Gender-bending is common in shojo, but most of the time its done to fulfill or complicate romantic plotlines. In Not Your Idol, from mangaka Aoi Makino, we get a unique series that blends high school drama with psychological suspense. Published in English by VIZ Media under their Shojobeat imprint, Not Your Idol is a series about a girl who has given up her life as an idol after being assaulted by a fan. After that day, she tried to stop being a girl.

There is a lot to unpack in this debut volume and Not Your Idol doesn’t shy away from looking at the dangerous world that idols, particularly female idols have to face. In the wake of an assault, Nina Kamiyama, a former idol in the group Pure Club, shuns her femininity and starts dressing as a boy. At high school she keeps to herself, turning away from her idol persona as Ren-Ren and going by a new name. But, fellow student Hikaru Horiuchi realizes who she is and in typical shojo high school style, drama ensues.

Not Your Idol Volume 1 is heavy. It’s not uncommon to see attackers popping up in shojo or josei to push two characters together. Instead of using that trope, we see Nina living through her trauma and experiencing PTSD episodes when someone comes around a corner too quickly or she sees Pure Club on the television. Additionally, Nina confronts her slut-shaming male classmates who mock the situation of another girl almost being assaulted and blame her for it happening. What comes from this exchange is a very clear message, your skirt is not the invitation to be violated. It is not your fault.

That said, the message is present in the reality of teenage life for many girls and young women learning to deal with harassment in a world that blames them for it. Standing up for someone doesn’t always make you a hero in their eyes when society would rather ignore the problem. Watching Nina stand up for her classmate is a moment of triumph for the reader. But the students around her, even the girls, chide her for pushing back against the popular boy and pushing back against his victim-blaming. To her classmates, Nina is taking things too seriously simply because her classmate’s harassment wasn’t “that bad.” While this ostracizes her further from her classmates, compounded by her choice to dress like a boy, it also brings her directly into Hikaru’s path. To put it simply, Hikaru seems like one of the good ones.

Not Your Idol
There is an authenticity to Not Your Idol that balances the message that it’s okay to be a girl and “it’s not your fault” with the reality of rape culture. The volume directly confronts the way respectable women and girls gain attention while those wanting to be safe are represented as the enemy. It’s a hard line to walk, to make sure the right message is conveyed, but Makino does it by centering two characters who are pushing those around them to be better than just be silent.

Some of the dialogue is frustratingly basic and doesn’t come off as natural. However, I’m unsure if this is a translation issue, something I’m used to from a history of reading scans, or if it’s just bad writing. Specifically, in some of the moments of genuine teenage interaction, the dialogues sound more like what someone thinks a teen would say, coming off as a little forced. These conversations break up the pacing of the volume but again, as an avid manga reader and anime watcher, sometimes these dialogue issues happen in translation and it’s hard to know where to place onus.

That said, the more emotional moments of the story in Not Your Idol Volume 1 are well written and make the reader feel the fear and stress that Nina is under. While Nina may be falling for Hikaru, there is hesitation and fear, something she can’t put away even though he is doing everything right to make her feel safe. This is where the volume shines, specifically when coupled with Makino’s art style. Between the art and narrative, Makino is able to transition seamlessly from present to the past during flashbacks of Nina’s attack at a handshake event. Finally, the climactic ending makes me wish that there was a shojo equivalent of Shonen Jump, because I don’t know how long I can wait for this arc’s conclusion.

Not Your Idol Volume 1 is a powerful and standout series debut. It tackles real-world issues with a flare that only shojo can bring to the conversation. While it isn’t perfect, it is a strong example of the powerful conversations around harassment that can help many teens move through a world that discredits their experiences.

Not Your Idol is available where books are sold in both digital and physical copies May 5, 2020.

This manga was extremely hard to read, but it was very important. The story is relevant to today’s times, and also addresses life as an idol, which is very strict. I do recommend this manga, and hope teens and parents have a discussion about what the story expressed.

