転校先の清楚可憐な美少女が、昔男子と思って一緒に遊んだ幼馴染だった件

As far as I know Japanese rarely uses pronouns in daily conversation. I'm not sure any where used in this particular conversation as I don't speak Japanese. But it's pretty easy to hide gender in a Japanese conversation as far as I'm aware. It's quite possible that it's mistranslated on purpose to trick the viewer into thinking she also thought Haruki was a boy despite always having known, because it's basically impossible to translate it to English without the usage of gendered pronouns. Or she straight up always thought Haruki was a boy and it's correctly translated. And while -chan is generally used for girls, I've seen it used for boys, especially kids, in anime before. For example in Witch Watch Nico calls Morihito "Moi-chan" because they were childhood friends

they can be toggleable if that's really a problem but I don't think it is. In this instance (and most times I notice that a TL note would help tbh) it would take a few words. If a TL does turn out too big they can either omit it or sum it up so those who care can look it up in more detail. For the more work part obviously yea, but that's the annoying part, services want to take the same or even more money for less work, lol.

So my Japanse is not that good. But the other commenter is right, there were no identifying pronouns used. But.. When MC said that "they might have evolved from a monkey into a gorilla" the sister was like "wtf" and to me it made the impression that she wouldn't have said "wtf" if she thought Haru-chan was male. Like the implied context to me was "wtf why would you say this about a girl." But that's just going on vibes, there's no concrete grammatical evidence of any gender in the conversation. Also MC is really hard to understand, think he speaks in country-accent.

It's not really mistranslated, it's just impossible to avoid using pronouns in English to the extent that you can (and usually do) in Japanese. They had to use something, so they went with what the pronoun she probably would've said if she was speaking English (in Japanese, she didn't use any pronouns). It's kind of a fun gag that shows up in Japanese from time to time, where two people are talking about a third person without using any pronouns, and there's a misunderstanding of the third person's sex. But it's not really possible to translate that gag to English and still sound like normal, fluent English in the process whereas in Japanese it's perfectly normal.

There were no gendered words or pronouns used in the original Japanese. The only mention of gender is when Hayato mentions "judging by gender alone they must be [a] different [person]". So it's clear Hayato thought Haruki was a boy before and then sees Haruki as a girl when meeting them again, but it's yet completely unclear if he sees them as still a boy but in girls clothes, or a girl the whole time, etc. Hayato basically just rolls with it and is waiting for Haruki to share when they are ready which is kinda cool imo. Even the translated line "He was such a great guy" is just totally wrong and misleading. He actually says "They were a great one." These translations are whack yo. Seems like whoever translated it had no idea what was coming and just at a whim chose which pronoun to throw in there and didn't make any effort to make them gender neutral or avoid pronouns like the original Japanese.

I was originally worried about harem bullshit based on some of the key art. But after learning that one of the girls is his sister and they seem to have an actual sibling relationship, not an anime sibling relationship, made me more confident in this show. That, and the fact that he didn't get all panicky after being "caught" conversing with the grey haired girl, and instead compared her to a fucking sheep of all things. Haruki seems pretty proactive as well in preventing any harem developments (reminds me of Rys from Chilling in another world in that way)

Props to Hayato for just rolling with finding out about Haruki's real gender as naturally as possible, though I guess it helped that her personality is still the same. I think there was definitely a smidge of underlying tension because of the fact that they're now clearly the opposite sex hanging out with each other, and Haruki might already have deeper feelings for him the amount she blushes, but so far they're focused on just reconnecting as bros.

I'm impressed! MC not socially awkward, not introvert, not feel embarrassed to tell about himself to others, able to make a friend, and not too dense . This is like 10-20 years ago anime MC should be until the norm of self-insert starts. I feel it closer to visual novel common route though with how all events are in order plus living alone with little sister etc. Not the socks ! Mimimimimimi Haruki so bold! Uhmm...so somebody will get jealous even among female, eh. Hmm...giving bento, hanging out in same room, doing secretly , model student in public eyes...where did I hear this before

Not the socks! Mimimimimimi Haruki so bold! That made me think of Alya S1. I wonder how much budget they saved just for that scene. Uhmm...so somebody will get jealous even among female, eh. Yeah. Even among the girls. The boys would get jealous that someone is getting closer to Haruki while the girls would get jealous that a girl is trying to increase her status by being befriending the perfect class idol. Remember, they're teenagers. It might not seem that deep to us, but them high school is their whole world. Hmm...giving bento, hanging out in same room, doing secretly, model student in public eyes...where did I hear this before What are you talking about? This is a completely new series. I Made Friends with the Second Prettiest Girl in My Class aired last season. This is I Reconnected With My Childhood Friend Who I Thought Was a Boy But is Actually the Prettiest Girl in My Class . However they do have similar names so I can see where the confusion came from.

My point still stands for this series. Until the comment of the person bellow me happens (Changing her image and personality just like Miki to be comfortable with who she is. Not gap-moe producing "tomboy." Not someone who is your usual feminine heroine with long hair and all.) I can't give this series a chance. This is my personal taste regarding the omboys/tomboy romance. I am just tired of erasures of any kind.

I actually quite enjoy their character dynamic and interactions. Feels like they're actually old best friends who are reunited after being apart for several years I was originally worried this may devolve into some harem bullshit based on some of the key art featuring multiple girls, but I'm not as worried now. Haruki seems very proactive in being around the MC, and seems to be actively stepping in to stop any harem developments (like Rys from Chilling in another world with lvl 2 cheat powers). The MC also seems to have zero romantic interest in the vegetable girl, he compared her to a damn sheep of all things after all. And one of the girls is his sister, and they seem to have an actual sibling relationship, instead of an anime sibling relationship. Speaking of the MCs family, seems some shit is going on with his mom in the hospital. This spells drama to be unpacked in the future to me. Similarly it seems Haruki went through a bunch of shit after moving away which forced her to change her image. If the drama in the show is focused on the MCs family and the MLI past it's less likely to be focused on love rivals instead. This whole thing kinda reminds me of Tomo-chan is a Girl meets I made friends with the second prettiest girl in class. Looking forward to the next episode

Fairly strong first episode from a writing perspective. The main cast is mostly established with their personalities and future emotional arcs, annoying tropes like a long-running identity misunderstanding were pushed aside quickly, and the humor felt natural enough. Feels like fans of last season's Second Prettiest Girl have another high school romance drama to wet their whistles. It is a shame that the production seems wonky. Off model faces scattered about, jarring perspective at times(giant video game controller made me laugh), and emotional moments rugpulled by awkward directing. I don't think I'm sticking around, but this one episode convinced me that checking out the manga is probably worth it for a solid story.