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 will not contain unmarked spoilers. TL;DR will be at the bottom.

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Introduction

The story begins with Hime Sakuragaike donning the female school uniform for the first time despite not being born biologically as a girl. Long time friend Akira Yonezawa shows her full support and dedicates herself to assisting Sakuragaike with the decision. However, unbeknownst to her, Yonezawa has secretly held feelings for Sakuragaike for all these years. This is a story of how they overcome many hurdles to grow into something much more.

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Plot
Kanojo ni Naritai Kimi to Boku's plot has the central themes of Sakuragaike struggling with her gender identity and Yonezawa at odds with her feelings towards Sakuragaike, but nested within these are even more concepts that the manga delves into. Initially I was astonished at how much this manga tackled, as I went in thinking it would mainly be concerned with Sakuragaike's transitioning, but needless to say I was pleasantly surprised at how Takase Umi handled it all.

Let me first begin with one of the central plot points of the manga, Sakuragaike's gender identity. Not just limited to her uniform choice, the manga also explores her behaviour and the struggles she faces with society because of that. It is important to bear in mind that with the cultural and historical context of this manga, simply wearing a different gendered uniform is more considerable that one may think at first. Unlike a country like Australia (the only place I can talk about from experience), Japan's school uniform policy is (or perhaps was now) strictly split between male and female, essentially meaning that one cannot wear the uniform of the gender they are not.

Here is an example of a uniform policy from a real Japanese middle school. Here it is split by male (男子) and female (女子). Interestingly however as I went to research this again for this review it turns out that the school had actually updated the document this uniform policy was on (although the original still remains up on the internet, you just need the URL), and to my surprise the uniform policy was altered. Notably there is absolutely nothing about gender mentioned here at all. It just contains the usual uniform policy regulations including seasonal uniform, prohibited hairstyles, etc. It turns out that in December of 2020 schools were starting to phase in genderless uniform, according to this article. Other articles of similar nature can be found within a nearby timeframe. However, one must bear in mind that this all happened after this manga finished publishing, so it would be safe to assume that the previous split gendered uniform policy was in place at the time this manga was written.

So, with this context in mind, Sakuragaike's decision holds a much greater importance, and just goes to show how important it was for her to go through with it. However, this decision is not met kindly by everyone, and so Sakuragaike is presented with a struggle she must overcome. Luckily, she has Yonezawa on her side, who decides to wear the male uniform to support Sakuragaike. As such, the uniform plays the role as a symbol integral to the conflict the main two characters face and makes what is usually menial into something much greater.

Another central theme in this manga is Sakuragaike's feelings towards Yonezawa. Although Yonezawa's transition is a major part of the manga, as the story takes place from Sakuragaike's perspective this takes centre stage as well. It is a curious choice to have a story about transgenderism take the perspective of an outside party, rather than the individual themselves. This has its own nuances, exploring how transitioning can affect relationships, and how others view it. This in turn made this manga stand out from others that tackled similar themes. Yonezawa is not the only individual facing her own issues, everyone else is in their own way facing their own. This story is a journey of how Yonezawa can accept her feelings for Sakuragaike and at the same time grow from it. Such a heartfelt theme can easily strike a chord with many, and it certainly made me more engrossed in reading the manga.

Alongside the two central themes many others accompany it. The amount may seem too much, but I was surprised at how well they all melded into the story. This includes homophobia, societal perception of beauty and cuteness (and its consequences), asexuality, crossdressing, and more. These are not exactly shallow themes, and yet Takase Umi managed to fit them all in and explore them just enough so that they had some depth without sacrificing the central parts of the manga. These themes are connected to different characters, with each adding further individuality to them making for a lively manga. Despite the relatively short chapter count, all of these themes fit into the timeframe without feeling overly rushed.

There is however, one issue with how the plot progresses in the manga. An issue that was enough to sour my reading experience considerably. The plot structure becomes extremely predictable and thus can make reading 'Kanojo ni Naritai Kimi to Boku' more tedious than it should be, as well as making the developments lose some of its value. At the beginning this is not an issue, but as the manga goes on it becomes glaringly obvious.

Complications in the manga usually goes as follows:

• Sakuragaike comes across an issue (due to her character or a problem presented to her)
• Due to this she has a complication with a relationship she has
• She gets advice from one of the other characters which almost perfectly fixes the issue
• Sakuragaike matures and the plot progresses

This happens multiple times in the manga. The first few times this happened I did not have any issues with it at all, but as it happened again and again it just became monotonous. The development in itself is great, but with how quick it happened sometimes and how repetitive it became this led to said growth losing the impact it should have had. This alone was enough to drag down the manga as a whole for me. Whilst I still enjoyed it in the end, if this issue was not present, then it could have been close to becoming one of my favourite manga.

