This was too cute!! A sweet shoujo manga following two girls, one who is trans and the other who is realizing she is in love with the first. It packed a lot of emotional growth in just a few chapters, I never felt bored! I read the Ink Pop edition from RH Graphic, thank you so much to NetGalley for the ARC!

If you're looking for trans positive manga and comics, here it is! Hime has been best friends with Akira for a long time and always saw Akira as a girl after she confided that to her. Now the two are in high school and Akira is the girl she always wanted to be. When the first day goes badly, Hime jumps in with anger and decides to wear Akira's cast off boy uniform because she thinks making a statement is helping. This book handles nuances of being trans in a culture that doesn't get it while also being a typical romance manga. Acceptance comes for Akira and Hime starts to realize how important Akira is to her.

Solid title for LGTBQ+ manga collections. Really happy to see more titles like this hitting the market now.

This was a surprisingly cute and sensitive story about the relationship between a trans girl and her... probably cis girl? Possibly genderqueer or genderquestioning? best friend, who may be going a little overboard in trying to protect her from their classmates. I was expecting a very preachy afterschool special-style "trans people are people too" story but this went in a different direction, which I appreciated. I'll keep an eye out for the next book in the series!

This is such a sweet series so far. Hime is rough around the edges but well-intentioned and protective of Akira. Volume 1 spends a lot of time exploring this aspect of Hime as she tries to be supportive of Akira's transition but sometimes misses the mark in her rush to defend Akira. The art style features some great, over-the-top reaction images and facial expressions, and the additional supporting characters introduced in Volume 1 are well done and bring their own approaches to supporting Akira. I especially enjoy the moments of joy on Akira's face when she experiences typical high school girl get togethers and activities for the first time with Hime and new friends. Looking forward to Volume 2!

Hime has long held feelings for her friend Akira, and her overzealous nature causes her to explode at people who mean her harm. When Akira decides to enter high school as an out trans girl, Hime does everything she can to defend her, even when she doesn't necessarily want it. In this first volume, Hime and Akira navigate the first several weeks of high school, make new friends, and discover new clubs. This is a promising start to a fun slice-of-life story about navigating gender and relationships in high school.

I was a bit skeptical when I saw that this title was on the children's imprint of the publisher, but after reading it, that classification is reasonable. Identity doesn't have to be something deep or complicated, in Akira's case, it's just who she is. Hime is trying to be supportive, as she always has been since they were children, but with this significant change, Hime has to sort out if she's really on the defensive for Akira's sake, or is it for herself? This is indeed a family-friendly title, and has a promising set up for the next volume.

I'm a bit undecided on how I feel about this book's portrayal of the trans and LGBTQ+ communities. I think it does realistically show the many social obstacles that come up for trans folks who are beginning the transitioning process (esp. considering how this would influence more gendered societies with language, uniforms, etc) and I appreciate the intended allyship of the main character. I also did find some parts a little problematic; it seems like there is some internalized homophobia that might be coming up from the MC in future volumes and I also felt like the MC deciding to wear a boys uniform to support her transitioning friend (who was wearing the girls uniform) might actually have the opposite effect in reality (i.e. I think clothing shouldn't be gendered in the first place, but the MC also switching uniforms when she doesn't actually identify as a male felt counter to the message intended when her friend switched uniforms). I was excited for the trans and LGBTQ+ representation in this new manga series, but I'm not sure that this is a series I would continue reading given some of the problematic representation in this first volume.

This manga is about a girl named Hime who has a childhood friend named Akira that she's secretly been in love with for a while. Akira admits to Hime that she's actually not a boy, but a girl. For a while this is a secret shared between them but at the start of secondary school Akira decides to come out by wearing a girl's uniform to school. The story navigates their school experiences combined with them growing as individuals and processing their emotions.

I have a hard time with Hime, as she's confrontational and likes to jump to conclusions. The story started off in a way that made me lose interest quickly, but I stuck with it and can say that the direction it's heading in by the end of the volume is one that ended up piquing my interest.

This is such a lovely manga. The art style is a motive and vocative. The storyline explores what it means to support the people you love, unwaveringly, and also how to learn to be yourself. I loved the characters and look forward to seeing where this series goes.

I was given a copy of this manga to read by net Galley and exchange for an honest opinion.

A sweet story with straightforward and open characters. Everyone is so forthright in this book! I found it refreshing how protective and supportive Hime is of Akira, and the side characters that were introduced are interesting and bring a fun dynamic to the group. The topic of identity is handled really sensitively and well, and I can see plenty of potential for strong development in the cast of characters.

I Wanna Be Your Girl by Umi Takase
This is a manga about a girl's struggle with her best friend's transition.

Akira and Hime have been best friends since they were very little. For years, Hime has been crushing on Akira. But when they are 12, Akira tells Hime they feel more like a girl. Hime is surprised but immediately understanding and suggests they start using more feminine pronouns.

