H³ School
Happy Hustle High

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There are manga that leave behind strong or deep impressions, often those that would be called a masterpiece. H3 School isn't one of those, but oddly enough, I find that aspect to be one of this manga's redeeming points. At its heart, H3 is best described as a fun read... and well, sometimes that's exactly all you may want or need.

The premise of the story is interesting enough, as it starts with an all-girl school and the announcement that it will soon be merged with an all-boy school (and of course the problems and benefits that will come attached to that change). In that ... sense, the setting is refreshing as it allows different ways for the story to take off as opposed to the usual high school shoujo setting.

The main thing, however, that makes H3 a fun read for me is the characters. Hanabi is unlike the slew of shoujo heroines we usually see. She's a true tomboy, fails at being a girly girl, and has an actual beauty issue (which she deals with in a hilarious yet frighteningly realistic ways at times). Yasuaki, too, has his quirks. At first glance, he seems to be like the typical cool bishounen with jerk tendencies... until you quickly realize that he's actually a really nice guy who happens to have girl phobia.

With 5 volumes, the story moves fairly quick in a straightforward way with some relationship bumps along the way. There's a nice mix of comedy and romance... times where you'd laugh out loud and times where, perhaps, you'd grin and swoon a little from sweet gestures. There's definitely some hilarious moments though, just random little things that can crack you up unexpectedly. Unfortunately, there was one small bit of dubious drama towards the end but at least it zipped by pretty fast. I say dubious because the conflict, while standard in most shoujo manga, seemed a bit out of place in H3.

Again, H3 isn't the type of manga that's meant to leave a lasting impact on its readers. Rather, it's more the type that's great for passing an afternoon in an enjoyable way without too much fuss. It's romantic, hilarious at times, has hot bishounen, a heroine with flaws that really is cute and not idiotic, a beautifully scary student council president, and tons of cute little chicks (as in chickens). For a shoujo manga, what's not to enjoy?

For a general rating, H3 would probably be a 7 - good but certainly isn't exceptional or what one would call a "quality" read. But for its enjoyment, I gave it an 8 here.

Meh .... it was all right. It has a very very basic and standard storyline when it comes to shoujou. I mean some of the stand alone chapters are pretty freakin' hysterical and the expressions and artwork is actually staggering at many points. But characters have ... just mediocre character build up. You don't know why one character falls in love with another except because they're supposed to. You get the standard love triangle stories now n then which is allright, but nothing that makes your heart go doki doki. Characters remain true to their personalities throughout though, which is an added plus.

The lead ... bishounen is drawn swoonily enough, as are the supporting cast dudes. Perhaps a bit more on each of them and their motivations would have helped. In one character description, we read "... but behind his handsome face lies... " We never learn what actually lies behind that handsome face. All he ever does is pull a cunning trick here to kiss someone unexpectedly there.

As far as reading for shoujo sake, it doesn't make you swoon often enough, the intimate scenes were very few and far in between and their intensity somewhat fizzled after major build ups. If you're reading it for manga sake, then the heroine is refreshingly sincere and not at all the weakling damsel in distress. In fact, I cannot praise this heroine enough. She is so audacious that she demands a re-issue of a first kiss because she wasn't happy with how it turned out originally! Props! Other than that, she is very consentious, helpful, into video games, can hold her own during sports and oozing oodles of fierce thought not unapproachable attitude. The humor somewhat makes up for the lack of moe, but not really. Some situations are utterly inconceivable and therefore incredibly entertaining.

All in all, it's an OK read for an hour or two. Nothing you're likely to remember next week or next month though.

Despite Shoujo being filled with alot of things I tend to hate - overtly-dependent heroines for one - I still seem to always come back to it, hoping for a change.
I definitely thought I found that in Happy Hustle High with the impractical tomboy character, Hanabi, but alas, I was wrong.

The art is wonderfully drawn and when they say bishounens, they mean bishounens. The story was okay, not too extraordinary, but a fun, and well-executed for the theme and setting, read. I enjoyed it quite alot until the very last volume, where Hanabi completely threw away her reserved tomboyish self and became a Yasu fangirl ... all the same. Obviously, she does this over the whole series but she just completely became one of those dependent heroines I dislike so very much near the end.

Overall, I liked this manga, it kept me interested with its fun little spin on experiences and Hanabi not pouncing/stalking/latching onto Yasu was a refreshing change. And she had her flaws - the hair one I liked alot more than those heroines who say 'I have no self-confidence' or something of that effect when they seem to want attention to be thrown at them.

Its not a bad series but its not an amazing series. I've got incredibly low tolerance for over-exaggerations and people being too clingy and/or expecting to be protected 24/7 so shoujo heroines do easily annoy me.