AKB49: Renai Kinshi Jourei

I don't write any reviews for most of the content I read and watch, but AKB49: Renai Kinshi Jourei has struck me very deeply. It has provided me with a new perspective of not only the idol scene in general, but towards life as well. I'll try my best to not spoil the story.

This story's protaganist is Urayama Minoru, who cross dresses as Urayama Minori. This is a start of a exhilarating story that shows the pure, raw effort that idols put everyday to their craft. Humble beginnings, modesty, rivalry, courage, determination, and the most important of all - dedication towards fans and members is presented in dynamic art and exciting pacing.
The art style is quite similar to Bakuman.

I initially did not care much about Idols, and what they were. I did not understand the fan battlions that wore robes and waved light sticks to the beat. Love Live and IdolM@ster, they did not mean anything to me other than something mediocore. But that all changed once I saw this manga.

There are a total of 263 (1 side story episode) chapters in this masterpiece, with a few major arcs in between. The pacing is very fast, and each and every main character is given sufficient character development. Each and every episode keeps me on my heels as tension is always sky high.

As I write this review, I am currently on fire after completed reading this work. My thoughts are still jumbled as I try to slowly compress my excited feelings down. I highly recommend you to read this manga, even after AKB48's golden era has ended. URAYAMA MINORI! The fire never dies, as long as there are fans, who love that idol - it will never die. 10/10.

AKB49: Renai Kinshi Jourei's a gender-bender manga about idols. I think that if you don't like the premise of the synopsis of a crossdressing male into female going into show business, then you won't like this manga. Once you get past this flashy synopsis, you realize that this manga is surprisingly pretty serious about the showcasing how idols operate. It's obviously a light hearted sort of manga, but it also is serious at a lot of parts, mainly showing the determination of the characters to become idols really shines through.
I like Urukawa Minori's journey towards the top of stardom. That being said, there's a lot of reasons why you don't necessarily want to read the manga. In the first place, there's a lot of melodrama moments that don't feel genuine other than to "create a conflict." This, and the many times where there's just a "do or die" situation of "selling X amount of CDs or I'll retire." These are just plot devices to drive tension with the other characters and create a sense of urgency. However, there are a few moments where the characters' feelings are genuine, and it shines through. Despite there being an obvious arbitrary goal of "making top 8," "getting this many ratings," etc, it's still enjoyable to watch Minori climb through and take over her adversaries. You get to see how she struggles, but also gather the determination to make the best use of the situation, how she never gives up to succeed. Characters alongside her share this determination and that's what makes this manga enjoyable to read. There's a decent cast of characters, but there's only a few main ones that you really need to be paying attention to, so there's not much of a need to be worried about there being a bland cast of characters that don't get a lot of screen time. The few characters that matter in the series get developed in the story so that they don't just feel like "rivals character A," or "supporting character B." since they get fleshed out decently enough for themself. That being said, a small pool of characters isn't always good. There are quite a few essential characters throughout the story that get thrown out like trash after their role in the manga is over. Seriously, what's with that? There was quite an emphasis on their characterization and personality, but they're literally never mentioned again. Why? Did you really need to have them step out of the spotlight like that?
The art also isn't that great, to be honest. I like how the characters are drawn, but some of the backgrounds, and mainly, the star of the series, the performances are rarely choreographed to a decent degree .There might be a few good body shots of the girls, but it was truly lacking. Bits and pieces of fanservice are present here and there of course, since Minori's actually a guy. I mean, for a story synopsis like this, it's basically mandatory for there to be fanservice here and there; it'd be weird for there to not have any. I am the first one to say that fanservice ruins some stories, but in this case, it's not obscenely frequent, and it's something that comes along with being a crossdressing guy, come on now.
Lastly, I just want to talk about the fact that the entire premise of the series is that idols are not supposed to love, but there's never any commentary on breaking that rule. In fact, you only see that the idea of idols having boyfriends as "taboo" for the entire series, spoken and enforced by many people. I wonder why there wasn't any effort or push for asking "why exactly do idols have to do this?" Other celebrities, don't right? And it's frequently mentioned in the manga how "love is powerful," and how "it's impossible for a girl to not be in love," yet the premise that "idols can only love fans" is also prevalent throughout the manga. How it's a sin, and how it's mandatory for you to maintain that "chastity" and "pureness" when becoming an idol.
I really don't like when people complain about lack symbolism in a series too, and I don't think the series becomes bad because of it, but the fact that the entire premise of a story is "loving an idol" and "wanting to date her," it just comes off as strange.

