History Main / GenderBenderFriendship

* In ''KanaeteAizen'' (Grant My Wish, Aizen) what appears to be a "shy boy wishes for a hot girl and wakes up as one instead" BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor plot actually turns out to be a GenderBenderFriendship XanatosGambit on the part of a (seemingly) LiteralGenie to get Aizen to confess his love for his Unlucky but soon to be VictoriousChildhoodFriend Yuzu.

* ''[=~Futaba-kun Change!~=]''. Although in the end, [[spoiler:Misaki finds out, accepts it, ''and'' finds a way to GenderBender ''herself'' in the same way to make herself a compatible mate to Futaba-kun/chan, similar to the ''Zerophilia'' example below.]]

* ''{{The Fairly OddParents}}'': Timmy once accidentally wished himself into a girl, then using it to find out what present to get his crush, [[RichBitch Trixie]]. After becoming best friends with her under his assumed gender, he turns back into a boy, goes to the party and attempts to act sensitive. [[ResetButton He's promptly thrown out by security]]. It should be noted that although Trixie had him thrown out, it looked as though she was genuinely touched by his attempt. She even remembered his name. Since he was only thrown out so she could maintain her reputation, one wonders how she would have responded if they had been alone... [[AxCrazy wait, nevermind.]]

* ''{{Kampfer}}'' spends a lot more time having fun with this than it does with the ostensible premise of the show.

* ''Fudanshism'' runs off of this; the protagonist [[WholesomeCrossdresser disguises himself as a girl]] when his sister is too sick to go to a convention where he runs into his crush. To the protagonist's increasing bafflement his crush quickly becomes good friends with his female alter-ego while continuing to ignore the real him.

* In ''Kanaete Aizen'' (Grant My Wish, Aizen) what appears to be a "shy boy wishes for a hot girl and wakes up as one instead" BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor plot actually turns out to be a GenderBenderFriendship XanatosGambit on the part of a (seemingly) LiteralGenie to get Aizen to confess his love for his Unlucky but soon to be VictoriousChildhoodFriend Yuzu.

* ''Webcomic/OrderOfTheStick'' has a WhatCouldHaveBeen example: originally, [[BaldBlackLeaderGuy Roy]] was going to use the [[ChekhovsGun Belt of Masculinity/Femininity]] to have some "girl talk" with [[KnightTemplar Miko]]. Burlew [[AvertedTrope decided against it]] this when he realized Miko wasn't quite fit for "lighthearted romantic comedy" situations.

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* Inverted in Ranma 1/2. Shampoo ''loves'' Ranma when he's a boy, because he beat her in a fight and she comes from an obscure Chinese Amazon-like tribe that marries men who beat them. When he's a girl, Shampoo wants to tear him to shreds, because he beat her as a girl too and that's another tribal custom.

** One of the other leads, a stereotypical DumbMuscle, also befriends a number of the unpopular girls in the house (particular a girl suffering from giantism) after learning that they've been judged by their looks all their lives, [[NotSoDifferent just like he has.]]

* In ''Sorority Boys'', the three male leads dress up as women in order to infiltrate what is deemed the "ugly" sorority house. In the process, one of the men ends up being friends with a girl he'd met earlier and hit on unsuccessfully, but now has a chance to get to truly know. Of course, HilarityEnsues.

* An intensely awkward example happens in SergeiLukyanenko's ''NightWatch'' when Anton's had his mind swapped with Olga. He can't tell Svetlana what's happened until they reach her warded apartment...after she's had a very private conversation with "Olga" about Anton.

* ''{{The Order of the Stick}}'' has a WhatCouldHaveBeen example: originally, [[BaldBlackLeaderGuy Roy]] was going to use the [[ChekhovsGun Belt of Masculinity/Femininity]] to have some "girl talk" with [[KnightTemplar Miko]]. Burlew [[AvertedTrope decided against it]] this when he realized Miko wasn't quite fit for "lighthearted romantic comedy" situations.

* An intensely awkward example happens in SergeiLukyanenko's ''NightWatch'' when Anton's had his mind swapped with Olga- he tells Svetlana what's happened... after she's had a conversation with "Olga" about what Anton's feelings for her are.

* ''{{Zerophilia}}'' is about a Genetic condition that switches people's genders after sex, in the end the hero/heroine [[spoiler: discovers his girlfriend/friend and boyfriend/rival are the same person.]]

* An intensely awkward example happens in SergeiLukyanenko's ''Night Watch'' when Anton's had his mind swapped with Olga- he tells Svetlana what's happened... after she's had a conversation with "Olga" about what Anton's feelings for her are.

* ''Zerophilia'' is about a Genetic condition that switches people's genders after sex, in the end the hero/heroine [[spoiler: discovers his girlfriend/friend and boyfriend/rival are the same person.]]

* ''Grant me My Wish, Aizen'': What appears to be a "shy boy wishes for a hot girl and wakes up as one instead" BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor plot actually turns out to be a GenderBenderFriendship XanatosGambit on the part of a (seemingly) LiteralGenie to get Aizen to confess his love for his UnluckyChildhoodFriend.

* ''Grant me My Wish, Aizen'': What appears to be a "Shy boy wishes for a hot girl a wakes up as a girl himself" BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor plot actually turns out to be a GenderBenderFriendship XanatosGambit on the part of the (seemingly) LiteralGenie to get him to confess his love for his UnluckyChildhoodFriend.

''Grant me My Wish, Aizen'': What appears to be a "Shy boy wishes for a hot girl a wakes up as a girl himself" BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor plot actually turns out to be a GenderBenderFriendship XanatosGambit on the part of the (seemingly) LiteralGenie to get him to confess his love for his UnluckyChildhoodFriend.

