Monkey High 6

Aww, I just can’t help but fall in love with Macharu every time I read one of these books.  He’s just such a sweet kid, and he wants what’s best for everyone.  And he takes the merciless teasing from his friends so well.

Atsu makes a rather serious pass at Haruna at the beginning of the volume, but Haruna deftly shoots him down.  One of the most interesting things about the dynamic between Haruna and Atsu is that Haruna’s thoughts on these conversations are never shown.  It’s pretty easy to figure out that she is constantly trying to find ways to let Atsu down firmly and easily, and usually her subtle hints involve calling attention to the similarities in their relationships to Macharu.  I just like it because normally these conversations involve more explanation as the characters talk through their feelings, but in some cases, less said is better.

There’s another really cute/sad chapter where Haruna resolves to speak to her father and let Macharu have lunch with the two of them.  Apparently her father is some sort of politician, and this story actually has a very un-shoujo end to it.  Again, it’s an interesting twist, and I like that this diverges from the well-worn paths ever so slightly.

Another story towards the end of the volume is about the beginning of senior year for all the characters and their friends.  Macharu and Haruna are in different classrooms in completely different buildings, and Macharu’s enthusiasm about getting to see Haruna leads to lots of embarrassment for her and a moment where they collide and Macharu accidentally touches her breast.  The rest of the chapter is about the awkward separation the two experience, mostly because of school, and towards the end, Haruna’s feelings have changed after she hasn’t seen Macharu in days.  Their embarrassment over the situation is quite adorable, as is the way the two are hazed about it by their friends.

The one thing that always makes me feel a little bad is the character Kobuhei.  Kobuhei is a background friend, and unusually for a shoujo manga, he’s overweight.  Normally, I would applaud this since every character in manga is usually slim and attractive, and Kobuhei actually seems relatively comfortable with his appearance and is a pretty good-natured guy with a lot of friends.  Unfortunately, he’s mostly just around so that the other characters can make jokes about how fat he is, how his lovely singing doesn’t match his appearance, how he can be easily won over by food… yeah.  If it were just one or two jokes, it would be one thing, but this happens several times in every chapter.  I had to mention it here since they say something along the lines of Kobuhei having more of a chest than Haruna.  Too much!  Lay off the poor guy.  He doesn’t seem to mind, and they make fun of Macharu pretty hard too, but I still feel bad.

This was a review copy provided by Viz.