Gokusen by Morimoto Kozueko
Genre: Josei (I thought it was Senen for a long time actually... It could go 16 and up, though if language and violence bothers you, 18 and up would be the more safe rating)
Length: 15 Volumes - 156 Chapters (and assorted extra chapters)
Gokusen is…ugly. There is no way around it but through it, it is in the genre of what I fondly call: “Ugly man manga” even though it is josei. Meaning, the art is almost offensive at times, but I assure you its worth the time it takes to get used to it, which is like 3 chapters. Besides, the art really adds to the story because it matches the characters in it. Morimoto Kozueko's art and stories are truly unique. The clothes are generally baggy school uniforms and track suits and the hair is pretty stiff at first and through out it has some strange side angle locks. But it still has a polished look, and it gets better little by little to the point where it looks completely different and you didn't even notice. Please do not dismiss this manga because of the art at the beginning, the art is actually one of its charm points, because you'll be missing out on one of the best manga of all time. Missing out on one of the hottest grandpas of all time that is.......
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| Art and Story (c) Morimoto Kozueko |
Kumiko Yamaguchi is a new teacher and wants nothing more than to see her cute class all graduate to the next grade under her tutelage. These “cuties” being the worst class in the worst high school in the country. All of them delinquents and rough necks with no regard to grades or even going to class, especially for math, which happens to be their new home room teacher’s specialty. Kumiko though, finds them cute because every night she goes home to a Yakuza nest, as her hottie of a grandfather runs the Kuroda gang and was the only family she had once her parents died. Silly high schoolers have nothing on the horrible men she grew up with, so Kumiko will do her best with no fear! The rest of the manga is filled with school life and gangster life and how desperately Kumiko tries her damnedest to keep the two of them separate.
Plot wise, Gokusen starts out simply, letting you get to know all the characters before hitting certain points that follow through the rest of the manga. It starts with one class of high school kids, though and watches over them through all fifteen volumes. There is some side and gag chapters sprinkled through out but they aren’t much different from the ‘real’ story to be fair. I really cannot recommend this manga hard enough. Its funny, it has heart, it’s been popular enough to be made into an anime and not just one season of a live action drama but three and a movie, plus, there is some very good fundoshi action my friends. Kumiko is ridiculous and dense but so are her students, and as you go along you learn back stories and first loves of just about everyone, its very much a typical hoodlum school story, except, its also a typical gag yazuka manga too. A beautiful blend of the two genres. My sister often speak of the best looking grandpa in any manga we’ve ever read, but there are very few pretty people in this manga just to warn you. I've read it so many times and it still makes me laugh out loud, that is a feat, you may just be rotfl and I mean that literally, so don’t sit on too high of a chair just in case you fall off.
10/5 Sexy Grandpas!
Er, Super Recommended for those in need of a good mix of heartwarming school life and zany Yakuza violence.
Er, Super Recommended for those in need of a good mix of heartwarming school life and zany Yakuza violence.
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| Art and Story (c) Morimoto Kozueko |
Tokyo Crazy Paradise by Nakamura Yoshiki
Genre: Shojo (16 and up. Warning! Boobs!)
