Saruyama!
Monkey High!

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

*Spoilers*

Shoujo can be a hit and miss genre, especially romances. Unpopular girl gets the attention of the most popular, handsome guy in school. Mix in a lot of drama and stupidity and you get your typical shoujo romance manga. Granted, not all are like that. Some are better, and try and break through cliches. Saruyama is one of them, well mostly. Haruna has to transfer schools from a prestigious school to a normal public high school. There she meets the Male Lead, Macharu, and then falls in love and so on.

What I found refreshing was that Macharu is the short, okay looking guy, and ... it's his best friend who is the tall, handsome womanizer (the typical shoujo lead). Macharu himself is very sincere and says what he thinks and feels, which is a great change to the ML's Im used to (can't communicate, dense af, dumb). Their relationship also starts early, and continues on into the short chapter amount of this manga (which is another nice change). I also admired that it approached sex maturely, where they wanted to wait until the right time, and eventually did do it. It's a nice change from the OTT innocence of manga sometimes.

It sounds like I'm gushing about this manga even though I gave it a 7. But I still have my problems with it, like side characters (the friend group that never seems to leave) who don't have an ounce of development, and just are comic relief. Atsu, the best friend, is kind of a piece of shit friend, who wants to break them up because Haruna doesn't want him, and he wants what he can't have. It's the most recurring drama in the manga, aside from typical relationship stuff. Any other drama lasts for like a chapter, and that's it. Also, the ending kinda just... ends?

Anyway, it's worth a read, it's short, it's sweet. Not long enough to have an impact, but not short enough to feel... underwhelming.

I first read this as a young teen and am now re-reading it as an adult and enjoyed it just the same- I am specifically saying this just to say that it is good for a wide age range. The story was a rather typical shojo story. Nothing too epic to separate it from other school setting shojo manga in the term of plot. I love that the relationship was set pretty early on instead of 80% of the manga focusing on them being friends and gaining emotions and getting into a relationship more towards the end- which seems to be the more common route ... (or what I read more who knows). I liked how it focused on their relationship and their growth in the relationship and gaining understanding of each other because they have very different personalities etc. The art- crisp lines, nothing really out of place. I think it is recognizable to the mangaka, which is always nice and no same-face syndrome. I liked the diversity in the characters and how they interacted with each other- specifically the main 3, but with 8 volumes I think there could've been some more character building with the re-occurring characters. Like it would've been nice to see Haruna have friends aside from her boyfriend and his best friend. I mean she is seen interacting with them as a whole group but never really one on one hanging out with any of her classmates- anyway with that rant over- I really enjoyed the character growth of the main two! And on a side note that I really don't know where to fit into the story- I like how the mangaka handled the 'hormonal issues' that Macharu has as a teen boy. It wasn't too excessive, rather realistic, and added some good growth to his character (ik it sounds weird but trust me).

"monkey High" is the type of manga you'd read for the simplicity of it, its a gentle journey through the world of high school romance and it is unique in its characterization.

I liked how the relationship in focus is vastly different from what you usually find in teen manga< thier problems and trials also seem so real when you read.

as for the art..its simple and i sometimes found myself disliking how rough the lines looked but..overall its not awful or amazing and it fits the story.