My next review following the Gender Swap theme is Otoboku ~Maidens are Falling for me~
Mizuho is a very feminine looking male teenager who by virtue of his grandfather's last will, is requested to attend Seio Private Girl's Academy; to avoid the obvious problem of him being male, his childhood friend Mariya dresses him in the female uniform and teaches him how to act more like a lady, however things take an interesting turn when Mizuho gets nominated as the school's Older Sister, a title given to a figurehead student who promotes wisdom and virtue within the school which presents it's own problems including grabbing the unwanted attention of student council president Takako. Oh and this is originally a hentai game.
It maybe a hentai game originally but like Happy Lesson, when you take the adult content away you actually have a very charming story, if you showed anyone a still image from this anime you would have no idea that Mizuho is male, in fact just using the picture I got, try and find him; and that's kind of the point of his character.
Through just being himself, even in a female disguise he wins over the entire school just by being kind, thoughtful and understanding in every situation he's in, yeah inevitably the ending will always be him being discovered as a male it's kind of a guarantee with this genre but the ending doesn't feel bitter sweet as a result, and while the anime chose to focus on a love triangle developing between Mizuho, Mariya and Takako, the games take a look from the perspective of all the female characters and even the less focused ones in the anime get decent screen time.
There's no dub but it works better without it.
Now before I sign off on my conclusion I'd like to talk serious for a moment.
There are a few moments within Otoboku that struck a chord with me, mostly based around the subject of forcing to conform to a code based on someone's subjective opinion rather than the official rules. But looking at a character like Mizuho is a reminder that not all males are built to like sport and be strong, men can be kind and sensitive just as much as a woman can without losing any worth as a male, in fact Mizuho is a hero for putting his male pride second over the worth and feelings of a bunch of girls who would tear him to pieces the moment they discover he's male under that girl's uniform. Remember that he chose to do this because he loved and respected his family, granted he was androgynous looking enough to pass for a female with ease but it still takes a lot of courage to go through all that and succeed, in all scenarios Mizuho graduates and ends up with the girl that's picked and that's after he's revealed as male; in the end his closest female friends are shocked but ultimately don't care because he's changed their outlooks on life for the better, that is a strong male character and it's sad that there isn't more like him.
Final Verdict: For what was originally a hentai game, Otoboku manages to be a decent enough watch for any anime fan, it's just long enough to not out stay it's welcome and the characters don't easily fall into cliche traps that normally affect their archetype. It's not for everyone, the sudden chibis are distracting and the story does come off as weak but the stuff it does really well shines brightly.
