Please note

This review is all subjective and my own personal opinion. You do not have to agree with it, nor am I asking you to. I hope that this just helps you get an idea of what the manga I am talking about is like and form a basic and general consensus on it. The ratings I give anime and manga are mostly my personal overall enjoyment. This review may contain some spoilers, but all of them will be hidden using the spoiler tag. There will be some images sourced from the manga, but they should not contain any major spoilers. TL;DR will be at the bottom.

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Introduction

Madoka no Himitsu (Madoka's Secret), written and illustrated by Kingyobachi Deme illustrates the story of Madoka Yamada, who likes to play with dolls and wear dresses, despite being a boy. Choosing to hide this at school, he fits in at school. There, he meets Itsuki Tanonaka, whom he finds "manly". But is there more than meets the eye?

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Plot
As the synopsis suggests, this manga revolves around Madoka as well as Itsuki. Most of the manga is from Madoka's perspective.

Fairly quickly we are introduced to Madoka's school, in his first day. There he is wearing attire to be expected of a boy. After he makes his introduction to the class, he finds himself sitting next to Itsuki. This is all within the first couple of pages. The manga is quick to introduce and establish a relationship between the two characters of focus in the manga. Given that this manga only has seven chapters, it does not want to waste unnecessary time, and it did exactly that. There are not many moments in the manga in which I can say that there was time wasted. It was all meaningful.

The events that play out in this manga could be described as sweet, wholesome, and uplifting. The main cast of children helped further increase these emotions in the reader, I certainly felt them in some way. What happens is pretty simple to follow and understand, making it even easier to get immersed and invested in the story. What occurs in the story takes on a consistent tone, it never felt that it was jumping to random places and thus made for a more cohesive read.

With a manga of a length this short, it would not be unsurprising to see it paced poorly. After all, it is difficult to try to write a meaningful story with such a short limit. Despite that challenge, this manga managed to pace the story and development out in a manner where it did not feel rushed at all, and it also felt that decent amount happened. I never felt whilst reading the manga things were overly rushed to get to the end. Even the development, faced with such a short length, was implemented well into the timeframe. Characters did not grow immediately, instead taking the time necessary to do so.

Another thing I want to discuss is the themes present in this manga. Although it has a pretty cute and wholesome surface, it does delve into some deep themes. This includes acceptance, conformity, friendship and so on.

One of my favourite lines from the manga, "I hate that you have to be like a boy or like a girl", is one example of the theme conformity. Often society tells us that we can only be one gender, we either have to be a boy or a girl. I too, have questioned this, pondered on the validity of such a statement. In this manga we are presented with two characters that challenge this, which for me, made it an even more engrossing read. Even though they are children, they chose not to conform with society's expectations, which can be a very hard thing to do indeed.

This in turn links with the theme of acceptance. Early on we are shown that not everyone accepts Madoka for his interests. Even then, he still chooses to be who he wants to be. It was something nice to see. How this manga tackled these two themes was one of its strongest points, it effectively conveyed the theme to the reader and got the message it wanted presented to the reader. Given that I also have an interest in these kind of themes, it made it even more engaging for me to read.

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Characters

Madoka Yamada, one of the main characters in the story, enjoys wearing the dresses his sister makes. What makes Madoka distinct is his liking for 'girly' things, being things like dolls and female clothing. He has a bright and cheerful personality and is often called cute by his peers. Madoka is quite likable and further reinforces the wholesome nature of the manga. Itsuki Tanonaka is the second main character in Madoka no Himitsu. Itsuki has a pretty calm and somewhat abrasive personality, at least on first impressions. This is a stark contrast with Madoka cheerful personality. It is common for manga that feature two main protagonists to have them as opposite personalities, often seen in romances, as this provides a more interesting relationship between the two characters. It would not be very interesting if they were too alike, no? Thus, this pairing makes their relationship all the more captivating. I think it is no surprise that Itsuki is

Spoiler, click to view

actually a girl, that is revealed quite early on. This connects the two in a way, and makes their bond stronger.

Madoka's older sister Haruka plays a big supporting role in the story. Haruka is similar to Madoka in some ways, in that they both have bright and cheerful personalities, and she too is quite easy to like. Haruka is the one who makes the dresses that Madoka makes, which is a key part of his character. She also plays a significant role in the growth of the two main protagonists, which uplifted their overall development and reading experience. Itsuki's older brother Hiroto also plays a supporting role in the story. He is a fairly kind person, mostly to Madoka. He tends to call Madoka very cute, which pleases him to great effect. Like Haruka, he also helps the two main characters grow, but perhaps not as much as Haruka. He is a good supporting character, he did not overstay his welcome and contributed enough to the story.

The other notable characters appear later in the story, so for the sake of spoilers I will avoid discussing them in great detail. I do want to discuss the 'villain' of the story per se. I will be talking in broad terms, but there will be some general spoilers.

Spoiler, click to view

The villain of the story was something I felt that could have been executed better. Their motives were a bit lacklustre and what they did was pretty boring and predictable, but I suppose that is no surprise given their age. Not a terrible villain, but it could have been better. How things ended for them were not great either. Without much time to develop an antagonist that does not appear at the very beginning there was not much that could be done I suppose.

The relationships between each of the characters were quite fun to read and was yet again another outstanding point of the manga. It was easy to get invested into the characters and the bonds they shared. The development the characters went through were also superb. In the short length of the manga, they grew not in a rushed manner, but meaningfully.

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Art
The art in this manga was another thing I liked about this manga. Its cute art style fit the mood of the manga very well, elevating the reading experience even more.

The characters were drawn nicely, this is especially so in the scenes where Madoka wears dresses. They were lovely to look at. The settings and backgrounds were also nicely done, effectively complimenting the scenes the characters were in.

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Conclusion and TL;DR
With all that said and done, this was a manga I thoroughly enjoyed. It was a simple, wholesome manga with some great messages to be taken away from it. There are only a few chapters and the chapters themselves are not that long, so this is a pretty short read. In that short time it gave me a story that I got immersed in and had fun reading. I can recommend this to slice of life fans who also enjoy coming of age stories coupled with LGBTQ+ themes. In summary:

• The manga does not waste idle time in establishing the main characters and story.
• What happens in the manga can be described as sweet and wholesome, with it also being simple and easy to follow.
• The story and development were paced well within the short time frame.
• Deep themes such as conformity and acceptance are effectively delved into and make it all the more compelling to read.
• The cast of characters are easy to like and are entertaining to read, with each of them holding wonderful relationships and sincere growth.
• The art compliments the wholesome and cute nature of the manga.

That brings us to the end of the review. I did ramble on in some places and go off, so I apologise if I talked too much. If you want to send me feedback on my reviews, please post a comment on this thread. Hopefully you were able to get something out of this review. If you did not like this review, then I apologise for wasting your time.