Seishun Otome Banchou! by Shizuru Seino

The last of the Shizuru Seino trio today, I would have gotten it all done last week but my internet was down and I had some shopping to do. I got a lot of updating done on My Manga Malady today, though, including switching to the winter theme (although, technically, it is not officially Winter until the 21st) and fixing some of the old posts from before I knew how to better utilize Blogger. Of course, I don't utilize it properly now, either, but I'm slowly improving, I think. I found a nice page that shows the HTML codes for colors, actually, and I can have a wider variety of highlighting for the post titles. Which makes me happier than it should, considering I could have done that right from the beginning had I thought to Google it then instead of now. Oh well.



Seishun Otome Banchou! by Shizuru Seino

Art and story (c) Shizuru Seino

Genre: Shojo, Comedy
Length: 3 Volumes - 13 Chapters


            The look and feel of this manga is very polished, compared to Girl Got Game, its come a long way. Considering this manga came out in 2013 a long way is used literally, but it also has updated after all the years between, too. The eyes may not have a lot of variety but they

definitely show expressions well. The hair, too, has a lot of personality and the way it comes down over the forehead is very cute. By which I mean it has updated from the very angled hair from way back in Girl Got Game. The clothes aren't really that interesting to tell the truth, something that hasn't changed, but they fit the bodies well and have nice, crisp lines. The backgrounds are there, even if they are mostly tones, and I don't really remember there being a lot of blank but its around. I'd say the backgrounds are normal. The blush lines are the type to be all across the face, but they are not distractingly there for no reason and after three other manga with the same type of blush I've grown accustomed to it. I honestly can't think of a bad thing to nit pick on here, so its pretty darn good.
           Mihane Hirata has the nickname “Satsujinki” which means “murderer” simply because she has a scary face. Its basically become a complex now that she is in high school and has all but given up finding love. She does, however, have a crush who she wishes she had the guts to confess to. When she's caught staring and Touma, her crush, confronts her because he thinks she is glaring, Mihane blurts out her confession! Feeling embarrassed as he starts to turn her down, she insists they get to know each other with a trial date before he responds and to her surprise, he agrees?
           Girl Got Game always made me laugh out loud, not many manga really get me to do that, but the trend continues with this manga. Its a masterful mix of love story and comedy. It

That small laugh is perfect.

doesn't have the same heavy sections that Girl Got Game had, the story is evenly matched with silly gags and drama. I'd go so far to say that it's the best manga I've read in a while. Of course, it being a shojo, you immediately know how the story is going to go but Mihane is so odd that you get lots of turns around a strange corner. Mihane, though, can also get a little annoying because her personality doesn't change enough fast enough but considering her face isn't something that she can really change and having heard all her life how ugly she is the eventual turn around is quite uplifting. Touma is also a great personality, especially when matched with Mihane, he has his own quirks and problems. Seeing the two grow is a pleasure, they match each other so well. Plus, he treats her kindly right from the beginning and it really gets the story off to a good start and keeps the couple from growing stale. Seishun Otome Banchou! is an off shoot of another Shizuru Seino manga called Junai Tokkou Taichou! (called Love Attack in the English release) with Mihane being the two title character's daughter. In fact, I'd have liked to see Mihane's parents, as half of Mihane's problems have to be because the two of them raised her in the first place. The sad part is, I've only read the very beginning of Junai Tokkou Taichou! because the scans quit being translated (due to the English release and lack of interest, I believe) and the English adaption was canceled after six of the full thirteen volumes. Junai Tokkou Taichou! is the manga with the direct connection to Girl Got Game, as well, since Kyo meets Mihane's father as a coworker and helps her decide to go back at the end of volume nine. Off topic ramblings aside, Seishun Otome Banchou! is a fine manga by itself, with it's own in-jokes and WTF moments. In certain moods and chapters, its better than Girl Got Game. And just in case I didn't use them enough to be confusing in the rest of the article: Seishun Otome Banchou! Junai Tokkou Taichou! Junai Tokkou Taichou! Seishun Otome Banchou! Girl Got Game.



5/5 Good story and good laughs.

Fixing your face would be a good start...