Ame Nochi Hare
あめのちはれ (びっけ)
雨过天晴
Clear Up After Rain
Artist & Author: BIKKE
Fantasy, Romance, School Life, Shoujo...(among others)
Amagai Gakuen, a prestigious school for boys, was hit by an unusual spring storm during the entrance ceremony. Four boys - Hazuki, Toma, Yusuke, and Junta - were all caught in the storm's violence and were affected by a strange phenomenon. All of them were transformed into girls!!
Inevitably they will meet someone and fall in love. Bikke wholeheartedly introduces this new, beautifully drawn series about boys coming of age and their realization for the beauty of the same sex. (Baka-Updates)
Actually, I only came into knowledge of the existence of this series yesterday, but yeah, when I prepared to write a review, this series came into mind.( - ___ - obviously. I only read it yesterday) Its only up to chapter 7 scanlated as far as I know it, but its rather awesome.
The decent art was what caught my attention as usual, but before I read this series I had my reservations. Personally, I don't really like going after series with gender-bender themes. No offence to all out there who support such series, but its just that many gender-bender series have such typical storylines and often not very un-typical characters. Not to mention if there's a shoujo tag to them...I hope you get what I mean...ANYWAYS, what made me continue this series was the fact that they changed back-- I mean the guys could change back to their normal selves and the fact that Bikke didn't make Maki an enemy or something to the rest of the four boys. Sorry if that spoilt it a bit for ya or if there are actually A LOT of series out there who actually have characters who change back to their original genders and its just me being ignorant...
Well, to continue, where was I? Oh right. I don't normally go for such series, but Ame Nochi Hare was realistic. I guess more realistic than most. Characters actually do seem to go through believable circumstances when their genders change. Like having to take into considerations of their family's reactions and other funnier stuff. I don't know what's going happen in the later chapters, but right now its going good.
Just a few complaints: more situations could be exploited. I don't mean long arcs that actually have rather tiring situations that seem to repeat upon themselves or seem to drag along, but more situations could be exploited. Let's say the boys' interactions with more of the other students. We hardly see how they deal with their schoolwork or their teacher's other than _ _ _ _-chan, and he's not exactly a teacher right? Otherwise perhaps the reactions of the people who know the secret for the first time? Things like that...
Overall, I would say this series is really charming and quaint. It just has its own cuteness and quality that I haven't quite found (so far) in other series. Also, I do think that Bikke does want to dig deeper into relationships and differences between girls and boys, so occasionally you do get this 'reflective' kind of feeling...hmm.
Somehow I do get a rather yaoi feeling while reading it but I don't think the series is going towards that direction...even though its Bikke...?
Its definitely one of a kind. I'll give an overall 3.5/5 though I'm honestly considering a 4...
Art: 3.5/5
Story:3.5/5
Characters: 4/5
PS: you can find the series in chinese all the way till volume 3. Oh...I just realised that there actually is hint of yaoi in the summary o_o erm. I didn't catch that...