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Reviewed by David Rasmussen TOKYOPOP has had some trouble lately, but Viz is also certainly showing evidence of having gained an upper hand in the titles it's getting for itself these days... case in point: TOKYO Boys & Girls. It looks like all that praying did Mimori Kosaka some good as she finds herself accepted into the Meidai Attached High School. She's quite excited about getting there, and is looking forward to a fun Freshman year. Then reality sets in, and she soon finds herself doomed. First she ends up stuck as class rep, again, which wasn't on her priority list this year. Then, through a set of circumstances beyond her control due to her duties as class rep and just because, she finds herself suddenly on the radar of three boys and her teachers for a variety of reasons! One boy seems to have a history of bad blood with her from elementary school (apparently suffering from accute Snapeism, the inability to forget childhood bullying). Though it seems while Mimori wasn't responsible for said bullying, she also wasn't exactly standing up for him either… hence the beginnings of his problem with her (though I am certain it'll go a bit deeper than just that). Then there's the guy whose beta video game program she accidentally becomes responsible for destroying through an accidental collision, and said game disk's immersion into nail polish remover (removes both nail polish AND computer programming, it seems). And then there's Bachelor #3 and… well, you'll see for yourself. Dammit though, why couldn't she have a possible romance with her first female friend of the title?! Why, dammit, why?! Add to her problems a shopaholic, pours-yen-out-like-water mother, a father with job-related woes who's often on forced leave or taking paycuts from work, and then halfway through the first volume, our heroine goes and gets a part-time job to earn extra money (which comes with its own difficulties) and you have a girl who is definitely not going to get her wish for a happy Freshman year. This wouldn't be a drama if there wasn't some conflict, right? It's a romantic drama, so it's not a title hip-deep in comedy, and it's a bit of an involved read that you can't just mildly flip through on a bus ride or while eating lunch at the food court, but as romantic dramas goes it a definite page-turner and makes me want to get a hold of the rest of the series ASAP. Written nicely, with great characterization (OK, I just like Mimori and her galpal Nana [no relation to the Nanas of another VIZ title]) and lovely artwork, it's definitely worth saving a spot for in your romantic manga collection (even if it is from 2005 or so, it's worth having). Oh, did I mention this has a bonus story at the end? Yeah, it does. Recommended reading from me to you: TOKYO Boys & Girls. Volume 1 comes in at a nice solid B+. Comment on this review of TOKYO Boys & Girls v1 on the Manga Life Forums. |
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