Wait, I'm thinking of the one in which they realize pretty quickly she's a girl, but then have her remain as a boy for her own protection. Is that the same one?
Nope (or at least not by volume 12) - so far, the only ones who know are the guy she has a crush on, and the courtesan (can't remember exact degree of title) she uses as an alibi for her periods. I think probably I just don't read enough standard shoujo to keep hitting the tropes, because the leverage thing sounds really creepy and not that familiar - I can understand using it to taunt the readers, and I suppose it fits in with the "I stalk because I love" approach to romance, but ick.
Then you have situations like the bizarre complete turn-around in Love in the Mask when the secondary hero determines Hyun-bin's status as girl, promises to keep it a secret (while utterly baffled as to why it must be a secret), and makes no bones to the rest of the school about the fact that he's mad for Hyun-bin... to the point that he comes out as gay to his classmates. He's even gay-bashed for it. (Now there's something I've yet to see in a Japanese manga.) It's a very surreal set of chapters. I mean, it's logical within the story but talk about taking the genre conventions to the absolute extreme.
Ooh. On the other hand, I have a massive weakness for secondary leads who will never end up getting the girl and suffer nobly for it, and this sounds ideal (is he also emotionally uptight and stoic apart from these feelings). Will check this out...
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Date: 27 Oct 2010 10:06 am (UTC)Nope (or at least not by volume 12) - so far, the only ones who know are the guy she has a crush on, and the courtesan (can't remember exact degree of title) she uses as an alibi for her periods. I think probably I just don't read enough standard shoujo to keep hitting the tropes, because the leverage thing sounds really creepy and not that familiar - I can understand using it to taunt the readers, and I suppose it fits in with the "I stalk because I love" approach to romance, but ick.
Then you have situations like the bizarre complete turn-around in Love in the Mask when the secondary hero determines Hyun-bin's status as girl, promises to keep it a secret (while utterly baffled as to why it must be a secret), and makes no bones to the rest of the school about the fact that he's mad for Hyun-bin... to the point that he comes out as gay to his classmates. He's even gay-bashed for it. (Now there's something I've yet to see in a Japanese manga.) It's a very surreal set of chapters. I mean, it's logical within the story but talk about taking the genre conventions to the absolute extreme.
Ooh. On the other hand, I have a massive weakness for secondary leads who will never end up getting the girl and suffer nobly for it, and this sounds ideal (is he also emotionally uptight and stoic apart from these feelings). Will check this out...