Seiho Boys High School! Volume 6

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By Kaneyoshi Izumi. Released in Japan as “Men’s Kou” by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Bessatsu Comic (“Betsucomi”). Released in North America by Viz.

I did enjoy this volume of Seiho, though I am starting to get the feeling that the author had 4 volumes of plot that she has now been asked to make into 8 volumes. As a result, a lot of things that I thought might get resolved seem to be dragging, and we have a piece of what is very obviously goofy filler. But it’s still fun.

The first two chapters deal once more with Nogami and Fukuhara, who had the distinction of being the first couple to get together in the series, and thus have not gotten as much attention lately. I will hand it to the author: while she continues to have the school nurse dating the 16-year-old student, she doesn’t shy away from the obvious issues that this presents, noting that they have to continue to hide their relationship, and that Miss Fukuhara still feels very awkward about having feelings for someone so young. Nogami doesn’t have that issue, but his is just as bad – he continues to shoot off his big mouth without actually thinking things through. He knows he loves her, but can’t explain why, which is fine – that’s part of what love is, as the climax to this 2-chapter arc shows – but he’s also unobservant, not noticing all the little things that his girlfriend has been doing to her appearance, many of them for his sake. Hint to Nogami from one who knows: in general, obliviousness is not cute.

Oh yes, we also get a lot of jokes in these chapters about the guys cross-dressing, and how things that always seem hot and sexy to girls in shoujo manga don’t always work out that way in real life. The un-bishonenness of the guys in drag is brought up over and over again (which is beautifully contrasted with the art, as this *is* a shoujo manga and the cast *are* bishonens, albeit manly ones).

The third chapter is the aforementioned filler, involving a box of porn making its way from room to room in order to avoid the prying eyes of a dorm inspection. Aside from the images of the porn itself, which were quite funny (and dead on), the highlight here is seeing Maki trying to fantasize about Erika, only to have all his fantasies turn into wrestling matches (and no, not in a sexy way either).

Speaking of Erika, she and Maki are once again the focus of the final chapter. Being a Maki chapter, it’s a lot more serious than the others. Of note, the other Erika doesn’t even get a mention in the chapter (she was briefly mentioned in the one before, where he noted he was starting to move on). Instead, we see the classic teenage boy situation of finding out that you are the only virgin in your close circle of friends. Nogami has already mentioned his prior sexual experience, and we already know about Kamiki and his step-sister. So Maki is starting to feel a bit left behind, especially after making out with Erika on her campus and getting caught by the head nun… who gives them condoms. In the end, the issues are the same as most of the Maki/Erika chapters to date: his tendency to put up false fronts, her loss of control which she covers up with anger. They don’t have sex, but they work things out. It looks as if Erika may be bringing a couple more issues, though, as there’s a one-line cliffhanger teaser.

The author notes that she keeps getting asked if this is a shoujo manga, most likely as it doesn’t star a female and doesn’t have much BL. It’s fairly obvious to me that it is, mostly from the art. Speaking of which, I like the way that Izumi draws faces, particularly when they’re amused or snickering – she has a sort of fish-mouth shorthand that makes the characters far less pretty but far funnier. I will note one piece of awkward art towards the end – when Maki is confessing to Erika on a set of stairs, the art makes him look like a hunchback, and made me wonder briefly who the heck he was supposed to be. Please try to keep your proportions!

But overall this is a very underrated series, which has some sweet relationships and, despite the author’s fretting, shows that you can write shoujo starring a bunch of guys at an all-boys’ school.

Strawberry Panic: The Complete Novel Collection

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By Sakurako Kimino, art by Takuminamuchi. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

It’s very hard to write a parody, especially one such as we see in these three books. You have to make sure to show your audience that this is not meant to be taken seriously, while at the same time keep them involved enough that they keep reading. And, of course, you risk people taking your work at face value, and not seeing the fact that you’re not being serious. This is definitely the case with Strawberry Panic, which yuri fans latched on to in 2006 and didn’t let go for some time. The anime, like the light novels, did not take itself seriously. However, unlike the anime, it’s easy to tell that in the novels from the start. (For those who have seen the anime and feel they don’t need to read the novels, note that after Book 1 the series heads in a different direction, and some characters – Kaname in particular – are totally different.)

The prose in this collection is worth your money all by itself. Not only do we have the overwrought emotional dialogue you would expect in a book such as this, but every single sound effect seems to be written out. Tap tap tap… ding dong… swssshhh… squeeeeeze. There’s also inner monologues fraught with teenage emotion, telling us all how conflicted and tormented everyone is. And of course there are numerous over the top plot complications that everyone has to gasp at in shock. These are well-handled, though, and the book reads very easily – they are light novels, so they’re meant to be read fast.

