How I attended an all-guys mixer is a romcom manga about three dudes going to a mixer, only to meet three girls in drag. The girls in question work at a crossdressing café you understand, and since they all came right after their shift they're in hot guy mode and such is life.
As it is a romcom, so I don't particularly have any grand plot twist to sell you- it's a story about guys and girls falling in love. That being said, there are quite a few things I think are done really well (or at least, differently from other romcoms) so that's stuff I find worthy of selling to strangers on the internet.
FINALLYYYY SOME MASC FUCKING GIRLS
I, personally, really like when mangas (or stories in general, but I'm writing a manifesto for a manga rn so that's what I'm focusing on) fuck with gender. Be it genderbending, crossdressing, or straight-up trans stuff, I'm eating it all up.
Unfortunately, it is also really, really hard to find stuff with masc girls- crossdressing & genderbending mangas usually focus more on the femboy angle. "Otokonoko" is an entire genre. Hell, "femboy" is an entire hentai tag, but most websites don't even have a tag for masc girls. Not saying it's impossible to find masc girls in mangas (Handsome Girl and Crossdressing Boy is one of my favorites femboy/butch romances out there) but usually female characters who are broadcasted as "masc" are just "women who prefer pants and perhaps are slightly rowdier than average." And also they hate being masc. Seriously, I have seen so many mangas where the girl is masc but goes on huge spiels of "oh, I do so wish I was more feminine." Who's stopping you. No. Seriously. Who's stopping you. No one is out there forcing women to be masc so why do so many fictional girls acts like that's what's happening.
So yeah, as you can imagine, I am delighted to see an entire manga where the premise is "girls looking like hot dudes." Sure, they're masc in a bishounen way, but fact is they are balling in suit.
The way each of them react to their boy mode is also very interesting- being masc means different things for each of them. One of the girls is clearly more confident & bolder while in boy mode. Another uses the boy mode off the clock whenever she wants to be more anonymous. The last one is kinda neutral about the whole thing. Not a single one of them feels self-conscious about boymodding. It's so refreshing to see!
Queerness within the setting
So, the girls get to be masc. The question, then: how do the male characters handle it? It's a romcom that gets its comedy elements from the whole gender shit. That could potentially be an entire minefield. So, how is it?>
Well, I can recall precisely one (1) scene where a character goes "ok if I win that bet go back in girl mode!" very early on while the characters are all in a mixer, and thus the guys are still hoping to meet some hot girls. Aside from that one scene, no one treats it like some kind of character flaw the girls should fix.
All the dudes handle the crossdressing thing differently. One of them does not care at all. Another is kind of confused, but very polite about it. The last one has a full "am I bisexual?" crisis, and I was surprised that it was absolutely not treated as a joke. Or rather, the joke isn't "homosexuality funny," it's "why are you making it into such a big deal, it's normal to be into your crush whether she's wearing a skirt or a suit." When other characters incorrectly assume the situation is "two dudes dating," the joke is never "haha homosexuality," but rather "haha they thought they were dating yet!" Which is very refreshing for me to see.
Respectful romance
It's a very me problem, but an issue I have with a lot of romance is that I find myself thinking "ok, if this wasn't a story where those two bitches would fall for one another, how would it come across?" And quite often... that makes for some very uncomfortable romance, actually. "I will confess to you everyday until you accept it!" What if they never do. You're just being a dick. "Come on, I know you better than you do, you know you want this!" what if they don't. Bitch. It's not an issue if the romance is about two awful people, because then it's very clear I'm supposed to revel in how unhealthy this shit is, but when it's presented as a cute wholesome romance? Not my thing.
I'm pointing it out, because All Guys Mixer... does not have that. Two of the romance storylines involve "I realized I have a crush on this one, and I'm gonna seduce them," but it never comes across as overly pushy. In fact, these characters often course-correct through the story to adjust their flirting if the other reacts negatively. The romance doesn't revolve around "let me show you that I'm right and you should love me," it's "let me try to figure out the best way to communicate to you that I'm interested." It's very... realistic is the only word I have. It's quite neat!
Kink & fanculture
The acute reader would have noticed that there are three girls in this manga, and I talked about two romance storylines. What is the third one, then? What is the dynamic between the remaining two folks?
It's "fujoshi who draws hardcore yaoi porn X the guy who helps her make doujins."
First of all- fucking hilarious premise, I'll take ten. They're my absolute favorite so far. But also, secondly- the entire subcultures of "people who make kinky stuff" and/or "people who make fancontent" is portrayed in a surprisingly respectful light.
In mangas, I am very used to fujoshis and/or bdsm enjoyers being presented as target of mockery. And even outside of mangas, well- canons often look down on fan who engage in the "wrong" way, which often means through shipping.
That's not the case here, though. The girlie is not presented as a degenerate freak who fetishizes all gay men- she's Just Some Dude who is passionate about what she loves and is willing to put a lot of work into her doujins. The comedy doesn't come from "haha, look at this FREAK," but rather "it's true that normies would find that odd, so I should try to keep the exact content of my doujins under wrap" X "most oblivious man alive." It presents everyone involved in a very sympathetic light I'm not used to.
(Also worth noting that the other kinky shipper present in that manga is a dude, so there are no uncomfortable misogyny implications either.)
So yeah! That's How I Attended An All-Guys Mixer. If you're looking for soft romances about adult characters, romance that fucks with gender, or just something wholesome, I deeply recommend it.