Kawahara Kazune - High School Debut, vol. 02-05 (Eng. trans.)

[oyceter]

Some of these are rereads that I never kept track of or logged, and it's been a few years, so I have forgotten everything that has happened.

Lately I have been so overwhelmed by school that I feel like I barely have time to breathe. Thankfully, this series is a great antidote to that; I spent time I probably shouldn't have blazing through these four volumes and scaring everyone in the cafe by giggling hysterically.

Possibly some of my reaction is due to stress, but much of it can be credited to the manga, which does a wonderful job of being a high school shoujo manga while poking at all its tropes at the same time. My very favorite part so far is that even though Haruna and Yoh slightly resemble your standard shoujo pairing of genki, irrepressibly upbeat heroine and taciturn, gruff hero, Haruna is the one who lacks any semblence of EQ and Yoh is the one who can be counted on to accurately read emotional undercurrent and act on them. It's refreshing having the hero be the expert at emotions while the heroine is busy attempting to beat people up, protect her boyfriend, or try way too hard at everything.

The art is also wonderful; I love Kawahara's portrayals of Haruna's assorted expressions of surprise. It's particularly great because like Yoh says, everything Haruna thinks and feels is immediately revealed on her face, and you can totally tell from the art.

Still, sometimes Kawahara gets carried away and bends characterization for plot, although usually it's the side characters and not Yoh and Haruna (ex. Asaoka in v. 5, Asami in v. 2). It feels as though she's trying to create the usual high school shoujo tension via misunderstanding and secrets, but because her main characters get along too well, she has to resort to using the secondary characters. Even so, the misunderstandings aren't the interesting part of the plot, which hopefully Kawahara will figure out soon. The best part is watching Yoh and Haruna figure out what it means to be dating each other, as Haruna has zero experience and Yoh's experience has in no way prepared him for dating Haruna.

Spoilery stuff I liked

- Haruna's multiple protests of wanting to protect Yoh, including giving him her coat!
- Haruna trying and failing miserably at keeping the fact that she likes Yoh from Yoh
- Haruna, re: being bullied: "But... I won!" Yoh: "!!"
- Asami's complete self-centered-ness, at least after the stealing Fumi thing, which felt contrived.
- Yoh's friends teasing him and Yoh blushing
- Yoh actually being able to figure out Haruna's not talking to him after they kiss, instead of having a Big Misunderstanding
- Haruna's softball rival! Hee! "You might like her. She has more muscles than me."

Now I must go back to the bookstore, because I accidentally bought v. 5 twice instead of getting v. 6. Want my fix now!

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I will always maintain that, in those years of massive shoujo reading, Haruna started acting like the heroes. It is the only explanation!

Thankfully, Yoh doesn't mind having a nutters girlfriend much.

[oyceter]

Haha! I agree! I love her sparkly eyes when she is, "I will protect you, Yoh!" And he's just like, "... Okay, cool."

[larryhammer]

"Sometimes I feel like I have a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend."

---L.

[larryhammer]

I emit little ♥s when I start talking about High School Debut. One of the best examples of skewering while simultaneously upholding the conventions of a genre out there -- even better than Ouran, which tries too hard to have and eat the cake.

The first time I got to "But ... I won!" I fell out of my chair laughing ♥

There is, alas, more bobbling of side characters later on, specifically when Yoh starts attending cram school to prepare for college entrance exams. Fortunately, the final volume and a half focuses strongly on the central relationship (as does the sequel short story ♥).

---L♥

[oyceter]

I think I reread the "But... I won!" part three times in the cafe and freaked people out by giggling so much. But it is so awesome! And Haruna is so proud of herself!

Re: side characters, sigh. Although I am glad the focus is still on Yoh and Haruna in the end.

oh, happy!

[(Anonymous)]

I'm so glad to see I'm not the only person who loves this manga. I've only read the first couple volumes, but I'm anxiously awaiting bunches more in a shipment from RightStuf. I'm thankful that I've discovered this manga so close to the end of Fruits Basket - I try to only regularly by two or three titles at a time, because more than that tends to put a strain on my budget.

Re: oh, happy!

[oyceter]

I love it lots! I am only sad that it comes out so slowly =(.

(btw, do you mind signing comments? I just like knowing when I am having a conversation with someone, and it is hard to keep track when ppl are anonymous.)

[marfisa.livejournal.com]

"But... I won!" Or, when mean girls collide with tomboys who have no problem pushing back when others try to push them around.

[oyceter]

I love that part so much! I think I reread it about three times in the cafe and scared people by giggling so much.