Yubisaki Milk Tea
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| Yubisaki Milk Tea | |
|---|---|
 Volume 1 cover with Hidari |
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| ゆびさき ミルク ティー (Yubisaki Miruku Tī) |
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| Genre | Romantic comedy |
| Manga | |
| Author | Tomochika Miyano |
| Publisher |  Hakusensha Tokyopop Egmont Manga & Anime |
| Demographic | Seinen |
| Magazine | Young Animal |
| Original run | January 2003 |
| Volumes | 8 |
Yubisaki Milk Tea (ゆびさき ミルク ティー Yubisaki Miruku Tī?) is the title of a Japanese romance manga by Tomochika Miyano centering around a boy whose hobby is cross-dressing and the lives of those around him who he affects whether he is dressed up or not. It was first serialized in the manga magazine Young Animal published by Hakusensha in January 2003. The manga has since been licensed in the United States by Tokyopop, known to be rated M, for mature audience. Later, a drama CD was released on July 23, 2004 based on the series.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Yubisaki Milk Tea revolves around Yoshinori Ikeda, a high school student, who is one day convinced to fill in for his sister for a modeling job while she went on a date. He cross-dresses in his first female outfit as a bride, before ultimately discovering that he enjoys dressing like a girl. He has a young childhood friend of the opposite sex named Hidari Morii that he is interested in, but he is unsure on his feelings as there is another girl he likes in his own class - Minamo Kurokawa. Incidentally, Minamo is the class head, and top student, but she has trouble opening up to people, especially men, due to an incident in her past. Yoshinori remedies this by dressing up, when he is able to become Yuki - the name he chose for himself in feminine form. As the story goes on, Yoshinori is still unable to choose which of the two girls he likes more and all the while feelings of love between everyone are growing ever stronger.
[edit] Characters
- Yoshinori ("Yuki") Ikeda (池田 由紀 （ユキ） Ikeda Yoshinori (Yuki?)
- Voiced by: Mitsuki Saiga
- Yoshinori is the main protagonist of the story who one day has to fill in for his sister for a modeling job and finds that he enjoys cross-dressing. Eventually, he develops the interesting hobby of dressing up as a girl and taking pictures of himself to later view. He chose the name "Yuki" as his name while dressed as a girl impulsively when Hidari asked this girl her name. The name 'Yuki' can be written with the same kanji as Yoshinori but is written in katakana to denote the difference in the manga. Yoshinori often worries that people will find out who he really is when dressed up due to the similarity. Most of the time, this duality in his life causes a lot of internal conflict within him and he finds himself changing his life to make it more suitable for himself to keep cross-dressing as long as possible. This includes quitting soccer in high school so as to not scrape his knees or even not working out in order to keep his slender upper arms.
- Hidari Morii (森居 左 Morii Hidari?)
- Voiced by: Mamiko Noto
- Hidari is Yoshinori's childhood friend and next-door neighbor who grew up with Yoshinori since a young age. She is two years younger than Yoshinori and attends a junior high school. She has a crush on him and wants to grow up in order to be closer to him. Despite this, Yoshinori still sees her as a child and does not want to bring himself to make a move on his close friend even though he too has feelings for her. She has known that Yuki is Yoshinori since Yoshinori confessed it in the last chapter of volume one of the manga. Hidari is very ambitious and athletic which often causes her to get cuts and scrapes from time to time. Also, she tends to look up to Yoshinori's older sister, Miki.
- Minamo Kurokawa (黒川 水面 Kurokawa Minamo?)
- Voiced by: Yukari Tamura
- Minamo is one of Yoshinori's classmates who usually has an antisocial tendency towards other people so in effect does not open up much to others. Despite this, guys still are sensually attracted to her and she has even been asked out, though she turned the guy down. She knows that she is weird, difficult, and objects to being treated like an object. That is why she likes Yoshinori - he has never treated her like an object. She is a very intelligent girl and was hired by Hidari's father to tutor Hidari in the afternoon. She thinks Hidari is very intelligent and asks Yoshinori not to take Hidari from her.
- Minamo finds out about Yoshinori's secret one day when he decides to dress as Yuki at school as a ploy to get her to open up more. Unfortunately for Yoshinori, she sees right through him from the start and subsequently teases him about it, calling him "Catherine".
