W-Juliet

W-Juliet by Emura
14 volumes (complete)
Licensed by Viz

Topic: Shoujo

Summary:
When Amano Makoto transfers in, Miura Ito shows her around the high school and becomes her mentor in the drama club. Ito, though tall, athletic, and very boyish, is actually a girl - and Makoto, though beautiful, graceful, and feminine, is actually a boy! Ito just wears the boys' uniform because she's more comfortable in it, but because of a bargain with his father, Makoto must live the rest of his high school years as a girl or he will be forced to carry on the family business (a dojo) rather than be able to choose his own path (acting). The two of them have quite a variety of adventures as they try to keep Makoto's secret while going about their high school lives (including plays with the drama club, field trips, festivals, etc.) and occasionally trying to spend time together without Makoto's disguise.

Commentary:
As with most gender bending/masquerade mangas, you have to suspend a certain amount of disbelief and just enjoy the story and the characters. One of the big draws for me is that the two main characters so obviously know each other well, love each other, and actually ACT like they care about each other! Their adventures are fun (if sometimes pretty outrageous), the supporting characters are developed enough to be interesting, and it's just a great story. As a bonus, the art is very pretty and doesn't have the overly huge eyes so common to shoujo manga.

Rating: 9.0/10.0 -- Reviewer's Choice

-- Review submitted by Tofuqueen