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Reviewed by Michael Aronson “High School Girls in Okinawa! What awaits them in the land of exotica, Japan’s southernmost prefecture filled with mysteries old and new? Is it romance? Forbidden love? Adventure?” I still find High School Girls utterly baffling in terms of targeting an audience. Surely male readers will appreciate all the fan service sexy poses and brief nudity, but are they also supposed to appreciate feminine topics like underwear-shaped pads and arm-hair removal? I have to conclude from the mature rating alone that this is indeed intended for male readers – it’s essentially shojo for boys, for whatever that’s worth. The way immature way in which certain themes are handled also suggests a male audience. The two girls on the cover, the “Takarazuka pair,” act excessively intimate with each other, leading the other girls to suspect they’re really an item. Kouda often rips off her clothes spontaneously and plasters her body with various unusual objects. When Eriko is reluctant to use a tampon, Kouda aggressively tries to, ahem, help her insert it. It’s all hardly very subtle or unambiguous. But at the same time, despite the shameless subject matter, it really is a fun book about nothing in particular. The girls get themselves into all types of awkward and absurd situations, resolving to deal with them despite the odds. The jokes might be sexual and exploitative of the characters, but there’s barely a reason to take the characters seriously to begin with. They exist for the sake of hijinx and sexual humor, and to this degree the author utilizes them well. High School Girls features oddball, low-brow humor guaranteed to make any reader cringe. It’s pretty good at what it does, but what it does only appeals to a very limited audience. A 13-year-old male manga fanatic might find everything he could hope for in a humor series. Anyone else, however . . . Interested in writing for MangaLife? We're always looking for talented reviewers and columnists, so drop us a line! Charles Webb Editor-in-Chief, MangaLife.com |
1 September 2010
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