There are mangas where the lead female is cool and it makes you feel energized while reading them because you really understand her and want her to do well. On the flipside, there are mangas (like Hot Gimmick, to use a classic example) that make you cringe because of the very bad gender politics--where you can just feel the women's rights movement being set back another 10 years with each new volume. And then there's Uwasa no Midori-kun!!... This manga wanted to be the former, but is actually the latter. Boy is it the latter.
Setting gender politics aside, it's just not a very good manga. Let me correct that: it's not a very good manga which insults the reader's intelligence at every turn. The main character in no way makes a convincing boy (she has huge boobs that she does not try to conceal), and worse still, she works in a coffee shop--as a girl--frequented by all her teammates. Does a skirt and a wig truly hide her identity that much? Is no one supposed to notice that she's completely feminine? And is no one supposed to noice that Midori and Tsukasa spend most of their time groping one another rather than playing soccer? When both of your team's top players disappear in the middle of a game, are we really expected to believe that neither coach, nor any of their teammates would come looking for them? Or that this kind of thing could happen repeatedly without anyone ever becoming suspicious? And finally, how are we expected to believe that this manga is actually a love triangle when the main character has sex with Tsukasa in the first chapter (and keeps having sex with him)?
Now back to the gender politics: this manga features one of the worst male leads ever. He has sex with Midori on a bet in the first chapter, telling her that he intends to marry her so it's OK. Turns out, it was all a lie and that he does this sort of thing to poor unsuspecting girls often. He even has a good laugh with his friends about it afterwards. Nice thing to do to your childhood friend. The revenge that Midori decides to take on him for this truly horrible offense never once gets off the ground because she instead spends the rest of the manga blushing over him and allowing him to seduce her. Add in some hint of a sad past for him, and the author expects us to forgive him since he's attractive. Even worse, Midori's soccer playing ability--the one truly stand-out feature about her--goes out the door whenever she's around him. She becomes a lousy player, but according to the manga, that's supposed to be a good thing because it shows her love for him. So, according to this manga: a male can do anything he wants to women, but a good woman should be expected to forgive him, to "stand by her man" under any circumstances, to put his needs before her own, and to allow herself to be lead around and treated like an infant whenever it suits him (i.e., when he wants sex). Furthermore, there's really no need for a woman to have talents of her own when her man has them; she should just be his cheerleader instead. Midori's soccer-playing abilities were only useful to land her Tsukasa; afterwards, there was no need for them. Also! No matter how rotten a guy is, if a woman is persistent enough, and loves him enough, he'll change for her! Only a bad woman would give up on him and choose a more healthy relationship (i.e. Kazuma). The fact that a manga like this is actually marketed towards 13 year old girls is socially irresponsible at best, and downright sickening at worst.
(-18)
(+68)
