My Girlfriend is a T-Rex (Japanese: T-REXな彼女, T-REX na Kanojo) is a slice of life manga by Sanzo (kanji:三三) that started out on Pixiv — much like another manga series revolving around monstrous girls — about a young man named Yuuma Asahikawa who falls for a homeless girl named Churio. Churio just so happens to be a Tyrannosaurus rex, which isn't all that strange in the world of this manga, where dinosaurs continued to evolve into dinosaur/human hybrids in order to adapt and live alongside humans instead of going extinct. Dispite the title, Yuuma and Churio aren't actually dating (yet), though they both have obvious feelings for each other. Blatantly obvious feelings. Title-of-the-manga obvious.
Yuuma is the nicest guy, always greeting every person and situation with the same "lame smile," even when he's attacked by a ferocious T. rex that stalks the streets at night looking for food. Churio is that T. rex, and is as tsundere as she is stupid, proud, and ferocious combined. Despite the odd way in which they met, Yuuma begins to develop feelings for Churio and goes out of his way to help Churio whenever he can, going so far as to give her food, clothes, shelter from the elements, and taking her to the hospital when she develops a bad cold. While Churio certainly starts to like the boy that gave her ice cream and nursed her pride, she doesn't develop romantic feelings for him for a few more chapters.
Together, they live in a world of humans and dinosaur-humans (often just called "dinosaurs") who have human heads and torsos - with the occasional odd feature, like scales, feathers, horns, spikes, or fangs - and are large bipedal reptiles everywhere else, sporting all manner of features, depending on their species. For instance, Churio is a T. rex; she has two-clawed hands, massive clawed feet, and spines going down her back to the tip of her tail. She's also incredibly strong and durable - an often dangerous combination with her size, rampant emotions, glaring stupidity, and a somewhat careless approach to how fragile the world and humans are that seems to be shared among dinosaurs (and generally a source of comedic value).
They're occasionally joined by Churio's friend since childhood, Trica, a Velociraptor obsessed with jewels, clothes, and shopping; Yuuma's fellow human classmate, Numano, who acts as both the straight man and a foil to Yuuma's always cheerful attitude; Hiroya Kagashima, a former underclassman to Yuuma who serves as the butt monkey when other humans aren't; Nowol, a precocious, two-faced pterosaur child who can't fly; and Kram, a lonesome Ankylosaurus who has trouble communicating and can't emote due to her ancestors' facial armor.
The manga ran in Gene Pixiv from 2014 to 2015, and was compiled into two volumes. It was licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment for English audiences.
Provides Examples Of:
- Acrophobic Bird: Nowol is an acrophobic pterosaur. Granted given how he's expected to learn how to fly (by basically being forced to jump off a cliff), this isn't surprising.
- Alternate-History Dinosaur Survival: In this world, dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles survived extinction by developing human-like features.
- Big Ball of Violence: Happens between Churio and another female carnivorous dinosaur (presumably an Allosaurus due to her horns and three-fingered hands) in Chapter 6.
- Deliberately Cute Child: Nowol tries to manipulate adults into trusting him by acting cute and innocent, but is actually a rotten little brat.
- Ecchi: Surprisingly enough, mostly averted.
- Face of a Thug: Kram has a perpetual frown and Death Glare due to her species having their facial muscles stiffened by armor.
- Love at First Sight: Played with when Kageshima meets Trica; he's enamored by her, but she barely even remembers who he is whenever they meet. (Though it's later implied she's starting to return his feelings)
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Yuuma apparently dished out one of these to 70 thugs before the series began. He gives one to Kageshima off-screen early on, as well.
- One-Man Army: Yuuma once beat up 70 thugs, sending them to the hospital. It catches Kageshima by complete surprise to see him so calm when they meet again.
- Raptor Attack: Trica, though for the same reason as Nowol, her inaccuracies understandable. She at least has some plumage, including wings on her arms.
- Stock Animal Diet: Plenty; Tyrannosaurus rex and Allosaurus, unsurprisingly, are shown to be fond of meat, while pterosaurs are shown with a liking for dried fish.
- Too Dumb to Live:
- Kageshima insults Churio in front of Yuuma.
- Nowol avoids this fate after realizing that Yuuma, not Churio, is the dangerous one.
- Tsundere: Churio falls to this category somewhat.
- Unfazed Everyman: Yuuma rarely changes his expression throughout the series. If he drops his smile, it's either for a joke, he's about to lay down a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on someone.
- When She Smiles: Kram pulls one when she shows that she can, in fact, emote. However, it causes so much pain due to her facial armor plates that she can't so much as talk for a long time afterward.
- Winged Humanoid: The pterosaurs and raptors are a rare case of these with wings on their arms rather than their backs, though the raptors are flightless.
