Boku ni Natta Watashi

Boku ni Natta Watashi
200 Cover of volume 1
僕になった私
Genre	Romance, Comedy, Drama
Manga
Written by	Ako Shimaki
Published by	Shogakukan
Demographic	Shōjo
Magazine	Cheese!
Original run	April 4, 2005 – June 26, 2006
Volumes	5

Boku ni natta watashi (僕になった私, Secret Girl) is a Japanese shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Ako Shimaki.

Story

The story is about Takanashi Momoko, a 16-year-old girl. Her life is pretty normal, until her twin brother, Akira, disappears. Akira was supposed to enter a high-class all-boys school but he runs away to pursue his dream of becoming a photographer, leaving only a note explaining his actions. At first Momoko and her mother thought it was just a joke but he really didn't come back. Now Momoko's mother went ballistic and started cutting her daughter's hair saying that she has to take her brother's place until he comes back. Not good for her since she has to disguise herself as a boy and what's this about being roommates with another guy? Will she be able to hide her secret and survive or will she be found out?

Character histories

Momoko Takanashi

The main female lead, who has to attend an all-boys school in place of her twin brother due to him running away from school. She does very poorly in school, due to the fact that "stress" causes her to daydream and she therefore does not pay attention in class, though she gets tutored by Itou and quickly improves. After being saved multiple times by Itou, she declares his love for him, though he is too embarrassed at the time to respond to the confession. At the end of the series she switches back with Akira, deciding to take a new first step in her relationship with Itou, as a girl.

Miss Takanashi

Mother of Momoko and Akira. She goes ballistic when her son disappears, and resorts to chopping off her daughters hair so she can take Akira's place. She threatens to disown Momoko if she fails, due to the toils she had to endure to get her son accepted into such a prestigious school. It appears as though she does not care much for Momoko, and when she gives up on Akira, she decides to take Momoko home, train her to be the perfect lady, and marry her off to a rich man. At first she is very cold to Itou, and gets in the way of their relationship. When she finds an open report on Itou, though, she learns that he has the top grades and is the son of an Executive of a big company, and she approves of the relationship.

Itou Kunio

Momoko's roommate. He first meets Momoko when he saves her (while she was a girl) from getting hit by a car. He calls her stupid for not paying attention and she returns that he is a bastard. After discovering that she is a girl, he initially attempts to black mail her into being his slave. Over time his feelings change, and he considers her as a precious person. He repeatedly saves Momoko, and declares his love for her after rescuing her from Yousuke's attempt to blackmail her into being his girlfriend. He is caring, kind, and sometimes possessive or jealous when it comes to his girlfriend. At the end of the series, he lets Momoko leave the school to start again as a normal girl, though it is only a brief goodbye, as they will always remain as "one".

Akira Takanashi

Momoko's twin brother who runs away leaving only his school uniform in the closet. When Akira later returns, he admits he ran away to be a photographer, and says that he returned when he found out that Momoko had been forced to take his place. Thinking he is saving his sister, and because he has no talent, he planned on abandoning his dream and switching places with Momoko. However, upon seeing how much Itou and Momoko want to be together, he leaves for a while longer to try again at photography. Multiple times he returns, each time mumbling about wanting to return to school. At the end, he does wind up switching places with Momoko again and going to school.

Yousuke Saeki

Dormitory representative and the son of the Chairman of the School Board. He finds out early on that Momoko is actually a girl, and he tries to black mail her into going out with him. This fails, though when Itou counter black mails him by getting his sister to take a picture of Itou kissing Yousuke, claiming that he would destroy his reputation for Momoko but that Itou on the other hand would be ruined. Yousuke later becomes good friends with Momoko.

Kawakami

A student in Momoko's class who is gay and, due to his crush on Itou, tries to use Momoko to bring them closer. He thinks that Momoko is actually a boy and that him and Itou are both gay and dating. Kawakami is very sensitive, cunning, and is crazy in a sense when it comes to Itou, even going as far as assaulting Momoko over him. After Itou confirms that he and Momoko are dating, Kawakami tries even harder to break the two up so he can have Itou for himself. However, when he tries to stop Momoko from cheering on Itou she punches him in the face, knocking him out of the way. This act of "manliness" causes Kawakami to like Momoko instead of Itou.

Ryou

Momoko's first love and childhood best friend. Momoko and Itou meet Ryou during vacation when the couple wanted to spend time alone with each other. Feeling sad that Momoko, his only love, now has a boyfriend, Ryou confesses to Itou that he and Momoko were each other's first loves. His actions cause Itou to become upset and leave in a huff. He is then rejected by Momoko, who runs out to chase Itou and does not look back.

Shinri Saeki

Yousuke's brother, and the Chairmen of the school Board after his father's term ends. He is very strict, and is incredibly sharp. He launches an investigation of Momoko, and informs Itou that if he gets involved he will share the same punishment as her unless he can prove that his own protection is not more important than protecting Momoko. When Itou refuses to back down after the threat of expulsion, Shinri accepts it and overlooks the entire situation, allowing Akira and Momoko to switch back without punishment.

External links

• Boku ni Natta Watashi (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia