''I Cross-Dressed for the IRL Meetup'' (stylized as ''I (♂) Cross-Dressed for the IRL (♀) Meetup''), known in Japan as ''Josou-shite Off-Kai ni Sanka Shite Mita'', is a

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series created by Kurano, and published since January 12, 2020. The story follows Cocoa, a young man who dresses up like a woman to join a monthly meetup; he finds himself attracted to Opera, another member of the group, who turns out to also be a cross-dressing man. Kurano was inspired to create the series after meeting a man

cosplay Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, ...

ing as a female character at a ''

doujinshi , also romanized as ', is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels. Part of a wider category of '' doujin'' (self-published) works, ''doujinshi'' are often derivative of existing works and created by ...

'' event, and being impressed by the quality of his cosplay. It was originally self-published by Kurano through

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and

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as ; it has since been picked up for digital serialization by

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

, who also publishes collected print editions of the series. The series has been well received by critics and readers.

Synopsis

''I Cross-Dressed for the IRL Meetup'' is a

. 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 A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and so ...

Production and release

''I Cross-Dressed for the IRL Meetup'' is written and illustrated by Kurano, who was inspired by meeting a man at a ''

'' event who

ed 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 is a Japanese term for men who have a culturally feminine gender expression. This includes amongst others males with feminine appearances, or those cross-dressing. is a play on the word ("boy", from the characters for 'male' and 'child'), w ...

'' 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, 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

and

starting on January 12, 2020, as ''Josou Off-Kai''; it was later picked up for weekly serialization by

through their manga magazine ''

Monthly Shōnen Sirius is a Japanese monthly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published by Kodansha, and first issued in May 2005. It is issued in perfect-bound B5 format and retails for 580 yen. ''Monthly Shōnen Sirius'' is aimed at readers aged 16–21. The magazine a ...

'' Twitter account ''Twi Siri'', for which Kurano re-drew all chapters released until that point. Kodansha also publishes it in collected ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' 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''. At

Anime Expo Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA). The convention is traditionally held annually on the first we ...

2022,

Kodansha USA Kodansha USA Publishing, LLC is a publishing company based in New York, USA, and a subsidiary of Japan's largest publishing company Kodansha. Established in July 2008, Kodansha USA publishes books relating to Japan, Japanese culture, and mang ...

announced that they licensed the series for English publication, with each of their releases covering two volumes of the Japanese edition.

Volumes

Japanese edition

English edition

Reception

''I Cross-Dressed for the IRL Meetup'' 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 Natalie may refer to: People * Natalie (given name) * Natalie (singer) (born 1979), Mexican-American R&B singer/songwriter * Shahan Natalie (1884–1983), Armenian writer and principal organizer of Operation Nemesis Music Albums * ''Natal ...

'', 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.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{ann, manga, 25988 2020 LGBT-related literary works 2020 webcomic debuts Cross-dressing in anime and manga Japanese comedy webcomics Kodansha manga LGBT in anime and manga LGBT-related webcomics Romance webcomics Romantic comedy anime and manga Shōnen manga Transgender in anime and manga Webcomics in print