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Half & Half   
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Description

Type
Manga

Related Series
N/A

Associated Names
Haafu Ando Haafu
Half and Half
ハーフ アンド ハーフ (那波マオ)
ハーフ・アンド・ハーフ
一半的另一半
하프 앤 하프

Groups Scanlating

Latest Release(s)
v.2 c.9 (end) by Forbidden Garden over 12 years ago
v.2 c.8 by Forbidden Garden over 12 years ago
v.2 c.7 by Forbidden Garden over 12 years ago
Search for all releases of this series

Status
in Country of Origin
2 Volumes (Complete)

Completely Scanlated?
Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter
N/A

User Reviews
N/A

Forum

User Rating
Average: 7.2 / 10.0 (219 votes)
Bayesian Average: 7.09 / 10.0
10
 
 12%
9+
 
 13%
8+
 
 18%
7+
 
 27%
6+
 
 13%
5+
 
 6%
4+
 
 3%
3+
 
 2%
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 2%
1+
 
 3%

Last Updated
August 11th 2021, 5:14am


Genre

Categories

Category Recommendations

Recommendations

Author(s)

Artist(s)

Year
2008

Original Publisher

Serialized In (magazine)
Dessert (Kodansha)

Licensed (in English)
No

English Publisher
N/A

Activity Stats (vs. other series)
Weekly Pos #747 increased(+13)
Monthly Pos #1762 (No change)
3 Month Pos #3292 decreased(-65)
6 Month Pos #4891 increased(+78)
Year Pos #6101 decreased(-792)

List Stats
On 319 reading lists
On 367 wish lists
On 785 completed lists
On 16 unfinished lists
On 205 custom lists

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over 13 years ago
over 14 years ago

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User Comments  [ Order by usefulness ]
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Starts off promising, continues well, ends up sabotaging itself.  
by sweetdevil
October 11th, 2021, 5:25am
Rating: 4.0  / 10.0
This manga doesn't know what it wants to be and derails itself spectacularly in the last 2 chapters. Most of it is a surface-level exploration of a cis woman (Hina) being attracted to the past male self of a transwoman (Itsuki), with Hina not knowing what to do about her feelings and how to approach the new Itsuki. The manga baits you into thinking it'll be a love story between the two, but it isn't; that it'll be about Itsuki's struggles as a transwoman in the conservative late 2000s Japanese society, but that's only a few lines here and there; that it'll be an in-depth look into gender identity and attraction, when it's... well, just read below.

The manga contains a lot of transphobic sentiments towards Itsuki and her character is poorly handled. For a story centered on a transwoman, her perspective is constantly overridden by other people's who only refer to her as a "gay guy". If the mangaka was trying to point out that trans people deserve respect, having the rest of her characters refer to Itsuki as the wrong gender without any correction kind of nullifies her entire point, no matter the intent.

The ending is rancid, and the mangaka shot herself in the foot. Let me get this straight: you write a story; 90% of it, a transwoman is explicitly attracted to men, and is happy to present as feminine. Then, you end that story with her deciding to date her cishet female friend and stop presenting as a woman. Somehow, against everything you established, this is a happy outcome. What am I missing here. Make it make sense, mangaka!

It's like the take-away from this manga is: "OK sweetie, you've had your fun but summer's over and it's time to go back to normal". Then there's Hina accusing Itsuki of "playing with her feelings", when Itsuki tells her repeatedly that she can't give her what she wants and isn't attracted to women. There's this gross implication of Itsuki "tricking" Hina, when in reality Hina's too selfish to take "no" for an answer, refusing to accept that the person she was so hung up on 13 YEARS AGO (goddamn!) is no more.

The manga does have moments where characters change their strict worldviews (sometimes, suspiciously fast). The art is also great and appealing, and as piss-poor as the ending was, there were a few good moments such as the chapter featuring Marui, and Hina staying her tomboyish self despite being repeatedly told that she's "ugly" for not being typically girly-girl feminine. Too bad she couldn't extend the same consideration for Itsuki and let HER be her true self as well.

... Last updated on September 30th, 2023, 4:01am
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It ended halfway  
by iciahgem007
April 21st, 2014, 9:41pm
Rating: 8.0  / 10.0
To be honest, this had one of the most interesting concepts there was, especially for a Shoujo manga. It started good but the ending had this sorta gender norm biased feel to it

Spoiler (mouse over to view)
It's like the author really wanted for Itsuki to be male even though the character herself doesn't want that. I mean, I understand that we're most prolly talking about the power of love here, still it's not enough reason for Itsuki to throw her femininity away just said she could be in a normal relationship with the person she loves.

After all, I don't think it's a bad ending if Hina and Itsuki would end up together with Itsuki still being feminine. Because that's the actual power of love right? (Back at ya mangaka-san!)

 Although, again, this still remains as one of the good Shoujo manga out there that is original and daring. So read if you want something new (sort of).

... Last updated on April 21st, 2014, 9:43pm
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Some people misunderstood the ending  
by Pacific.Mint
January 11th, 2014, 9:20am
Rating: N/A
Some people think that Itsuki goes back to being a guy in the end, but that's not what happened. Itsuki clearly said that he can't be a guy for Hina and the reason his hair was short at the end was because he's going to the hair salon for something different.

