Nozomu Nozomi · review
A fairly interesting approach to the gender bender genre. It explores both the anxiety, angst and changes in mind and body of the character at all steps of the transformation ( except for the sudden gender bending ). The best aspect is how the psychological process is treated and how Nozomu evolves from a rowdy boy into the delicate Nozomi, seeing how Nozomu's mental process and worldview change ( with a little help from Nozomu's supporting imouto Kanae ). The art is good enough thugh nothing exceptional, it serves the purpose of the story and that's perfectly fine. The problem is the running of the manga: it's too freaking short. Not only that, but the story ends the moment it starts getting interesting from the psychological point and from we could possibly start seeing a development in the form of "OK, Nozomu accepted she is a female now with her full womanhood....where does she go from now?". We never get to see if Yusa ends up winning Nozomu's heart in the end ( besides Nozomu' s tsundere moment in the last page ) nor we see how Ide finding out Nozomu's secret and dealing with it. In that sense the manga ends up leaving a very frustating taste ( given how good the story is narrated ) and the sense of "this had potential to be something even greater".