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思春期ビターチェンジ
67
9
Finished
Oct 25, 2012 to Jan 15, 2019
6.9/10
Average Review Score
67%
Recommend It
9
Reviews Worldwide
Ahhh, body swapping. That tired old cliché that has been done hundreds of times in manga. Usually, we get a cheap laugh or two about the characters' failures at keeping up their façade around their family and friends, maybe a couple ecchi situations for the unsuspecting boy stuck in a girl's body, and a hackneyed romantic development to wrap things up before everything goes back to normal. And so begins this manga: with an elementary school boy and girl who swapped bodies after falling out of a tree and banging their heads together. Given how well-trodden and mediocre the trope it builds its premise aroundis, I did not expect much from Shishunki Bitter Change. But against all odds, it manages to do something truly extraordinary. It is a series that asks in a completely serious tone, what would it *actually* be like to switch bodies with someone of the opposite sex? To have to live their life, not for days or months, but years? This is not a comedy manga. The experiences of the characters main characters Yui and Yuuta are not played off as a gag, but are treated with heart-wrenching realism. The two suffer through actual gender dysphoria as they go through puberty and see their bodies changing ever further away from their image of themselves. They struggle with being separated from their family and the prospect of never being able to be their true selves ever again, of always having to hide. They become miserable when seeing the everyday life of other boys and girls around them, knowing they themselves can never have that. They feel distraught and disoriented when other characters treat them "as a boy" or "as a girl" when all they want is a friend. If I had to sum it up, this is a manga about cisgender characters being made to live through the experience of a transgender person, the actual sensation of being "in the wrong kind of body". And it is handled excellently, with tact but with a level of drama and intensity that keeps you hooked. The plot itself is mostly slice-of-life, there only to give us more time to see the characters interact. In these day-to-day moments of the main characters' school lives we catch glimpses of the relationships between the characters as they shift and grow with the passing years. There are crushes, love triangles and confessions, but all of this is overlain by the suffocating fact that neither of the main characters can ever allow themselves to be true to their feelings or even their own identity. Visually, the art style of it is relatively simplistic but clean, having been originally published as a webcomic the panels are arranged vertically and there are relatively few of them to a page. The characters emotions are well conveyed through relatively few words, for example several times in the series there are whole-page shots of either Yuuta or Yui simply looking at their appearance in the mirror and feeling uneasy with what they see which speaks volumes more than any text could have. All in all, this is easily the best body-swapping manga I've read, and among the best drama manga I've ever read. I would strongly recommend you give it a chance.
In stories of people who swap bodies, they always return to their rightful places. But what if that never happens? Unfortunately, this is the exact predicament Yui Ootsuka and Yuuta Kimura find themselves in. One day, after Yuuta comes crashing down on Yui from the treetops, both children find themselves in an unfamiliar body. But no matter how desperately they try, they are unable to revert things to how they originally were. In the end, they settle with going about each other's lives as if nothing had happened, determined to keep the incident a secret. Though merely classmates in the past, this inexplicable accident binds their fates tightly together. For years, Yui and Yuuta struggle through a life that is not their own. In this wearisome situation, the two of them discover what it truly means to walk in someone else's shoes. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
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.