Harlem Beat wa Yoake Made by Kazusa Takashima

This manga really brightened my mood, I haven't been feeling well lately for reasons I can't figure out, so it was a welcome distraction. I did catch up on Skip Beat recently, though, and that made me happy, too, and angry when it stopped. Ongoing manga addictions are so troublesome.



Harlem Beat wa Yoake Made by Kazusa Takashima

Art and story (c) Kazusa Takashima

Genre: Supernatural, Shojo
Length: 5 Volumes – 27 Chapters and several extras

Those bulbs right there.

           *Gestures with a wide sweep of one arm* Handsome men, handsome men everywhere. A warning and a promise, this manga is full of bishies. Generally, the art work is a little messy, but it's in a good way. The careless feel gives a lot of personality to the character designs. Especially the hair, it's just flowing and moving all the time and I love it. Its really well done in every category, actually, there’s a lot of variety to the faces and hair, the eyes have a lot of expression, and the clothes are interesting. Some of my favorite parts were the almost haphazard SD art (is this even a term people use anymore? In any case, wikilink) that happened in the gag sequences. The one thing that bothered me was, at times, the hands were too often the bulb looking type.
           The Prince of Hell disappears to the human world on the day of his wedding,
changing his appearance completely. Now a part of the outside world and enjoying every second, he must avoid anyone seeing the crest on his back in case they have been sent from Hell to retrieve him. Even his best friend could be an agent, or his teacher, despite the danger though he is living a life he never had hoped for.
           I loved this manga, its silly and full of handsome guys and I didn't need any more than that from it, either. Despite the title giving me images of some generic shojo, Harlem Beat wa Yoake Made (not to be confused with the basketball manga called just Harlem Beat aka Rebound) is something absolutely different and unique in many ways. I enjoyed it all the way through, even during the very predictable happy ending. Its not with out its faults, of course, the plot line is a little weak and there really isn't enough romance to call it shojo. There's bromance out the butt, though, like, every single chapter to the point where you might think this was actually a shonen or even leaning to shonen-ai, but its all good. The main character and his best friend hanging out is amazingly slap stick but then random hot dudes start showing up just to, literally, strip the main

character and, at that point, the bus just keeps driving it's self to the destination four volumes later. The plot though, as a whole, isn't really one to brag about, I'd say it's the definition of loose. At the beginning, it even feels like you miss something important, as it is already an established school and cast of characters that are not introduced to you but are instead just thrown at you all at once as if you have the full back story. It evens out, as much as a gag-filled manga can do with out changing the format. The little things really start to pile up, so at least it's not instantaneous when the end rolls around, and besides its inevitable from the start at how that is going to happen. It reminds me, in hindsight, of the of Duck Prince manga, but with out resorting to cruel and mean humor. If you can look past the fact that it doesn't really advance until a critical incident happens, I think just about anyone can enjoy this manga. Not filled with drama tropes and definitely not like other shojo manga, Harlem Beat is amazingly refreshing.



5/5 For the enjoyment alone, very worth it.

IMO, this big guy and his amazing hair are the best part!