Oct 19, 2021
In the vein of manga like Hourou Musuko or Shishunki Bitter Change, Ore ga Watashi ni Naru made attempts to tell a serious story grappling with gender dysphoria, but approaches the subject sort of in reverse. Our main character is Akira, whose physical sex changes in elementary school, and we follow them as they come to appreciate the changes and find that their identity wasn't quite what they thought. It's essentially a trans coming-of-age tale with the biggest roadblocks already removed.
From the beginning, Orewata catapults recklessly into the plot. It's not uncommon for these sort of stories to feature the Big Change™ in the first
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chapters, but this one wastes so little time and executes it so poorly that it felt like reading the intro to a one-shot eromanga. Combined with the very mediocre art early on, I was very close to putting it down as quickly as I'd started it.
Much like its main character, however, Orewata does grow into its own somewhat. The story progresses briskly through Akira's school years, with drama mainly centering on how they navigate physical changes, friendships, upended societal expectations, and other life challenges. The usual fare is present, all the way down to the Rose of Versailles class play and other stock scenes.
But these scenes unfortunately feel pretty lacking here. The character conflict is pretty shallow, and a lot of Akira's internal conflict just boils down to them struggling with gender roles. There are some nice, heartwarming moments, but not much more than that. Were it not for the very jarring early scenes, I would assume that was essentially what the author was going for—a Trans Lite™ story with more good vibes than the roller coaster of emotions and pain that dysphoria normally brings. It seems to be aiming for more, though, and I can't help but feel underwhelmed.
Ultimately, it's an okay read. Just okay. If you're specifically looking for a story like this in the first place, you'll probably get something out of it, but I wouldn't really recommend it to anybody otherwise. I honestly hate having to write this review, because more earnest attempts at dealing with this subject matter in Japanese media are sorely needed amidst the sea of lowbrow comedy and fetishistic romance. But Orewata is just far too derivative and lacks the quality of writing needed to really stand on its own merit.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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