Kunisaki Izumo no Jijou

Izumo, in both his normal form (left) and kabuki persona (right).


Izumo Kunisaki is a normal fifteen year old high school student, who just happens to be an innately talented onnagata (male actor who plays female parts in kabuki), much to his dismay. When he was seven years old, his mother divorced his perverted father and moved away with him to prevent his father from exploiting his girlish charm. Fast forward to the present. Within the first chapter, his mom leaves on a world tour and he is forced back to his father's kabuki troupe and his old career as an onnagata. Hilarity Ensues.

Initially a one-shot featuring Izumo fighting crime by transforming into an incarnation of Izumo no Okuni, the founder of kabuki, this comedy manga by Aya Hirakawa is later reworked and serialized without the supernatural and crime-fighting elements, although it still revolves around the world of kabuki, a traditional Japanese theatrical genre that is rarely depicted in great detail in mangas. It thus serves as a useful beginner's guide to kabuki while still providing a good laugh.

A Shounen Manga by Hirakawa Aya. Currently being scanlated by Japanzai.

Tropes used in Kunisaki Izumo no Jijou include:

Kumedera-sensei: On that luxurious and gorgeous stage... those fascinating instruments... those heartwarming lines... and most of all, those tasty looking guys in drag....
Izumo: Stop...stop it! Stop talking like that!!!

