I recommend this manga to people have read gender-benders before, and to people who are tired of a cut-and-paste RomCom full of sexist fan-service and unrealistic character behaviors.

I'm a big fan of the gender-bender genre I think it adds a really interesting and unique-to-its-genre dynamic that you just can't compare to the other genres out there.
That said, there are a lot of problems that a lot of gender-bender writers fail to work around. A lot of works tend to be sexist and blatantly unapologetic for it. As much as I love the genre for its potential, too seldom is it written with the potential it deserves.
Idol Pretender IS NOT one of those mangas.
It's so much BETTER!
It actually took a much more mature approach about the situation and the emotional effects of the bend.
Now it's not perfect... it is still a manga aimed towards young boys and it has a lot of fan-service that really doesn't fit very well with the maturity it shows elsewhere, and its humor isn't amazing either. It's funny, but not brilliant.
The thing about this manga is...

...It has a great message. "Gender doesn't matter."

And I loved that. It's not a perfect work of fiction, but it is SO MUCH MORE progressive than a lot of other examples of the gender-bender genre.
It never made fun of the fact that the main character, who used to be a guy, is unsure of whether he identifies as a man or a woman.


It clearly states word for word, that gender doesn't matter. I makes it okay for someone who calls himself a man's man, to love another man. It never pokes fun at the characters who cross-dress as men or women, despite the typical revulsion you usually see in Japanese media.


It really is very progressive compared to a lot of Japanese manga, especially considering that its a gender-bender, which usually only acts a a scape-goat for boys to get to imagine themselves as the suddenly-a-female character groping themselves and bleeding out the nose in the hot springs among all the other girls.
Now... understand that it's once again, NOT PERFECT.
It has those things in it too, BUT it doesn't make a huge deal about it.
THAT'S WHAT'S IMPORTANT ABOUT THAT.
It doesn't make fan-service the focus of the series, which is where so many gender-benders fail. The story, a love story... a love story with a rare flare... is the most important and intentionally aided part of Idol Pretender.

If you know anything about Japan, and you probably do, you know that its a very, very. very very sexist country.

I'm absolutely amazed that this work made it the printing press. If I had to guess, the only reason it had what fan-service it did have, was so that someone would allow it to get published (and you KNOW that the publishers think it's important to have it in their so they can target the teen boy audience).

I recommend this manga to people have read gender-benders before, and to people who are tired of a cut-and-paste RomCom full of sexist fan-service and unrealistic character behaviors.