Never Give Up, Volume 1

Never Give Up is a very adorable manga. I was like, "Aww!!" really often and it was hilarious. Kiri is a "pretty boy" who has a crush on her friend Tohya, a boy who looks like a pretty girl. Tohya decides to become a model and Kiri, who is afraid he'll get molested by fashion industry people, decides to follow him to protect him - but she has to be a male model! If you like gender-bending, pretty boys, girls who look like pretty boys, crazy moms, romantic comedies, and stubborn, but adorable people, you'll love Never Give Up. And if you like Hana-Kimi, Ouran High School Host Club, Girl Got Game, or the otokoyaku (the actresses who play handsome men) in Takarazuka theater, you MUST pick up NGU.

This series is pretty good. Strong female character and development, lots of humour.

"Never Give Up" is a welcome addition to the shojo gender swapping genre, in the vein of Hana Kimi, Girl Got Game and Host Club. Kiri, the main girl protagonist, is in love with her friend and next door neighbour Tohya. While Tohya is a beautiful young guy, whose looks have enabled him to be offered a modelling job, Kiri is a masculine looking girl who has been trying desperately to become a "princess" and be just as beautiful as Tohya. Her insecurity regarding her manly looks has made her keep her love for Tohya a secret from him and is not helped by the fact that she only has female admirers. To ensure that Tohya does not go into the "hive of princesses and queens" (modelling) alone, she poses as a boy so that she can also be accepted as a male model and work along side him. Unfortunately, her best laid plans go awry, when a male model makes advances on her male alter ego Tatsuki. To make matters worse she finds that she cannot be with Tohya in her normal girl state just in case her secret is discovered. Unlike previous mangas, "Never Give Up" is original in that the main male protaganist already knows that Kiri is a girl and that Kiri already looks like a boy in her natural state. Although partly set in a school, Kiri only becomes Tatsuki during her modelling. Hiromu Mutou's drawings are attractive and funny and she sucessfully has created a lead character who can look like a girl and a sexy manly guy at the same time! "Never Give Up" is original, romantic and funny, and deserves to be in any shojo collection.

Short Summary: Ever since she was little, tomboy and guyish looking Kiri vowed to become a princess suitable for her prince, Touya. To be closer to him, she becomes a model with him, but there's a catch: she has to pretend be a male model! Under the name Tatsuki, Kiri models with Touya and Akira, who is in love with both the male and female Kiri. Things just keep getting more complicated as Kiri tries to become the best princess for Touya. Long Summary: Kiri Minase had already set her life goal at the age of three. She confessed to Touya that she loved him with all her heart, but then his sister came running out proclaiming that she wasn't worthy of him because she looked like a guy. Touya looked like a princess and Kiri looked like a prince. It was then and there that she vowed to become the most beautiful princess so she could marry Touya. About ten years later she still looks like the spitting image of her male model father. She has still been trying to change herself, but it seemes like it's not working at all. Kiri thinks that Touya has forgotten all about her porposal when they were three, but he hasn't forgotten at all. They're both too shy to say their true feelings yet, or until Kiri somehow becomes prettier than Touya? In reality Touya is trying to become a prince just as hard as Kiri is trying to become a princess. Suddenly out of the blue Touya tells Kiri that her mother wants him to be a model. Ok, Kiri is 100% against the idea of "evil witches getting ahold of the pure innocent Touya," but her mother has other plans. Kiri tries begging her to be a model and amazingly enough her mother agrees. There's only the one condition that she has to be a MALE model. Her mother tricks her into doing it by saying that the client that asked for Touya "is a gay groper." Kiri immedietly agrees and goes to the modeling agency with Touya. It is there that the start modeling with the client's son Akira. Kiri has to hide the fact that she's a girl and takes on the name "Tatsuki". She is always trying to protect Touya, and when Akira insults him "Tatsuki" tries to force him to apologize. Turns out that she breaks a lamp and voila instant chaos. Fortunately Akira takes some of the blame and persuades his father to "re-hire" Tatsuki. Akira falls in love with "Tatsuki" because of her determideness to be with Touya. Somehow he sees the female version and falls in love with Kiri too. Love triangle? What's going on? Will Kiri be able to become a perfect princess for Touya at this rate?