* ''Fudanshism'' runs off of this; the protagonist [[WholesomeCrossdresser disguises himself as a girl]] when his sister is too sick to go to a convention, but while there, he meets his crush. To the protagonist's increasing bafflement, his female alter-ego quickly becomes good friends with his crush, but she continues to ignore the real him when they meet.
* Inverted in Ranma 1/2. Because of Ranma's Jusenkyo curse, Shampoo ''loves'' him...when he's a boy, because he beat her in a fight and she comes from an obscure Chinese Amazon-like tribe that marries men who beat them. When he's a girl, she wants to tear him to shreds, because he beat her as a girl too, and that's another tribal custom.

* In ''{{Ichinensei ni Nacchattara}}'', the high-school protagonist gets hit by a truck after a DivingSave the day he planned to confess to his crush and is rebuilt as an elementary school girl by a lolicon scientist. His crush turns out to be the scientist's sister. He lives with them from then on -- the sister unaware of his true identity -- and does enjoy some pleasant situations from time to time, though he doesn't exploit his position as much as he could.
** Interestingly, the protagonist's best friend in school is the girl he saved from getting hit by that truck, who has a crush on the protagonist's original self.

* ''{{The Fairly OddParents}}'': Timmy once accidentally wished himself into a girl, then using it to find out what present to get his crush, [[RichBitch Trixie]]. After becoming best friends with her under his assumed gender, he turns back into a boy, goes to the party and attempts to act sensitive. [[ResetButton He's promptly thrown out by security]].
** It should be noted that although Trixie had him thrown out, it looked as though she was genuinely touched by his attempt. She even remembered his name. Since he was only thrown out so she could maintain her reputation, one wonders how she would have responded if they had been alone... [[AxCrazy wait, nevermind.]]

Compare and contrast JumpingTheGenderBarrier and DroppedABridgetOnHim. Like most GenderBender tropes this is generally subject to the FirstLawOfGenderBending, but there are exceptions.

** It should be noted that although Trixie had him thrown out, it looked as though she was genuinely touched by his attempt. She even remembered his name. Since he was only thrown out so she could maintain her reputation, one wonders how she would have responded if they had been alone[[UnfortunateImplications ... wait...]]

* ''Gacha Gacha: Secret''

* ''Pretty Face''. Except here only the person's face is changed, not his entire gender, and his love interest mistakes him for her twin sister. But otherwise it fits.
* ''[[{{Kampfer}} Kämpfer]]'' spends a lot more time having fun with this than it does with the ostensible premise of the show.

Compare and contrast JumpingTheGenderBarrier and DroppedABridgetOnHim. Like most GenderBender tropes this is generally subject to MandysLawOfAnimeGenderBending, but there are exceptions.

->"But you are female."
->"So? I have always enjoyed the company of women, and being one myself removes a lot of social barriers."

'''Examples:'''

* ''[[{{Futaba Kun Change}} Futaba-Kun Change]]'' (Although in the end [[spoiler: Misaki finds out, accepts it, ''and'' finds a way to GenderBender ''herself'' in the same way to make herself a compatible mate to Futaba-Kun/Chan, similar to the Zerophilia example below.]])

* ''[[CuteXGuy CUTExGUY]]'' - One of the few cases of a girl-turned-guy becoming friends with her male crush.
* In ''{{Ichinensei ni Nacchattara}}'', the high-school protagonist gets hit by a truck after a DivingSave the day he planned to confess to his crush and is rebuilt as an elementary school girl by a lolicon scientist. His crush turns out to be the scientist's sister. He lives with them from then on--the sister unaware of his true identity--and does enjoy some pleasant situations from time to time, though he doesn't exploit his position as much as he could.
* ''Pretty Face'' (except here only the person's face is changed, not his entire gender, and his love interest mistakes him for her twin sister but otherwise it fits)
* The last book in Sean [=McMullan=]'s ''Greatwinter Trilogy'' has this happen to its [[ChivalrousPervert lovable letch]] John Glasken. Irony of ironies, he winds up enjoying girl-friendship more than hawt sechs, as shown in the page quote.
* This happened in ''The Zack Files'' once, except that the [[GenderBender genderbent]] character was trying to set the girl up with his friend, not with himself.
* One of the plots in the film {{Tootsie}}.
* ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'' inverts and subverts this in the first episode.

* ''TheFairlyOddParents'': Timmy once accidentally wished himself into a girl, then using it to find out what present to get his crush, [[RichBitch Trixie]]. After becoming best friends with her under his assumed gender, he turns back into a boy, goes to the party and attempts to act sensitive. [[ResetButton He's promptly thrown out by security]].
** It should be noted that although Trixie had him thrown out, it looked as though she was genuinely touched by his attempt. She even remembered his name. Since he was only thrown out so she could maintain her reputation, one wonders how she would have responded if they had been alone. [[UnfortunateImplications ...wait...]]
* In the now-discontinued french TV-series ''Vice Versa'', the main character Thomas sometimes uses his double Emmanuelle/Julia in order to get information on his crush.

* ''{{Kampfer}}'' spends a lot more time having fun with this than it does with the ostensible premise of the show.
* SabrinaTheTeenagedWitch did this deliberately with a spell to turn her into a boy so she could find out what her boyfriend talked about with his friends when girls weren't around.
* ''OrderOfTheStick'' has a WhatCouldHaveBeen example: originally, [[BaldBlackLeaderGuy Roy]] was going to use the [[ChekhovsGun Belt of Masculinity/Femininity]] to have some "girl talk" with [[KnightTemplar Miko]]. Burlew [[AvertedTrope decided against it]] this when he realized Miko wasn't quite fit for "lighthearted romantic comedy" situations.
* ''KashimashiGirlMeetsGirl'' anyone?

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