I interpret Itsuki as a bisexual transgender who loves Hina. But I wonder could he have been just a cross-dresser since he seems to feel okay being/dress as a male; it's just that he prefers to dress like a woman and do some womanly things.
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So So  
by Ariaofthesong
August 12th, 2013, 9:16am
Rating: N/A
There were alot of problems (missing pages) and stuff like that and in the end I had a hard time reading it. It was bland but unique. If you're bored then read it, if you're expecting something amazing, don't.

The ending was good enough. Unlike other people I appreciated that he tried (and it was tried) to become a man for Hina but couldn't. Soooo I'm guessing he was a lesbian?
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Hnnng how to feel...  
by Doki
August 11th, 2013, 7:19pm
Rating: 9.0  / 10.0
I must say I'm torn on how I feel about this manga despite liking it overall.

Half & Half deals with a topic that's not often seen and that alone is great, but it is also doing it in a positive, somewhat informative, somewhat correct way.
It unquestionably deals with actual hardships and feelings.

There seems to be a general consensus that the ending is the most questionable part of the manga, and a big part of me agrees. On certain levels it certainly does seem to undermine the entire message of the manga, but I think it also depends on how you approach it. The premise presents Itsuki as a male-to-female transgender (a male-bodied woman that is attracted to men) and that solidifies in the reader's mind. However, if you approach Half & Half as a further exploration of sexuality for Itsuki, the ending is less of a contradiction.
As is mentioned by one of the characters, sexuality is complicated. My suggestion is just to keep in mind that there are sexualities that don't negate Itsuki's sense of self and gender but also make the ending plausible.
That's the best way I can phrase it without spoilers.

I know a lot of the terminology would not be deemed correct or acceptable by the LGBTQ community. That being said, every individual is different, and there are plenty to whom pronouns and labels don't matter, so I wouldn't call how the manga dealt with those "insulting" or "insensitive" because these things aren't set in stone.

Note: The pronouns in the translations are not mistakes. An English audience loses some sense of gender in the translation, but Itsuki refers to himself in the feminine way while others have a tendency to refer to him in a masculine sense.
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How to be a Bad Ally 101  
by Icsifil
February 1st, 2013, 9:01pm
Rating: N/A
I was so excited.
Then they kept on using male pronouns, forcing Itsuki out of the closet, calling Itsuki a guy, saying Ituski's gay, and shit like that.
As a story...? I guess it was okay. But it was so transphobic it was hard to enjoy it as a story.
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Unused potential  
by rainydayphotos
January 5th, 2013, 9:53pm
Rating: 7.0  / 10.0
It has a good premise, but there are a few problems with the manga. The pronoun use for Itsuki is all wrong (I don't know if this is a translation error), trans people usually prefer to be referred to with pronouns of the gender they identify as, so to call Itsuki "he" is actually very insulting to her. Trans people are not necessarily gay, like cisgendered people, they can have diverse sexual orientations. Since Isuki identifies as a woman, and is attracted to men, then she's heterosexual. I don't like Yuuri very much,
Spoiler (mouse over to view)
it's horribly manipulative and exploitive to pretend to be gay just to get someone's guard down, especially when there are gay people who are suffering everyday and cannot come out in a homophobic society.
The ending was seemed to go against the whole message of the manga.
Spoiler (mouse over to view)
I wasn't bothered by the fact that Itsuki loved Hina, I was bothered when Itsuki adopted a more traditionally masculine look. This is not to say that women are masculine just because they have short hair or wear jeans, but it seems that for the majority of the manga, Itsuki loved her long hair and her dresses. It just gives the message that transwomen just need the right woman to "fix" them, to get them to conform to a heteronormative society.


... Last updated on January 5th, 2013, 9:58pm
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Just one more thing  
by justasideshow
May 2nd, 2012, 8:58am
Rating: 6.5  / 10.0
I agree with almost everything that has been said. I'd only add that Hina's never ending love didn't convince me. Ok, Itsuki was her first love. But it had already past a freaking decade!!!! I just can't buy that.

... Last updated on May 2nd, 2012, 7:37pm
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Ok, but vague main message  
by ChildofSecrets
March 27th, 2012, 10:52pm
Rating: 7.0  / 10.0
Overall, the concept and idea of the story was probably better than how it was executed. I agree that the ending was a little.. mismatched with the the rest of the story's message/focus. I thought that it was interesting but nothing truly great - mostly because it was hard to really expect or anticipate anything from it. The main point of the story seemed to be showing one of the most absolute situations of "unrequited love" yet you get this cliched vibe that something more will happen, even though it shouldn't.
Spoiler (mouse over to view)
I really felt like the mangaka was trying too hard to make the story's ending "perfect" when it was too late to make the premise about a straight couple. If that were to even come close to happening, there needed to be a bit more to character development/details and dynamics - not just a hopeful ending and tiny romantic hints.

But by the end I think I did half enjoy it without considering dropping it.

... Last updated on January 17th, 2018, 1:49am
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That was good.  
by secretcina
October 16th, 2011, 3:10pm
Rating: 8.0  / 10.0
I disagree with everyone down there. VVV
Spoiler (mouse over to view)
I think Itsuki always loved Hina. He was confused about it though because he wanted to be a girl. He had a weird form of love since the beginning.
smile
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