I received an e-copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

The beginning of the story was really strong and I loved the fact that it did cover some serious topics as well. However I did feel like the story got a bit confusing towards the end and I was a bit lost on some pages as to who was talking and what exactly was going on. I felt like things bounced around a bit and it wasn't always clear as to what was happening. But overall the story was really good and I liked the reveal at the end of the story.

At the end of the manga you are left wondering if things are exactly what they say they are or are things still left unsure? The end does not have a clear resolution to the plot and you would need to continue on in the series to find out if the predictions are correct. As a single book I would say the story arc was pretty solid and I liked the direction that it took but I would like to have had a bit more of a resolution for the arc presented. I didn't feel overly connected to the characters and I'm unsure if I will want to continue on with the series as it was just kind of a middle of the road story and didn't feel a major drive to continue even when I was reading.

Wow! Once I started this magna, I could not put it down. Loved the suspense throughout this story. I cannot wait for Vol. 2!

I'm not so sure how I feel about this book. While I loved the illustrations and the fact that I got to delve into a manga, the topic that the book deals with is a little sensitive. This book is not for everyone--it deals about assault against females.

SPOILER ALERT:

In the book, there is an idol (superstar pop star) that gets assaulted at a handshake event (sort of like a meet and greet event here in the U.S.). From there, she becomes terrified of being in the public eye. She's scared that since her assailant is out there, he will strike again. Therefore, she gives into fear, moves to another city, and completely changes up her look. She resembles a boy and makes friends with a fellow classmate. That classmate, a boy, is able to realize her secret and calls her out on it. Long story short, an ex-group member cautions her against this classmate for she thinks it's her assailant since he's the only one that recognized who she really was. In the end, the idol seems to fall in love with him and doesn't care that he potentially was her assailant...

The book ended a little too abruptly for me. I wish I would have been able to read more to see if that could have changed my feelings towards the book.

If you love manga and drawings, this book is for you. However, if you've been a victim, this book may potentially trigger you. Read with caution.

A darker read and a little disturbing. Karen use to head a very popular girl band until she was attacked by a fan at a meet and greet. She goes into hiding and disguises herself as a boy at a new school. Girls in the area start getting attacked and new measures, like women only train cars, are put into place. Karen is forced to face her fears and must come to terms with what happened to her.
I found that by bringing to light the every day things that girls and women have to deal with, the reader is forced to acknowledge that there is a problem and that something needs to be done about it. There are some very dark themes here, some overt and some subtle, but all are very striking. I’m curious as to what happens next with Karen as that ending left me wanting more. I look forward to what happens next and enjoyed how such mature themes were handled. Well done.

“Not Your Idol” is “Not My Normal Kind of Manga”, so, with that in mind, my opinions and comparisons are possibly going to be a little outside of what this books’ target audience is used to.

Not Your Idol follows Nina Kamiyama, formerly “Ren-Ren” of the Pure Club idol group. Nina chose to give up the Idol lifestyle after being assaulted at knifepoint by a fan and the manga covers her attempts at shedding her previous life under her new identity but also with coping both with being discovered and with the trauma she is faced within a book that tackles some surprisingly deep themes.

I found it hard not to think of a few things whilst reading this volume, the most prominent being that of Satoshi Kon’s “Perfect Blue” (which if you haven’t seen, you really should change that), which covers similar themes of a young woman dealing with the fallout of being in a pop group and fans who take things too far, though, in Perfect Blue, the themes are much more adult. That’s not to say that Not Your Idol doesn’t deal with adult themes, it’s just not quite as gratuitous as Perfect Blue. Whereas Satoshi Kon’s anime deals with a woman trying to find her identity and work, Makino’s manga tackles what it is to be female and other people’s perceptions of how women should present themselves. In short, it tries to broach the conversation (well… its not really a conversation) surrounding how a woman dresses and how her behaviour “allows” men to behave in certain ways.

