While this manga is lacking a narrative 'umph', and instead meanders around mundane dramas, events and character interactions, I'm all about that slice-of-life stuff, so this was in my alley. There can't be a good slice of life work without great characters, and the characters here are really great, they are well developed and rather complex. Now here's my warning. This work deals heavily with gender-blender narratives. While I really don't mind it all too much usually and I'm up for interesting works that depict different gender and sexual identities, this work kind of went beyond what I could stomach and I had to dropthis about 70 chapters in. Now it's not anything too screwed up visually or thematically, but this manga will certainly attempt to confuse your personal ideas on the boundaries between male-female gender (as it did with me) through characters that frequently change their genders and admitting their birth and changed genders frequently.

My issue isn't the gender-switching or the fact a girl is actually a boy but acts like a girl. In fact, I think this manga deals with gender identity in a very interesting and rather nuanced manner, allowing the gender-changed characters to be as... people who chase their goals of friendship or romance rather than as superficial mouthpieces for pride identity. My main issue here is with how casually the manga and the characters treat gender change. Now, gender change in real life is a really big thing that requires surgical and hormonal medication/therapy. So while it certainly is liberating in terms of gender construction, it is quite odd for me to see the transformation pushed in such a casual and perhaps oversimplified manner.

I don't know... Maybe I'm thinking too hard about this, this is just a fantasy story after all. Still. I guess there is a societal barrier of sorts I must overcome before I can truly enjoy this.