Rating: 3.88 leaves out of 5
-Characters: 2.5/5
-Story: 3/5
-Writing: 5/5
Genre: Slice of Life
-Slice of Life: 5/5
Type: Manga
Worth?: For some

Want to thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read this book.

There were some funny times, some educational times, and some times that I just kind of felt annoyed by. This isn't a manga I would get lost in, but it was a fast read and maybe if you just want something to quickly pass the time this might be for you.

DNF. It was just too much. There is no need to include so many topics in a single chapter to make an inclusive story. Although it had a good start, after five chapters I was done with it because I couldn't see where the story was going with so many "reveals" and a pair of girls who seemed to be all the time where Cocoa's group was. It wasn't for me.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC

I got about 50% into this before deciding to DNF. There's just not really any plot to this (at least in the first half of this volume) - more like a series of hijinks. It reads almost like a collection of comic strips instead of something with a coherent plot, and none of the characters really have any personality. The time line just keeps jumping constantly and switching between the main 4 characters, and random strangers just looking at them - like the mangaka just had a vague concept for this manga and started drawing pages without any real plan of what to do with it or where the story would go. It's kind of confusing and really did not hold my attention at all.

I was worried it'd be offensive, but it's not too bad. One character is a trans woman and another is bisexual, so I appreciate the different queer identities. The art style is cute.

This was really cute and funny. I enjoyed how each male felt they couldn’t be their authentic self and eat cake and other desserts unless they were cross dressing. I’m looking forward to seeing their character growth as the series progresses.

I Cross-Dressed for the IRL Meetup (1) seems to be both volumes 1 and 2 of this serious about four people who we find out are varied in gender presentation/sexuality who get together at first as "women" to enjoy sweets without the social stigma of being men going out to eat cute things. At the end of volume 1 we get a little recap of everyone's deals (one is a transwoman, one is a bi boy who likes dressing femme sometimes, et cetera), and a really nice note from the English publisher in the back that explains that some characters may say things that are ignorant or sound -phobic but that they as translators tried to take care (especially with pronouns as often in Japanese they're omitted entirely where in English.. that's much harder).

As a queer person I was a little understandably unsure when I picked this up about how cross-dressing (at minimum) would be handled in this book as media, and in this case Japanese comics, have not had the greatest history of care and sensitivity toward gender non-conforming folks but I actually quite enjoyed this! The main four are pretty different in how they feel about presenting as female and all pretty understanding of each others' circumstances once they get through the initial shock of "what do you mean it's ALL of our group? (No wonder we felt so comfortable...)"

(As a note, even with the transwoman character, because this is manga and she's earlier on in her journey it's wayyyy more common in Japan to be like "has the heart of a woman" or "used to be/is a man" which is a little jarring to the Western ears/eyes but extremely normal there as they have a heavy emphasis on surgeries being the end all end goal which fortunately is juuuust beginning to shift in real life.)

I think I'll keep up with this series, I loved that they were all adults meeting up to chat and talk openly about social stigmas and maybe even educate some readers!

Thank you to Kodansha and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for review!

I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading the next book. I liked the community they created together and how they have begun to navigate themselves as queer or just as friends. My one pet peeve would be with one of the characters telling the others they were trans and yet was still referred to their assigned at birth sex. I get that the character who said such thing is probably learning and it's a mistake but it just gave me the ick. Regardless this was a very cute manga.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for the ARC of this manga.

Oh man I absolutely LOVED this!!! I love the LGBTQIA rep in this and the conversations about gender and gender identity. There’s so many great things brought up in this.

I will absolutely be getting a physical edition of this and keeping an eye out for the next volume!

I apparently finished this a while ago, and then completely forgot about it and did not review it anywhere. This is more a fault of my brain than the manga though. It does, however, reveal to me that I did not find this manga super memorable. I thought it was cute enough, interesting enough, funny enough, entertaining enough. I was happy that the pace wasn't too slow and that misunderstandings were not dragged out endlessly. The characters were also pretty likable, and topics like gender identity were handled well enough and not disrespectfully (imo). I don't have much more to say to be honest, but I will always be curious about manga like these.

I got an ARC of this book.

It was ok. I was worried at first that it was going to be queerphobic, but it was surprisingly wholesome. There was a trans woman who was not taking being misgendering, even casually. It was really cute and gentle. I just didn't really enjoy the overall story.

So by far, not the worst I have read. Just didn't hold my attention through both volumes in this edition.

This is cute. A little silly, but overall an enjoyable story. I love that the characters found each other and developed a friendship and community. Curious about more of Satoshi/Cocoa, but I don’t know that I’m invested enough to seek out continuation.

A very cute, very nice read about the importance of casual acceptance. I have to give this credit, not once while reading did I feel I was being lectured or preached at, which is so refreshing. I really appreciate that. This was just wholesome. The importance of friendship and being yourself, and how that allows the people around you to be themselves in turn. Find your people y'all. They're out there and they need you too.

