CUTE×GUY: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Cute X Guy COVER.jpg|200px|thumb]]
...and it [[Gender Bender|transforms her]] into a [[
But on the bright side, Mitsuru admires her male alter ego as his "ideal man" and wants to learn to be more masculine from 'him' (much to ''her'' initial dismay). [[Gender Bender Friendship|Figuring she'll get to know him better this way]], Sumi decides to become his mentor, acquiring the name "Tadano Jun" in the process. Soon though, other [[Gender Bender|gender benders]] begin turning up, and her [[A Simple Plan|simple plan]] to get closer to Mitsuru becomes increasingly [[Zany Scheme|convoluted]] as she struggles to keep Mitsuru in the dark about her transformations while navigating the developing love triangle between her, Mitsuru, and the son of her father's biggest rival, Nishizawa Shizuka, who shares her condition.
'''''CUTE×GUY''''' (可愛X男孩) is a [[Gender Bender]] [[Romantic Comedy]] written by Tateno Makoto (Japanese order) which has not been [[Scanlation|officially translated]] into English. It was serialized from March 2004 to July 2006 in the magazine ''Hana to Yume'' published by Hakusensha. There are four volumes total.
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* [[Adults Are Useless]]: Either adults are conspicuous in their [[Parental Abandonment|absence]] or [[Played for Laughs|humorous]] for their [[Comedic Sociopathy]]. There are only four adult characters in the series who are of any significance to the plot (not counting Doctor M): Sumi's father, her mother, Kyouko-sensei, and Shizuka's father.
* '''''"[[Attractive Bent Gender]] operates in tandem with the [[First Law of Gender Bending]] to leave the world more attractive than it had been before,"''''' indeed. Sumi had [[Generic Cuteness]] on her side even before she took the [[Gender Bender]] [[Applied Phlebotinum|drug]], and it turned her into a [[Tall, Dark and Handsome]] [[Bishonen]] who looks older than his years in a good way. And it's not just the [[Gender Bender|body transformers]] either. Mitsuru made a ''very'' cute girl when he could be convinced to [[Crossdresser|wear drag]].
* {{spoiler|[[First Guy Wins]]}} ▼
* [[Beach Episode|Beach Chapter]]: Right down to the [[Contrived Coincidence|entirely coincidental]] [[Beauty Contest]], which Hozumi and Kyouko-sensei both enter, as well as a new girl, {{spoiler|who is actually a guy named Nishizawa Shizuka, another [[Gender Bender]].}}
* [[Betty and Veronica]]: [[Gender Inverted]]. Which would [[Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter|Sumi]] choose? The [[Nice Guy|wholesome]], if somewhat [[Genre Blindness|oblivious]] [[Boy Next Door|Mitsuru]], who she has been nursing a crush on for ages? Or maybe the [[Troubled but Cute|flawed]] but [[Secret Keeper|reliable]] [[Spear Counterpart|Shizuka]], who was [[Forbidden Fruit|the son of her father's rival]]? There was also an element of [[Muggle and Magical Love Triangle]] to her choice as Mitsuru is a [[Muggles|Muggle]] [[Locked Out of the Loop]] and Shizuka is a fellow [[Gender Bender]]. {{spoiler|[[First Guy Wins|Mitsuru wins.]]}}
* [[Bit Character]] doubling as a [[Shallow Love Interest]]: Miyoko, better known as "Miyo-chan", a friend of Sumi's. Mitsuru had a crush on her in the first volume, but she rejected his [[Love Confession|confession]] and was only mentioned once after that. However, as Sumi describes her, Miyoko is a plain-looking girl, not a "flamboyant beauty with big breasts", which caused Sumi to realize that she was rash to believe the rumors about Mitsuru's [[Buxom Is Better|taste in women]].
* [[Gender Bender Friendship]]: The story's main premise, at least until other [[Gender Bender|"body transformers"]] started showing up.▼
* [[Easy Sex Change]]: Dr. Takaoka's experimental [[Applied Phlebotinum|medicine]] was developed with the intention of replacing sex change operations.
* [[Hilariously Abusive Childhood|Hilariously]] [[Abusive Parents]]: Sumi and Shizuka's [[Mad Scientist]] fathers inflict gender dysphoria on their children just to use them as lab rats, and Sumi's mother is more interested in making her daughter dress up as a male model, since she wanted a boy anyway. No mention is made of Mrs. Nishizawa's reaction to her son's [[Gender Bender|predicament]], but she is presumably just as indifferent as Sumi's mother. All [[Played for Laughs]], of course.▼
* [[Gender Bender]]: The single most defining trope of '''''CUTE×GUY'''''. The [[Applied Phlebotinum]] that made this trope possible [[In-Universe]] was an experimental formula developed independently by both Dr. Tadaoka and [[The Rival|his rival]], Dr. Nishizawa. At least five characters are [[Gender Bender|"body transformers"]], but each of their individual conditions and circumstances are incredibly different. For one, some of them required a trigger to transform (like Sumi), while others seemed to be able to will the change at their leisure (like Hozumi). And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
** [[First Law of Gender Bending]]: [[Subverted]]. Unlike similar stories wherein [[Gender Bender|genderbent]] characters are "stuck", in '''''CUTE×GUY''''', the characters will inevitably return to their original forms given enough time. However, for those like [[The Protagonist|Sumi]], whose transformation is involuntary, it's a chronic problem which (in a realistic setting) would range in [[Angst|severity]] anywhere from "can't eat my favorite food anymore" to "physically incapable of getting to know the person I love as myself". For those with control of their transformations, it was a harmless alternative lifestyle.
