Uknighted Manganime Life is too short to watch bad anime

Granted, the anime doesn’t exactly inspire the burning wish to pick up the manga. But that’s why we are here for, right? To experiment the horrors of bad anime and manga and warn of dangers.

So, is it that bad? Is it dumb? Does it look like a Victoria’s Secret catalogue?

I’d say that the manga is better (which isn’t saying much). It manages to be genuinely funny at times, it has less fanservice, different stories, attempt at characterization, and it portrays (albeit in a twisted and sometimes wtf manner) the life of high school students. It even has study sessions. With no fanservice in sight. Imagine that…

You did? Well, they use sex terms for memorizing stuff. Ha! What did you think? This manga is all about “the only thing that’s not dirty about high school girls is their panties.” Though it’s entirely possible that I stand corrected on this exception later…

Now for the details:

The manga starts out like the anime: high school girls checking out their new school. The scenes and the dialogue are the same. Which means… panties. Locker room fun. Yes, complete with that shot of pubic hair.

Then, fortunately, it takes a much better course. Instead of the extremely dumb “and by the powers of cliches we are now friends” (being accidently locked together in a room, falling face first in each other’s panties, all that good stuff >.>) the manga gets into what it means to enter a private all girls school where the groups are already formed and you are an outsider, worse, an ex public school outsider.

Then again, this is still the manga for High School Girls. Make no mistake. By the time the reader’s defences are lowered…. (Brace yourselves. And don’t click on the last one if you enjoy swimming pools. On second thought you’d be better off if you didn’t click on the other either.)

After that, in an even more welcome departure from the anime, there is no physical examination hijinks. (see episode 2 NSFW!). Instead we get the Uniform Examination. This part is good. It’s refreshing to see the characters act like… you know, high school girls, instead of dumb, not quite sane chicks.

Finally, there is The Beach chapter. This is not an excuse for fanservice *gasp*. No, it demonstrates HSG are creative and funny. The kind that comes with “don’t try it at home” warnings. Fun! Fortunately, they don’t get to throw fireworks on people having public sex, because they are interrupted by Yakuzas. Unfortunately, they don’t get their asses kicked again (They got beat by bullies in an earlier chapter. I wish that were in the anime too.) Let us all remember this manga is about the ordinary life of HSG. Indeed, the conclusion is: “It’s the same ordinary summer vacation as always”. Wow! Must be pretty eventful then. >.>

The next chapter is another one I like. It deals with a fight between Ayano and Yuma. Unbelievably, though still funny (check out the Round 1. Fight! panel done as a fighting game, complete their names on top of health bars), this is portrayed realistically. Gasp!

Next we get Sport Events Day. Of course you just know there will be talk of underwear and someone being on her period here. I was about to roll my eyes when it all turned for the better. Bit of story here so that you see what I mean: Yuma gets her period unexpectedly, she tells the others, but no one has any “feminine products”. Kouda gets the idea to change the item for treasure hunt to “feminine products” so that Yuma can yell for them without getting embarassed. She does. Girls offer. (Panel bellow) More comedy follows. Some of it predictable, but still funny. I am warming up to this manga. Then the three-legged race with a teacher ends with a major panty/ass-shot. She falls, the teacher accidently pulls off her shorts. Duh!

The next 2 chapters (school fest) mix comedy, lameness, a bit of fanservice (more like cosplay, as 2 groups try to attract customers to their own cafe by wearing different outfits) and good stuff. I like the peer pressure portrayal. Click on these images for good stuff only! Yes, you are safe now.

Final notes:

The last pages are about the mangaka’s own all-girls school experiences. Yes, the mangaka is a woman! Her name is Towa Oshima.