Pumpkin Time

[bakkoi]

FINALLY, took long enough for her to say it

 

[Railgunmk7]

It didn't have genderbend vibe at all, i was tricked into reading a full-on shoujo manga.
But somehow i enjoyed it.

 

[Xaelath]

@Kontonkitsune
It's not exactly from Japan so it's not exactly a manga.
Not all manga has a dumb plot, "Guaranteed" means generalization and that already sounds wrong lol.
Likewise, It's not my first time complaining here I'm just reading while also waiting for the author to drags the story further.

Genderswap is not fun when the trope is predictable.
Likewise, the golden rule of thumb of genderswap nowadays is throwing 1 potential love interest male mc, or sometimes 1 heroine character.
In a romance manga 1 potential love interest male MC will always be there and guaranteed they'll end up together.
I'm not even asking for Yuri because Het is fine too but the story unironically same the similar formula.
If Ecchi w/ Comedy - Makes the protagonist slowly fall into the male MC lucky pervert moment.
If Drama - Makes the protagonist slowly recalling their own original gender then "Do I like Childhood friend-kun?"

The 90s Genderswap done it better than this sadly. I don't remember the title names though.

 

[GarbageTrash]

I might regret posting this review of sorts and rating the story since I’m sleep derived right now so I don’t think my judgment is 100% there, but oh well 😬

I binge read 56 chapters and I can say that I somewhat enjoyed this webcomic as a light reading. If you’re into mindlessly reading something only to think about the story later(or not think about it at all) then I think you’ll enjoy this, but if not then I don’t think you will. I also think that it’s better to read this in one sitting or to read at least 10 chapters at once. I don’t think this will be a good stress reliever for most people, however.

Spoiler

I kinda enjoyed how the author portrayed Itsuki/Izuki’s identity crisis for being an intersex person(at least that’s how it came across to me), as the portrayal is natural for someone who was raised as the opposite sex only to find out one day that they’re not. This does seem to fell into the typical “gender swap” trope, especially to those whom aren’t intersex or know someone who is an intersex, but it’s handled in such a way that I(an intersex! Hello!) can relate to what they’re feeling. It’s not sudden, but gradual changes that are clearly traumatic, and that’s exactly how I(and many other intersex people that weren’t clearly identified as intersex at birth) found out that we’re intersex; it’s a slow, gradual changes instead of abruptly waking up in the body that’s clearly ours but yet at the same time it’s not ours. I do wish that the author would’ve explored more on their identity crisis beyond its relation to their friendship/relationship with Ritsu. It would’ve been interesting if we saw flashbacks to how they adapted to the traumatic changes slowly past that denial stage, and perhaps how it affects them until now beyond the subtleties we’re shown. It’ll be nice to know what’s going through their head as well.

Maya is.. something. She sounds overly childish and selfish, and it feels like a miss. Author could’ve made her more cunning, that would’ve spiced the story up a bit more. She comes across as annoying a lot(almost spoiled brat esque and as if she’s the golden child who wasn’t raised properly), it’s pretty clear that she was created as the designated character to hate. Also her simply moving to Japan by herself and even transferring schools isn’t realistic in one bit. There, I said it. I wonder if the way she was treated by her parents changed after her brother got injured? There’s a huge gap here, so far, and it would’ve been nice to know how the family dynamics changed(if it did).

And this might sound a bit bad, but towards the end of the chapters I’ve read so far I ended up wishing for Izuki to not ended up with Ritsu. I just.. don’t think it’s realistic that a childhood crush can last that long? I understand Ritsu’s attachment and wanting to find Itsuki, but at this point I don’t believe his feelings would’ve lasted that long, to me what he has right now seems more like him trying to find closure(regarding his relationship with Itsuki whom disappeared suddenly) before he can move on. I’d also like to see how Izuki and Makoto’s, Maya’s brother, relationship(whatever it may be) develop. Their relationship didn’t stemmed from a childhood crush, and I can see a potential between the two of them(though there’s Maya and I’m unsure if it’ll be well for them to even be friends). I can see them bonding through baseball(and the fact that their career ended(or maybe hiatus for Izuki)), and I can see him cheering her on if she decided to play again, though that would’ve happened later on once they’ve gotten closer beyond just “oh yeah, that’s Maya’s brother/friend so we’re technically friends, too” phase. The potential friendship between them sounds like it can develop a bit more genuine as neither of them have a mental image of what the other is supposed to be before they met.

With that said, I don’t really feel any attachment to the characters? Except for maybe Makoto, but that’s more of a wish for the author to show more of his background and to see him get developed even more. I’d like to read his story, if the author can write his thoughts well then it’ll be an interesting story to read how he started playing baseball, his injury, his acceptance that his career is over, and what he thinks of the entire situation his sister and former teammate have gotten themselves into(and also himself). The premise might not sound that interesting in hindsight, but seeing someone bounce back from a career-ending event and finding new joys in life is pretty motivating. I’d also like to see Maya gets some senses, that’ll be a nice change for once. I’d also like to see both Ritsu and Izuki learn how to communicate properly.

I also expected the baseball thing won’t simply be a background plot only, and that Izuki will pick it up again. Eh, maybe that’s what will happen? Who knows. But it would’ve been much more interesting to see that.

Dialogue.. I’m unsure how close the translation is to the original, but it’s good. I don’t know if I can really expand on this(again, because I’m reading a translation instead of the original dialogue), but I understand why each characters said what they said as well as their reactions and interactions with each other.

The art is nice! I think it fits perfectly with the genre(slice of life) as opposed to using a too stylized art style.

The pacing is also good. It’s not too fast that I’m confused, and not too slow that I’m bored. I also really enjoy the flashbacks.

I’m going to continue reading this and see if I’ll think differently if it(and change my rating based on that), but I think my opinion on this story is pretty solid already. I don’t think there’s going to be a major plot twist the author pulls out of nowhere, and hopefully the author has the decency to not do that.

 

[y00k3y]

@Denrick19 do you actually not know how to read basic flags I’m 😭😭😭😭 bro my geography’s bad too but it ain’t this bad,,,

 

[zstvn]

I AM SO RELIEVED NOW OMG, NOTHING CAN MAKE ME ANYMORE HAPPIER THAN NOW XDDDDD

 

[Fnfigi]

Its good. Some plot circles but if you put yourself in the shoes of the MC you can understand the secrecy and what she gave up and how embarrassed she is to face her past. While also dealing with a real stalker.

 

[Cairill]

I adore this.

 

[fazbear]

amazing to read

 

[Ketarii]

I wish there was more

 

[DarkXypher]

Yk something I don't understand -> Some websites label the chars as Itsuki and Ritsu while others label the chars as Taeju and Haewon. I understand it could be regional differences but why change the names? And why has nobody ever commented anything talking about this?



That being said, I love this series <3 although ending was a bit lacking