Thanks for explaining! I was wracking my brain for T-words that would make sense as a romance genre name 
Somehow I’m not surprised at all that the name is such a loose match for the content. It’s a wasei term, right?
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It is, yes. I don’t know the origin of the term, but I still feel someone should have noticed it’s weird 
I guess it’s a way to have a gender neutral term compared to Boys’ Love? (Who are just as much boys than the protagonists of TL are teens)
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Thanks, I wasn’t sure but didn’t even realise teen love was a genre (but then I don’t read a lot of romance genre in general). 
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ティーンズラブ - Wikipedia has some reasoning, if I half-awake skimmed correctly
I think it’s the sorta thing you have to go looking for, very randomly find, or already know exists. Ex: Bookwalker’s emails have a link to their TL stuff (and BL), but you won’t find it listed if you try to filter by ジャンル in general…
Tho oddly their general filter by ジャンル (at least on mobile) right now seems to have 百合 (yuri) and レディースコミック (TL but with the taboo stuff), but not BL or TL listed… In order to find BL, I had to select 女性向け or 少女マンガ first
Tangentially there is a genre called TSF (which I have not read a lot of), but could recommend ぜんぶきみの性 1 | L21 (rom com with some seriousness) and オレが私になるまで 1 | L21 (serious story with a “maybe romance?” subplot in the background)… At least I think those count as TSF? @Athakaspen would know better tho
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There’s also お兄ちゃんはおしまい! | L21, which is pure comedy.
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My impression was that TSF involved “magical” transformation, or at the very least a very sudden transformation that the main character has to react to. The page you linked mentions surgery, but the detailed list seems to imply it’s “sufficiently advanced technology” (ie indistinguishable from magic). @seanblue ‘s example falls in the “sufficiently advanced technology” category too.
That being said, the last example provided by Wikipedia involves intersex people, which are typically not magical in real life (you know, what with magic not being a thing), but again I suspect that the kind of changes required to fit the category would go beyond realism. (Not an expert though)
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I really enjoyed reading everyone’s responses!
As for my favorite types of books, it’s kinda hard to say. My reading can be random at times, but there are types of books that I gravitate towards over others.
Faves:
-
Fantasy
Definitely the first section I go to in a bookstore! Magic? Dragons? Groups going on a quest? Love it! While I read books and manga aimed at adults, I also really like middle grade fantasy. Considering the target audience, MG fantasy tends to be lighter hearted and more, idk, fun? Sometimes I don’t want to read something deep or complicated, so I usually turn to MG. -
Isekai
I’m finally starting to get kinda tired of the genre, but I have found some series that have some sort of twist to differentiate them from to sea of meh. Give me an interesting series and I’ll be there! -
Books about books (and bookstores and libraries)
I especially love reading about people gushing about their love for books and reading. Also related, I like reading about the creative life in general. -
Slice of life (or low-stakes books in general)
Especially slice of life anime and manga.
I also generally like the “cute girls doing cute things” genre (Why yes, I would like to see your misadventures with cooking!) and cute, fluffy romance.
Not Faves
-
Too-Spicy romance
Do I really need to know what you people did in your bedroom? NO I DO NOT!! -
Horror
Please no. I can’t. -
Female main characters who hate everything and everyone and is generally unlikable but is presented as a “strong female lead”
You’ll know her when you see her. -
Diversity for diversity’s sake
I think someone else mentioned this, but some books write diverse characters just for the sake of having diversity. I once read one YA fantasy book and while the story was interesting enough, I feel like some of the characters existed just to check off a list. I agree that diversity is good, but don’t make it so obvious!
Anyway, this is just some of the books I like/dislike.
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I have recommendations 
この本を盗む者は | L37 is a fantasy-ish book about falling into the world of books! Kind of like The Page Master but different? Also a talking…dog girl if I remember right? It’s also a manga (この本を盗む者は | L27 ) but I haven’t read it so can’t vouch for it.
本を守ろうとする猫の話 | L28 is also very fantastical and about the world of books…and has a talking cat 
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Ah yes, TSF or just TS, a very unfortunately named genre.
