 Volume 4 cover, with art by Akira Kasukabe | |
| Editor-in-chief | Toshinaga Hijikata |
|---|---|
| Categories | Manga |
| Frequency | Quarterly |
| Format | JB5 |
| First issue |
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| Final issue Number | February 25, 2014 16 |
| Company | Ichijinsha |
| Country | Japan |
| Based in | Tokyo |
| Language | Japanese |
| Website | www |
Waai! (Japanese: わぁい！, "Wow!",[1] stylized "WAaI!") is a Japanese manga magazine which was published by Ichijinsha from April 24, 2010 to February 25, 2014, for 16 issues. The manga in Waai! focus on male characters who engage in cross-dressing, willingly or due to circumstance; the magazine also includes articles, interviews, and reviews. Its sister magazine Waai! Mahalo (わぁい！Mahalo) was published for 6 issues from April 25, 2012 to December 25, 2013, and only contains manga.
The main magazine started as a special issue of the publisher's Monthly Comic Rex, before getting spun out as a separate publication. The creation of the magazine was pushed for by its editor-in-chief, Toshinaga Hijikata, a cross-dresser and writer of books about cross-dressing, who aimed to create a magazine with wider appeal than the more sexual cross-dressing magazines that came before it.
Manga featured in the magazines include one-shots and series, which often combine the cross-dressing conceit with themes of gay male romance and societal rules of femininity; among the serializations are Dicca Suemitsu's Reversible! (2010–2013), Rika Kamiyoshi's Sazanami Cherry (2010–2011), and Norio Tsukudani's Himegoto (2011–2014), the latter of which saw an anime adaptation in 2014. At first the magazine was primarily popular with male audiences, but it gradually also built a female following, which by late 2011 represented about a third of its readership.