By Izumi Tsubaki. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Viz.

One problem with licensing manga in North America is that when you see a series that gets insanely popular, the gut reaction is to go back and find earlier works by the author. And this can often lead to disappointment, as you realize that the series you love was the point where the author really took off, and the work they did before just doesn’t quite measure up. Fruits Basket is an excellent example, as it’s Tokyopop’s biggest hit, but Tsubasa: Those With Wings and Phantom Dream did not have nearly the same sales, because, well, they weren’t as good. But with Oresama Teacher, we’ve already gotten the early series out of the way. The Magic Touch came out here first, and even though it had only one fan (me), it still made it through nine volumes. And now we see the successor, Oresama Teacher, which is, in most ways, a better series overall.

This isn’t to say the manga is perfect. The fact that you need TWO cast sheets is a big clue that there are simply too many people in this manga, and it requires referring back and forth sometimes to remember who the more minor characters are. Indeed, one of the cadre of ‘bad guys’ laments the fact that she’s bored, and wonders when she’ll be able to have a role in this series. Every time we return to Mafuyu’s old school (including in this volume), things seem to drag a little more. And for readers of Shojo Beat, it might be a little odd seeing a series like this, filled with gang wars, goofy comedy, and a complete lack of romantic hijinks. But to me that’s what makes it better. Let’s face it, if Hakusensha had a shonen magazine, this series would be in it. But it doesn’t, it has Hana to Yume.

And so when we see our heroes going off to rescue Kanon, they do so by kicking as much ass as possible. In fact, part of the thrill of these first two chapters is seeing just how intelligent everyone is in regards to fighting, particularly Mafuyu. She’s good at being a gang leader for many reasons. She’s strong, and has endurance. She plans ahead, or at least tries to. And the guys who make up run of the mill henchmen help her by being idiots. Seeing her use one as a ventriloquist dummy, or making a deal so that they won’t open the door for 30 seconds when she’s running from them… it’s hilarious, but also showcases that she’s not merely the main character because it’s a shoujo manga.

The other thing I loved about Kanon’s rescue arc was that it showed that the whole “boys bully the girl they like” attitude that elementary schoolkids are supposed to have is simply pure bullying, full stop. And that, while you can’t change the past, you can try to move past your actions. Kento’s plan was quite stupid, but it does end up leading him to what he needs to do: he needs to apologize to Kanon for everything he did back then. It’s his realization o this that’s the climax of this arc, and I am relieved that, while accepting his apology, Kanon continues to not give two shits about him.

The other plot point that’s come up over and over again is Mafuyu’s memory loss, and we see a chapter devoted to that in this volume. Since it’s clear she can remember things when prompted (even if she doesn’t want to, as they’re always humiliating to her high school self), it would appear that there’s some major event in her past that caused her to repress everything involving Takaomi – and that he is not ready to tell her what that is. Indeed, it’s not even clear if he knows what that is – he’s been surprised once or twice at her lack of memory. It can be a bit discomfiting seeing that she and Takaomi are still the closest thing to a potential couple in this manga – indeed, we see scenes here of their childhood selves play-acting a rather disturbing family – especially given that Takaomi has to a certain extent raised Mafuyu to be the badass she is today. Still, would not be the first older man/younger woman shoujo manga ending if it does happen.

We seem to be gearing up for a new arc here, as Mafuyu and company are going on a class trip that I suspect will take all of Vol. 15 and more. But I don’t know if I’m all that invested in the major plot points behind Oresama Teacher, even as I go on about them in my review. This is a fun title with badass characters and a tendency towards hilarity. Movement of the plot is simply gravy at this point.

By Izumi Tsubaki. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Viz.

It’s the rare manga that can make me laugh when I open the front cover and look at the title page, but that’s what Oresama Teacher does here. Shinobu not only lampshades one of the more obvious faults of this series (a lack of other female characters), he also suggests Mafuyu is trying to create a “reverse harem”. Though there are a few guys here that are falling for her, I’d argue that he’s incorrect. This isn’t a reverse harem as this series is simply not focused on romance – mostly as the leads are too dense to understand what they’re feeling. How can you recognize love if simple friendship is beyond you?

Likewise, the first chapter of this volume is simply top comedy, as we meet yet another cast member with no common sense. Shinobu is simply a flake, albeit a skilled one, and therefore matches up well with “Super Bun”, who gets trotted out here again to my delight. It’s interesting to note that Shinobu flat out worships the series’ main villain, Miyabi. In fact, it almost borders on BL, without ever quite going there (just in case both are needed later to have feelings for Mafuyu). The fight itself, meanwhile, shows how clever Mafouyu can be when she’s strategic – thinking on her feet about how best to defeat a ninja and even using some pseudo-ninja techniques.

