Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata

 is a Japanese "otokonoko" romantic comedy manga series by Azusa Banjo, published by Ichijinsha in "Comic Pool" and in collected "tankōbon" volumes. It was originally released through Banjo's Twitter account starting on December 26, 2019 as Osananajimi (♂) o Onnanoko ni Shiteshimatta Hanashi, and was picked up for serialization due to positive reader response.
The series follows Kenshiro Midou, who practices applying make-up on his friend Mihate Hiura, who with the make-up on ends up looking like a woman; following this, Mihate becomes interested in presenting femininely, and the two realize they are attracted to each other. The series, and the character of Mihate in particular, has been well received by critics and readers. It was nominated for the 2020 "Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Taishō" award, and was voted one of the most popular web manga of 2020.
Synopsis.
"Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata" is an "otokonoko" romantic comedy manga that follows Kenshiro Midou, a young man with an interest in cosmetics, who wants someone to practice applying make-up on other than his sister. After Kenshiro's childhood friend Mihate Hiura agrees to let Kenshiro practice on him, Kenshiro finds himself attracted to Mihate's new, feminine appearance. Mihate starts to enjoy presenting himself femininely, taking an interest in make-up and women's fashion and beginning cross-dressing regularly, and turns out to find Kenshiro attractive, too.
Production.
"Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata" is written and illustrated by Azusa Banjo, and was originally published as a web comic through Banjo's Twitter account under the title "Osananajimi (♂) o Onnanoko ni Shiteshimatta Hanashi" starting on December 26, 2019. She had originally considered self-publishing a print collection of the series, but managed to get it picked up for serialization in "Comic Pool" starting on February 21, 2020 due to strong positive response from her readers. The series is also collected in "tankōbon" print volumes, published by Ichijinsha since September 11, 2020. The first volume was promoted with a trailer, in which Kenshiro and Mihate are voiced by Yūki Ono and Yūki Kuwahara, respectively.
Banjo had already been interested in "otokonoko" and cross-dressing characters, and had wanted to create a romantic story about a feminine male character who is shy and a little clumsy, which led to the creation of the story. She tweaked the conceit of the story by introducing the make-up elements, to have someone other than the "otokonoko" character be the catalyst for the transformation. She considered portraying Mihate cutely as an important aspect of the series, but also the positive portrayal of male friendship, putting effort into making Mihate and Kenshiro really come across as childhood friends. When researching the series, Banjo makes use of Instagram and fashion magazines for young people; the latter in particular for the sake of realism, as it is what Kenshiro would read.
Reception.
"Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata" was well received by readers and critics, who liked Mihate and found him cute; "Biglobe News" commented that he was so cute that one could forget that he is not a girl, and "Excite News" liked the way Mihate shyly expresses interest in cosmetics and his attraction to Kenshiro. In 2020, it was nominated for the annual "Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Taishō" award for best new web manga. It was among the most popular new romance manga of the first half of 2020 serialized on Pixiv, in a survey where the vast majority of readers were women and aged 18–34. In the 2020 edition of Nippon Shuppan Hanbai's annual "Web Manga General Election" poll, where 813,000 people voted for their favorite web manga, "Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata" was voted the 7th most popular.