high school pageant top

Beauty pageants for boys dressed up as girls are kind of a thing in Japan now. Whether you think they’re awesome or kind of confusing, you can’t help but admit that the entrants usually manage to pull off the cute girl look surprisingly well.

This month marks the annual Miss Komaba High School Pageant, a contest that has been going on for several years now and which invites young men to dress like their female peers . Last year’s contestants were pretty good, but can this year’s pretty boys give them a run for their money? Let’s find out!

Komaba High School is an all-boys school in Tokyo, which perhaps helps explain why every year for the past several years in late October/early November they’ve held a contest to have the “prettiest” boys dress up as girls and be voted on in a pageant.

When you think about it, it either makes complete sense or zero sense at all, but either way here’s a look at some of the previous years’ winners:

▼ The winner from 2012, with the potent ugly-sweater-plus-bowler-hat combo.

https://twitter.com/KURAO72/status/265484872267735041

▼ And last year’s winner. That smile tho.

That’s some pretty stiff competition. Do this year’s contestants have what it takes to run with the best? Let’s take a look and see:

▼ Here’s the youngest entrant, 9th grader Yukina Shimizu.

https://twitter.com/ms_tsukukoma/status/655724616724250624

▼ And here’s 10th grader Mahiro Hayashibara.

https://twitter.com/ms_tsukukoma/status/656062315326910464

▼ And another picture of Mahiro-chan being all like, “hey… what are you looking at?”

https://twitter.com/ms_tsukukoma/status/659112500940689408

▼ Here’s 11th grader Aoi Nakano. Aoi-chan, you’re looking a little, uh, defensive. Let’s relax a bit.

https://twitter.com/ms_tsukukoma/status/656474947615768576

▼ Ah, much better. Oh, why yes, I would like some tea, thank you.

https://twitter.com/ms_tsukukoma/status/658387603016781824

▼ Here’s 12th grader Shiori Kondo.

https://twitter.com/ms_tsukukoma/status/656973043823083520

▼ “What? Pfft, no way. It’s not like I was waiting here for you or anything….”

https://twitter.com/ms_tsukukoma/status/658750152044318720

▼ Here’s 11th grader Yuko Yoshimura.

https://twitter.com/ms_tsukukoma/status/657196788579889152

▼ Yuko-chan… too bright… like an angel….

https://twitter.com/ms_tsukukoma/status/658194599161126913

▼ And finally we have 11th grader Kotoha Fujiyama, who was the winner of the contest for the past two years (the two pictures at the top are of the same person). He’s going for three in a row, but will the competition prove too strong this year?

https://twitter.com/ms_tsukukoma/status/657550206938968064

Unfortunately it seems that you actually have to go to the school in order to vote in the pageant, but hey, they still can’t stop us from picking a favorite! I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty partial to the distant and mysterious Shiori. That said, Yuko’s girl-game is pretty fierce. And then there’s the sassy-looking Mahiro… bah! I can’t choose.

Let us know who you’d vote for and we can all feel confused-yet-oddly-excited together!

Source: Twitter/@ms_tsukukoma via My Game News Flash
Images: Twitter/@ms_tsukukoma (1, 2, 3, 4) (Edited by RocketNews24)