Senpai Is an Otokonoko

Senpai Is an Otokonoko (先輩はおとこのこ), also known as This Is Him or Senpai Is an Otokonoko: My Crossdressing Classmate, is a Japanese romance manga series written and illustrated by Pom. It was serialized digitally through Line Manga from 2019 to 2021 as a weekly series, and is collected in tankōbon print volumes by Ichijinsha since 2021. The story follows a love triangle involving Makoto Hanaoka, a cross-dresser; Saki Aoi, a bisexual younger student; and Ryuji Taiga, a childhood friend of Makoto's. Senpai Is an Otokonoko received an official English translation by Webtoon beginning on March 9, 2023. An anime television series adaptation produced by Project No.9 premiered in July 2024 on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block.

Pom created the series with themes such as love regardless of gender, and originally came up with the concept when experiencing difficulties drawing male characters. The series was popular with readers and well received by critics for its writing and characters, becoming the third-place web manga winner of the 2021 Next Manga Award and the third most read Line Manga series of 2021.

Premise
Senpai Is an Otokonoko is a romance manga following Makoto Hanaoka, a young man who dresses like a woman despite his mother's disapproval. Saki Aoi, a girl attending the same high school as Makoto, falls in love with him under the belief that he is a woman, and only learns the truth after confessing her feelings for him and getting rejected. She is bisexual and does not mind what his gender is, and still wishes to become his first love, but he worries that she will be seen as odd by associating with a cross-dresser. Ryuji Taiga, a childhood friend of Makoto's, is initially unsure about being with another man, but a love triangle involving the three forms as he warms up to it.

Characters

 * Makoto Hanaoka (花岡 まこと)
 * Makoto is a second-year student who is a crossdresser. He is often judged by many around him for his choice to dress up as a woman but still chooses to wear them anyway. He keeps it a secret from his mother.
 * Makoto is a second-year student who is a crossdresser. He is often judged by many around him for his choice to dress up as a woman but still chooses to wear them anyway. He keeps it a secret from his mother.


 * Saki Aoi (蒼井 咲)
 * Saki is a first-year student who has a crush on Makoto. She is considered to be bisexual, as she does not care about Makoto's gender and loves him for who he is. She is bright and energetic.
 * Saki is a first-year student who has a crush on Makoto. She is considered to be bisexual, as she does not care about Makoto's gender and loves him for who he is. She is bright and energetic.


 * Ryuji Taiga (大我 竜二)
 * Ryuji is a second-year student who is Makoto's childhood best friend since kindergarten. He is secretly gay, as he bears a secret crush on Makoto. Alongside Aoi, Ryuji is one of the few people who is able to accept Makoto for who he is and the choices he makes to become a crossdresser. Saki affectionally calls him 'Master'.
 * Ryuji is a second-year student who is Makoto's childhood best friend since kindergarten. He is secretly gay, as he bears a secret crush on Makoto. Alongside Aoi, Ryuji is one of the few people who is able to accept Makoto for who he is and the choices he makes to become a crossdresser. Saki affectionally calls him 'Master'.


 * Mika Hanaoka (花岡 美香)
 * Mika is Makoto's mother who strongly detests Makoto's interest in feminine qualities. She wants her son to be strong and manly, not to be girlish. Makoto keeps it a secret from her to further prevent her from causing anguish against him.
 * Mika is Makoto's mother who strongly detests Makoto's interest in feminine qualities. She wants her son to be strong and manly, not to be girlish. Makoto keeps it a secret from her to further prevent her from causing anguish against him.


 * Konatsu Taiga (大我 小夏)
 * Ryuji's little sister.
 * Ryuji's little sister.

Production
Senpai Is an Otokonoko was written and illustrated by Pom, and originated in how he had difficulties drawing male characters, and received advice from an acquaintance to draw a series where a male character dresses like a woman; prior to this, he had considered making a series about a lesbian romance. Due to Pom's difficulty with male characters, a lot of time was dedicated to the panel where Makoto shows that he is not a girl, and in the end still remained unhappy with it. The setting was designed around Makoto's cross-dressing, with a school where female students wear sailor fuku, ensuring visual contrast against the male school uniform. Although Japanese high schools allowing male students to wear female school uniforms do exist, the one Makoto attends was not modeled after any specific real-world schools.

Early in the planning of the manga, consideration was given to make a gag-based comedy, but it was decided to lean more toward a serious tone as that is what Pom personally enjoys reading, which is what led to writing of Makoto's troubled relationship with his mother. Among the major themes are "human relationships, love regardless of sex, the importance of respecting diversity, being able to like cute things as a man, and the importance of taking care of oneself",  although Pom did not specifically write the story with the intent to combat prejudices against people who defy gender norms. Pom did not want the story to feel dark, so was conscious about balancing darker scenes with lighter ones.

Pom intentionally kept the story focused on just three main characters, expressing dislike when a manga's cast grows while its story gets less focused and goes off on tangents. Makoto and Saki were designed to contrast against each other, with Makoto being an anxious person who does not move much, and Saki being a confident person who always moves; Ryuji was created as a balance between the two. Pom used voice actress Tomoko Kaneda as reference for Saki's movements, and conceived of her as a proactive, immature girl who always is true to herself. When writing and drawing Makoto, Pom was conscious of how Makoto only dresses like a woman because he likes the aesthetic, and so intended to portray him as male on the inside. Pom intentionally tried to limit the amount of text in the series, and instead used visual storytelling whenever possible. As Pom had only intended for the series to last for 16 chapters, there was not have a detailed plan for how to continue the story after that, and let it go wherever the characters took it after planning out backgrounds for them; Pom felt it not possible could not portray things believably unless having the experience, and described the characters as all having parts of the author within them.

