Ice Revolution

For years, Oosawa Masaki hasn't been seen as a girl. Raised along with three brothers in her demanding father's karate dojo, practicing nothing but karate and going to school in her brother's uniform when her own uniform is delivered late, Masaki is basically a tomboy turned Up to Eleven... Only now that she's in middle school she really doesn't want to be a tomboy any more. What she really wants is for the boys to acknowledge she's a girl, and hopefully be attracted to her. But how is she supposed to accomplish that in a totally macho environment without any maternal guidance?

Then she almost got hit by a truck. This would have ended her suffering... if a handsome boy hadn't saved her. Overcome by shyness she flees without even asking his name but not without noticing the odd-looking bag he was carrying. Later she notices that her classmate Saaya also carries a similar bag so she follows her to... an ice-skating rink. It's a skate bag, and Masaki is soon captivated by the way cold, distant Saaya becomes a lovely vision on the ice. Can the mannish Masaki transform into the sweet, lovely girl she wants to be through figureskating?

A manga by artist Youhei Takemura and author Aya Tsutsumi, Ice Revolution or I-Revo as it was known ran in Jump SQ magazine. Sadly, despite it's great story and art, the manga was Too Good to Last as the series was axed but the manga was able to finish the series in 3 volumes. A must read for anyone.


 * Action Girl: And how!
 * Anguished Declaration of Love
 * Beautiful All Along: After Masaki's first performance, boys in the school start looking her a lot differently.
 * Bishonen
 * Bokukko: Masaka takes it a step further with the much manlier "ore".
 * Cosmetic Catastrophe: Masaka's first attempt at makeup.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Saaya, and later one of Saaya's rivals.
 * Determinator: Masaki will let nothing stand in her way of her dreams, if it means defeating ten of her father's best students (his price for allowing her to take skating lessons) or clawing her way up through the ranks in an impossibly short time to qualify for the junior national championship.
 * Diving Save: How Kaoru meets Masaki. Masaki later endangers her chances at qualifying for the championship when she injures her ankle saving a little girl.
 * Dropped a Bridget On Him: Misaki drops a Bridget on everyone the first time she competes.
 * Gender Bender Friendship: Masaki can't help exploiting the initial confusion over her true gender to spend time with Kaoru -- at least until she realizes reinforcing his image of her as a boy is probably counterproductive.
 * Genki Girl
 * Girliness Upgrade: And how!
 * Half-Identical Twins: Masaki has an identical-looking brother, but he doesn't have anything to do with the plot.
 * Hot-Blooded: Masaki.
 * Missing Mom
 * Mistaken for Pedophile: People are apt to get the wrong impression when a middle school girl yells, "Please, make me into a woman!" to a grown man in a crowded plaza.
 * The Ojou: Saaya.
 * Tomboy Masaki is an extreme case, thanks to growing up in an extremely macho environment.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Masaki and Saaya.
 * The Rival: See above.
 * Samus Is a Girl: It takes nearly three chapters after the coach accepts Misaki as his student for him to realize he hasn't found the next great male figure skater. And most of the other skaters only find out she's a girl when she takes the ice for her first performance.
 * Ship Tease: Misaki and Kaoru, near the end of the manga. Misaki ask Kaoru to putting her mother's ring as necklace for good luck charm.


 * So Beautiful It's a Curse: Misaki crossed the Moral Event Horizon when she gave a venomous rant to Saaya for being beautiful. Later, we discover that Mika did the same thing because Saaya’s skating style was so beautiful (but she didn’t hurt her that was an accident). Saaya’s beauty plays into the insecurities of those girls, even when she only was acting friendly to them. That’s the cause she developed into a frost queen in the first place.
 * Technician Versus Performer - Lampshaded repeatedly.
 * Tomboy Masaki is an extreme case, thanks to growing up in an all-male environment.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Masaki and Saaya
 * Transsexualism
 * Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Saaya's leg injury is implied to be the result of a rival's attack similar to the Harding/Kerrigan affair. But when we finally meet the rival we learn that the "attack" was an accident and she still feels guilty about it.
 * Well Done Daughter Girl: Averted, Masaki already knows she's made her dad proud as his karate student, and now she wants his permission to do something independent. Her father resists until he recalls that promised her dead mother to never forget that Masaki was a girl.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Masaki actually pulls a What the Hell, Hero? on herself after she tells Saaya in a fit of jealous rage"I wish your leg never healed.". She clearly regrets the words the instant they leave her mouth and she later apologizes profusely after crying her heart out to her mentor over it.
 * Wholesome Crossdresser
 * Your Princess Is in Another Castle: Misaki makes the national championship only to have Kaoru drop out in grief over the death of his coach. He comes to watch her anyway.