This series is funny and strange but I think it's good to read something that makes you go "Wait..., What?". I just think letting go of reality for a while and forgetting that guys are most likely never going to look like Yuki is a good way to enjoy some fiction. If you get all caught-up in the "It can't happen" part, you can't enjoy the story; of course all the special and unbelievable things that happen in Bleach, Death Note and Naruto are acceptable because they aren't hinting at being gay or cross-dressing. It's so obvious when people complain about a manga that's borderline yaoi just 'cause they hate that genere. By-the-way, I'm not into yaoi or gay/crossdressing stories but I do like silly and unique fiction. Rant over..

MANDATORY TRANSGENDER DISCLAIMER: If you are homophobic, or bothered by Male-To-Female transgender, you will NOT enjoy this Manga! If you are interested in transgender characters, you may have a problem with the objectification Yuki goes through, but Yuki herself is an enjoyable character! If you are unable to suspend your disbelief and accept that Yuki looks female, and must have a microscopic wee-wee to look like that in a pair of panties, you will not enjoy this manga!

Now, on to the review...

My reactions to this Manga, in order of appearance:

Interest -> General Boredom -> Loving Yuki -> Despising and Loathing Masato (Main Male Protagonist) -> Loathing the Manga because I loath Masato -> Getting everything I wanted for the ending, and reluctantly admitting No Bra wasn't as bad as I thought it was.

I read through No Bra in the course of one day, and I am reviewing it on this same day, while the whole thing is still fresh in my memory.

No Bra starts off Okay. It's all pretty typical of an ecchi manga, and I have no problem with it. It's average. Not good, not bad, but passable and worth reading.

The characters were generally two-dimensional but funny or likable. The protagonist's fat best friend is a huge sweat heart. The homeroom teacher is over-dramatic in a funny way. The main female love interest was uninteresting, but not badly so, and she did receive some character development in one of the chapters (you read that correctly, one). The best character, by far, was Yuki. While Yuki's standard behavior was purely stereotypical as the "perfect" Japanese woman, she was treated and written as a believable and fairly-realistic transgender.

The art was average. I wouldn't say it's bad, compared to what else is out there, but it's nothing special. There are a gratuitous number of panty shots, along with a good chunk of other like-minded fanservice. There are two almost-sex scenes, but no real sex, and nothing is shown explicitly. I would say, roughly speaking, the first half of the manga contained more Yuki-centric fanservice, while the second half contained more Kaori-centric fanservice. As a fan of Yuki but not Kaori, I have personally amassed thirty-or-so pages I felt worth saving to my hard drive. Take that as you will.

The writing is boringly predictable in most areas, and surprisingly twisty in some. Unfortunately, if you're reading through these reviews, you've probably already had all the twists spoiled for you. In an effort to conserve the number of spoilers, I won't be going into this topic any further.

There are several chapters, beginning some time after Chapter 16 and ending around Chapter 25, where the point-of-view protagonist is a manwhore. He uses and abuses the three women around him, and it all makes me want to STRANGLE him. I'm sure that many male readers, and less empathetic female readers, would be able to take this as standard ecchi-protagonist behavior. But, honestly? It's pretty bad. Masato is genuinely selfish to the point of cruelty, and he is such for roughly half the Manga. However, Your Mileage May Vary. You're either going to hate him, or you won't really care.

The ending spans four chapters. It does, indeed, feel rushed. With that said, the ending is sadly one of the stronger points in the writing. However, most (if not all) of the loose ends were tied up, and it does end happily (In that gooshy, sentimental, at-least-one-character grew for the better sort of way). I liked it.

