Classmate, Kamimura Yuuka wa Kou Itta.

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

First time review here. I just finished the manga and I have mixed feelings about it. It felt like a roller coaster with new turning points at every episode.

Let's begin by making a short comparison between stories of other series that might help out in defining the overall "atmosphere" of the manga. Imagine Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsû meets Angel Beats. That would be a pretty neat way to put it.

It has this weird/crazy vibe in which nothing is what it seems at first, only to reveal that the world we live in is not what we thought of, and how Kamimura Yuuka (Main female ... lead) has this tremendous role to play in the great scheme of things.

We begin with your typical high school fashion, in which Shirasaki Shuushi lives his extremely repetitive and boring life. He's starting to notice that everyday is kind of the same, until he meets Kamimura, the weirdo of the class. She's the only one who acts naturally and out of monotony, and who claims to have the "power to change the world".

What begins as a high school story rapidly unfolds into Haruhi-ish-style-sci-fi-madness with further exploration of sci-fi themes like existentialism, trans-humanism, scientific experimentation, technological advances and... love, of course. All while lightening the mood with some fanservice and little bits of ecchi as well.

There's an aura of mystery that surrounds every single chapter, but it is dispersed with comic relief by Kamimura's playful (you could say crazy?) personality, and the funny interactions between the rest of the cast. It is a really good story that maybe isn't flawlessly displayed but nevertheless gets the job done. And I do think that most of the complains about the pacing and the WTF moments get resolved in the end where the most important revelations happen.

I will preface that I really loved this manga, it kept me entertained and left me wanting more (in a good way).

I will not go into depth because it would be a spoiler but you'll realize while reading, granted you are familiar with the sci-fi genre, this is a pretty cliché story as far as sci-fi tropes are concerned. But these tropes and ideas, although not original, are explored from an interesting angle and the way they are executed sets this story apart from all other sci-fi stories that simply recycle overdone plots. There quite a few times, especially towards the end, where I found ... myself quite touched, but I'll admit sometimes the ecchi fanservice can spoil the mood.

The romance was fulfilling and refreshing. What really impressed me was the fact that the author managed to write both a tragic and a happy romance with the "same" couple, all while not feeling neither like a cop out or excessively dramatic. I know this probably doesn't make much sense without context, but trust me, the feelings of the MCs are resolved beautifully.

The comedy was definitely a highlight, as I found myself audibly laughing quite often, not to mention the adorable chibi art style in which the gags are drawn.

The characters are all unique and intriguing, which is something rare in this type of manga. I also commend the author for including a trans character which definitely surprised me.

Overall this manga is the equivalent of a chef taking common grocery store ingredients and using them to prepare a gourmet meal. Several elements at the basis of the story had already been tried before, but the author gave them an unique twist and breathed new life into these once tired, overdone old tropes.

This manga is so damn confusing. Not only from a plot standpoint.

First, let's talk about the plot (5): it's confusing. Honestly, you won't fully get the answers you want from the manga, but at least they didn't completely abandon it, and did try to explain themselves a little.

Art (9): Great, nothing bad to say here, there are some moments when it's outstanding at showing the characters' emotions.

Characters (5): This is also confusing. The reason why the characters are confusing is both because of the plot, and because of the awkward direction they are taken in. After they bring in more characters into the "light", eko, ... take and the class rep, everything is so damn confusing. The manga suddenly becomes an ecchi for about 5 chapters and a shitty harem for another 2. It's so weird and out of the blue, it will severely damage your enjoyment of the story. Plus, those characters are pretty pointless. They don't really bring anything significant to the table, and they are all super incoherent and chaotic. The show would've been much better if they had just kept it to the 2 main characters.

Enjoyment (6): can't say I ever enjoyed the series a lot, but the beginning was definitely the best part. And by beginning I mean the first 10-15 chapters. To be fair, I was intrigued so i can't say I didn't enjoy it in the slightest, but it did left quite a bit to be desired.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(SPOILER ZONE)~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Overall, I have no idea what they were thinking. They had this very intriguing outline, that had so much potential, but instead of exploring the depths of the world we are presented with, they very superficially explore romance in the worst way possible: by turning it into a harem.

First we have Kamimura, which likes MC because of obvious, logical reasons, being the first (and for a long while the only) person to acknowledge her existence and believe in her.

Then we have the class rep, which becomes "sentient" for some unknown reason and likes Shiro because reasons (probably MC magic).

Then we have Eko, aka fanservice girl, that was added mostly because none of the current characters had a big enough chest. Her story is interesting and she doesn't just randomly fall in love with Shiro which is nice, but all the ecchi scenes really forcibly pulled me away from the story, which was supposed to be serious and deep.

Finally, we have Take, aka comic relief best friend character. If you haven't noticed these last three characters are almost directly taken from a shitty slice of life harem manga. But this isn't what this manga was supposed to be. They took it so far: the MC has such harem powers that he made his best friend gay. I like ecchi, and sometimes I can even enjoy a harem, but this series shouldn't have had these things.

In a nutshell, I'm very disappointed, but I can't grade it lower than this because the reason i'm so disappointed was because the manga was interesting in the first place.