The basic premise is that you have three interconnected girls’ high schools on a common campus. Each of the schools is elite and prestigious in its own way, and each one comes with the following: a new transfer student to be innocent and not actually know how anything works; a best friend who is there to explain the plot; and an older girl idolized by the school. The series seems to have ended prematurely, so we never need to worry about the adventures in Lulim. The other two schools, Miator and Spica, each have their own interconnected romances and relationships, all between “pure young girls”. This is an entire genre of novels in Japan, made most famous recently by Maria-sama Ga Miteru, but the resonance will also work for the Western fan – many stock romances of the “Had I But Known” school use similar plot devices.

This particular series is not afraid to turn on the sex appeal (and for “sex appeal” read “creepy pandering”), as it’s not written for girls at all. It’s released by ASCII Mediaworks, home of Dengeki Daioh, and is clearly meant for young men who always wanted to read about hot lesbian relationships in a Catholic Girl’s School. There’s nothing explicit here, despite the suggestive artwork – the closest we get are some fantasies by one of the girls (who is referred to as “the only real lesbian in the school”) – but the whole thing as a certain sordid air about it, with one of the leads openly leering after other girls in the baths, and the aforementioned lesbian groping her best friend in a swimming pool at midnight while assuring her it’s because they’re best friends.

The characters are all various stock types, but they’re well-written enough that you get invested in them, while remaining cliches. This is important, as I noted above. Not only are you laughing and/or groaning at the increasingly traumatic adventures of Nagisa and Hikari, but you also sympathize and want them to pull through. My favorite characters in the series are the three student council presidents, all of whom are described many, many times in the books as clever, cunning, scheming, etc. and none of whom accomplish a single damn thing. By the middle of the third book I was laughing hysterically as three different cunning schemes all dissolved in the space of about one minute in a single closed-door meeting. And yet by the end, after the incredibly bad week that Shion, the president of Spica, has had I was almost crying right along with her when everything actually turned out OK at the end.

Also, there are helicopters. Plural.

To sum up, this is an extremely fun, lightweight series that I recommend to anyone who is not in danger of taking it too seriously. If you think you may be, go to page 351 and read just that. If you cup your head in your hands and go “Dear Lord”, you should greatly enjoy this book. If instead you smile brightly and think “Wow, so cool!”, you will *also* enjoy this book, but will probably be quite angry with me for making fun of these girls and their true loves 4-evah.

Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens Volume 1

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By Eri Takenashi. Released in Japan by Ichijinsha, serialization ongoing (but on hiatus) in the magazine Comic REX. Released in North America by Bandai.

I will admit, I did not get this manga for the plot or characters, so in that respect it’s my own damn fault. I got it because I’d heard of its reputation. This is, among fandom here in the West, the first modern series that made people think “Wow, Japanese otaku are insane.” (Note that this behavior has been quite consistent in the past, but the media coverage for the Kannagi incident was such that it was like seeing it again for the first time.) To be brief, the main character in the Kannagi manga/anime noted that she had a boyfriend before she met the hero, and fans freaked out, declaring that she was “second-hand goods” and a “slut”. Leaving aside the sheer sexism of this, it was the over the top silliness that made it newsworthy, with the fans burning their manga in protest. (However, given these fans, I suspect they only burned one of the 3 copies they bought.) There was quite a furor in Japan, and in fact the author went on leave due to health reasons and has not returned.

So I wanted to get it to see if there was anything to make a fuss over, or if this is a classic case of making something out of nothing. Sadly, it turns out to be the latter here, as judging by Volume 1, at least, Kannagi is a very predictable title, a sort of Oh My Goddess for the moe crowd. The basic premise is that our “ordinary yet likeable” boy, Jin, has recently carved a statue of a goddess from the remains of a sacred tree that was cut down as they’re consolidating shrines in the area. It’s part of a school project, but complications ensue when a teenage girl breaks out of his statue and turns out to be the deity of the tree, Nagi. She’s a little upset about the tree being gone, as you can imagine, and with Jin’s help starts going around getting rid of the “impurities” that have risen up as a result.

I mentioned that it’s similar to Oh My Goddess, which is true, but there’s also a great deal of the visual novel/datesim quality to all of this. The color page in the front of the manga, in fact, is done up exactly as a datesim (except you actually see Jin’s face, instead of a blank where you can put your own), as he sees Nagi and his childhood friend Tsugumi posing cutely at him. The actual plot, thankfully, is less romance oriented so far. We see Jin’s school, which Nagi quickly transfers into, and meet the members of the Art Club he’s in, who don’t really get much to do this first volume except be goofy minor characters.

Honestly, very little happens at all. There’s a bit of plot in the final chapter, where we meet a rival goddess who is also gathering believers and purifying, and there seems to be an underlying threat of Nagi fading away if she is forgotten (which, ironically, may become true in the REAL world if the manga never restarts in Japan). But overall, this feels so insubstantial that it’s like reading nothing at all. Like many harem protagonists, Jin is not allowed to have any interesting personality traits. Nagi pinwheels back and forth between haughty, cute, and peaceful, so much so that it’s actually lampshaded, as she pretends to have a multiple personality for a while.

I understand that things get more interesting later on, but based on the first volume of this series, I can’t see it appealing to a casual reader. As for fans of harem datesim-type manga, Kannagi should satisfy your desires.