20-year-old Saki Fukuda (Yatterman) and 18-year-old Ayame Gōriki will star in a live-action adaptation of Chiyo Rokuhana's IS - Otoko demo Onna demo nai Sei shōjo manga, and the television series will premiere this July on the TV Tokyo network.

The story of the manga follows the life of Haru Hoshino (Fukuda), a person who was registered as female at birth, but raised as a boy. Haru enters a high school for culinary studies to earn a chef's license, but must now attend as a female student due to the revelation of Haru's birth registry. Haru has to deal with the confusion that results from her body's adolescent transition to womanhood and her romantic attachments towards the male students.

Fukuda commented that she thought that the story had extremely difficult themes when she first heard it, but she wanted to realistically portray the life of intersexual people. Gōriki will play Miwako Aihara, a mysterious female classmate who gets close to Haru. Gōriki had eagerly read the original manga in middle school and considered it a dream to have her first starring role in a story she had loved as a child.

The manga ran in Kodansha's Once More Kiss and Kiss magazines from 2003 to 2009, and the publisher compiled and printed 17 book volumes. The manga won the Kodansha Manga Award for best shōjo manga in 2007.

Masahiro Inoue (Kamen Rider Decade) will play Haru's first love, Naomi Nishida (Honey and Clover) will play Miwako's mother Seiko, and Kaho Minami (Soreike! Anpanman: Ningyo Hime no Namida ) will play Haru's mother Yōko.

source: animenewsnetwork

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I'm very happy IS is getting a drama, but- "The story of the manga follows the life of Haru Hoshino (Fukuda), a person who was registered as female at birth, but raised as a boy." ...What? This makes it seem like they're skipping the intersex aspect of the story (that is, the whole original premise). Hopefully, it's just badly explained...

Also: "Haru has to deal with the confusion that results from her body's adolescent transition to womanhood [...]" Again, what? Haru's troubles, as far as the manga has been scanlated

stems from hir wanting to live as a boy, but wavering between that and hir "female parts" (both physical and mental), hir feelings for Ibuki, as well as hir struggle for IS to be accepted by "single-gendered" people. (Heavily summarized and compounded, I know.)

scratches head Hopefully they stay true to the story and portray IS people with dignity.

After only the first few episodes (just watched #6), I already think the manga is much better.
The characters may have been a bit exaggerated and unrealistic in the manga... In the drama they have tried too hard to make them (and the scenarios) 'real' and set in a realistic? Japan, at the cost of the 'power' behind the characters.
There is no feeling of conviction, no 'will' to live and be accepted... no 'momentum'.... just way to much angst/downs without the ups.

Could have been a lot better if they used the same mother (and rest of family) as in the manga, she was a great character and pretty much vital to the entire story (the backbone, though not the focus)...
Haru's father and mother in the drama are just plain annoying side characters and don't 'feel' like parents at all... Neither does Miwako's mother for that matter (not the character per se, the acting is just bad).

Sure, I'm probably going to finish this series (if only because of the subject) but at this point I'm still rather disappointed.