, also known as My Barbaric Girlfriend, is a manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 by Ai Morinaga

Ai Morinaga

is a Japanese manga artist.- Manga Works :*Kirara no Hoshi* My Heavenly Hockey Club* Maniattemasu* Strawberry chan no Karei na Seikatsu * The Tale of Yamada Family Special Edition...

. Your and My Secret is a gender-bender manga. Male lead Akira Uehara is overlooked because he doesn't open his mouth. Female lead Nanako Momoi is looked over until she opens her mouth. One unfortunate day in grandpa's underground laboratory their minds and bodies get switched, and they find their new selves surprisingly comfortable. In Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 it was published by Mag Garden

Mag Garden

is a Japanese publishing company that focuses on manga-related publications and is also involved in the development of anime and live-action adaptations. It was founded on June 5, 2001 by Yoshihiro Hosaka along with former manga artists of Enix...

. In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 it is published by Tokyopop

Tokyopop

Tokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx, is a distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa, and Western manga-style works. The existing German publishing division produces German translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga, as well...

.

Mag Garden currently has 7 volumes available. Only the first volume was released by ADV Manga, but Tokyopop has since acquired the rights to the manga and plans on releasing the rest of the volumes. As of December 2010 seven volumes are available in English. It was made into a live-action adaptation which stars the Japanese actress Mai Takahashi

Mai Takahashi

is a Japanese actress and model.Takahashi made her acting debut in 2004, playing the role of Amano Sora in TV Asahi's Sky High 2. In 2005 she made her film debut as Fumie Hayashida in . Since her debut Takahashi has worked with many prominent directors; playing Kawahime, the River Princess, in ...

.

Plot

The story revolves around high school student Akira Uehara, sensitive and demure by nature. Despite that he has a large crush on the most feared and violent girl in school—Nanako Momoi, who seems fragile and cute, until she opens her mouth. One day Momoi is absent from school for unknown reason and someone is needed to bring her homework to her. Though most students push it off to each other, Uehara willingly volunteers to bring Momoi her homework. He arrives at her house to find it unlocked and seemingly empty. He enters and stumbles on a secret passage, which leads to the laboratory of Momoi's mad scientist grandfather, who is using his own granddaughter as a test subject of his new invention.

He is about to save her, but the situation turns on him for the worse when Momoi successfully persuades her grandfather to use Uehara. In the attempt to get Uehara, Momoi's grandfather accidentally presses the lever that activates the machine and the end result is that Momoi and Uehara have switched bodies. The story is told from Akira Uehara's point of view and details his frustrations with trying to get things changed back and with some things that girls go through, and the small unexpected pleasures he gets some days, because he is now outwardly a girl. He worries that the longer he stays outwardly a girl the more he will become, inwardly, a girl.

Characters

The main character of Your and My Secret. Despite his appearance, he is actually a dainty, feminine boy who unexpectedly has a crush on Nanako Momoi, the most violent and meanest girl in school.

When Uehara comes to Momoi's house to give her the homework she missed, he finds her attached to the wall as her mad-scientist

Mad scientist

A mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, specifically science fiction. The mad scientist may be villainous or antagonistic, benign or neutral, and whether insane, eccentric, or simply bumbling, mad scientists often work with fictional technology in order to forward their schemes, if...

 grandfather is about to test his machine on her. He tries to save her, but unfortunately, the girl he loves turns on him and convinces her grandfather to use Uehara as the test subject instead. In an attempt to get Uehara, the grandfather accidentally presses a lever which causes Uehara and Momoi to switch bodies.

Because he is in her body, Momoi often threatens Uehara not to do anything to her "pure" body or else she will go out in public in his body with nothing but socks on. Uehara, fearful, obliges, though there are some cases in which his curiosity gets the best of him, usually resulting in a violent nosebleed. As a girl, Uehara in Momoi's body is better liked by her peers, to the extent that some males develop a crush or feelings toward him/her, including Uehara's best friend Senbongi, and Shiina's older brother.