Due to its high school setting, it’s easy for the manga to try and deal with this in very black or white methods, the characters emotions and thinking aren’t as fully developed as if we were dealing with an older cast, and as such the discussion mostly revolves around boys being disgusting and girls “asking for it” because they wear short skirts, whilst Kamiyama is ostracised due to her choice of wearing trousers to school and having short hair (an attempt to distance herself from her past and disguise her identity).

It’s not just female appearance that’s tackled here, however, as the main male character, Hikari, who studies judo, believes that he’s not muscular enough and carries bodybuilding magazines around with him. All of this in the first volume gives a strong impression, though it’s not without its problems, pages can look a little cluttered with dialogue boxes, whilst said dialogue can often be pretty basic and rather clumsy. All the key characters are fairly typical in their appearance too, Kamiyma, in particular, reminds me of Naoto from Persona 4, with there being some fairly obvious comparisons between the two.

This was so good!!

Thank you to Netgalley and VIZ Media for this review copy in exchange for my unbiased thoughts. This was very surprising considering the last few manga I have read were full of girls being objects for boys to gawk at but in a way that clearly was purposeful... like that was the basis of the storyline. Girls who want to be a certain way for boys and boys who see girls as these soft, simple things for them to protect. This was no girl looking for her “prince.” This was so different!

There was real pain and torment in this one and I found it very realistic, sadly. I will continue the series.

I really loved the first two chapters of this book that fought over female body image and the right to exist in a public space without having to apologize for dress or demeanor. However, the third/final. chapter was frustrating. It basically forgives a possible attacker after preaching protection and the female confidence/respect. I cannot condone a book that, once again, pushes a male romantic lead who could potentially be a violent sadist.

An enjoyable manga with some important themes, topics and views. on fame, sexism and trust.
It ended on a very interesting note and I'm looking forward to see where this story goes.

This could've been really good but it was so...bad. I could see where they were going with this but they really overdid it constantly. Half of the time, all of the people promoting rape culture weren't challenged. And when they were, they never learned their lesson. I also really really didn't like the ending. If the second volume goes where I think it's going to go, I'm going to be very mad. This wasn't worth reading.

Right off the bat, Not Your Idol is going to be triggering for some people. That said, the series seems to be handled well and I'm very interested to see where it goes. Definitely suggested for libraries where other more psychological Shojo Beat series are popular.

This is a really fun first volume in this manga. The characters are well-developed as is the world. We are given all the background information we need in a smooth and slow manner so it never feels like the information is being dumped on us. I really like the illustrations too, and I am really intrigued for the next volume!

Amazing graphic novel. Would highly recommend. Very detailed in the story as well as the details in the drawing. You felt draw into this novel.

2.5 stars - This manga started off so good and I wish I hadn't read the last 10% of the novel and it just ended right before that. I really enjoyed the discussion surrounding rape culture and misogyny (especially its prevalence surrounding idol culture in Japan). I am always a sucker for "girl in boy's clothes" trope, so I was super into the synopsis of this book, and the beginning of this book reigned true to what I had thought. I didn't realize the manga was a thriller, so maybe this is my own fault, but I absolutely hated where this went and I am super disappointed by it. A spoiler for the novel's ending but I really don't like that it is heavily implied that Kamiyama's assaulter is the boy she was opening up to the entire book. Even if it turns out not to be him, I cannot jive with the idea that it is him (that he had a good reason for doing what he did, that it wasn't as Kamiyama remembers it). On top of it all, when there is definitive proof that he at least could very well be the assaulter (photos and everything!), she runs away with him because he was a nice boy to her??? I am really uncomfortable with what implies and even if the story does not go the way I think it does in later volumes, I don't think this kind of plot works well in a serialized story. Thrillers work as one novel because you have that closure. With a manga format, there isn't that sense of relief. This could have done wonders for the discussion, but the ending really left me defeated.

Karen used to be the lead in an idol group (celebrities that cater to fans and are very feminine in their dress and manner), but after an attack by a fan, she quits. Now, anonymize game herself with a drastic haircut and the boy uniform at school, she is hoping to lead a normal life. It she can’t get the attack out of her memory. Exacerbating that anxiety is the fact that there is a lot of misogyny from the guys at school and from society in her new town. But one guy seems different; he doesn’t do the macho-talk that belittles women... and Karen finds herself falling for him. But will her past experience prevent her from making any moves towards a relationship with him? Especially when her attacker was never found and there is a rise in groping???