  • Butt Monkey: Izumo, in his opinion, since he always found himself stuck in playing female roles in kabuki. A more straight example would be Sae, more and more so after his intro arc.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Early in the series, when Sae was showing off the prominence of his and other renowned kabuki families towards Izumo's cousins, images of kabuki actors appeared behind him. Amongst them were Umeki and Matsuki, who would not appear until about twenty chapters later.
  • Childhood Friends: Yuzuha, Sakura in the one-shot. Romance between them is thus far so subtle as to be nonexistent. They are very good friends though.
  • Covert Pervert: Matsuki exhibits some tendencies of this... towards Izumo. Which surprises Umeki greatly.
  • Crazy Prepared: Somehow Izumo always has some kind of backup plan to pull off a great performance. Being really good at improv also helps.
  • Cute Shotaro Boy: Izumo and even more so Kuroe.
  • Debut Queue: The main characters are introduced in this manner.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: For most of Izumo's kabuki "opponents", most notably Sae.
  • Deliberately Cute Child: Kuroe acts as such occasionally.
  • Depraved Bisexual: The other characters always comment when Kumedera, the guidance teacher, says things about Izumo's cuteness.
  • Did Not Think This Through: Izumo often find himself into troublesome situations due to this.
  • Dropped a Bridget On Him: Izumo semi-intentionally does this to Matsuki. Poor guy.
  • Dude Looks Like a Lady: Izumo, when not intentionally crossdressing.
  • Even the Guys Want Him: Izumo. Although when he's in costume, Even the Girls Want Her, too.
  • Five-Man Band: Izumo eventually gathers one after a few cases of Defeat Means Friendship, although he tries to distance from them whenever they are in school, since he fears that being associated with them will lead to the exposure of him playing kabuki as an onnagata.
  • Flower in Her Hair: Yuzuha's signature hair dec.
  • Good Angel, Bad Angel: Appeared a couple of times on Sae. Interestingly, the angel takes the form of Izumo, while the devil takes the form of Kuroe.
  • Gorgeous Period Dress: All of the kabuki actors (especially Izumo) get to wear elaborate period costumes when on stage.
  • Gory Discretion Shot: When confronting some thugs who have ganged up on Umeki, Kuroe pulls out... some pixellated tool and proceeds to do... something to the thugs that traumatizes not only them but also Umeki and Sae, who watch helplessly on.
  • Hot-Blooded: Izumo.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each chapter is titled "Act".[1]
  • Imagine Spot: Occurs from time to time, usually in the minds of Izumo's father and Sae. And their target of imagination is invariably Izumo.
    • Izumo often does this, too. In most cases, he imagines himself being forced to act like a girl and service somebody.
  • In-Series Nickname: Izumo received many nicknames through the course of the series. Sae (and the author) likes to call him "Hime",[2] Yuzuha calls him "Ikkun", Matsuki calls him "Maid" and Umeki calls him "Chibi".
  • Insistent Terminology: Yuzuha's father does not like her calling him "papa" and always insists her to address him with the more formal "father".
  • Instant Fanclub: Sae has one.
  • I Want to Be a Real Man: Izumo's slightly ironic goal. He sometimes rationalizes his onnagata skills as "being the best at what he does", which is a manly quality.
  • Japanese Honorifics: When Sae mistakenly comes to believe Izumo is a girl, he wonders whether he should call Izumo -kun or -san.
  • Kindhearted Cat Lover: Umeki really loves cats, and even claims that they calm him down.
  • Lethal Chef: Yuzuha. The things she cooked often appear to be still alive!
  • Magical Girl: Izumo in the one-shot turns into a magical girl based on Izumo no Okuni, the founder of kabuki.
  • Megane: Matsuki
  • Meido: Izumo was unwittingly led by Kuroe to work part-time in a maid café on one occasion and was forced to dress up as a maid as a result. He then met Matsuki, who really thought he was an actual maid. And he still frequents the maid café to patronize Izumo even after Izumo revealed his true identity!
  • Missing Mom: His mom takes off at the beginning of the manga on a world tour with her friend so Izumo is forced to return to his estranged dad and his kabuki troupe.
  • Mistaken for Gay: More like mistaken for a girl, by Sae. But when you look like that, who wouldn't?
  • New Transfer Student: Izumo transferred to Shijougawara High School after moving back to his father's place... where he found himself swamped by teenage celebrities since it contains an entertainment division which allows students enrolled to it the flexibility of working in the entertainment industry without affecting their studies.
  • Not What It Looks Like: Kagato is often seen together with Izumo in suggestive poses... when he is only trying to impart onnagata skills to him.
  • The Ojou: Yuzuha is a surprisingly subdued/well-adjusted version of this, being a very nice person but also fantastically rich.
  • Older Than They Look: Kuroe, despite his looks, is actually of the same age as Izumo.
  • Perpetual Frowner: Yuzuka's father.
  • Perpetual Poverty: Despite being a relatively well-respected kabuki house (it has been shown on many occasions that their tickets are always sold out), the Kunisaki troupe somehow always seems to be one failed show away from bankruptcy.
  • Pervert Dad: Yakumo likes putting his son in female garb. Oh, and expect him to bring a camera along to commemorate the crossdressing moments.
  • Puppy Eyes: Izumo often has those, intentionally or not, which naturally causes the guys around him to go crazy for him.
  • Real Place Background: All of the kabuki plays are staged in actual theatres in Tokyo, such as the National Theatre of Japan, the Kabuki-za and the Shinbashi Enbujou.
  • The Rival: Sae Togashiki for all of 5 chapters, who then turns into a love interest???
    • Anri, in the maid café where Izumo is working part-time in, saw herself as a rival of Izumo, and is not happy that she is always consistently second in terms of popularity in the café.
  • Running Gag: Izumo is almost always mistaken as a girl by people who does not know him, much to his chagrin.
    • The House of Kunisaki winds up on the verge of bankruptcy every time despite good revenue.
  • School Festival: One is shown so far in the series, with Izumo's class performing a School Play. Izumo later became forced to substitute for the female lead due to unforeseen circumstances.
  • Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Matsuki is prone to this, especially when it comes to school work.
  • Ship Tease: There are tons and tons of throwaway panels where Izumo (male OR female dress) is in some awkward pose with some other character and then he suddenly realizes how suggestive it is and freaks out.
  • Shown Their Work: Kabuki is traditionally (and still largely is) a male-only theatre form, thus necessitating the need for onnagata. All the plays featured in the series are also actual kabuki plays.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Umeki and Matsuki.
  • Sitting on the Roof: Izumo and his kabuki friends (sometimes with Yuzuha as well) like to hang out in the school roof whenever they are in school.
  • Sleepyhead: Roku Suzutake, a member of the Student Council Room clique, is prone to this due to extreme jet-lag.
  • Split Personality: Kiyora, the leader of the Zankabuki[3] troupe, has a case of it.
  • Something About a Rose: Sae always seems to be able to produce roses whenever he makes a dramatic appearance.
  • Stoic Spectacles: Matsuki.
  • Stupid Sexy Flanders: Izumo is extremely prone to induce this, which is something he's not pleased with.
  • Teacher-Student Romance: Kumedera-sensei is hot for Izumo... in an unhealthy way...
  • Temporal Theme Naming: Izumo's cousins who work in the Kunisaki troupe and appears from time to time are all named after seasons: Fuyumasa (winter), Natsuki (summer), Haruichi (spring) and Akihiko (autumn).
  • Those Two Guys: Izumo's school friends, Ren and Kei, who don't know his claim to fame. They seem to be in some kind of rock band together.
    • There are another set of Those Two Guys who are part of the Kunisaki troupe, usually playing bit parts in each of the plays.
  • Vocal Dissonance: Rui, a middle school student who wanted to be Izumo's apprentice after being enchanted by his performance, sometimes speaks with an ultra-masculine voice to intimidate people when dressed up in female garb.
  • Wholesome Crossdresser: Izumo winds up dressed in drag, usually against his will. Kagato, on the other hand, seems to treat this like a hobby. Sae occasionally pulls this off to get Izumo out of awkward situations.
  • Why Did It Have to Be: Izumo is afraid of ghosts, which distresses him greatly when he found out that he has to perform a female ghost in one of the plays.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Naturally.
  1. ↑ also scanlated as "Stage"
  2. ↑ lit. "Princess"
  3. ↑ lit. new kabuki
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