Josou-shite Off-Kai ni Sanka Shite Mita
Kurano was inspired to create the series after meeting a man cosplaying as a female character at a "doujinshi" event, and being impressed by the quality of his cosplay. It was originally self-published by Kurano through Twitter and Pixiv as ; it has since been picked up for digital serialization by Kodansha, who also publishes collected print editions of the series. The series has been well received by critics and readers. Synopsis. "Josou-shite Off-Kai ni Sanka Shite Mita" is a romantic comedy manga. It follows Satoshi Morinaga, a young man  who joins a monthly offline meetup for a group of women, dressing up like a woman for it and going by his online username Cocoa; the other members of the group are Opera, Lemon, and Kantentarou. Although Cocoa at first goes to the meetings because he enjoys visiting cafés with the others – the stated purpose for the meetups – he continues doing so because he finds himself attracted to Opera, but the fact that he is hiding his gender prevents the two from getting closer. During one meetup, Opera realizes that Cocoa is a cross-dressing man and reveals to him  that he also is one; Cocoa begins to wonder if the remaining two members of the group could be cross-dressers too, but realizes that he is rude for speculating about their gender, and comes to terms with how Opera's gender should not affect his attraction to him. The group continues the meetings, and eventually Cocoa learns that Lemon also is cross-dressing, and that Kantentarou is a trans woman. Production and release. "Josou-shite Off-Kai ni Sanka Shite Mita" is written and illustrated by Kurano, who was inspired by meeting a man at a "doujinshi" event who  cosplayed as a female character; he was impressed with the quality of the cosplay and how feminine the man looked, and was unable to tell that he was not a woman. He thought that if such things happen in reality, it could in a manga, and that if one cross-dressing character like that could exist, then a second could too. Because Kurano personally enjoys "otokonoko" stories, he spent a lot of time agonizing over what would make for an interesting story about cross-dressing before coming up with the scenario. Staying true to his meetings with real cross-dressers , he designed Cocoa to look cute and feminine, but also intentionally wrote his character as male on the inside, describing him as a beautiful young woman, but male. Most of all in the series, he enjoyed drawing Opera and considered the sequence where Opera learns that Cocoa is cross-dressing his favorite scene. The series was originally self-published by Kurano through Twitter and Pixiv starting on January 12, 2020, as "Josou Off-Kai"; it was later picked up for weekly serialization by Kodansha through their manga magazine "Monthly Shōnen Sirius" Twitter account "Twi Siri", for which Kurano re-drew  all chapters released until that point. Kodansha also publishes it in collected "tankōbon" volumes in Japan since December 17, 2020, under its Magazine Edge Comics imprint. The first volume was released simultaneously with another series of Kurano's, "Koneko ♂ ga Matterunode Kaerimasu"; to mark the occasion, Kurano published a cross-over between the two through Twitter on the same day, "Josou-shite Tomodachi to Machiawase Shitara Bishoujo (?) to Deatta". Reception. "Josou-shite Off-Kai ni Sanka Shite Mita" has been well received by critics, with "NLab" calling it an interesting and exciting manga with unexpected plot twists that made  them anticipate new chapters. Writing for "Natalie", manga editor Moriyoshi Yoshida described it as his recommended manga of the year, finding it exciting to learn about the four main characters' identities and to see how their relationships develop. The series is also popular with readers, and was ranked by "Manga Navi" as among the most popular manga about male-to-female cross-dressing as of December 2021. Readers appreciated its depiction of love regardless of gender and the detailed portrayal of how Cocoa tries to hide that he is a man. The "Koneko ♂ ga Matterunode Kaerimasu" cross-over was  also well received by readers for bringing the two series' characters together.