** [[Second Law of Gender Bending]]: [[Played With]]. All of them reacted to their condition in different ways, though Sumi and Shizuka and Hozumi and Misaki had the most in common with one another on that front. The latter two adapted quickly and easily to their newfound ability to change genders at the drop of a hat, and they both embraced their other self with a sense of escapism. Sumi and Shizuka were vehemently opposed to this trope, though Sumi was more vocal with her frustration than he was, and although they were willing to use their transformations to their advantage, they were also acutely aware of the more [[Blessed with Suck]] aspects. Interestingly, however, even the most obvious pros and cons to life as either gender were ignored entirely, undoubtedly for the sake of preserving the light-hearted tone of the series.
* [[Hot for Teacher]]: Kyoko-sensei is very popular amongst the male students at Sumi's school▼
** [[Third Law of Gender Bending]]: [[Played Straight]]. Although they each have their own personal flair. Hozumi, for one, took to pretty dresses and feminine behavior like a duck to water, but Shizuka retained his usual assertiveness and tendency to confront threats head-on, even as a woman, and never wore a ''skirt'', let alone a dress (though a bikini {{spoiler|and lingerie}} were another matter). On the other end of the spectrum, neither Jun nor Seiji became particularly obsessed with feats of strength or drooling over girls, but they did act like, well, ''[[Bishonen]]''. They were enveloped in clouds of [[Bishie Sparkle|Bishie Sparkles]] and possessed natural, effortless [[The Charmer|charm]], leaving masses of swooning young women in their wake.
▲* [[Gender Bender Friendship]]: The story's main premise, at least until the other [[Gender Bender|"body transformers"]] started showing up.
▲* [[Hilariously Abusive Childhood|Hilariously]] [[Abusive Parents]]: Sumi and Shizuka's [[Mad Scientist]] fathers inflict gender dysphoria on their children just to use them as lab rats, and Sumi's mother is more interested in making her daughter dress up as a male model, since she wanted a boy anyway. No mention is made of Mrs. Nishizawa's reaction to her son's [[Gender Bender|predicament]], but she is presumably just as indifferent as Sumi's mother. All of this is [[Played for Laughs]], of course.
* [[Sue Donym]]: This how Jun end's up with his surname, the name Jun is a different reading of the same Kanji as Sumi but "Tadano" came into play when Kyoko-sensei asked for Jun's full name again got "Ta da no Jun!" or "It's just Jun!" and misheard it as "[[Names in Japanese|Tadano Jun]]". ▼
▲* [[Teacher-Student Romance|Hot for Teacher]]:
* [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]]
* [[Mad Scientist]]: Dr. Takaoka (Sumi's father) and Dr. Nishizawa (Shizuka's father) are the two foremost examples of this trope [[In-Universe]], but Doctor M showed a lot of the warning signs for [[Science-Related Memetic Disorder]], though he didn't stick around long. Still, [[Mad Scientist|Mad Science]] and the [[Applied Phlebotinum|Phlebotinum]] resulting from it has a ''huge'' impact on the story since, without it, there would be no [[Gender Bender|Gender Benders]] running around making things [[Hilarity Ensues|''interesting'']].
* [[Mistaken for Gay]]: Not only do random people on the street see Jun and Mitsuru and think this (though Jun's kind-of-painfully-obvious infatuation with Mitsuru, who himself has [[Clueless Chick Magnet]] traits, means it's at least not an ''unreasonable'' conclusion to jump to), so does Mitsuru's own [[Childhood Friends|childhood friend]]. Said childhood friend is the popular model Alicia, who is a fan of [[Boys Love|BL]] and wants to pair Mitsuru up with a suitable [[Seme]].
* [[Model Couple]]: Jun poses in one of these with Mitsuru's friend Alicia during his brief stint as a male model.
* [[Rooftop Confrontation]]: Between Sumi and the unnamed girl who gave Sumi a [[Love Letter Lunacy|written confession]] to deliver to Shizuka (and a friend of hers). For some reason, he was already on the roof and happened to overhear their conversation, revealing himself to accept the note and turn the girl down. She and her friend were leaving when they tripped over Shizuka's school bag and spilled its contents, {{spoiler|including a lacy bra which Shizuka reflexively claimed ownership of. The girl took back her confession in disgust, and Sumi leaped to his defense, giving her a dressing-down for holding ''her'' crush against him, just because he didn't match her ideal.}}
▲* [[Sue Donym]]: This is how
* [[Yaoi Fangirl]]: They flock to Jun and Mitsuru whenever the two of them are out together since they really look ([[Ho Yay|and act]]) the part of a [[Seme]] and [[Uke]] pair. And on a more specific note, Alicia is not-so-secretly one of these, and she has her [[Shipping Goggles]] cranked up to the max and zeroed in on Mitsuru, her [[Childhood Friends|childhood friend]]. See [[Mistaken for Gay]] for further details.
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