Manga
The manga began as the four-page story Otokonoko ga Kōhai ni Kokuhaku Sareru Hanashi, which Pom re-drew and expanded for a pilot in Line Manga's "frontier debut program" for independent creators in December 2019, and got signed for weekly digital serialization within four months of the premiere. The series ended with chapter 100 on December 30, 2021; Pom had considered continuing it further, but wanted to end it at a high point and not stretch it out. A prequel titled Senpai Is an Otokonoko: The Encounter was released through Line Manga starting December 21, 2023.

The first tankōbon volume collecting the series in full color along with a new 16-page chapter was released on November 25, 2021, by Ichijinsha; Pom thought it would be difficult to prepare the series for print as it was originally created for a vertically scrolling digital format, and considered abandoning the idea, but proceeded because of reader requests. The print volumes have been licensed in Traditional Chinese by Tong Li Publishing, with the first volume released on March 6, 2023; and in Korean by Daewon C.I., with the first volume released on July 13, 2023. At Sakura-Con 2024, Kodansha USA announced that the series was licensed for English language publication as Senpai Is an Otokonoko: My Crossdressing Classmate, with the first volume to be released in April 2025.

Webtoon began serializing the series digitally in other regions in 2021, with a Taiwanese release beginning on December 25, 2021, a Chinese release on December 27, 2021, a Thai release on February 13, 2022, a South Korean release on February 18, 2022, a French release on March 28, 2022, as My Crossdressing Crush, and a German release on May 28, 2022, under the same title. The series has also been released in English by Webtoon beginning on March 9, 2023, as Senpai Is an Otokonoko.

Chapters not yet in tankōbon format
These chapters have yet to be published in a tankōbon volume. 1. "Spring Vacation" (春休み)

2. "Discovery" (見つける)

3. "Encounter" (遭遇)

4. "Break for It" (走っていく)

5. "Choosing" (選ぶ)

6. "Happiness" (幸せ)

7. "It Suits Me" (似合う)

8. "The Road Home" (帰り道)

9. "Moving Forward" (進む)

10. "Parents" (両親)

11. "Home" (家)

12. "Protect" (守る)

13. "The Real Thing" (本物)

14. "Really" (ほんと)

15. "That's All" (ただそれだけ)

16. "Love" (変)

17. "Relying On" (頼る)

18. "I Like You" (好き)

19. "Special" (特別)

20. "Sunny Days" (晴れの日)

21. "Chūgakusei" (中学生)

22. "Machigai" (間違い)

23. "Bukatsu" (部活)

24. "Kore" (これ)

25. "Kirei" (きれい)

26. "Nande" (なんで)

27. "Urusai" (うるさい)

28. "Yamanobori" (山登り)

29. "Yūjō" (友情)

30. "Koibana" (恋バナ)

31. "Chōsei" (調整)

32. "Hasegawa-san" (長谷川さん)

33. "Iraira" (イライラ)

34. "Dōrui" (同類)

35. "Ichigakki" (一学期)

36. "Sukāto" (スカート)

37. "Kami" (髪)

38. "Junchō" (順調)

39. "Taifū no Hi" (台風の日)

40. "Masumi-chan" (真澄ちゃん)

Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced by Aniplex at AnimeJapan on March 25, 2023. It is produced by Project No.9 and directed by Shinsuke Yanagi, with Yoriko Tomita as head writer, characters designed by Shōto Shinkai, and music composed by Yukari Hashimoto. The series premiered on July 5, 2024, on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block. The opening theme song is "Be a Good Egoist" (我がまま), while the ending theme song is "Shape of Love" (あれが恋だったのかな), both performed by Kujira, with the latter featuring Nishina. Crunchyroll licensed the series outside of Asia.

Reception
Senpai Is an Otokonoko was well received by critics and readers, and was the third-place winner of the 2021 Next Manga Award in the web manga category. It rose in popularity in 2020, and became the third most read series on Line Manga of 2021, after Mayu Murata's Honey Lemon Soda and Yaongyi's True Beauty. It was the third highest ranked in AnimeJapan's 2021 survey about what manga series published in the preceding year that readers would like to see adapted into anime, and the highest ranked in 2022.

The writing was well received for discussing potentially heavy topics like sexuality while managing to keep a light tone; Oricon and Nijimen both thought it did a good job at portraying the characters' psychology, and their struggles in wanting to be open about themselves while fearing the vulnerability that comes with it. Da Vinci wrote that they knew they loved the series when reading the Chapter 31 line "does it have to be one or the other?", and found the portrayal of Makoto's situation at home with his disapproving mother and how it affects his loneliness profound; they recommended the manga to everyone regardless of age or sex. Critics liked the characters, with Magmix calling Makoto appealing and cute, and the cast as a whole depicted in a humanistic way, and Da Vinci finding themselves invested in the characters' relationships. Reviewing the manga for Model Press, Kira Yokoyama recommended it to readers who like coming-of-age stories and school settings, finding the story fresh and interesting, with well-written portrayals of the characters' feelings, and an appealing protagonist who is both cute and cool. The artwork was also well received, with both Oricon and Nijimen describing the coloring as beautiful, and Da Vinci calling the scene where Makoto reveals his gender particularly well drawn.