The final verdict:
No Bra was not fantastic. I can't even bring myself to say No Bra was enjoyable. Even more so, I can't recommend it as something most people will want to read. But, over all, there were a few good characters, and No Bra was not as terrible as I thought it was. If you have a life, skip this, it's not worth your time. There are better things out there to read. If you have a good six hours to spare with honestly nothing better to do... why not?

this is one of my favorite manga, it has romance, comedy, and the story is disturbing in a positive way (thats the only way i can explain it) and i hope they draw out this manga but i also hope it wont lose its distinctive luster, a solid 10/10

I have to flippin say this, almost every comment I read involved some form of insult towards Masato, haha! So flippin true, though! I loved the manga until he became such a cheat! Pick one or lose both. The thing is ... I want them to find out so they can whup his ass ... but then I don't want Yuki to be sad that he was lied to (AND had to cut his hair for NO reason at ALL), and the real Maa-kun cheated on ... frankly, I think they should just get together and leave him behind XD (seriously, though ... that would be a very happy [and entertaining] ending for me) Ugh, that guy's ... stupid. A stupid perv that really doens't deserve the trust or love of either of his 'lovers'. Seriously. What a loser. I wanted to root for him to break up with Kaoru and go for Yuki in the beginning, then I found out he wasn't Maa-kun ... and I was hoping he'd tell Yuki and Yuki would still like him, blah, blah, blah ... but then he chose not to tell him (and lied to himself saying it was to selflessly let Yuki be a girl), AND he cheated on Kaoru! I lost all respect for that guy. All I know is that I wanna keep reading =D 21 chapters is not enough for me. I gotta know how it's gonna end, and I'm hooked. The main character may be a (funny) perverted prick, but you just get so attached to Yuki and Kaoru that you don't wanna stop reading, really. I love it. It's a bit like a Mexican Soap Opera, though ... I wouldn't be surprised if Masato had an evil twin brother named Enrique ...

the author made the manga in a way to keep the readers into suspense whether yuki is boy or girl so it's not a fact his a homo but personally i think yuki is biologically female

i dont know about everyone else but this is a good series, even though it's a shounen-ai i am okay with it, its saisfying yet disturbing in a way, waaaay different from the average ecchi, it amuses me how maeda becomes sexually confused and tries to find a way to balance all his relationships, although there are only 22 chapters i hope there will be more in the future and it will continue to be interesting

Putting a Shonen Ai tag to this serie attracts less people to it.
I'd say its more like: Comedy, Romance, Drama, "Human Psychology" but not the Shounen Ai, anyway it will depemd only the readers own view.

The plot is certanly 10/10, characters are 10/10, drawing is good also. What i like about this manga is that plot always progresses and adds more twists to it.

I am sure this is one the best mangas ilustrating how complex and sweet such a feeling as "true love" might be.

... Last updated on April 4th, 2009, 1:50am

Well, this was the first shounen-ai/gender bending manga i ever saw. The time i first saw it, i was somewhat shocked, cuz that was a whole new thing to me. Now, i love gender benders, and i'm more tolerable to yaoi/shounen-ai.(well, not that all, i can't bear sex scenes in yaoi, i pass these pages very fast, but i like the boys love thing.)
Now, about No Bra:
Great manga, at the start i was like WTF?, but later, i got so hooked up in the story, that i couldn't stop reading. And when i finished the last chapter(it was 21 at that time), i wanted more. Yuki is my favorite character of mangas. She(he/she, who cares?) shares the top 1 with Lelouch(Code Geass), Jo(Burst Angel) and Kusano(Sekirei). She is lovable, kind, cute(heh). Even if it's a guy, i don't care, i would fall for this trap happily. Well, next one: Masato. I don't really hate him. Well, he is a jerk, a moron, but, put yourselves in his situation: He has a beatiful and lovable chude(chick dude) in his house. He is the only one who knows this. The chude is in love with him. This was the first time he had any experience like that, anyone would be confused. But, yes, i hate the part of him that keeps liking Oozora Kaoru. Hmm, she has perfect grades, a perfect body, is perfect, and likes Masato. I don't like her that much, because she keep putting Masato far from Yuki. WHY THIS JERK DON'T CHOOSE OZOORA OR YUKI FASTER THEY BOTH ARE SUFFERING FROM YOUR INDECISIVENESS!. Ok, i'm okay now. Mizutani-sensei: Grrr, i hate her. I don't like her character at all, just it isn't my type. But, she is doing well f**king up Masato's life. Mizuki, Yuki's cousin, even being a sometimes a pain, she is vey dependable, when they discover . This manga focus more in Masato's confusion about Yuki, a very cute chude(chick dude), and Oozora, a perfect girl(I hate perfect girls, aww, dunno why ;x)

