I must first address an unfortunate impression that the PV and opening scene have given to some: yes, this is about a tomboy who tries to become more feminine to win over a boy, but all along it shows how trying to go against her temperament is doomed to fail, and ultimately the problem isn't her boyish looks or attitude. The manga's author likes women outside of Japan's usual romantic archetypes, and being published first as a webcomic may have helped him avoid editorial pressure to cater to stereotypes.
The cast of the manga is hardly realistic or subtle, but they are likeable, lively and with enough depth for this sort of story. The art is small and monochrome, but also delicate and expressive, brining them to life. It's mostly light comedy with dramatic junctures, and they both work. If it has a flaw, it's the pacing, too often feeling stretched out with lame gags. (And with more time spent on yuri subtext than the actual canon couples.)
The anime sticks quite closely, though the early episodes struggle to recreate the endearing character art. Visually it's never remarkable, more like a stage play than animation used to its full potential, though it does have some good fistfights between our protagonists. The original voice acting is great, the English dub , and the French one is fine. It condenses and rearranges the story and gives it a proper climax. Most of what was cut was the filler and the more obnoxious jokes, but there is one curious exception: a flashback scene that gave new context to Tomo and Jun's difficult friendship. This may have been omitted to move away from the fallacy of relationships being shaped by a single conversation, and it's not needed to see why they ended up so, but I liked it for making it entirely clear that not being girly was never the problem. So I recommend anime watchers to read pages (chapters) 705 to 719 of the manga.
It's no great work, but it's a love comedy without the usual clichés and gender norms of the genre, and the best handling I know of the weirdly specific recurring plot of the Dojo heiress who wants to explore her femininity.
Manga A celebration of unconventional beauty
I must first address an unfortunate impression that the PV and opening scene have given to some: yes, this is about a tomboy who tries to become more feminine to win over a boy, but all along it shows how trying to go against her temperament is doomed to fail, and ultimately the problem isn't her boyish looks or attitude. The manga's author likes women outside of Japan's usual romantic archetypes, and being published first as a webcomic may have helped him avoid editorial pressure to cater to stereotypes.
The cast of the manga is hardly realistic or subtle, but they are likeable, lively and with enough depth for this sort of story. The art is small and monochrome, but also delicate and expressive, brining them to life. It's mostly light comedy with dramatic junctures, and they both work. If it has a flaw, it's the pacing, too often feeling stretched out with lame gags. (And with more time spent on yuri subtext than the actual canon couples.)
The anime sticks quite closely, though the early episodes struggle to recreate the endearing character art. Visually it's never remarkable, more like a stage play than animation used to its full potential, though it does have some good fistfights between our protagonists. The original voice acting is great, the English dub , and the French one is fine. It condenses and rearranges the story and gives it a proper climax. Most of what was cut was the filler and the more obnoxious jokes, but there is one curious exception: a flashback scene that gave new context to Tomo and Jun's difficult friendship. This may have been omitted to move away from the fallacy of relationships being shaped by a single conversation, and it's not needed to see why they ended up so, but I liked it for making it entirely clear that not being girly was never the problem. So I recommend anime watchers to read pages (chapters) 705 to 719 of the manga.
It's no great work, but it's a love comedy without the usual clichés and gender norms of the genre, and the best handling I know of the weirdly specific recurring plot of the Dojo heiress who wants to explore her femininity.