The following are my thoughts on the ending, so please do not read it if you do not wish to be spoiled.

Spoiler, click to view

The ending was a mixed bag. On one end, I was displeased with how it ended as it was not what I wanted nor what I felt what the manga was building up to. On the other hand, a message from the author can be seen within it. As one of the central themes is Sakuragaike coming to terms with loving another girl, it felt as if that the manga was pushing towards the two ending up together in the end, but ultimately she was rejected. Instead, she ends up with Hamuro Hiro who (in my opinion) developed feelings for Sakuragaike too suddenly. This conclusion did not feel right for me, but I can see that Takase Umi may have wanted to convey that one does not always end up with their childhood love. This is less so of an objective criticism (although I do believe it was building towards a relationship between Yonezawa and Sakuragaike) and just my personal opinion, so it is up to the reader to decide what they think of it.

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Characters
'Kanojo ni Naritai Kimi to Boku' has a relatively small cast, but all make repeated appearances throughout the plot and play a siginifiant role in the story.

Sakuragaike Hime may be a little hot headed, but deep down she really cares for others. Honestly, it may not be that inaccurate to compare her to a typical Shonen protagonist. A bit stubborn, forthright, but ultimately caring, Sakuraga only has one thing on her mind, supporting Yonezawa. But as the manga progresses, she opens up to more people, and starts to realise her own shortcomings. She may start as an immature child, but this only serves to emphasis her later growth. Going through a difficult stage in her life, Yonezawa Akira moves towards being who she really is. Yonezawa on the surface is just another girl, but going through the challenges of gender identity she stands out from the rest. She deeply desires to be just like any other girl, but society is not going to make that easy. Although Sakuragaike's development gets a greater focus in the manga, Yonezawa too grows as a person.

The relationship between these two is perhaps one of the most significant elements of the manga. Childhood friends, but one harbours secret feelings towards the other. They may be close, but conveying the most intimate of feelings is still hard, and it is one these two must overcome together. The bond these two share is certainly one of the more interesting parts of the manga and goes through its own development as well.

Taneno Anzu may appear to be odd at first, but she is more than just that. Initially Taneno does not give off the greatest impression. Taking away Yonezawa from Sakuragaike, she gives off the vibes of being an antagonist. However, this plays into Sakuragaike's distorted views of others, and this soon shifts. Energetic and upbeat, she brings the cast together and even has her own thought-out development. One of the characters Sakuragaike turns to when in need, Ishiyama Yukka becomes one of the new friends the main duo make. Despite her appearance, she is one of the more mature members of the cast. She lends her hands to others and helps them through their own situations, learning from her own past. Hamuro Hiro plays the role of an 'older brother', both literally and metaphorically. He may be the one who gives advice to Sakuragaike most often. He is the 'senpai' that she can look up to, giving her advice on her issues and being someone she can confide in. Combined with his sister, the internal conflicts the two go through prevent them from being shallow characters solely defined by one trait. Perhaps one of the more minor characters, the teacher is yet another mature model for the others to follow. At first he may give off a fairly insignificant vibe, but he plays his own important role in the story. Other than giving Sakuragaike some important counselling, he delves into a theme that I certainly did not expect to see in this manga. Although little, the subtle development he went through made him be one of my favourite characters.

There is also one other guy but to be honest I do not care about him that much; he was not as engaging as the rest of the cast. He was not bad, just average.

What impressed me with this cast of characters is that they all felt unique from each other. They were all going through their own issues, and thus each had depth and felt like worthwhile additions to the manga.

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Art
The artstyle can be expressive, emotive, and charming. Whilst it may not be on the same level as other works, I still liked it, and it complimented the characters well.

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Conclusion and TL;DR

If only this manga did not have the one glaring issue it had then this easily would have been one of my top reads. Alas, that alone held it down a bit, but nevertheless it was an enjoyable read. I cannot say that this has wide appeal, it targets a specific type of reader. To really enjoy this, you would most likely have to be one that has a vested interest in the themes this manga tackles. For those that it does cater to, the medium it comes with can make for a wonderous read. In summary of this review: - The plot tackles many themes, but each are fleshed out and not hurried. - The repetitive nature of the plot and development is one of the few glaring negatives this manga has. - Full of a rich cast of individuals that have their own deep characters. - The character development despite the aforementioned issue it has still brings life to the story.

To be frank I had quite a bit of fun writing this review. Hopefully you were able to get something out of this review. If would like to send me feedback on my reviews, please post a comment on this thread or feel free to send me a message.

Thank you for reading!