by Eleanor Walker, Okazu Staff Writer

It’s always nice to see a new publisher enter the manga space, especially one whose first title is explicitly LGBT+. I Wanna Be Your Girl ,Volume 1 tells the story of two childhood friends, Hime and Akira. But when Akira comes out as trans before starting high school, headstrong and fiery Hime makes it her life’s mission to protect her best friend from the world. Only the world turns out to be a little more complicated and less black and white than Hime realises.

It’s so nice to read a manga where the teenage characters actually feel like real teenagers, but this one is just a little more personal to me than most. When I was in high school, I had a crush on someone who I thought was a boy, but she told me she was actually a girl. My reaction at that point was “huh, that’s a bit weird but ok” and still kept kissing her. Maybe I should have realised earlier on that I wasn’t straight… But having experienced something similar myself, I can believe Hime when she acts the way she does to try and protect Akira. She’s clearly madly in love with her and will do anything for her, and in a show of entirely well meaning solidarity, shows up to school in the boys’ uniform Akira’s parents bought for her. This however causes a new set of problems (Disclaimer: I am not trans but I am married to a trans woman and have many trans friends) Akira, like most trans people, just wants to get on with her life and not have people make a big deal about the fact she’s trans, and Hime is unintentionally shining a spotlight on her. The classroom erupts into chaos and their rather strict teacher yells at everyone to calm down and be quiet.

It seems though, that there is more to the teacher than first meets the eye. He sits Hime down for a talk one day, and it’s strongly suggested that he’s gone through something similar regarding identity in the past, but by the end of the volume Hime and Akira have even managed to make some friends in their class, and they struggle over which after school club to join together. Just normal teenager things.

I cannot recommend this series enough for queer/questioning/curious teenagers and those around them. I wish something like this had existed when I was this age.

Ratings: 

Story – 7
Art – 6. It’s nothing groundbreaking but it does the job.
Characters – 8
Service – n/a
LGBTQ — 10

Overall – 8 but probably 9 if you’re a confused teenager looking for something to relate to.