How I Attended an All-Guys Mixer

 How I Attended an All-Guys Mixer (合コンに行ったら女がいなかった話) is a 12 episode romantic comedy based on the manga of the same name by Aokawa Nana.  The series originally aired during the Fall of 2024.

    College student Tokiwa is invited to a mixer by a girl from his class maned Suo.  She wants him to bring two other guys.  He invites his buddies, Asagi and Hagi.  Things turn sideways when they arrive at the location to find three well dressed, handsome men waiting for them instead.  After some playful teasing one of them reveals themselves to be Suo.  She lets the traumatized guys know that they work at a drag king bar and decided to come dressing in their work attire for the mixer.  After some alcohol lubrication the 3 kings drag the guys all around town, partying well into the night, continuously playing pranks on them and attracting attention from everyone else.  

    After the night on the town the two groups continue to interact with each outer.  The woman usually while in their drag personas.  From the very start there is chemistry between them, each woman enjoying the compony of one of the guys.  Tokiwa was already attracted to Suo and enjoys the idea of spending more time with her, even if she attracts a dizzying amount of attention as a man.  She is often referred to by all of the girls in school as The Prince.  Suo likes Tokiwa back but is willing to play it slow and wants him to realize how much she likes him.  She also hides her job from everyone so only the three guys know who The Princes really is in school.  Asagi is dimwitted and easy influenced.  He has attracted the eye of the stern and cool Fuji, the shops bartender.  She draws erotic doujinshi on the side and has few inhibitions, taking full advantage of Asagi's gullibility.  The last paring is Hagi and Kohaku, both of who share similar personality defects and struggle to recognize their own feelings for the other enough to act on it.  Hagi himself begins to question everything when he realizes how excited he is when Kohaku is in drag.

    I went into this expecting it to be a bit of a running joke series with not a lot else?  It did continue to run the joke of the three kings outshining the boys.  In all honesty the gender roles really were reversed, even when the women were not in drag.  The boys are easily excited, unsure and cautions.  The woman know (well mostly) exactly what they want and are willing to play games with the boys until they understand whats really going on.  As the series progresses we see the characters getting closer and more comfortable with each other.  I can't stress enough how fun this series was and how unexpectedly delightful and sweet the characters are from start to finish.  I really enjoyed this series and am glad I ended up having to wait to watch all of it until the end of the season.  I just could stop hitting next episode and when it was all done I downloaded Squares manga app to read it!!

    I truly enjoyed this cute and amusing series all around.  The characters are fantastic, the artwork is a lot of fun and it was just a pure joy to watch.  If you are a fan of Ouran High School Host Club, this is the perfect companion piece to that show.  Though this one is just straight loveable comedy, no drama, no tension, no mysteries.  Just amusing anecdotes as the guys fumble around, being played by the savvy kings.

The series was simulcast on HiDive