The story follows a group of friends who bond over their love for desserts, though some have other reasons, like romantic interest in someone in the group. But things aren’t quite what they seem. The main characters, Cocoa and Opera, quickly find out that they’re both crossdressers, and that’s where the story really kicks off.

At first, I thought it would focus on romance, but I was happy to see it dive deeper in the topic of crossdressing. The manga also touches on self-esteem and includes a bisexual character and a trans woman who’s into other women. I loved how they handled the conversations about gender and attraction and how they show the process of becoming a whole new person when crossdressing.

Even though the story is light and funny, it doesn’t shy away from exploring how each character expresses their identity. The translators did an amazing job. Despite the challenges, it can be tricky to translate pronouns across languages, especially in the Japanese language, where terms to describe sexuality can be so different.

I think combining the first two volumes for the English release was a great call. It’s a fast read and pulls you in from the start. I’m definitely going to keep reading, both to see if any romance develops and to keep reading about their friendship.

I’d definitely recommend this if you’re looking for a quick, fun read. I got hooked right away and finished it in one day.

There are a few brief mentions of things like transphobia and harassment, but they’re super short and not the main focus.

Thank you Netgalley and Kodansha for the e-book copy!

This story made me skeptical at first. Especially since I felt the story was framing it as the main character was only cross-dressing to get closer to their crush. However, I feel like by the end of the volume you understand that it had more to do with their journey in figuring out their gender identity. I feel like if it didn't start off like that I would have enjoyed it more but I still felt lukewarm about it after I was finished. I might give volume two a chance to see if it makes me more interested. I still recommend checking it out because I feel like the discussions were good and it might work for others.

This little manga was better than I thought it would be. While there are some problematic events, they are called out in the story. I appreciated the nuanced take on the varying reasons that people might choose to cross dress. I had hoped there would be a little more featuring the trans woman, but this was a decent start.

This was surprisingly super cute. Each of the four characters introduced in the friend group has an interesting backstory that get's lightly teased in the first volume. Enough that you get to like them a bit and want to know more by continuing the series. I'm interested to continue and think there's a lot of promise here!

Thank you for the ARC and giving me a chance to read this first volume!

I was... taken aback, to say the least, when I finished the first chapter. Characters playing the "guess what's in others' pants" made me really uncomfortable, especially since the summary gave off an inclusive and respectful impression. I'm glad I continued reading though, it immediately gets better from there!

3.5

This was a cute read! This manga is clearly meant to be a comedy, but the act of cross-dressing is never the thing that's the "joke". Most of the characters just happen to be people who enjoy presenting femme, though one character is actually a trans woman. The story is mostly told episodically, but near the end of the volume, it appears that the story wants to try and establish a longer plot line. There's some potential for drama in this comedy, and I'm honestly interested to see what direction this story might take.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

*Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!*

I was super hesitant going into this manga because, like others have pointed out, there is a history of topics involving gender and sexuality to go downhill very fast. I will say that I was pleasantly surprised that these sensitive topics were handled rather well and I'm glad that this seems to be the case across the manga genre. I love seeing things get absorbed into media once they start to become more accepted.

That being said, I do have to say that these characters just weren't really for me. I wasn't particularly invested in any of their lives or stories, though I did think their growing bonds were heartwarming. 3/5 Stars

This was a cute but somewhat light story about 4 people who met online and enjoy getting sweets together monthly. I say people because it turns out they are three cross-dressers and a trans woman. At first they are all shocked to learn each other's secrets, but after getting to know each other they become closer.

I was initially hesitant reading this, but it navigated the topic of gender fairly well. My only dislike is that the story is a little too light for my personal tastes. We learn a little bit about some of the characters backgrounds, but there's always a silliness to each portion of the book. Overall it was a lighthearted and fun read.

Whenever I come across a book/manga that tackles a sensitive topic such as gender expression and gender identity, I am always nervous about how things will go. I personally found the pronoun usage natural, and each character self-identifies before anybody hazards to slap a label that might not be correct.

Most of the main characters cross-dress and there is one character who is trans. Yes (in case you didn't know), these are two different forms of expression - and I absolutely love that the manga explores it!

Each character seems to have different reasons why they express/identify the way they do. They don't owe their explanations to anybody, but they do become close enough friends that we learn the reasoning. (Note: reasoning for cross-dressing. I appreciate that the trans character felt zero obligation to explain herself and none of the others felt compelled to ask why. They simply accepted that she was a woman.)

Gender aside, I love the two main characters! Everyone seems to try to lift each other up. And while their group began as a sweets-loving group, they now have something more to connect over.

I'm curious how the two main characters will continue to grow and bond with one another. Will there be a relationship in their future?