pace. I say patient and not slow (like some readers who put their reviews online) because I think Shimura wants to show the quite, silent side of adolescents who have to deal with the everydayness of gender: clothes, appearance, role. For example, both Shuici and Yoshino’s first attempt are trying clothes. It takes faster time for Yoshino to wear their brother’s old uniform and cut their hair short than Shuichi who wants to wear their sister’s dress. Another example is when Yoshino has the first period, and the boys tease them saying “oh you’re really a girl.” By showing both boy-girl sides, Shimura tries to portray the different kind of struggle.

Although the main protagonists are Shuichi and Yoshini, I find Chiba Saori, a classmate who wants Shuichi to wear dress and accessories, is intriguing. First, she wants to be a Christian: praying by herself and wants to go to church. Second, at first she seems to be a little too pushy by giving Shu dress and hair accessories on Shu’s birthday. But I think she has a genuine intention, as she observes Shu wants to try those things. I wonder what she will do next.

For the drawings, Shimura admits that she doesn’t do much background, and yes it is quite a plain because I think she wants to focus on her characters and their relationships. But I adore her decisions to put less words and more gazes and wandering eyes. Indeed, she emphasizes the “wandering”–Shu and Yoshino’s looks at things like clothes and themselves.

This is still the first volume out of eight that are available in English so I will stop my review here, and let’s see the next.