Reverse X Rebirth

Reverse X Rebirth
An illustration of Kaede, a young man holding a finger to his lips, and Hina, a young woman holding a notebook; both are wearing feminine school uniforms.
Volume 1 cover, featuring Kaede Yukino (left) and Hina Nanase
リバース×リバース
(Ribāsu Ribāsu)
GenreRomantic comedy
Manga
Written byShinobu Amano [ja]
Published byHakusensha
ImprintHana to Yume Comics
MagazineLaLa
DemographicShōjo
Original runMay 24, 2019 – September 24, 2021
Volumes4

Reverse X Rebirth (Japanese: リバース×リバース, Hepburn: Ribāsu Ribāsu, pronounced "Reverse Rebirth"[1]) is a romantic comedy manga series created by Shinobu Amano [ja] and published by Hakusensha in LaLa in 2019–2021. It follows two students at a prestigious all-female school: Hina, an aspiring writer who has a fear of men, and Kaede, a man who disguises himself as a woman to hide from his grandfather, who intends to stop him from becoming an actor.

Amano originally had the idea for the manga before her previous work Last Game (2011), but had put it aside due to having trouble creating its male lead. When she returned to it, she wanted to portray different types of people with different viewpoints, writing the story with an all-seeing narrator to show what happens to both Hina and Kaede. The series was well received by critics, who found its premise fun and liked its depiction of gradual change in its characters' emotions.

Premise

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Reverse X Rebirth is a romantic comedy manga following Kaede Yukino (雪野 楓, Yukino Kaede) and Hina Nanase (七瀬 雛, Nanase Hina), two roommates studying at the prestigious boarding school Seika Girls' Academy.[2]

Hina is androphobic and unable to even talk to men, which is why she studies at an all-female school; an aspiring novelist, she likes to use the school as the setting for her stories. Unbeknownst to her, Kaede is not a woman, but a cross-dressing man: with the help of his cousin Yuri Amami (天海 優里, Amami Yuri), he has disguised himself as a woman and moved to Seika to hide from his grandfather, the head of the powerful Sawarishi family, who wants him to become his successor and give up his dream of becoming an actor. Kaede is attracted to Hina, but does not dare to reveal his true identity to her, and instead he and Yuri try to help her overcome her fear of men.[2][3][4] Meanwhile, Hina begins to find Kaede attractive as a woman,[5] finding him similar to the character Lady Marianne from her novels.[6]

Production and release

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Reverse X Rebirth was written and illustrated by Shinobu Amano [ja], and was originally conceived prior to her earlier series Last Game (2011) as a story about a girl who is nervous around her cross-dressing roommate, not realizing that he is not a woman. She put this idea on hold for some time while writing Last Game, having trouble creating a believable male character that could fit into that type of scenario.[5]

When eventually returning to the idea, Amano wanted to portray people from different walks of life with different viewpoints, while writing Yuri as similar to herself, and wrote the series from the perspective of an all-seeing narrator to allow readers to follow what happens with both Kaede and Hina. She enjoyed writing the development of Kaede and Hina's relationship and the turning point in it when Kaede learns who he really is; as she personally likes misunderstanding-based comedy, she knew from the beginning that she wanted to write a scene where Kaede, who until then has been forced to dress like a woman, is forced to dress like a man to explain who he is. Amano has described having difficulty in designing appealing male characters, and so she found Reverse X Rebirth a comfortable series to work on, being able to design and draw Kaede the same way she would design a female character.[5]

The series was published in Hakusensha's shōjo manga magazine LaLa from May 24, 2019,[7] to September 24, 2021.[8] The first two chapters were written as one-shots, before the publisher picked it up for serialization.[3] Hakusensha collected the series across four tankōbon volumes released under its imprint Hana to Yume Comics from February 5, 2020,[1][9] to December 3, 2021,[10] with cover designs similar to yuri manga.[6] The Chingwin Publishing Group began publishing the series in Chinese on November 26, 2020.[11]

Volumes

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No. Release date ISBN
1 February 5, 2020[9]978-4-592-22036-7
  • Chapter 1–4
  • Last Game: "Tokubetsu-hen" (特別編, "Special Chapter")
2 October 5, 2020[12]978-4-592-22037-4
  • Chapter 5–10
3 July 5, 2021[13]978-4-592-22038-1
  • Chapter 11–16
  • "Omake Yonkoma" (おまけ４コマ, "Bonus Yonkoma")
4 December 3, 2021[10]978-4-592-22039-8
  • Chapter 17–20
  • "Saishuuwa" (最終話, "Final Chapter")