Btw, i saw the raws of the next chapters, and... well, for what i saw, i didn't like the ending ;(
PLEASE, DON'T OPEN THIS SPOILER IF U DON'T KNOW THE END, IT WILL RUIN ALL YOUR FUN)

Well, anyway, read this great manga. And don't forget it:
ITTTTTTTTTT'SSSSSSSSS AAAAAA TRAPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*My rating scale is out of 5.

Wow, No Bra is wholly omg awesome. My first gender bender and I'm surprised at the quality of topics and emotions that are in the story. The characterization of the main character is perfect. He really is a high school student, with a slightly sexually active mind, a lot of innocence and naivety, and a huge dash of kindness. But he doesn't always have the "correct" personality, he takes advantage of situations, sometimes because of hormones, sometimes because of stupidity, sometimes out of inexperience. It really is very interesting. And the whole time, the way he's sexually confused about the whole situation does make for some interesting thoughts and scenes. But he does finally come to conclusion that love is what love is. Don't complicate it too much with what people think are immoral. Define what you think are right or wrong or just abolish it outright and some things will not matter anymore. It's all about perspective.

The supporting characters are fun and come in to the story at times to add a lighthearted atmosphere to it, which is a good thing to do, don't want to be to serious here. I especially like Mizuki -- some of the funniest scenes involving her. But that saying, I hope the mangaka will draw Yuki's and Kaoru's character out more to make them fuller, richer characters -- especially Yuki's.

I wonder where this manga will go and I hope the mangaka will do something that will surprise us all, i.e. a bittersweet ending. But I'm thinking it will end up all happy happy.

All in all. I enjoy this a lot and recommend it very much. Coming from a person who has always repulse against the idea of gender bender mangas.

PS. Thanks to all the scanlators for scanlating it and for Geisha for picking it up.

... Last updated on March 19th, 2009, 6:59am

Its a very stereotypical high school gender-bender. The main character starts out as a real -ass-, evolves into an even bigger ass, and then warms my heart in the end. His unlikable personality stems from his general cowardice. Hes got a good heart, but he just takes a whole series to finally develop enough as a human being to do the right thing. Also, I really REALLY wish some one would have made him use feminine pronouns for the other main character - it grated on my nerves the whole series. Also, the main character never really gets over his homophobia nor does he ever learn that you can like a transperson and not be gay.

The other main character never really "grows" until the end either. But given the plot, she didn't really get the chance. BUt when it was time to, she did and it was great to see a transgender figure their gender out and come to rely on their self.

Some of the situations in the manga are over the top in the most extreme ways and if there is one person I truly hated, it wasn't the main character - it was the teacher. You'll see if you read it. All the other characters are generally flat with one "mode" turned on. (Like, seductive, or nice guy, or cute and kind, etc). The art definitely isn't the best ever, but its not as bad as some of the other reviews had said (at least, in my opinion). Storywise, a lot could be cut out. Some chapters were just pure filler that can be completely skipped, Chapter 27 being the most notable for this. General rule: If it starts out boring, and the title doesn't sound important, it can probably be skipped.

Over all, I do recommend it as a quick read. The transgirl in the series isn't the best portrayal of transpeople ever, but its a LOT better than most media. If you can deal with the main character starting out as a general ass, then growing a bit to be an ass who wants to do the right thing but is too cowardly to do so, and then finally getting it right in the -very- end, then it'll be an interesting read. To speed things up, a few chapters can be skipped. So take it lightly and enjoy.