The rest of the volume is not nearly as funny, but that’s not a bad thing – we’re finally getting a pile of plot and backstory that has been hidden from us. Shinobu ends up joining the Public Morals Squad (as the world’s most obvious mole), and the three club members start to analyze exactly why the bet the school principal has with Saeki is so weird – why does the administration WANT delinquency in the school? Mafuyu thinks that she now has enough that she can get Saeki to tell her the rest, but he proves surprisingly cold, pushing her away by pushing on one of her biggest buttons – the “I want to stop being a delinquent” button. But is that really what she wants?

Having also been abandoned by Hayasaka (whose reasons are far more teenage boy-oriented than Saeki’s), we then get a wonderful scene of her opening up to the other girls in the class, and trying to be friends with them. It’s wonderful not only because her desperation and tomboyishness is amusing, but also because the other girls in class genuinely seem to like her, even if they find her incredibly strange. You could argue this is because they’ve never seen her fighting, but it’s rather nice, and makes me hope that one day we will see more female presence in this manga. It’s not going to be today, though – after defending Hayasaka, who still has his horrible reputation, Mafuyu runs off, realizing that hanging out with the other guys is where she wants to be.

Then there’s Saeki. If you recall, he’s the title character (though France actually changed the title to “Girl Fight”, putting the emphasis more on Mafuyu). His reasons for pushing Mafuyu away are entirely predictable, but this doesn’t make them poorly written, and the scenes with his grandfather are both touching and intriguing. A telling point comes towards the start of the book, when Mafuyu is running off to fight Shinobu, and Saeki asks her why she fights. Note that she doesn’t give a typical manga reason like “to defend the weak” or “to battle injustice”. She fights because she was challenged, and that’s it. She is Saeki’s reminder of what he once was, and that’s why he tries to get rid of her. Of course, she’s made of sterner stuff, which he knows but would rather not admit.

We end on a cliffhanger, with Saeki starting to tell Mafuyu the real reason for the bet, and what the bet actually involves. It’s going to be a long wait till the next volume, but when it comes I’m willing to bet there will be lots of fights, stupidity, and shoujo cliches. Just the way I like it.

By Izumi Tsubaki. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Viz.

In the last volume of Oresama Techer, it was non-stop wall-to-wall delinquency. Here we get a change of pace, and we see a few chapters of Mafuyu managing to deal with life as herself. Although, being who she is, delinquency is never all that far away…

The cliffhanger kiss from last volume is rightly tossed away quickly. Despite a bit of tease, this is not particularly a romance manga. Instead, we start off with our two leads showing us once again that they completely fail at anything resembling normal in their life. Mafuyu’s idea of beach couple fun is straight out of shoujo manga (old-school shoujo, not the modern HtY-style), and Takaomi is far more interested in working off steam and starting fights. He’s always been menacing in a comedic way in the prior volumes, now we get another glimpse of the sort of beast lurking within – Mafuyu is awestruck, and she should be.

Takaomi actually gets a bit of backstory here, though its presentation is fairly elliptical. Given the author’s style, both here and in The Magic Touch, her previous series, I’d say it’s 50-50 whether the subtlety is deliberate or accidental. Tsubaki-san is fantastic at basic gag comedy – even more here than in her prior series – and her pacing has improved monumentally. But plotting is still a weakness, and it’s noticeable even in this volume, which is a collection of ‘breather’ anecdotes. No one is reading this series to discover Takaomi’s past, or to see which guy Mafuyu will hook up with. (Contrast this with The Wallflower, another gag manga, where people *are* reading it for the romance – and thus are far more annoyed.)

Still, you can get away with this as long as the book is funny. And it’s funny. I read this while I was depressed over having no power this week, and it managed to buoy me right up. There’s facial expression comedy – the entire sequence with the ninja boy, and the contrast between his stolid expression and his actions, capped by Mafuyu and Takaomi’s stares. There’s character-based comedy – the entire sequence with the rich girl and her butler, typing in with Takaomi’s past and featuring him being both brutal (he carries the heiress around like a sack, as he’s used to doing with Mafuyu) and touching (his yelling at the butler to step up and not be satisfied with what little he has). And there’s the purely random “what the hell” style Osaka comedy (the entire sequence with the flower arranging club, or Sakurada imagining Mafuyu revealing that she’s really an alpaca wearing a human skin).

This volume was not as strong as previous ones – the extended 4-koma series at the end reeked of filler – but it’s still great fun. And now that Hayasaka has managed to tick off another villain with his sheer denseness, I expect things to get even worse for the public morals committee. Perhaps we may even need to see the return in Volume 6 of… SUPER BUN!