I said some bad things about this series, but I'd like to repeat how much I looked forward to seeing how Minori progresses as an idol. She was being led around by plot devices to make her more popular, yes, but it's still something that I enjoyed reading. What kind of bonds she makes, the characters she interacts with, and her attitude towards different things makes the series good. Her determination and actions that she makes to realize her goal to come true are expressed in the manga clearly. Did I mention? I have absolutely no interest in akb48 in real life. Yet, this series shone through to me anyway.

Story: (9)
The story center around a high school boy, Minoru Urayama, joining the Japanese idol group AKB48 in order to support his crush, Hiroko Yoshinaga. He enters the group under the name Minori Urakawa and tried his best to survive in the whole female idol group. During this mess he became more and more involved with the group as he also slowly began to change.
This isn't a classical gender swap or harem story as the plot rarely goes into that direction. Instead it focuses its romance as something more of a motivation and should be classified as more of a shounen trope filled with struggles in the idol world.
Art: (9)
I would like to give it a 10 if it wasn't for the early art style. Reiji Miyamura is an example of the evolution of a mangaka as time goes on. His early art style makes it difficult to tell each character from one another, but later on his art improved to a whole another level. The art is by far one of the best in a more modern manga art style and the later art is simply just a breathtaking. His incorporation of some of the chibi art style was perfect in providing comic relief within the story. His detail to the character needs to also be mentioned as there are many references to real life AKB48 members and he capture them perfectly.
Character: (10)
Minoru and Hiroko are the main protagonists of the story. They are very well developed as each of their motivations and dreams are clearly presented throughout the story. As the story progress they began to change and simply grew into characters that the fans love. There are many side characters that could use more development, but for a large cast of an idol group it is enough. The necessary characters are well developed for the story to progress and also for us to feel for them. The characters from the real life AKB48 also had their characteristics be flushed out in the story.
Enjoyment:(10)
I read chapter 200 something on Weekly Shonen Magazine and I was immediately hooked by the story. I had no idea of what AKB48 was but I immediately went on to check out the first chapter. I finished the 200 or so chapters within 2 days and longed each week for the new chapters. Each week I would even search for the raw version and translate them myself just to catch up to the story. (I read the chinese translations after the raw was translated)
Overall: (9)
This is by far not the perfect manga, but its enjoyment level is off the roof. Despite its early art being not the best, it transformed itself as the story progress. All in all, I would say that you don't need to be an AKB48 to enjoy this story. It is after you read the story that you will truly appreciate the idol group as we learn about the true hardship behind the spotlight.

Is your loved one struggling to reach her dreams? Well, man up! Dress up as a woman and help your darling to become part of the top idol group. At least that's what our main protagonist Urayama Minoru did. And is it working out? well.. that's for you to find out, or you can get a glimpse of hint by reading this review.

STORY 7 - Well there is this one girl Yoshinaga and her wish is to become a part of AKB idol group. The guy Minoru is her secret lover. Cute right? And then there were auditions or something along those lines. And because Yoshinaga is so insecure, Minoru went to help her out. But oh-my-couldn't-predict-it-at-all they both get accepted.
Surprisingly, Minoru himself is doing quite well. And maybe he is a better idol than the person he tries to help. Yet, there are always those ''but'' parts of the story...
He can't stay forever as a female.. Right.. so this is why the story intrigues me. I really want to see how this mess of hiding your own gender turns out in the end of this story. And for that i am ready to read it until the revealing happens, even if some arcs get too long and predictable at times.


ART 9 - Art is really great. I like the details, characters look nice and beautiful, amazing angles, etc. Nothing bad to say.

