This is a generic story of blood, sweat, and tears. With less blood and more sweat.

You're into cross-dressers? Go home.
You're into upskirt pantyshots of idols? Go home.
You're into harem? Go home.
You're not into entertainment industry thingies? Go home.

This could go to either shoujo or shounen. Shounen plotline with shoujo presentation, maybe? They get a harder challenge each time they finish one, then they level up to overcame it, rinse and repeat. Girls in this series are so manly I often got sweat around my eyes looking at them dancing and singing whole-heartedly.

I like both genre so I might be biased.

It's unexpectedly a good read! Aside from the description, it also tackles on how a man handles the pressure of female competition and companionship. The flaws of the main character complements the progress of the story, which doesn't make him your always wimpy, always indecisive protagonist.

What's there, is passion. Underdog sports shounen offerrings and underdog idol's climb to the top have this in common, the passion. And underneath the rampant abuse of tropes and behind the flashes of panties, I could sense no malice, only a breathtaking sincerity. The attraction is not "everything a girl can do a guy can do it better," or merely bouts of inane bravado followed by watching pretty girls dance to their amusement, and even if it is, I choose to see its better sides. The attraction, for me, is that when I read AKB49 and root for Minori, I forget that Minori is Minoru, a boy.


The message is that gender ultimately does not matter, that any person following their dream is beautiful and worth watching. Granted, I do not think AKB49 is being subversive by conscious choice, the stereotypes such as the grating-on-my-last-nerve tsundere and the blandly attractive love interest would suggest differently. I would posit, though, that AKB49 has made well-worn tropes into the vehicle for more progressive thinking, despite its own host of frankly crippling issues. What's that you say, substance? Have you not been paying attention at all?

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How in the world.... =.= Ok, first off. I would class this as shoujo. Regardless of the fact that the main character is a girl- I mean, guy. Although... The reason why it's classed as shounen could be because he's one guy amongst a group of girls/women. *shrugs*

Secondly, this manga will allow you to forget that the MC is a guy in the first place. (I did.) That's how long he actually crossdresses. I have no idea how he actually managed to maintain the facade that he's a girl in a group of 60++ females? Out of which some of them often end up groping his ass/chest. At certain points of the manga I actually had doubts that he was actually a guy and hadn't gone through a sex-change operation sometime inbetween the chapters.

BUT! For such an unrealistic manga... I find the MC and the plot surprisingly refreshing. The motive are pure (well, as pure as a motive to help another person can be) and pretty straightforward. There really isn't much frills or drama tagged onto it, which makes me cry out in happiness at times when the shoujo genre and it's cliches frustrates me.

You know his goal right from the start. If you can just look past the unrealistic crossdressing/performance aspect, then just sit back and allow the mangaka to bring you through his journey to reach his target.

And be sure to remember to poke fun at the moments where something just makes you go "Wts, is he still a guy or not?!"

... Last updated on February 18th, 2013, 2:32am

Despite the premise, the manga is a very good read, since it deals with the impossibility of having a female idol group getting infiltrated by a boy. Also gives a glimpse into the competitive world of Japan's idol scene.

Great Stuff!

I was browsing through the comments and found some interesting comments on this manga.
I was never interested in AKB, but I decided to read this manga since it was tagged comedy and school life which are the genres I often read. After reading this manga, I found out that Maeda Atsuko is cuter in manga than that in real life (I just have to put this first, sorry Acchan fans IRL) It never occured to me that I would prefer 2D over 3D (lol). Someone mentioned that it's super shoujo, but I think otherwise, a shoujo manga would never put on fan service for males but would put some for females. Other people might find the manga boring, but everyone just have their own tastes, try it and see.

Personally, I only got interested in this manga because I'm a fangirl of the real life super popular group AKB48 who's selling millions in 2 days in Japan right now as well as became the first group to win Japan prestigious Record award and became the first group to win 4 Billboard award in the same night.

After reading the manga, I like how it have a really good storyline. Not only it gave insights into AKB48's history like how they started out with no one caring about them and had only 8 people at their performance. Even thought the manga is about AKB48, I like that it focus more on the protagonist and the things he go through as an idol in disguise rather making the main members of AKB48 as the main focus. Some of the members' personalities were exaggerated like Acchan being a diva or Mayuyu being obsess with 2D (tho she is an anime nerd), it was fun to read and I think non fans can enjoy it.

As the description says, its about a guy crossdressing into the AKB. However, the whole gender-bender aspect really drops off later in the manga. Though there are some instances where his real gender plays a role, the majority of the manga is about how someone deals with pressure, stress, anxiety, and their own ambition, along with interacting with other members. It's a bit psychological in that aspect, but it is a shounen, so it doesn't go further than the surface ("do your best!") for the most part. Still, it is quite an enjoyable read and offers a look into what it REALLY means to be an idol.

... Last updated on March 11th, 2012, 11:55am

The one thing I really enjoyed about this is it makes you forget she is a he which is actually a little refreshing for a crossdressing mc. It's all about the idols and their struggles but unfortunately that's all really which is the depressing part for doing those two things so well we get left with some very unsatisfying parts for me mostly that empty ending...

Well, I really enjoyed this! it's surprinsingly enjoyable and I quite liked the idea of the boy going undercover in a girl world. It's a bit cliché and there are too many girls characters, only a few of them really make an impact on the story. Probably that someone who really like AKB48 would remember the name of the girls in the first group, but for the rest of us it's difficult. And yes, the boy's disguise is pretty obvious, but that make it more funny. I started to read it out of bored, but I enjoyed it!