It originally comes from the word Trans Sexual Fiction (or Fantasy), but isn’t what you’d expect from the modern English usage of that term. The Japanese term for it is 性転換, and it basically it corresponds to Gender Bender in English, or sometimes TFTG (an acronym you probably shouldn’t look up if you don’t already know). Technically 女→男 is also in this genre, but the vast majority is 男→女. Some people say TSF is TS that’s 男→女 but I don’t think this definition is widely accepted.
A classic example of a mainstream TSF manga would be らんま1/2 1 | L24, though freely changing back and forth like this is quite uncommon. I’d say the defining feature is a character’s gender changing unexpectedly and then having to deal with that situation, so media that deals with a realistic desire to transition and slowly working towards that would not qualify as TS(F).
Also worth noting that with some exceptions like らんま1/2, this genre has not been well known in mainstream media until recently and some people might only know it as an エロ genre, if at all, so use with caution in normal conversations… 
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Coincidentally I was on Bookwalker desktop site earlier, and both BL & TL were at the top, 百合 nowhere to be found 
There seem to be a lot of those 笑
I don’t think I’ve come across any 女→男 titles. Any you’d recommend?
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Any recommendations? I’ve read a ton of Manga Time Kirara manga which are mostly of that sub-genre, but I’m always looking for more suggestions.
Since you seem to know this genre very well, any recommendations? I’ve only read a few of this specific genre, but I generally like any kind of gender bending or gender-nonconforming stories. I’d like to avoid overly ecchi manga and have a slight preference for recent-ish (last ~15 years), but generally open to anything.
For legit reasons like many earlier entries being ecchi or ero, or just because people are idiots and lump gender nonconformity with perversion?
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All examples I have read had some ecchi parts (including Ranma, for instance), for reasons I find somewhat legitimate (I think it’s normal to be curious about your own body and how it feels and/or freaked out by the situation; now does the author really need to show it [to various degree] is a different story).
Fun fact, searching for TSF on booklive returned a manga with 3 chapters free to read where the main character gets reincarnated in his favorite p 
rn game… as the main girl (so “he” wants to avoid all the events). It was mildly funny to see him comment on how the MC of the game is annoying and boring from his current point of view. Not buying it though.
I guess the current view is based on a self-perpetuating cycle (authors think of the genre that way, so that’s how they write those, and then people think of it that way).
Edit:
I’d love to have some recs as well.
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思春期ビターチェンジ 1 - here is a pair that changes bodies, so at least one half is 女→男. Disclaimer: I haven’t read it yet. Oops you read it already, and I probably wishlisted it after your review.
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That one has a wanikani book club. People seemed to either really like it or not get on with it at all – I’m in the “didn’t like it” group, which is why I gave it 2 stars. A bit hard to say why I didn’t like it in a non spoilery way, but it was one of those “the parts of the story the author wanted to write about weren’t the parts I wanted to read about” situations, like マリアビートル | L34 .
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Very interesting topic!
Let’s see:
In terms of genres, speaking very broadly, I tend to prefer 純文学 ,mystery, thriller, suspense, horror and avoid romance and historical novels. Fantasy and sci-fi I don’t tend to prefer, but I won’t actively avoid if other elements appeal to me.
In terms of feel, now, here are some elements I tend to love:
- a disorienting, unsettling atmosphere, a creeping sense of dread: this can be present even in mundane everyday stories. A constant vague threat that something is not quite right, that things are more than they seem.
- unreliable narrators: if done well, I love an unreliable narrator and their skewed account of what is going on. It goes hand in hand with the creeping dread feeling from above. A good unreliable narrator gets you to see things through their eyes. You get to like them and sympathize with them and take their side, then slowly you start noticing clues that maybe you shouldn’t trust them or their perceptions all that much. Chilling and disorienting.
- nature is a big plus, especially the mystery of it, the unknown dangers lurking. I have a special fondness for water, there’s something darkly magical about it.
- “weird”, messed-up characters, misfits. People out of sync with their surroundings. They’re always interesting and offer a fresh perspective. They can be unlikeable, I’m fine with that. I often prefer an unlikeable main character to a loveable one.
- anything different and fresh, which is where 純文学 comes in, and especially debuts because they tend to be bolder and more experimental than subsequent works. A fresh perspective, something I didn’t know I wanted. I’m open, surprise me.
- humour, especially when it’s subtle. Wry or dark humour is best.
