Overall Rating: A+
Summary: A romantic comedy shōjo series created by Aya Kanno, which follows Asuka Masamune, a tall, masculine and cool high school student. Asuka is the captain of the kendo team, excels in judo and karate, and everyone in the school thinks he’s the greatest. However, Asuka has a secret – he loves all things cute, sweet and lovely like cooking, shōjo manga and sewing.
As a child, Asuka’s father left his mother because he wanted to become a woman, and as a result Asuka’s mother forbade Asuka from acting like a girl. To avoid hurting his mother Asuka tries to hide his love of cuteness and be masculine. However, when he meets a girl named Ryo Miyakozuka he falls in love and all bets are off.
For her part, Ryo isn’t like most girls. She cannot sew, cook, bake, make bento or do any of the the normally “girly” things. Instead Ryo is tough, an excellent fighter, and likes movies that involve fighting (see a theme?). She and Asuka become fast friends along with Juuta Tachibana, a playboy classmate who is always following Asuka around.
It turns out that the reason Juuta is following Asuka is because that he is secretly mangaka Jewel Sachihana, and the main character in his popular manga, “Love Chick”, is based on Asuka (but is a girl). Asuka secretly reads and loves “Love Chick”, but has no idea it’s based on him. Once Ryo shows up, Juuta bases the male lead on her creating an excellent commentary on the manga itself as well as many of the standard tropes of shōjo manga . Will Asuka and Ryo get together? The answers are hilarious and adorable.Here’s the thing, I have been wondering what an appropriate word in Japanese would be for a man who is feminine, but not gay and doesn’t cross-dress. Apparently, the word is Otomen.
When I read the back cover of this manga in the Cary Barnes & Noble, I fell in love with the concept since (aside from sewing) I love all the things Asuka talks about, and went through a long period (re: High School) where I tried to hide that and act masculine and cool (I’m pretty sure I failed at that stuff though). After reading Otomen, it’s now one of my favorite manga (at least that I’ve read recently) and I can’t wait for more of it to come out. Volume 4 comes out in November (I hate it when there’s a 2 or 3 month break between volumes being released) and I plan to pick it up as soon as it’s out.
If you like romantic comedy shōjo manga, and your male protagonists to be a bit girly, then you will absolutely love Otomen. Even if that doesn’t describe you I recommend a least giving this one a try. <3!
JOIN GIRLAMATIC!
> Here’s the thing, I have been wondering what an
> appropriate word in Japanese would be for a man
> who is feminine, but not gay and doesn’t cross-dress.
> Apparently, the word is Otomen.
That’s awesome that Japanese has a word for that!
No such word in English that isn’t an insult.
[...] Anime) Greg McElhatton on vol. 1 of Ooku: The Inner Chambers (Read About Comics) Nick Popio on vol. 1 of Otomen (Girlamatic) Julie on vol. 6 of Sand Chronicles (Manga Maniac Cafe) asamisgirl on Sense & [...]
“Here’s the thing, I have been wondering what an appropriate word in Japanese would be for a man who is feminine, but not gay and doesn’t cross-dress. Apparently, the word is Otomen.”
Alas, I’m 99% sure that “otomen” is a word that Aya Kanno made up for the series, not a real Japanese word.
You may be right (I have no idea), but a lot of “real” words start as coined words that are made up. Kinda like “texting” or “googling.”
wait, it’s not done? It ended well on v.3 so unless v.4 is super new (and it has plenty of potential for it) I’m satisfied
It is a word Aya Kanno made up. It’s the combination of the Japanese Oto meaning “young lady” or “mistress”, and the English word “men”. Regardless, I loves it, and I think it’s incredibly appropriate.