English Localization Of Classic Rom-Com Manga ‘Stop!! Hibari-Kun!’ Changes Protagonist From “Very Feminine Guy” To Transgender Female
In the latest instance of a Western localization overwriting the original intent of a Japanese creator, publisher PEOW2’s English release of Stop!! Hibari-kun! has changed the identity of the series’ titular protagonist from ‘cross-dressing male’ to ‘transgender female’.
A mainstay of Shueisha’s 1980s Weekly Shonen Jump line-up, Hisachi Eguchi’s gag manga Stop!! Hibari-kun!! follows the adventures of the titular Hibari Ozora, the son of a Yakuza boss who chooses to live his life as a cross-dressing and extremely feminine man, as he goes about his daily life.
Originally serialized between 1983-1984, the series has never seen any plans for an official English release – that was, until August 24th, when during Anime NYC the the Swedish-based Peow2 announced that they had acquired the rights to finally localize the series.
Unfortunately, the publisher’s synopsis of the series, as provided by Comics Beat’s Deb Aoki, has revealed that English localizers are once again attempting to use a piece of Japanese media as their own personal activism platforms.
Therein, rather than referring to Hibari as a crossdressing male, Peow2 instead declared, “Stop!! Hibari-kun! is one of the OG trans protagonists to lead a manga in this classic romantic comedy from one of Japan’s most iconic artists, Hisashi Eguchi”
Contrary to the Western publisher’s description, Eguchi has confirmed Hibari’s gender on numerous occasions, with the first coming in 2009’s Stop!! Hibari-kun! Complete Edition Volume 1.
Alongside a then-never-before-seen drawing of Hibari from his sketch book, the mangaka explained (as translated via Hachimitsu Scans), “Before I drew this I hadn’t thought up his name, a story or even a title. The moment I drew this sample the thought suddenly popped in my head that ‘this is a guy. a very feminine guy. I’ll make him the main character of my next manga.”
Then, in 2019, the mangaka would respond to a Western Instagram user who inquired “Is Hibari-chan ever doing a full transtition” with the explicit clarification, “No, his gender male.”
Likewise, when directly met with a Japanese Twitter user’s opinion (as translated via DeepL) that he was “was a little disappointed that Hibari-kun wasn’t [the winner of the Netlab Research’s ‘Cutest Heroine in Jump History’ poll]”, Eguchi laughed in response, “Well, you know, Hibari-kun is a boy, lol.”
At the time of this writing, Peow2 has not yet addressed their decision to change Eguchi’s original narrative.
Rather, in their only statement addressing the series’ production, the publisher tweeted shortly after their Anime NYC announcement, “Hello! We see many of you may have heard the exciting news, we will be publishing the series Stop!! Hibari-Kun! by Hisashi Eguchi in fall of 2025. Thank you for all the positive messages that we have seen so far!”
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