▪	RELEASED BY:		TOKYOPOP
		▪	AUTHOR / ART:		HARUKA FUKUSHIMA
		▪	FORMAT:		JAPANESE / B&W
		▪	PAGES:		192
		▪	RATING:		OT
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		03/01/2007
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		10/18/2007
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		HOLLY ELLINGWOOD

Form the creator of Cherry Juice and Instant Teen, comes a brief and utterly charming romantic comedy that involves a magical and hilarious take on the battle of the sexes! Kedamono Damono sees a girl in love with the wrong guy, until one night she discovers that a very appealing girl is not only into her, but by day is the guy who’ll steal her heart!

A show that has a fun time playing with gender-bending humor, romantic mix ups and endearing characters, this manga is sheer fun. The author has a lot of enjoyment playing with the characters and that comes through in both the highly engaging style of the storytelling and the mischievousness in the art style.

It all starts at basketball camp one fine summer night. Konatsu has been holding a torch for the team captain. Sadly and much to the reader’s outrage, he’s a cad. But what happens one fateful day is that Konatsu leans on the shoulder of the introverted loner Haruki.  And then she finds out that this ordinary and quiet boy is a boy by day only and a girl by night! To make it even more confusing, girl-Haruki is sex driven with eyes solely for Konatsu!

This is a stupendous comedic manga series. It just so much fun! Unlike other gender-bending comedies like Ranma, this actually moves the romance along quite steadily, progress is made in the very first volume which is a delight. Once Konatsu discovers Haruki’s secret, her choosing to keep it only binds them closer together as co-conspirators. It also provides ample opportunity for the ample bosomed girl-Haruki to try to seduce Konatsu – and Konatsu isn’t at all unwilling! This makes for a lot of yuri teases, but richly based in romantic charm. What’s amusing is that even though she’s dating Haruki now, it’s mostly with Haruki’s girl self which causes Konatsu to question whether boy-Haruki feels about her as strongly as his girl side does. Since they’re both the same person with the same memories, just different personality types (girl side is sexually spontaneous and assertive, she’s an extrovert versus the boy side’s introverted and shy nature), this doubt is a little bit silly on Konatsu’s part. As the story progresses it seems his shy nature is primarily due to a need to keep his dual nature a secret and therefore he keeps people at a distance in order to protect himself and his eccentric family (but we’ll get to them in a minute). First the story establishes their meeting, mutual attraction, discovery of his secret and the establishment of their relationship. They go through some ups and downs, particularly during Christmas vacation when Konatsu catches Haruki as a girl helping out another temple girl and mistaking it for flirting. The real reason for his sudden side-job is quite heart warming. Poor Konatsu also sometimes seems to be the target of aggressive jerk guys who try to force themselves on her, but luckily Haruki (usually the girl type) ends up saving her and then stealing a kiss (or more).

The real fun, adventure and big laughs happen when Konatsu comes to Haruki’s house after he’s fallen ill. At last she meets his family that he told her to stay away from. A good looking older brother who tries to seduce her, a cute younger sister who constantly wants to snuggle her, and a wicked sense of titillating humor all lead to a huge and hilarious discovery for Konatsu about the family and exactly why Haruki wanted her to steer clear. It also might finally answer the question for her as to whether boy-Haruki cares for her the way girl-Haruki does.

The art style is lovely. Attractive and playful, it has just the right touch of teasing and romance to the scenes. The character designs are stellar. Haruki is handsome without going over the top, and his girl self is a vivacious tall length of assertive female sensuality and mischief. Konatsu is the very pretty girl next door type with a big heart. And Haruki’s family was exceedingly well drawn and you can look forward to more of them in the second volume.

Extras at the end of the manga include a lot of comic panels and comments from the mangaka as well as character sketches with notes.
 
IN SUMMARY:
Kedamono Damono is a gender-bending romantic comedy that will make you laugh while it steals your heart. It will thrill fans of Ranma, W-Juliet, and Kashimashi.