IS ~ Otoko Demo Onna Demo Nai Sei - Drama Review

There have been a lot of gender bender themed dramas that came out this summer such as Ikemen desu ne, Hana Kimi 2011, and Ouran High School Host Club. What is this? Some sort of new trend for this summer J-dramas? But for this drama, it's based on a real life situation where Haru was born having both female and male traits which is known as intersexual (IS).

Although, Hoshino Haru (Fukuda Saki) was officially registered as a female when he was born, but he decided to live his life as a male because he feels most comfortable as that gender. When Haru starts his first day of high school, he decides to go as a girl. He wanted to study at that particular school to become a partisian just like his father. Later, he meets Aihara Miwako (Gouriki Ayame) who is also an IS. She is known to take long breaks from school and even dropping out from previous schools that she attended. But ever since she found out that an IS was entering this school, she decides to attend the same high school as Haru.

Even though they both have similar experiences of gender identity crises, they both grew up in a very different environment. Like, Haru who grew up in a family that were very supportive of him. No matter what decision he makes, they are 100% behind him. But for Miwa, she lives with parents who does not acknowledge her for being an IS. Her mother tries to push her own daughter to be more feminine and forces her to take some female hormone medication.

Haru's life becomes even more complicated as he struggles to balance his social life between being a male and female. He also had a hard time trying to keep his IS identity a secret from his other classmates. He later befriends a male student named Ibuki Kenji (Inoue Masahiro). They both easily became friends due to their common interest in soccer. However, Kenji sees Haru as more than just friends. Although, Haru did not want to have that type relationship with a guy, but as his body starts to develop female hormones and features, he slowly starts to have feelings for Kenji. Which makes Haru feel even more guilty about keeping his IS identity a secret from Kenji.

Miwa becomes close friends with haru, after he confessed to her that he is also an IS. Miwa looks up too Haru and admires him for his courage for having to deal with the society that frowns upon intersexuals. Haru's influence on Miwa helped her gain more confidence in herself as well as became a little more rebellious against her mother, who controlled most of her life.  

Even though this story talks about a serious topic, it also had some light-hearted and comedic moments. Like, from Haru's family and his childhood friend Saito Leon (Irie Jingi), the only other friend who knows that Haru is an IS. He's my favorite character in this show. He's so unpredictably hilarious. I think Haru is very lucky to have a friend like Leon who accepts him for what he is.

I thought it was an interesting drama. I usually don't pay any attention to this kind of topic. But after watching this drama, it made me aware of this subject. I definitely recommend that if you want to see a serious gender bender that is more thought-provoking and impacts the story emotionally, then this is a good drama to watch.