Josou-shite Off-Kai ni Sanka Shite Mita

 is a romantic comedy manga 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 for women; 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 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, and follows , a young man who joins a monthly offline meetup for women, dressing up like a woman for it and going by his online username ; the other members of the group include , , and .
Although Cocoa at first goes on the meetings because he enjoys eating desserts together 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 meeting, Opera realizes that Cocoa is a cross-dressing man, and reveals to him that he, too, 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. They continue meeting up, and eventually learn that Kanentarou is a trans woman, and that Lemon is a third cross-dressing man.
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. Kurano was impressed with how high quality the cosplay was and how feminine the man looked, and thought that if such things happen in reality, it should make just as much sense to make it happen in a manga, and that if one cross-dressing character like that could exist, then a second one could, too.
The series was originally self-published by Kurano through Twitter and Pixiv starting on January 12, 2020, under the title "Josou Off-Kai"; it was later picked up for digital 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. The first volume was released simultaneously with another series of Kurano's, "Koneko ♂ ga Matterunode Kaerimasu"; to celebrate, Kurano published a cross-over between the two through Twitter on the same day, titled "Josou-shite Tomodachi to Machiawase Shitara Bishoujo (?) to Deatta".
Reception.
"Josou-shite Off-Kai ni Sanka Shite Mita" has been critically well received, with "IT Media" calling it an interesting manga, and "Shōnen Magazine Edge" editor-in-chief Moriyoshi Yoshida describing it as his recommended manga of the year, finding it exciting to learn about the four main characters' identities and see how their relationships develop.
The series is also popular with readers, who appreciated its depiction of love regardless of gender. Readers were also positive to the "Koneko ♂ ga Matterunode Kaerimasu" cross-over for bringing the two series' characters together.