This manga is slightly confusing. I know I missed a ton of subtle stuff, but I got the gist of this series opener. And while I was horrified at first by the misogyny, it was soon replaced by the understanding that this series is going to focus on defeating that kind of talk and behavior. It’s like the opposite of fan service! I have high hopes for the following volumes!

Wasn’t able to access file. Let publisher know. Of the difficulty. Unable to review book due to being unable to open file. Netgalley requires a Star rating - will give a 3 so that can close review but again, be aware that I was not able to access this title.

It's hard to say what we'd do in the aftermath of a life-altering situation.  So, when Karen, the most popular member of an all-girl group is nearly killed at a handshake event, she decides that not being an idol any longer is the safest and smartest thing to do.  Would I have done the same?  I can't say, but it'd definitely be appealing to return to anonymity.  

She's so affected by the assault that she takes a new name and completely changes her appearance.  First, she cuts her hair, then forgoes any and all girly clothes and accessories, basically morphing into a young man in both looks and dress.  It's a type of psychological armor for her, since she believes it happened because she was a girl.  

Hikaru is one of Karen's - now Nina Kaiyama - classmates.  His younger sister is a huge fan of Pure Club and idolized Karen.  So, it wasn't a surprise that he knew who she was despite all her attempts to hide her identity.  It's obvious that he genuinely likes her and wants to be her friend.  But, due to her past, she's too afraid to trust him.  To his credit, he keeps trying and I don't think he's going to give up on her anytime soon.  

Honestly, from what I've read so far, Hikaru seems like the only decent guy in the entire school.  The rest are all sexist idiots, making comments about the girls' bodies and clothing.  Not to mention all the talk of 'asking for it' and the usual gross conversation that happens whenever a woman is assaulted.  It really bothered me reading it, but when Nina steps up and puts them in their place for victim blaming, I understood why it was done. 

Volume one presents the story in an upfront and straightforward manner.  I appreciate how the subject has been treated, even showing how often assault victims are treated in the aftermath.  Talk of false accusations and victim blaming included, which is important, honestly, because anyone who has gone through anything like this can relate and needs to know that there are people that will believe them and help them.  I'm excited to see where the next volume takes us because I'm hooked.

This was my first ever manga, so I was not quite sure what to expect. I think it will require me to read quite a few more before becoming an effective reviewer of the genre, what I liked was that it reminded me of Asian dramas I like to watch. I liked the funnier moments a lot. It's a bit hard to read it like this on the screen in a rather poor resolution though and very often the text is hardly legible because it gets pixilated.

Equal parts excited and nervous to embark on the journey of my first Manga ARC, I tentatively added "Not Your Idol vol. 1" to the list of my top anticipated releases for 2020.

After all, the book sounded right up my alley, following the story of a formal idol star who has dropped out of her group and started dressing like a boy after being assaulted. 

This manga has some pretty straightforward themes about the pressures and difficulties too often associated with womanhood, but also about the hardships female idols must face.

There are a lot of great topics addressed in this book and every single one was handled, in all honesty, a lot better than I expected a Manga to handle them. The takeaways may be a little heavy-handed and obvious at times, but I didn’t mind. I don’t really expect this type of format to be subtle. 

Not only that, but this book was full of psychological suspense which is marvelously mirrored in the somewhat unnerving formatting of its frames throughout. There are some incredibly shocking turns that I truly did not see coming and I caught myself gasping out loud more than once (something that I don't often do, for the record). The pacing was pristine, intersecting feel-good friendship moments with doubt, drama, and occasionally outright horror, right when readers start to get too comfortable. 

Everything I could want in a manga! Sign me up for the second volume...now!

I rated "Not Your Idol Vol. 1" 5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and Viz Media for an early copy in exchange for an honest review!