Well, I guess if people actually read my sorry attempt at blogging anime and manga, they would be thinking that. I know I've been wondering the same thing since I'm advertising anime and manga. Sadly, anime is so much easier to blog (in my pathetically half-baked opinion), but that's probably just an excuse.
But hey, the wait is over. Here before your very eyes (or really just my own eyes) is the very first shoujo manga review/post at anicabyss!
Well, it's really nothing to be proud of, but you get the excitement, right? No? Okay, that's fine too. But aside from this one, I will be presenting a few other thoughts and "reviews" over manga and some other anime. But not all at once. Sort of a way to make up for my undeserved absence in the past two weeks. After school started and I finished watching Hatenkou Yugi, I found no motivation to continue writing posts since I couldn't think of much to mention, but here I am back again.
*****
Creator: Takada RieGenre: comedy, romance, school life, shoujo, sports
Volumes/Chapters: 5 volumes
Anyway, as far as shoujo manga goes, all typical couples have the same characteristics (from what I've been able to decipher). A tall, cool, handsome, very, very awesome and smart boyfriend who is only suitable with the cute, shorter, very pretty, and crazy-in-some-way, academically not so smart girlfriend. So maybe some of those traits aren't exactly the correct assumptions, but you get the gist.
Before I continue on, I wanted to mention something quite significant. I'm not a fan of shoujo manga female protagonists even though I love reading this genre for all the sweet and fun romances. It's like watching short romantic comedies in black and white.
Secondly, Ozora Hanabi is one of my most favorite shoujo manga heroine ever created. You thought I loved Hana-Kimi, but I don't love Ashiya Mizuki half as much as I do Ozora Hanabi. You thought I was a big fan of Nakahara Aya's manga, but even her shoujo manga heroine don't stand a chance against the "holy terror" that is Ozora Hanabi. I absolutely love this girl. I can't say that I harbor the same affection for her boyfriend, but he's good looking and cool, and he completes her perfectly. They have a crazy sweet and awe-inspiring relationship and it's great. So I've no complaints about him.
To be honest, to this day, I don't know if I've found a cute and lovey-dovey couple in which I also liked the male counterpart as much as I like the female half or vice versa. Maybe Li Shaoran and Kinomoto Sakura I like equally, but it's not a definite because they're relationship was never elaborated on. But when it comes to couples, there's always something about one of the two I don't like and could care less about if he or she weren't paired with the other.
But this is information for another post another day.
This post is a review, or more like personal opinions and thoughts, about H3 School by Takada Rie.
As a brief summary, Ozora Hanabi is like the pimp/protector of all the girls of her all girls high school and finds herself joining the student council when her school merges with the Meibi High all boys school. On the very first day after the merging, Hanabi meets with Garaku Yasuaki and immediately gets off on the wrong foot with him despite finding him absolutely attractive. We later learn, however, that the only reason Yasuaki treated Hanabi so coldly was because he has a horrifying fear of girls and cannot speak or act whenever he's around them. And thus, while falling in love with him, Hanabi is dead set on helping him cure his fear of girls.
Basically, the story is quite simple and straight forward. It's nonlinear and so you don't really think about it following one big plot through to the end. What we see is a series of different events and plot devices surrounding the relationship of Hanabi and Yasuaki as they date and go through their years in high school. Though without any ultimate destination and seeming like it could go on forever, the story still manages to wrap up quite nicely and contains very endearing stories within each chapter. Some of the plot devices, I will admit, are rather tacky. But in the end, the whole of the series is definitely that of a "Must Read" manga shoujo romance story.
Most importantly, Hanabi and Yasuaki prove to be a very cute shoujo manga couple. Throughout the entire manga, you can feel the goosebumps raising as the two interact with each other. Hanabi will always do crazy things that tend to end up being very adorable, and Yasuaki may seem cold but will say things that are so sweet you feel like shivering.
The only other characters we encounter in H3 school are Kuon Yoshitomo and Aido Tokihisa -- the only two regulars to the entire storyline. They are both part of the student council as well, Kuon being the president and Tokihisa simply self-proclaiming himself as Yasuaki's rival. Enter Suno Takeru who is Hanabi's childhood friend; he is not only vieing for Hanabi's affection, but also claims to be the closest to her because he "practically raised her" as he taught her how to become tougher and to stop crying all the time.
This attempt at including a third-party as an accessory to the main couple relationship was a rather half-assed attempt since it didn't seem to cause much friction between Yasu and Hanabi. After all, it seems that when the two got together, they were settled and nothing could really come between them. In the end, Hanabi chose Yasuaki and as the readers, we already knew that would be the conclusion. This is a good-natured, light-hearted comedy romance after all; separating the two because of something as stupid as jealousy over a childhood friend would be too harsh on the fans.
This is the first time that I read through a manga series that hadn't already had prior hype and advertisement about it's greatness. In fact, I don't think very many people aside from the fans who scanlated Takada Rie's work or who like a good reverse harem story actually give much credit to how delightful this manga series is. Unlike Ouran High School Host Club or Lovely Complex, H3 has yet to hit the screen as an anime adaptation, and is rarely mentioned in topics about good shoujo romance manga.
Of course, I'm sure if mentioned, many would agree that H3 School is definitely a good read.
After all, who can resist the sexiness of the very Ozora Hanabi... right? She's cute, she crazy, she's pretty, and she's excellently created by Takada-sensei. Hanabi, I will claim, single-handedly runs the entire H3 show. Without her, I wouldn't have had as much fun reading the series.
In terms of artwork, as I've stated before -- somewhere not here, I think -- I'm not a good judge of what is good artwork and what isn't. But I know what I like and I like what stands out as pretty and smooth to me. Takada Rie's work is nice and not too crowded. Her character designs are a little on the wild side and so her female protagonists always seem to have some sort of crazy streak to them. The male protagonists always seem so calm and quiet.
Then again, a lot of shoujo manga out there are about the same when it comes to the combination of male/female protagonists.
H3 School did good in portraying Hanabi's wild side both in image and action as well as in her dialogue. The moment that she admitted to Yasuaki that she was a "holy terror" I found myself nodding in agreement and chuckling at how honest this girl was and how well she knew herself. When she "played" the piano to appease Yasuaki's father, I laughed out loud because even thought this is manga, I could just hear the "BAM!" of the piano keys reverberating through the hall. So wonderful.
Simply stated, there are just too many memorable moments in this series that I don't know how many I can mention without continuing longer than is necessary. From Hanabi's craziness to Yasuaki's sweet and coolness, and even Tokihisa's idiocy and Kuon's... creepy "hell if you're miserable" character... I love it all!
Anyway, H3 school... Good manga, good story, good romance. I like it a lot and I would recommend it to anyone. I'm glad that I decided not to pass up this one and move onto other things.
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