Otomen
Plot. Asuka Masamune is the coolest, manliest guy in his school. He is the captain of the kendo team where he reached the national championship tournament, and also excels in judo and karate. However, he harbors a secret: he is an "otomen", a guy who really loves things that are usually associated with girls: cooking, sewing, and especially reading shōjo manga love stories. He hides this part of his life from his classmates until he meets and falls in love with Ryo Miyakozuka, the daughter of a martial artist and heir to his dojo who appears to be interested  in manly guys. He is encouraged by his schoolmate Juta Tachibana to pursue a relationship with her and for them to be honest with each other, but unbeknownst to him, Juta is secretly a shojo manga artist of Asuka's favorite manga. Media. Manga. The manga is written and illustrated by Aya Kanno and was serialized in the "shōjo" manga magazine "Bessatsu Hana to Yume" from 2006 to November 26, 2012. Serial chapters were collected in eighteen tankōbon volumes by Hakusensha Viz Media licensed the series for its Shojo Beat imprint. French publisher Delcourt licensed "Otomen" and released its first  volume in September 2008. As of January 2010, eight volumes have been released. In Spain, the publisher Planeta DeAgostini has licensed the series as "Otomen" with its first volume released in December 2008. As of April 2011, nine volumes have been released. The German publisher Carlsen Verlag has made eighteen volumes available in the ePub format. Live-action drama. The July 2009 issue of "Hana to Yume" magazine, in which "Otomen" runs, announced that a live-action drama had been green-lit, and would premier on Japanese television on August 1, 2009. Kaho portrays Ryo, and Masaki Okada plays Asuka . The ending theme song is ""ラバソー〜lover soul〜"" sung by Kou Shibasaki. A photobook for the live action series by Hakusensha in September 2009 for 1000 yen, entitled (). Cast Reception. Similar to Kanno's earlier works, the series has become quite popular, scoring high on both Tohan and Oricon's weekly comic charts. The seven volumes available in Japan as of May 2009 have sold over 2.5 million copies. The series was listed as being the 3rd best-selling shōjo property, along with the 13th over-all manga property, in America for the first quarter of 2009. External links. Otomen Plot