Japanese men mastering the art of makeup and photo-manipulation to pose as girls seems to be a current trend in the land of the rising sun these days…

Puutan, whose real name is reportedly “Tatsuya”, is a Japanese 18-year-old boy who has been posing as a schoolgirl online and messing with people’s minds. You see, looking at Puutan’s Instagram profile, it’s virtually impossible to tell that he is a man. He genuinely looks like an Asian schoolgirl, and no matter how much you squint at the photos, you’re not going to spot any clues of his real gender. But click on his YouTube link and you’ll be shocked to find another person entirely. He still has girly clothes on as well as long hair , but you can sort of tell that he’s just a guy in drag.

Photo: Puutan/Twitter

Just like cosplay queen Rei Dunois, Puutan has been getting a lot of attention on the internet for his believable girly cosplay. He currently has over 27,000 followers on YouTube, and 23,000 fans on Instagram, and he’s only been posting online for about a month or so… Give him a few more months and he’ll probably hit the 100k mark on both platforms.

So what attracts people to a young man posing as a schoolgirl? Well, to be honest, his Instagram pics are shockingly realistic, by which I mean he really looks like a girl. But that’s mostly because of digital editing, as despite his mastery of makeup, he looks a lot manlier in his YouTube clips. So that maybe one reason why people follow him on Instagram.

As for YouTube, well, he sometimes posts makeup and hairstyle tutorials, as well as content that some people may consider cute, so maybe that’s his secret.

One thing is for sure, photos of Puutan in his girl form have been doing the round on Asian social media for a couple of weeks now, leaving people with their mouths open when they read about his gender.

Men posing as schoolgirls is apparently a thing in Japan, as this is the third such character we’ve featured this year alone, after Rei Dunois and Takuma Tani. And 2020 is far from over…