Title: I Became a Girl to Win the Tournament Vol. 1
Author: Hatsusaru
Publisher: Amazon/KDP
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 237
Genre: Isekai, Comedy
Publication Date: October 21, 2020
The Story
Just as the name implies, I Became a Girl to Win the Tournament explains everything you need to know about this book… well, almost. What tournament? Who became a girl? Why did they become a girl? Boobs obviously. The boobs are the main reason. They’re so soft and supple and squishy and… oops, I just thought something and now my roommate is scalding me.
The above opening statement encapsulates the writing style for a story involving a boy named Reiji. He’s a NEET who lives with his friend Saiki. She, too, doesn’t work but, instead, lives in an apartment with Reiji paid for by her wealthy parents. Things just seem rather normal between them until we get to the second chapter of the book which puts a spin on everything.
God, or who we come to suspect to be God… and his (or her) associate… are bored. When you’ve been around for the entire existence of time, you’d be bored, too. Apparently, other planets and alternate universes can’t be bothered with so “God” zooms in on Japan… and more specifically… Reiji and Saiki’s apartment. They go to bed one night and the next morning, they are isekai’d to Rosenstadt, Germany but… it’s not our Germany… it’s the Germany in an alternate universe where only 3% of the population is male!
God makes Reiji a deal. Win a pro-wrestling tournament and he’ll be sent back to Japan in their own universe; however, Reiji doesn’t want to go back so God leaves it up to him to decide his fate. Reiji chooses a life of wealth and luxury should he win which God agrees. There’s only one catch… the tournament can only be entered by women so it’s time for Reiji to learn how to dress up in drag! Oh, and there’s the whole joining a school, learning to wrestle, and then doing the tournament thing, too, but it’s okay because he has a whole year to do it!
Oh, and another five years to win the second tournament to achieve his goal… something God neglected to mention.
HOO BOY
Characters
The characters here are great, each with their own nice little personalities to really keep things fresh.
Reiji Arai is a twenty-year-old male with a slender, almost androgynous body. He is the perfect little pervert that’s into anime, manga, and other typical otaku stuff. He constantly has perverted thoughts and often goes on little diatribes which gets him into trouble…, especially with Saiki who, apparently, is a pseudo mind reader. While Reiji does get isekai’d, he doesn’t really think much of it. In fact, he embraces it completely. He reminds me a lot of Kazuma from Konosuba and this made him pretty entertaining.
Saiki Yamada is his roommate and best friend. She is the perfect example of a tomboy. From the very moment where she’s introduced, you can tell that she doesn’t care much about the little things… especially when she barges into the room completely naked to get some clothes and doesn’t care that Reiji is right there looking at her. Yet, despite being seen as a big sister by Reiji, she’s awfully protective of him… especially when we are introduced to Lina, Willa, and Amalia, three girls who help guide Reiji in the right direction by introducing him to a university and even taking him to see a wrestling match where we are introduced to Karina… a spitfire heel wrestler who is just as mean outside of the ring as she is inside.
We also get introduced to Millie, their upstairs neighbor. In traditional trope-ish fashion, she looks underage when her lolicon looks and twin tails, but this self-proclaimed idol is actually twenty-two… so she’s older than both Reiji and Saiki! She is supposed to act as their “guide” in their new world; however, she’s not really all that much help. She really is just an upstairs neighbor, after all. Still doesn’t stop Reiji from staring at her panties, though.
A and B are just as Reiji nicknamed them… Asshole and Bitch. These “Gods” simply decided to use Reiji as their plaything to stave off their boredom. They kind of reminded me of Acca and Ura-Acca from Wonder Egg Priority… if they had slightly better personalities.
Final Thoughts
What drew me into buying this book was the aspect of pro-wrestling. I love pro-wrestling a LOT. And, yes, I will clarify that I am a lover of PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING… NOT Sports Entertainment. Give me AEW, New Japan, ROH, Impact, NWA, etc any day of the week. Give me a few hours and some old All Japan tapes, something from NOAH, DDT, Stardom, Tokyo Joshi Pro, Rev Pro, etc and I’ll be lost and mesmerized. So, when I saw that Hatsusaru wrote a light novel series based on pro-wrestling, I was in at that premise alone.
Then, it took that swerve and turned it into an isekai. I liked the twist, although, I will say that everything seemed good and consistent for the first half of the book. I would say around Chapter 7 and onward, after Reiji heads to the university, things break down a little bit consistency-wise. It’s not a big problem but there are times when things seem a bit forced or just there.
The other thing I found that was a chore to read was the writing itself. Sometimes, Hatsusaru goes off on tangents, and while, yes, the humor is there to support it, sometimes I forget the situation because of it. Sometimes the book breaks the 4th wall and this also causes a bit of an issue because I’m not sure if it’s the author speaking to me or if it’s Reiji’s inner monologues doing the narration. Sometimes, these little run-on distractions go for a half-page or longer. Oftentimes, I found myself skipping entire paragraphs to get to the next line of character dialogue and discovering that I hadn’t missed anything important by skipping it.
Those are my only complaints about the series. Hatsusaru, like me, comes off like a pro-wrestling encyclopedia as the moves are described to near perfection. Knowing the differences in the rules of pro-wrestling showed off his knowledge, too, and he was able to take that and wrap it around a humorous and hilarious isekai story.
I will say… I have grown to hate isekai, but I don’t hate this book one bit! Maybe because he did something not many isekai do… he whisked his characters away to Earth… just in an alternate universe rather than dropping them off in a world of magic and fantasy!
How much did I enjoy this book? Well, I bought Volume 2 before I had even hit the halfway point in Volume 1. As much as I enjoyed it, some of its minor flaws dropped the score just a little bit; however, if your mind is constantly in the gutter and that’s the style of humor for you… on top of a refreshing isekai angle and are a pro-wrestling fan, this book is a must-have!
Final Verdict: 4/5
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This item was purchased for review.