Reception

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Reverse X Rebirth was well received, including its one-shots, which was what led the publisher to pick it up for serialization;[3] Mangapedia called it one of Amano's major works, along with Last Game and Hokenshitsu no Kageyama-kun (2017).[14] Natalie appreciated the series for showing a liberal view of gender[15] and thought that it succeeds in carefully depicting gradual emotional changes its characters go through,[5] considering it characteristic of Amano and LaLa.[15] They thought that the premise of a character having an external reason to cross-dress makes for both fun storytelling and reader wish fulfillment. They did question how Kaede's voice does not give him away, but did not consider it the kind of detail that would necessarily disrupt a reader's suspension of disbelief. One of their favorites scenes was one when Hina dresses up for a dance party, considering it to have a classic kind of appeal.[15] Da Vinci described the story as full of thrills, and found it exciting to follow the development of Kaede and Hina's relationship.[6]

See also

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  • Last Game — Another manga series by the same author.

References

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  1. ^ a b "リバース×リバース 1" [Reverse X Rebirth 1]. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on 2021-11-01. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  2. ^ a b "リバース×リバース" [Reverse X Rebirth]. Mangapedia (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on 2021-11-02. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  3. ^ a b c "「学ベビ」の虎太郎がニャンコ先生をフキフキ、コラボハンカチがLaLaに" [Kotarō from School Babysitters wipes Nyankosensei with a handkerchief in a collaboration with LaLa]. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. 2020-01-24. Archived from the original on 2021-11-04. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  4. ^ "トラウマの元凶男は憧れのお嬢様？天乃忍のラブコメ1巻、「ラストゲーム」特別編も" [Is the man who caused the trauma the young woman of her dreams? Volume 1 of Shinobu Amano's romantic comedy, and a special edition of Last Game]. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. 2020-02-05. Archived from the original on 2021-11-04. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  5. ^ a b c d Yanagawa, Haruka (2021-07-09). "LaLa45周年特集「リバース×リバース」「ラストゲーム」天乃忍の初インタビュー！" [Lala 45th anniversary special: Shinobu Amano of Reverse X Rebirth and Last Game gives her first interview!]. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original on 2021-11-01. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  6. ^ a b c Sonoda, Nana (2020-03-14). "全寮制の女子校の完璧美少女は、実は男の子だった！ スリルとときめき満載のラブコメ漫画『リバース×リバース』" [The beautiful girl at the all-female boarding school was actually a guy! Reverse X Rebirth, a romantic comedy manga full of excitement]. Da Vinci (in Japanese). Kadokawa Corporation. Archived from the original on 2021-10-11. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
  7. ^ "祝・「夏目友人帳」第100話！LaLa全作品にニャンコ先生がかくれんぼ" [Celebrating the 100th episode of Natsume's Book of Friends! Nyankosensei plays hide-and-seek throughout LaLa]. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. 2019-05-24. Archived from the original on 2021-11-04. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  8. ^ "「天堂家物語」ボイスドラマがLaLaに！石川界人、高橋李依、三木眞一郎が出演" [Tendou-ke Monogatari voice drama coming to LaLa! Featuring Kaito Ishikawa, Rie Takahashi, and Shin-ichiro Miki]. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. Archived from the original on 2021-10-14. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  9. ^ a b "【2月5日付】本日発売の単行本リスト" [February 5: List of books released today]. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. 2020-02-05. Archived from the original on 2021-10-16. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  10. ^ a b "【12月3日付】本日発売の単行本リスト" [December 3: List of books released today]. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. 2021-12-03. Archived from the original on 2021-12-03. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
  11. ^ "翻轉思慕╳新生情懷(01)" [Reverse X Rebirth (1)] (in Chinese). Chingwin Publishing Group. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
  12. ^ "【10月5日付】本日発売の単行本リスト" [October 5: List of books released today]. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. 2020-10-05. Archived from the original on 2021-11-04. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  13. ^ "【7月5日付】本日発売の単行本リスト" [July 5: List of books released today]. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. 2021-07-05. Archived from the original on 2021-10-25. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  14. ^ "天乃 忍" [Shinobu Amano]. Mangapedia (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on 2021-11-04. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  15. ^ a b c Oda, Makoto (2021-06-30). "LaLa45周年特集、女子マンガ研究家・小田真琴の全連載作レビュー！" [LaLa 45th anniversary special: Women's manga researcher Makoto Oda reviews the magazine's serialized works]. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. Archived from the original on 2021-11-01. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
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