It takes some prodding from Akira-kun’s bawdy grandmother to make him take a bold move in his quest to make Yurika his girlfriend.
Creative Staff
Writer/Artist: Hiroyuki Tamakoshi
Translation: David Ury
Adaptation: David Ury
What They Say
Love Hurts
At first, it seems like just another typical gender-bending day for Akira-kun. He transforms into his female self, Akira-chan, and heads for the Rock Stock Cafe to see his true love, Yurika. All’s well, until in walks Shinobu, the roughest, toughest, meanest guy in school. Shinobu is after one thing: a date with Akira-chan Akira is in a real pinch – if he turns Shinobu down, he’ll make the bully mad, and if he says yes, there’s no telling what might happen. Then again, Shinbo is kind of cute…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This volume starts with a humorous trip to a bowling alley. Everyone bets that the loser will have to be the winner’s slave for a day. At first, Akira-kun sees this as an excellent way to get Yurika to be his slave, but when she proves better than he does he tries another approach. He tries to lose on purpose without giving his plan away. It actually proves tough because his friend Kikuchi is seriously a bad bowler. Regular fanservice ensues, but the best part is Akira-kun angrily using Kikuchi’s nostrils like a bowling ball.
Things work out for Akira-kun in the end and Yurika orders him to take her somewhere. This is his first chance to take her on a date and it has to be perfect. They end up at the beach and while things go pretty well, it isn’t the smoothest date I have ever seen.
The best part about this volume is Akira-chan’s date with a big thuggish guy from school. Akira-chan’s idea is to be as obnoxious as possible so the guy will never want to go out with her again. She even shows up for their date dressed in magical girl cosplay. No matter what Akira-chan does, the guy never gets mad and she even finds herself having a great time. By the end of the date, Akira-chan learns what it feels like for a girl to be loved by a guy. I found this to be a great moment of growth for Akira-chan.
Akira-chan’s date is a great chapter, but Akira-kun’s trip with Yurika and Anju to visit his grandmother is hilarious. Granny lives in the countryside where she works her farm. Like the older generation in any country, granny speaks her mind. She tells Anju she has a cute butt and Yurika that she could milk many children with her big boobs. Once she gets Akira-kun’s ear for a second she asks him which girl he is going after. Then granny goes so far as to tell him to just crawl in bed with the girl she wants because no woman can refuse that move. Sounds like a bad idea to me. Listening to his grandmother tell him how his grandfather did the same bed sneaking maneuver was shocking and uncomfortable, but in the end he does it. So who does he crawl in bed with and how does it turn out? It may surprise you.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: B
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Del Rey Manga
Release Date: SEptember 30th, 2008
MSRP: $12.95
