Ayakashi Triangle

/ THIS CRITIQUE CONTAINS SLOILERS FOR THE ENDING. /
This is a critique of the manga Ayakashi Triangle by renown ecchi mangaka Kentaro Yabuki (To-Love Ru). As a gender bender enthusiast, I was at first happy of a new series in Shonen Jump about this theme, rarely seen in mainstream stories except small episode or arcs in more comedic stories like Gintama and Witch Watch. However, as one of the podiums in popularity for the genre, both the general story and the gender bending aspect are bad.
/manga/30044/gin-tama /manga/128896/witch-watch
First off, the gender bending nature of the story. While exceptional stories like Shishunki Bitter Change have a longer period to breath, my personal rule of thumb is 1 year. A year where the person discovers the opposite gender and start accepting it. But, in Ayakashi Triangle, Matsuri has been only 6 to 8 months a girl, because it started before the start of the school year in April and finished in October/fall a bit after the school festival. This dilatation of time is created by the adding of Rochka (the snow spirit) who made a mini "winter" arc. And during that whole period, Matsuri only realized that he/she likes Suzu and that using a fudonshi is awkward to wear after using panties for that amount of time. Do not tell me that this guy decided after 15 years as a man to stay as a woman, even though his girlfriend is bisexual and that he/she can still be friends with his circle of girl friends. Matsuri is during the whole series a "tomboy" who still play video games "for boys" and as a more masculine side than his/her other friends. There is no chapter where Suzu force Matsuri to wear dresses and other feminine clothing, it stays with only the school uniform for the whole series as the only thing shown to a development physically. The final revelation is not then worthy for the lack of character development link to his/her gender and questioning of it, partly because of the episodic nature which feel like filler in the eye of that end. This lack of character development can also be trace to the loyal nature of Matsuri who just never refuse his new gender for the greater good of training and, to a certain extent, body guarding (example: the switching from fudonshi to panties). Generally, a gender bender story is supposed to make this transformation an obstacle to the daily life of the character who need to balance his physical sex and his memories with the other gender. But by accepting all the time, this crucial development is eliminated. The lack of character development makes the final choice some major undecidedness where they will decide after the 2,5 years left of high school where the choice in these stories is very clear about the final result.
/manga/85404/shishunki-bitter-change
Second of, this series is the typical high school ecchi story where every chapter is punctuated with a character falling between the breast of the other and lots of panty shots. Only normal for that type of turn-the-brain-off for authors who are incapable of having natural occurrences of "ecchiness". It would be important to think that after the dozen first chapters where the gender bending storyline is the focal point, the latter is almost indistinguishable from another story from that author. The triple Suzu was just a half-baked idea that made less sense in a larger "theme" of traditionalism against bisexuals/homosexuality and modernity that Shirogane initially took part in. And if someone reference the flashback with the previous guard of the Ayakashi Medium being a woman too which would prove the final choice of Matsuri, that reason is nonsensical in that same opposition to tradition with Suzu refusing the heritage of the previous Ayakashi Medium from Dark Mei. Even worse, even after he/she just fought a sizable portion of the ninja exorcist organization, respecting the past is the opposite of normal in that situation. While I was at first exited for the last arc, the finality announced “sneakily” 10 chapters before the actual ending ruined it. I even coped for months that he/she would actually stay as a guy, which is rare occurrence in those stories like in Ame Nochi Hare. It could even go to a non-binary/bigender or intersex ending (Intersex could however be dangerous in something that mainstream which would create a "futa" fanbase) for more uniqueness (even though the author probably does not know what those are). But, to no avail. For a similar setting, all points are better in Natsume's Book of Friends direction.
/manga/44787/ame-nochi-hare /manga/31859/natsumes-book-of-friends
So no, Ayakashi Triangle is not the savior of a dying breed of gender bend stories, which is not the case when stories like Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to, the one-shot Woke-up-as-a-girl Syndrome from Tatsuki Fujimoto (Chainsaw Man, Fire Punch) and the excellent (for more ecchi stuff) Futari Switch from Akira Hiramoto (Prison School) exist. Is it the worst? Nah, Boku Girl exists on the throne as the worst. Want something to jerk off? They are minors, bro. Just watch regular porn.
/manga/113802/life-with-an-ordinary-guy-who-reincarnated-into-a-total-fantasy-knockout /manga/98713/wokeupasagirl-syndrome /manga/142896/futari-switch /manga/85213/boku-girl