The story follows tomboy highschool student Ito Miura - female drama club president, she'll have you know- who befriends the mysterious and beautiful new transfer student Makoto Amano, or so she thinks. When Makoto gets dowsed by Ito's careless brother on an afterschool visit to the Miura house, Ito insists she take a shower in the house's bathroom to warm up so she doesn't get a cold. A few minutes later, she realizes that Makoto will need a towel, and decides to take one to her, only to get a rude surprise when she opens the bathroom door. Makoto is actually a man! In order to pursue his dream of becoming an actor rather than following his father into the family business, Makoto was ordered to finish highschool as a woman in order to prove that he really can be a great actor. His father reasons that any good actor could pull of the part. The condition is that if anyone finds out about his act, then he will be forced to go home and take over the family business. Ito decides to help Makoto rather than turn him in and the two immediately become close friends. The rest of the series revolves around the two of them trying desperately to hold it together while keeping Makoto's secret, trying to achieve their dream of becoming professional actors, and finding romance in the most unlikely place.
The kicker is that Ito would easily be mistaken for a man and Makoto for a woman. They occasionally play with this in the Manga, but only briefly.
High Points: Funny and sweet, you keep coming back for more. Every time you think they've used every possible situation that could compromise Makoto's secret, Emura throws a new one at you. Ito is a kick-ass woman and Makoto is charming, despite being disgustingly good at just about everything. We're getting to see more and more Makoto/Ito snuggle time, which is cute and good fluffy fun. Generally light, enjoyable entertainment.
Low Points: Unfortunately, the book has a somewhat sexist flavor that keeps it from being as good as it might be. There's some emphasis on Makoto being the protector and saving Ito from countless situations some of which she should have been able to escape herself. Also heavy emphasis on Ito's becoming more feminine and "womanly" which leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Give me back the tough tom-boy from book one! A few too many close saves also detract from the story, as it gets to be a little anticlimactic when they invoke Murphy's Law a few too many times. If you don't take it too seriously and account for the cultural influences that are in effect, these can be overlooked, but they still detract enough to subtract a star.
December: "W Juliet" - Emura