- Wataru Takatsuki (高槻 亘 Takatsuki Wataru?)
- Wataru is Yoshinori's best friend that he has known since junior high school. Both of them were on the soccer team in those days and they even worked out special plays that only they knew about. Later in high school, he takes notice of "Yuki" but is unaware that "she" is in fact Yoshinori. He asks Yoshinori himself what he should do about it. Eventually, Wataru asks Minamo to arrange a meeting with Yuki, which Minamo ultimately agrees to in spite of her better judgement. As it is, Wataru really likes Yuki and desires to go out with "her" on a date.
- Sumika Kagami (加賀見 栖 Kagami Sumika?)
- Sumika is a girl in Hidari's class who hangs around with Hidari as much as she can help it. On multiple occasions she shows attraction towards Hidari, even going as far as to openly confess her love. Also, she had an incestuous relationship with her uncle in the past. Sumika has a "cute" personality and usually goes for what she wants with much passion.
- Miki Ikeda (池田 未記 Ikeda Miki?)
- Voiced by: Kyouko Hikami
- Miki is Yoshinori's older sister who lives alone with her brother. She cares about Yoshinori very much and even after discovering his secret she attempts to comfort him and tell him that if there's anything ever bothering him, he can come to her. She has a mature attitude in life and doesn't pass up the opportunity to go out and have fun with her boyfriend. In volume five of the manga, some of the Ikeda family's unhappy background is shown, which is contrasted with the loving relationship in the Morii family that moved next door several years ago. This contrast rouses in Miki a desire to get closer to Yusuki Morii and his family. On a few occasions in the manga, Miki has also demonstrated an incestuous attraction to Yoshinori, going so far as tricking him into kissing her. Yoshinori merely dismisses this as his sister's reaction to having so many relationships with her boyfriends ending badly.
- Kunihiko Koyama (小山 邦彦 Koyama Kunihiko?)
- He is Yoshinori's boss who owns Koyama Photography where Yoshinori works. He often kids Yoshinori about his crossdressing hobby though is honest when it comes to the value of Yoshinori's pictures of himself as he is dressed as Yuki. Also, he thinks Hidari is a nice girl.
- Toko Nogi (乃木 東子 Nogi Tōko?)
- Tōko is an all-around athletic girl. She is the freshman star of the girls' basketball team. She finds out Yoshinori's secret when she plays one-on-one basketball against him while he is Yuki. She becomes the second good friend to Minamo Kurokawa.
- Sakura
- A boy in Hidari's junior high school class. He declares his love for Hidari. He also disses her high school "boyfriend" (Yoshinori), declaring that a high school boy dating a junior high school girl is perverted.
- Yusuke Morii (森居 佑介? Morii Yūsuke)
- Hidari's father. Fairly young and level-headed. Raising Hidari by himself since her mother, Sachi, died. In volume four of the manga, Miki Ikeda tries to develop a relationship with him.
- Akemi
- A makeup artist who knows Yoshinori and Koyama through work. She also kids Yoshinori about his crossdressing, though not in a demeaning manner.
- Kagami (加賀見?)
- Kagami is a photographer, friend of Koyama, and uncle of Sumika, who he once had an incestuous relationship with. When he sees the photos that were taken by Yoshinori, he recognizes his talent.
[edit] Media
[edit] Manga
The Yubisaki Milk Tea manga written by Tomochika Miyano was first serialized in the Young Animal manga magazine in Japan published by Hakusensha in January 2003. Currently, eight volumes have been released in Japan. Seven have been translated and released in English. The manga's main storyline contains crossdressing and has a number of odd bits of sexual humor. On the whole, the series includes more sexual humor than actual intercourse. Additionally, the first two volumes contain short stories of other material the author has published in the past. Volumes five through seven each include a bonus chapter of 'My Little Sister is an Honor Student', about the relationship between middle-school-aged Minamo Kurokawa and her older brother.
[edit] Drama CD
A drama CD based on the manga was first released in Japan on July 23, 2004. The CD contained fourteen tracks with four characters: Yoshinori, Hidari, Minamo, and Miki.
[edit] External links
- Tokyopop's official website for the manga
- Yubisaki Milk Tea (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