Uehara has a mother, father and younger sister, seen in the first volume. Before the switch his parents were disappointed in him and his sister disrespected him. After the switch they like the improvement in "his" character.

Uehara is very adamant about returning to his normal body, though there are many factors that prevent him from doing so. (i.e. Momoi, Momoi's grandfather being lazy, Senbongi, etc.)

Nanako Momoi is a girl who appears small and cute until she opens her mouth. She is very impulsive and violent by nature, which cause many of her peers to be repelled by her and to fear her.

After the incident at her house when Uehara attempts to save her from her grandfather's experiments, she switches bodies with Uehara. As a boy, Momoi in Uehara's body is much more popular for her/his confidence and athletic ability, especially with the female students. Despite the fact that Momoi threatens Uehara concerning what he can do with her body, she abuses his body in all sorts of ways (for example: masturbating, flirting with beautiful older girls, and even going to hotels with some of those girls and having sex with them).

Unlike Uehara, Momoi enjoys being a guy and wishes to stay in her new body as long as possible. In the first volume, as a guy, she develops an attraction and feelings for her best friend Makoto Shiina, and the feelings are returned. The two eventually start dating. At the same time Momoi retains some violent lusts towards guys, and sometimes tries to ravage Senbongi.

Shiina is Momoi's good-natured, honest best friend, and unlike Momoi is a very kind and sweet girl. Shiina does notice the drastic change when Uehara and Momoi switch bodies, but never suspects anything further. The only assumption was that Momoi became more feminine because she fell in love, which was only a possible guess.

Shiina eventually develops feelings for Uehara (Momoi in Uehara's body to be exact), feelings that are returned, so the two start dating. She has yet to know that her boyfriend "Uehara" is actually Momoi in Uehara's body.

Shiina also has an older brother named Katsupei who is overprotective to the point of stalking her during his hours working at the school.

Uehara views her as an honest and good friend.

Senbongi is Uehara's closest companion. Like Shiina, he also noticed the personality change that occurred between Uehara and Momoi. He develops an attraction to a changed Momoi (Uehara in her body) and often he tries to make out with her (and is successful until Uehara quickly gets away). Other times he tries to buy her affections, such as buying her a parfait when the two hang out so she would give him chocolates for Valentine's Day. Though some interaction between the two have proven that he does genuinely likes 'Momoi'.

By the end of volume 2 and beginning of volume 3, Senbongi overhears a conversation between Uehara and Momoi and after realization of their personality changes finds out they switched bodies. Despite the fact that Momoi happens to be his best friend Uehara, Senbongi does not mind and continues to pursue him.

Momoi's grandfather is an overweight mad scientist. It was by means of his invention that his granddaughter and Uehara switched bodies. He is too lazy to rebuild the machine and seems more comfortable with the current situation for Uehara makes a more feminine granddaughter like he wanted. Plus, Uehara ends up doing the chores and cooking for the household as well.

Later, he develops a crush on Momoi's best friend, Makoto Shiina. Uehara makes a deal that if he rebuilds the machine to switch him and Momoi to their original state, he will get Shiina to let Grandpa lay his head on her lap and pick his ears. Without hesistation, Grandpa agrees and works adamantly to fix the machine and in turn, become worn and skinny. However, Momoi finds out about their deal and destroys the machine in anger.

Makoto's 23-year-old older brother. He is overprotective of his younger sister to the point of obsession so that he even becomes a gym teacher at her school. He has a great dislike of his sister's friend, Nanako Momoi (she broke his cup and flicked a booger on his forehead), but his feelings later changed to a rather large crush when he meets her (or Uehara in her body to be exact) again and gives him advice on younger sisters.

Momoi's father (and mother) make an unexpected return from abroad at the end of volume 6. He quickly discovers that Nanako is not Nanako and Uehara confesses. Uehara discovers that Momoi's parents actually have common sense. Nanako describes her father as a twin to 'Sckop' (Mr. Spock of Star Trek

Star Trek

Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...

), right to the "stick up the butt". Kenji Momoi requires his father Manzo to fix the machine and switch the two kids back, in a week, or else. This forms the topic of volume 7.