Shishunki Bitter Change

A body swap story that takes things a bit more seriously than usual. The characters swap when they're very young, and can't figure out how to switch back, leading them to go through puberty in each others' bodies and move onto middle and then high school. Body swapping is obviously a concept ripe for exploration of varying aspects of the human condition, something for which it is basically never actually used. This series gets closer than usual, but stops just short of actually get too deep or introspective. Still, it's pretty good, I think. The characters have a pretty believable "friends who fight all thetime" energy going on. The ending feels a bit sudden, but I still liked it overall. There's a few "after the story" bonus chapters out there that I think are pretty essential to kind of cushion it and leave you feeling a bit more satisfied with how it wrapped up. As a disclaimer- no, I didn't read the webcomic. Yes, I know the ending is different. Tbh, if this story had ended the way I understand the webcomic version does, I'd probably hate it.

Puberty Bitter Change is an intriguing story and showcase of potential bodyswap ramifications, experiences and emotional turmoil even if the aforementioned is absorbed by one character in regards to emotional support. It's a partially solid body swap story that takes place over the course of the kids' formative years and while the characters are smart & mature for their age, they are equally as stupid & immature in others. It's also surprisingly free of perverted scenes & actions opting for a more mature & hopeful view of events for a majority of the chapters. That being said the manga plateau’s along the way when it focuses onside characters deeper than the bodyswap duo and it lacks important exploration of gender dysphoria as its near absence greatly affects the later story & one of the main characters. While the side cast provides a view at the effect this experience has on those around the duo, it also extends tiresome drama, mostly seen during the high school chapters as those seen during the earlier years are less intrusive, however the arc with Tachibana & Yuuta is the exception even if it ultimately falls to the wayside. Having read this blind & fresh I must note that despite everything I've said the manga feels like it's missing a massive chunk of character exploration & further emotional maturity than what exists, especially during the second half of the 67 chapters with the exception of Tachibana’s arc as it finally touched on an overdue subject. As an example an entire romance sequence that was built up for 20+ chapters is unnaturally thrown away out of nowhere during a Festival chapter before cutting & abruptly swapping to a finale build up; of which has a major time skip after significant events that are abrupt, rushed & obtuse. I think it's worth a read for those interested as it's one of the better body swap media I've consumed given the above information but it has some flaws and melodramatic moments that bring it down.

Body Swaping? Unknown gender problems? Family? Friend's? What happens to you when suddenly in elementary school you swap bodies with someone of the opposite gender. This story covers that very well. Not only do you get to see the hard ships from both perspectives, the story has a very nice flow and age to it. Starting out in elementary and going all the way to high school. You get to see the characters slowly understand their feelings and unravel what they truly want after the predicament they got stuck in. In the end i didn't have any problem's with the manga, i really enjoyed itreading it in 2 days. I would give it 10/10 but i feel like near the end there should have been a little bit more. Protagonist - 8/10 Deuteragonist(s) - 7/10 Side characters - 7/10 Story/Plot - 8/10 Consistent Chapters 10/10 (I read it after it was done so yeah) Translations - 10/10 Overall portrayal of emotions and Feelings - 8/10 Art - 9/10 Overall - 8.3

**could be sort of a spoiler about the ending** this is something that should have been close to a masterpiece. unfortunately it almost seemed as if the author wanted to ruin their own work. the premise is fascinating and should lead to a great deal of drama and comedy. to a small extent it delivers on the drama front, but fails due to the contrivances of "character development". simply put, yui and kazuma are awful people. they literally ruined this for me. i stuck it out in hopes that they would eventually mature into better people and we would see positive developments of the variousrelationships as the characters grew, but these 2 constantly sabotaged any meaningful progress. by the final 10 chapters the author clearly was rushing to wrap things up, but they at least gave a pseudo satisfying conclusion. it was how i wanted, but the way you get there is so incredibly vague and shallow. the way 2 friends casually discuss their feels after all that happened is just wrong in the worst kind of way. its like one had stockholm syndrome. worse is how the primary couple come to their 'decision'. i can't say this is altogether bad because it isn't. however, the audience should be warned that this is a frustrating read. your time is probably going to be better spent on something other than this.