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| Art and Story (c) Nakamura Yoshiki (color by me) |
Tokyo Crazy Paradise is from the same mangaka who brought you Skip Beat!, and if you love Skip Beat you will love TCP. Skip Beat is so cute and awesome and sugary show business-y but it’s the characters themselves that keep you coming back for more. Tokyo Crazy Paradise is exactly the same, even though the story is completely different. Every time I hear someone say “I love Skip Beat!” I go on a stalker-like tirade wherein I tell them to read Tokyo Crazy Paradise, much like how Kyoko gets her first audition in Skip Beat, because in many ways Tokyo Crazy Paradise is better. I know it’s hard to believe you could like Tokyo Crazy Paradise more, I was skeptical myself, but you will! It is better!!! I love Skip Beat so much it’s almost an obsession (almost?), but Tokyo Crazy Paradise kills that manga and wears its skin like a trophy. Tokyo Crazy Paradise is a manga I’ve been waiting and waiting for an English release, though I think the publishers may be waiting for the end of Skip Beat first, at least I hope so since every issue of Skip Beat tells you she’s the author of Tokyo Crazy Paradise and since publishers do not much care for scanlations, I’d assume they’d like us to read the manga they’ve been advertizing for so long. I’ll just reread it for the thousandth time on crappy scans until they get around to it I guess…
Now, besides it having Yakuza in it, Gokusen and TCP do have something else in common…ugly. As far as art goes, Skip Beat is much, much more polished obviously because Skip Beat came after Tokyo Crazy Paradise but the art is only bad at the very first and even that is just mostly background people and older men. I suppose the profiles of people's faces remains strange for quite a few volumes but that doesn't really matter because you get into the story quite quickly. Otherwise TCP has everything you love about the mangaka’s work, pretty boys with wide shoulders who wear 90’s anime sweaters; side dialogs that are in tiny print and are longer than the word bubble they are smushed next to, and spunky female protagonists. I will admit that starting the manga is a bit of a struggle, what I always remember as ‘the first volume’ of set up and blah blah it’s the future and this person and that person and school and gangsters is, as my sister often points out, only the first chapter or so then it picks up and never lets go. So if you are having trouble getting in to it, just wait a mo’ and it’ll get going. Trust me.
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| Art and Story (c) Nakamura Yoshiki |
Tsukasa Kozuki and his three brothers are thrown out of their apartment because they can not pay the rent and have no where else to go. The quartet’s parents, both police officers, died just a few months prior and left them so suddenly that the family has nothing to live off of. Tsukasa gets the bright idea that she will go to her classmate Ryuji for help because it was his father's death her parents were investigating when they died. After some quick talking by Tsukasa the two of them begin working together (though, not very harmoniously) to find their parents' killers. Of course, Ryuji just happens to be the third generation leader of the biggest yakuza group in the region, and, once they have avenged, conscripts Tsukasa into his service with a debt for all the services that he and his brothers have used while at his house. Tsukasa agrees to be Ryuji's bodyguard to pay off the money, little knowing that the yakuza boss knows his deepest secret, that he is actually a girl! Tsukasa has a long road ahead to erase the ever increasing debt...
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| Art and Story (c) Nakamura Yoshiki |
So, I like to start out by saying- Imma let you finish but Tsukasa and Ryu are the best couple of all time. Their struggle to be a couple despite the fact that most people think she’s a man and her parents were cops and the multitude of other factors that keeps you going ‘aw’ and ‘dammit not again!’ would be enough for any shojo manga fan; then you add in the violence and the slapstick humor and you’ve got a manga one cannot quit. I’ve read it almost as often as One Piece and I own none of it. It has its issues; the biggest for some will probably be the ages. They are 14-15, in junior high, and there's lots of violence and innuendo. Some people opt to think of them as high schoolers instead because it matches the tone better, but it’s never much mattered in my opinion because you forget the ages anyway (oh, is that the same thing?). Like I mentioned, the art is a bit iffy at the beginning, too, but it does improve quickly. If you're one to read the author comments (and if the translator had enough time for it) the mangaka's rants are usually really long and not always very interesting, but that really has nothing to do with the manga itself. Of course, the biggest problem is the fact that it Doesn't Have AN ENGLISH RELEASE!!!!! I could rant about that forever, but this post is long enough already. All said and done, the story pulls you in at about the second chapter, and, I'd say at about the seventh volume it really starts getting good and the art starts looking like you expect it. I don't have enough words to tell you how much you should read this manga.
20/5 Readitreaditreaditreadit READ IT!!!!!!!!!!! No seriously, if you like romance, read it. If you like crazy fights, read it. If you like wacky situations and side characters, read it. If you like manga at all, read it.
Whew, if you made it through this long post, congrats! Thanks for stopping by~
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