What I tend to dislike:
- Fluff, cuteness, romance. They bore me. Sometimes if done well I can enjoy them for a bit, but I need angst. I need damage.
- Cheap tricks and cold logic in mysteries. I’m way less interested in the mechanics of the oh so clever murder than I am in the characters. A calculated murder mystery is basically a logic puzzle. I like logic puzzles a lot, but I don’t want to read about them for 300+ pages. That’s not what fiction is for.
- Historical settings. I don’t know why, but something about novels set in the distant past instantly makes me lose my interest. There are exceptions of course, but I prefer a present day setting any day.
- Too neat endings. Life is messy. I don’t need or even want everyone to be happy at the end. I don’t even need everything to be explained in the end. Open endings satisfy me, as long as they don’t feel like just an easy way out.
- Animal abuse. Sometimes I’ll tolerate it for the sake of a very good story, but I really wish people just tortured and hurt each other and left other animals alone. Also animal death in general, especially when done in a sentimental way. Which brings me to the next point:
- Tearjerkers. No thank you. I don’t want to feel sad or emotional when reading fiction. Try cheap tricks to make me cry and I’m out.
- Moralizing, and generally the feeling that the author is taking themselves and their work a little too seriously.
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おいしいごはんが食べられますように? 
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I am intrigued. Any recommendations?
Like, I shouldn’t add any more to my wishlist but this sounds like a fun genre to start reading
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love your list and especially these -
so much overlap in our lists must be why I just love your reading wrapups on your log 
and living vicariously through your lens of the genres I don’t touch
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Hmm, the problem with recommending books based on this is that the mere fact of mentioning that the narrator may be unreliable diminishes this effect of creeping suspicion and disorientation.
That said, after a quick look at my read books in Japanese, I’d say ハサミ男, むらさきのスカートの女 and 予言の島 fit the bill. Others too, probably (and not all may be classic unreliable narrators so much as maybe lying by omission?), but these may be the more classic examples. 家庭用安心坑夫 also features a very unreliable narrator and it’s no spoiler to say so, as the whole book is disorienting and makes you unsure what to believe. I only recommend it if you like descent into madness stories with no clear resolution.
PS. Oh yeah this too, but I didn’t like it: medium 霊媒探偵城塚翡翠
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By vast majority I really mean basically all of it. You could argue that 入れ替わりTS has 女→男 too, but it’s often not the focus. (思春期ビターチェンジ, as @mic mentioned, is one that tries to be more balanced but I also didn’t get too far into it.) In general it’s not something I search for regularly, but I have gone looking before, and not found much. I’ll put a few here but I wouldn’t qualify these as recommendations (I haven’t read past the preview for most), more just “proof that it exists.”
男の子になっちゃった女子高生
Does what it says on the tin. This is one of the only series I’ve found that’s unapologetically just “girl turns into guy”
ヒロインなのに、イケメンアイドル♂になりました!?
Female protagonist decides to become an idol after being inspired by a boy idol group, you’ll never guess what happens next
Ｒ．Ｇ．Ｏ！ ～女子高生、ＶＲＭＭＯで理想の魔法ジジイを目指します
ネト充のススメ
These are both a female protagonist using a male avatar in an MMORPG. I see this often tagged/described as ネナベ (another potentially loaded name for a genre) and I suspect there might be more 女→男 TS type content with this label as well.
Unfortunately I haven’t found anything too exciting in this genre recently (well, I haven’t been reading much at all lately to be honest). I get the impression you’re a fan of serious character drama takes on the idea, like オレが私になるまで or 放浪息子, but I haven’t seen many more like that. Apparently ぼくは麻理のなか 1 | L18 is like that to some extent, but it was a little too…creepy? For my taste.
On the opposite end of the spectrum it looks like you haven’t read 異世界美少女受肉おじさんと 1 | L26 , which is nothing but shenanigans and I thoroughly enjoyed (I actually switched to the anime after one volume as it was airing at the time)
@Naphthalene makes a good point about the inherent sexual aspect of it as a concept. There also just is a lot of TS ero out there, I’d say it’s relatively a more significant genre on something like DLSite than on mainstream media platforms. Also, this part is just speculation, but I think people could easily associate it with other transformation / body change related ero content, which can significantly affect their impression of it
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