Otokonoko is a Japanese genre of romantic and/or erotic stories for
men, focusing on Attractive Bent-Gender male Crossdressers. The name is a pun.Details It is sometimes called '"josou" ("women'
s clothes"), a more generic term for male crossdressers.
Otokonoko features both girl-on-crossdresser and guy-on-crossdresser stories (it's one of the few places where you
will find m/f stories and m/m stories side-by-side in the same magazine). The target audience is
men who crossdress (or are interested), and
men who have a fetish for crossdressers, and the art styles and tropes are typically those of male-oriented romance / ecchi / hentai material. There is also a significant Periphery Demographic of
female readers. (Although guy-on-guy otokonoko is often mistaken for Boys
Love Genre, anything targeted to women is not otokonoko.)
An otokonoko character must be anatomically male (no Hermaphrodites or Gender Benders) but look convincingly
like an attractive girl. Most identify as male, but even when the character identifies as
female, few works try to deal with actual Transgender issues in anything
like a realistic way. Since otokonoko is mainly an
otaku thing, otokonoko are quite likely to wear Sailor Fuku, Meido, Miko, Cat Girl or Naughty Nurse Outfits as well as "ordinary" female clothes.
