プラナス・ガール

PRUNUS GIRL

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
6
RELEASE
March 22, 2013
CHAPTERS
43

DESCRIPTION

Maki-kun goes to look at the results of his high school entrance exam and meets a beautiful girl. Could this be a fated encounter? He's thrilled to find out that the same girl, Aikawa Kizuna, not only ends up going to his school, but is in his class. However, he's not so thrilled to find out that Aikawa is really a guy!

CAST

Kizuna Aikawa
Maki
Shion Hanazaka
Chris Naitou
Ran Ranbashi
Yaotome
Ken Sasakino
Kadoyama
Kei Sasakino
Asami Asakura
Haruko Satou
Shizuya Asakura
Non Tachibana
Kana Wakakusa
Ayako Kandaka

CHAPTERS

RELATED TO PRUNUS GIRL

MANGA RomanceJosou Shounen Anthology

REVIEWS

femboydirt
91/100
A wonderful read - A fun rom com that doesn't overstay, gets through all the right story beats, and ends gracefully -
Prunis Girl is suprinsingly ahead of its time in terms of how progressive it is. In a genre like BL, many manga around this same time (mid-late 2000s) were just as bad as BL that had come out in the 90s. Prunis girl doesn't fall into the tropes of BL and doesn't fetishize gay relationships. Moving to the second part of this, the main character has some trans coding but is not trans. The manga handles this decent, but that amounts to them just enjoing crossdressing with no deeper implications.
It sucks I have to talk about these things before a review but the natiure of BL and generally LGBTQ+ related things in manga means that any worth while disussion on the media addresses these points. Japan is known to have very poor social policies and the rampant bigotry and ignorance in manga throughout the years is an unfortunate result of these. Thats also what makes manga like this so important. While the queer aspects are in the background for most of the manga, this can be a good thing. It helps normalize things like expressing yourself more freely with clothing and gay relationships.
Crossdressing and Otonoko lifestyle is a main topic of the series.

Those only browsing around for a score, my score of this is 9.1/10.

Prunis Girl is a joy to read through. Its very similar to other high school rom com manga/anime, but unlike a lot of its peers, Prunis Girl has a frantic pace and doesn't pad things out. There is a status quo, but unlike other rom coms it doesn't reset back to it completely, character actions have meaning and consequences. It also doesn't drag on, Prunis Girl is almost too short, but ending before it lost any steam enhances the experience as a whole.

First off, the criticisms...
The art is really nice... when the artist was able to get it done. This is probably the fairest criticism one can toss at this manga. Its clear the mangaka ran out of time several times when writing and drawing for the chapters. It can make some things feel incomplete.
I mentioned the increased pace compared to similar manga, well its not always to its favor as some sub plots or character moments can feel very rushed. The manga does slower moments quite well, but they are often too far in between. If you're used to the slow burn style of other romance manga, this can make the romantic moments feel unearned.
The side cast is fun, but not that memorable. This is a common issue for manga that of similar length. This series is much more action oriented than most other rom com manga so conflicts will start and end with characters or antagonists becoming either one note side characters or sometimes disappearing entirely. Now this problem doesn't ruin the story, but if you grow fond of a character they might lose screentime and it can possibly effect enjoyment of the manga.
There are other negatives to the manga, but most of them are subjective. Not everyone is gonna enjoy the action and not everyone is gonna enjoy the romance.

The good parts
Prunis Girl does a lot well. The plot is pretty basic in the grand scheme of manga, but the side cast is interesting enought to carry what are normally generic rom com plots. Its very easy to get absorbed into the setting, the characterse have great chemistry and dialog flows very naturally. The character dynamics are the biggest reason to read this manga. The romance is always in the background, the relationship grows organically, and you spend the whole read rooting for the main two to finally get together.
The art and visuals are wonderful. They are nothing revolutionary, but they are very easy to look at and understand, Even the action scenes are well done, moments have real weight to them.

My Personal Enjoyment (Contains some spoilers)
My score is biased and I admit that. Although I stand by the quality of this manga. When you read something has a ton of effect on the things impact on you. I read this when I was having serious Identity issues. Seeing someone enjoy crossdressing but being ok with thier given gender resonated a lot with me. Seeing that same character being strong and accepted really helped me be confident in my identity. Seeing the other MC accept the fact he actually was attracted to him and not just because he looked feminine helped me accept the fact I was pansexual.

Conclusion
Very charming manga, highly recommend it to anyone into a short action filled rom coms. Come for the cute femboy/otonoko, stay for the romance and charming action.
Continue on AniList