My Heavenly Hockey Club 5

Let me do this one really quick tonight.  While digging through the stuff on my floor, I uncovered this and realized I’d totally forgotten about this series.  I think this has been buried under other stuff for months, which is a shame because it’s still very funny.  A double shame, because I read it and then promptly forgot about it again.  I think it’s been riding in my bag for nearly a week and I haven’t written about it.

Unfortunately, the romance is still basically going nowhere, and where Ouran HIgh School Host Club starts out with humor that grates on my nerves and then developed a plot I fell in love with, this series started with humor that had me dying from laughing and then… well, failed to develop a plot.

There’s a chapter called “Beware of Lolita?!” which has yet another hilarious and obvious parallel to Ouran High School Host Club… but again, I don’t know what the timing between the two stories is, so I don’t know if Ouran’s kogal came first or the Hokey Club’s.  At any rate, a kogal-type character shows up as Hana’s cousin, and then starts hitting on the members of the Hockey Club since she wants to marry a rich guy.  This parallels Ouran EXACTLY, except the kogal in that series hit on the main boy, and the girl in this series hit on the second-in-command.  Of the two, I think the Hockey Club’s story was funnier, mostly because much was made of the girl being still in grade school while she dressed, looked, and acted much older.  I also liked that her love interest had… well, zero interest in her.

HOLY CRAP, THE TWO GIRLS EVEN HAVE THE SAME NAME BETWEEN THE SERIES.  That’s… really something.  I don’t know what to think of that.

The other really good story in this volume involved… well, boy-who-is-not-a-twin-leader-or-glasses-wearer.  Normal boy.  The fact I don’t know the names of any of the characters except Hana and Izumi is probably not a good indicator for the plot or character development in this series, but at least an attempt was made this chapter, when normal boy’s father shows up and reveals himself to be a treasure hunter who… well, dresses like a pirate and doesn’t actually find all that much treasure.  The club goes back and forth with him since he wants to take normal boy with him to help him find treasure and the club wants to keep him, but things are settled when normal boy’s mother enters the fray.  I actually like a lot of the jokes in this chapter, and even though I don’t know normal boy’s name, he’s usually pretty consistently funny when he gets the spotlight.

I still love Ai Morinaga’ sense of humor, but it’s a shame this is more of a gag series than a shoujo manga with a plot.  I would love it dearly if it developed a story.