Title: Watashi, Dokidoki Renai Kakumei de Onii-chan Yattemasu
(I Am Playing the Role of the Older Brother in Heartthrob Love Revolution)
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Gender Bender, Harem, Romance, School Life, Shounen Ai
Summary [from NU]
I’m a very ordinary girl who had no interest in otome games, but was suddenly sucked into the world of a cliche Otome game, Heartthrob Love Revolution.
That’s all well and good, I’m not exactly thrilled, but it’s fine. However, why am I the heroine’s older brother? I’m a girl! My character is named Makoto, and as him I hang out with the Heroine to help her get together with the princely character and make it to the end credits.
All righty, I just need to support the Heroine while she does her best. If I do, I think I’ll be able to go back to my original world… but wait, why am I so popular? Hey, prince guy, don’t you blush at me!
Personal Thoughts [spoiler free]
This is a fun and easygoing read, although the story and plot itself is not that groundbreaking. It’s the typical shounen ai high school love story with competing love rivals. But the premise is kind of rare in that the protagonist is originally a girl, and she becomes a boy when she transfers over into the game world. The MC, Makoto, is a laidback girl but she’s kind of dense (about others’ feelings of attractions towards herself) and she still has some feminine thought patterns, which makes her internal dialogue fun to read when she is thrust into flag-rising events.
Her goal is to guide her sister and a capture target to a happy end in hopes that it might bring her back to the real world, so she gets really flustered and panicky when the capture targets are sticking to her (Makoto) more than the sister. I also really enjoy the sister (the original female protagonist of the game world). She’s not bratty, stupid, stubborn, or entitled. She’s a natural airhead and a brocon, and despite the “shounen ai” tag I find this girl adorable. Female characters in BL tend to be non-existent or villainesses so I appreciate that she’s a pure character.
There is also a rival character that fits the “villainess noble girl” trope at first, but she turns out to be a frank character with a tsundere personality, and becomes friends with both the MC and his sister, the FL. That’s refreshing. Honestly getting kind of bored of seeing two-dimensional villainess noble girls getting dragged through the mud.
At first I was iffy about the “multiple transported individuals” tag on NU, because I thought the capture targets might be transported individuals too, but it turns out the other transported person is the MC’s friend, Subaru, from the real world. Subaru is the one who created the game Heartthrob Love Revolution, and she is a fujoshi trying to guide our MC onto a BL route, I mean, guide him, er, her on the road home. Her omake chapters are hilarious, and when she starts having delusions about potential pairings… well, that’s what the R-15 tag is for.
The translations done by Nakimushi are especially good. Very easy to read and comprehend. She’s not a native Japanese speaker, but she makes the words flow and conveys the mood of the story. In some cases when the original author uses English in the Japanese text, the translator would substitute French or the like in the English text to give a similar feel.
If you happen to know of any gender bender stories where the girl actually becomes a guy (not just cross dressing), then please recommend the title to me!!
