I Cross-Dressed for the IRL Meetup Vol. 03

I Cross-Dressed for the IRL Meetup Vol. 03

“Cocoa” has found belonging in an all-girl who meet up for sweets. There’s just one problem: Cocoa’s actually a cross-dressing guy! What begins as a tense manga about online life turns into a lighthearted comedy about love, friendship, gender nonconformity, and what it means to be your true self.

Contains Volume 5 of the Japanese edition!

“Cocoa” has made three best friends in her monthly meetup group, where girls get together every month to quell their sweet tooths by meeting up at the cutest and trendiest new dessert cafes.

Cross-dresser Satoshi Morinaga, using the online handle Cocoa, lives for his monthly IRL sweets meetup group, whose members have now become some of his closest friends. What started off as a way to meet fellow sweets enthusiasts, Satoshi now realizes he’s fallen hard for meetup member and fellow cross-dresser Opera, whose real name is Kosuke Chiyoda. After confronting his feelings head on, Satoshi finally admits to himself that he has feelings for Kosuke–not just when he’s cross-dressing as Opera, but also when he’s presenting as his usual self.

But there’s no way Satoshi can tell Kosuke how he really feels…or can he? A poignant declaration of love before his very eyes convinces Satoshi that he too cannot hide his feelings forever. So when the summer festival comes along, he decides it’s the perfect opportunity to make his move–and cross-dressing as Cocoa is just what he needs to give himself that final boost of confidence! But will Cocoa actually be able to do it…?!

FINAL VOLUME!

Biographical Notes:

Kurano debuted on LINE Manga in 2018 with the traditional Japanese dance–themed shojo manga Sansan Sakura. Their most recent work is the hit comedy I Cross-Dressed for the IRL Meetup, which is being published in English by Kodansha.

Title Notes:

• LIGHTHEARTED, LGBTQ-ADJACENT MANGA: A lie to his online gaming group spirals out of control, and when the group decides to meet up in person, “Cocoa” decides he has to cross-dress! It might sound like a problematic premise, but this series quickly turns into a silly comedy playing with gender norms, online life, and societal conformity, not unlike Go For It, Nakamura! and I Think My Son Is Gay.
• A SWEET-AS-PIE ROMANTIC COMEDY: A romantic comedy about friends who get together over their shared love of sweets will appeal to fans of Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku and Princess Jellyfish.
• OMNIBUS FORMAT: Each volume includes two volumes of the Japanese release, over 250 pages of manga.

More details on Kurano:

Kurano’s Twitter account

More works by Kurano

Publisher’s Twitter account