CHARACTER 7 - Characters are good. Minori is quite strong-willed and i quite like ''her'' and i think ''she'' is the best character of the story. In addition, Minori/Minoru's gender hiding dilemma makes him a very interesting character overall. Anyways, this manga has many female and some other weird characters in it and i guess they all fit into the plot. They haven't impressed me much though. But there might be characters that some of you might really like. There are a lot of cute girls.

ENJOYMENT 9 - So far this has been very enjoyable. I just really want to see how Minoru will end up after all that mess. The excitement got a new push at chapter 119 so lets see how it turns out. The story gets also very enjoyable around 200th + chapters.

Overall I'd rate it 8. It has its ups and downs but overall quite enjoyable gender-bender manga. The latest chapters are very enjoyable. Even if you do not know all that idol system you can understand what is going on.
Tip: if you happen to get bored just skip few chapters, but there might not be a need to do that. For now, this hasn't been a let-down and if you are interested, give this manga a try.

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Update: 6 years later I finally had the chance to finish reading this series. I must say I felt quite lonely after finishing it, because the atmosphere drew me in.

So even if some arcs felt a bit unrealistic in their solution, i didn't really mind it much. Because I find stories where main character has to hide who they really are really interesting and hiding your gender makes it a unique story that is hard to forget.

When you love someone, you want to give the best effort to help her fulfill her dreams, especially in the entertainment world. If it's an all-female group, you might want to crossdress and help her, even if it means compromising your career with one wrong move. This is what Urayama Minoru did for his crush, Hiroko Yoshinaga.

Story (7)
• The story starts straightforward, bringing readers inside the world of AKB48, its members, then through processes, and later, characters forging their paths, and sacrificing even the best of friends along the way. Definitely a total meaning of being an idol in real life. Throughout the story, as they forge paths, they also develop as well, making the story not so stale and instead dynamic and interesting.

The ending might give mixed feelings, so read at your own risk.

Art (8)
• The art was really good, especially for a cute girl like Hiroko and a shounen/shoujo Minoru. For the real life people in the manga (Maeda Atsuko, Oshima Yuko, etc), most of them had been designed the way they style in real life (even had to research their photos for comparison!). Well done art, really love it, and carried it over to Kanojo, Okarishimasu.

Character (8)
• Character development was completely well-established, even though there were some liberties and extremities that cannot be done in real life. The favorite character style ofine was Hiroko, initially very shy and innocently cute, then becomes fiercely cute yet confident. Conflicts were also good to follow through as the characters face new enemies and friends on the way.

Enjoyment (9):
• If you are a fan of 48G and its members, you'll definitely enjoy this. If not, well, you'll still enjoy this, but prepare your search engines, as the real AKB48 and sister groups is very interesting. The storyline and the universe they created are very interesting that you'll be able to witness how they change AKB48 from 2010 onwards. For love comedy, you'd definitely enter plot holes and stuff, but still, overall enjoyed the entire manga.

Story -
This story revolves around a high-school student who pretends to be a female in order to support his love interest from within the audition, however what he did not expect was to be one of the candidates to pass, so he continues to support his love interest from within the group as Minori as well as from outside as Minoru. The synopsis, along with my short description, would lead you to believe that this story lacks an actual story and that it is just another one of those manga's that starts off interesting enough but quickly getting boring because the only thing they have going for them is the secret... HOWEVER I'm extremely happy to say that is not the case! The story starts off simple enough yes, but it quickly turns into something more as it depicts the life of an idol as well as the trials and tribulations of following your dream. There is very little if any perverted humor and the story focuses more on being an idol than the gender bender which I am happy about that. Stories like "Idol Pretender" start off with interesting premise but quickly lose the majority of the audience due to the lack of a story, while this on the other hand this is more of a "Birdy the mighty" since the gender bender is still present + the secret identity etc, it is not the entire story but rather, it is only a small fraction of it.

Art & Characters -
Art is fairly meh, you may struggle to tell characters apart from one another from time to time but as you get used to the art you are able to distinguish who is who, this by far is the weakest point of the manga imo.

Overall enjoyment -
I am really liking the story I've never read anything quite like this. The closest thing that I can think of is the Sun-ken Rock idol arc where it went into extreme details of life of a kpop idol, and managing a group...