We see, three years later, Hime and Akira are starting high school, and Hime is supportive of Akira, who is now going to start living as a girl and wearing a girls uniform to school. Akira is immediately called out, and Hime comes to her rescue, scolding the teacher and other children for criticizing her. Hime also decides to wear a boys uniform in solidarity with Akira.
The two meet Taneno, a girl who thinks Akira is cute. Hime is skeptical of Taneno offering her friendship. But Hime has to learn that she can't always come to Akira's rescue. She does some self reflecting and realizes she needs to consider Akira's feelings and let her handle her own issues. Hime also realizes she is still struggling with crushing on her best friend, but she understands she is a girl and doesn't know what that means about her. It's interesting to see Hime's self reflecting.

The story isn't so much about Akira and her transition as much as it's about Hime learning to deal with her emotions and be a supportive friend while someone close to her transitions. It's an interesting look at a point of view that I hadn't really thought about much before. I definitely want to keep reading this series and see where Hime and Akira and their friendship ends up.

I Wanna Be Your Girl is a beautiful story of a trans girl, Akira, finally coming out and living life as a girl at her new high school. Her best friend Hime, who's been secretly in love with her since childhood, acts as Akira's protector and in trying to prevent further bullying starts dressing as a boy in support of Akira.
This book was an extremely heartwarming and it often had me kicking my little feeties as I was reading it. I not only will be suggesting my library to pick this series up, but I'll also be personally purchasing the series and continuing on as more volumes are translated. I've not seen personally many trans stories come out of Japan so far, with this being my first exposure, but it was such a fantastic read and has me excited for future volumes!

This is such an interesting concept for a manga series and I'm very excited to read more. All of the characters feel distinct and important to the narrative. I'm most excited for our POV character's exploration of both their sexuality and own gender identity. They've spent so long focused on their friend/crush that now that we're seeing some introspection it's clear there's a lot more going on inside. The artwork was also consistent, and the length was about what I expect from a manga volume. Great first volume, I hope the series continues at this level.

Incredible concept for a manga and I hope we see more queer coming of age stories like this.

While I loved the concept Hime was very hard to like as a character. She is just constantly angry and yells at everyone which was very annoying after the 3rd time. I wish the book focused more on Akira but I did like how it was focused on Allyship. I will say there was really good character development Hime did get better as it went on/

I will continue with the series if given the opportunity since I am interested in seeing how much more these characters can grow.

I am still getting used to the format of mangas as I am pretty new to the manga world, but this was a really unique coming of age and queer story. I loved the character dynamic between Hime and Akira, and the way Akira is so proudly herself, but it was Hime's journey through the book that was most intriguing. Going from a very reactionary, scared girl, and coming into herself, learning to listen more, and hear out the people around her instead of always assuming the worst in them. This was a really refreshing coming out story. The art style was beautiful on this manga, and I loved the unique look of each character.

I wanna Be Your Girl by Umi Takase is a heartfelt story of two childhood friends facing high school as one of them begins her transition into a girl. It tackles the subject with grace and tact but still manages to have conflict an humor without belaboring the point. A small amount of finesse is lost in the translation from its original form, but not enough to detract form the story. There are also very helpful cultural and translation notes included in this publication that help to keep the integrity of the message across the language barrier. Overall, this translation into English was done quite well and the story is worth a read.

A manga featuring a trans main character? My expectations were on the floor for this one, but I was still hopeful enough to give it a go. The world needs more diverse manga out there that actually respects the characters and doesn't make them the butt of the joke. Akira is no joke, but Hime sure seems like it. This first volume felt a little bit all over the place with Hime jumping down anyone and everyone's throats about Akira being trans. She is taking allyship to an extreme to the point it almost feels like a complete swing from one caricature to another, so I don't really know how to feel about this series. I'm interested in seeing how the story plays out in further volumes to see if the pacing will settle in and let the story and characters breathe and grow. It's definitely worth a read and will get put on my list of queer manga recommendations.

This is a queer coming-of-age manga. I have never seen anything like this before and I adore the concept. I think some parts are heavy-handed (and maybe they need to be). The only thing I didn't enjoy was how much anger Hime had, but I guess she's a teen so I get it. I want to see more plot. The girls didn't do much in this volume. There was no goal and no motive. I am definitely giving this another chance in the second volume because of the uniqueness of the topic!

I fully support a coming-of-age manga about a trans girl! I hope to see more books like this in the future.

The set up for this manga is wonderful and I love having a trans main character, but I found Hime a little annoying especially in the beginning. I know she's young and also dealing with her first crush but I hope we see a lot of character growth from her in the future. Also I wish this was from Akira's POV since this should be her story but instead this is more Hime's story.

I Wanna Be Your Girl follows two highschool students, Akira who considers herself a girl and Hime who is her closest friend. Akira takes the step of wearing a girl's uniforms and after getting questions and comments not understanding gender, Hime wears a male uniform as a way to protect Akira. The two explore gender, friendship, and learn about each other in these important years and I cannot wait to continue reading this series.