Seishun Survival
Youth Survival

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I love the feeling of when you have finished a story and loved it and then realise you have read other series by the author and loved them as well. In this case mangaka. Beast Master and the currently publishing Dengeki Daisy are two other popular titles by Kyousuke Motomi.

I'm not sure the percentage of men who create shoujo manga but I'm sure its not many, nothing jumps out and says this was written by a man. Just originality and flair.

What drew me to read this was the picture on the cover of Kiriko Maejima who is featured in the first story Youth Survival. ... A shoujo manga with a picture of a girl in army camouflage, little interest lights go off.
All four chapters tell very different stories and are beautiful told, in fact I would go as far as to say they are amazing. Unlike other one shot volumes where each chapter blends into another, where you forget what happened in the first story half way through the second chapter; all of them leave you thinking if they were a series you would read them. Each story is original and heartfelt, not cliché, annoying or the haven't I read this before feeling.


Although the main characters look the same in all four stories they are well drawn. It can also be forgiven as they are attractive and drawn nicely, with a soft style.

The characters all have personality. In the last chapter Never Dying Crow, is a group of "weridos" who are fantastic, in the sense of interesting people, who don't conform to the norm.

Comedy, Romance, Shoujo, what more could ask for? This is a great little gem volume of one shots. Did I also mention Kyousuke Motomi, great mangaka. I was pleased to see that he has more titles and that the last chapter Never Dying Crow is a side story to Otokomae! Beads Club.

Enjoy

Story:
Seishun Survival is a collection of 4 short stories about school romances. Usually short story collections (especially school romance ones), tend to not be as engaging as longer running series because the stories are rather simple, but Seishun Survival took some really interesting ideas and gave them a fun spin, making this collection really stand out. Liar Love Letters was probably my favourite out of the group because it took a shoujo trope and ran with it, producing an interesting way to watch a relationship between the girl and the guy unfold. Title story Seishun Survival was rather typical, but I liked how it made ... all the characters add something to the group's survival. The third story had a pretty funny twist (ninjas~) and had some really funny moments that make it quite enjoyable. And finally the last story was also quite typical, but the characters really stood out.

Art:
Clean, pretty art. Suffers from a bit of saminess (i.e. characters look the same), but I liked it nonetheless. It's a bit lacking in distinctness, but makes up for that by giving us nice looking art.

Characters:
The characters don't have much backstory. Some get none, like the ones from the first, second, and last story. Some get a bit, like the ones from the third story, but even then the characters aren't really multidimensional. However, the author makes up for this by giving us some really distinct personalities or cutting through stereotypes. Like for example, the pretty airhead in the first story is actually quite dependable when under pressure. The heroine of the second story, for example, acts in a rather realistic way and her emotions are depicted quite well, which makes up for her lack of characterization. And all the characters from the Beads Club, in the final story, are distinct and I wish I could have gotten to see more of them.

Conclusion:
Seishun Survival is quite the charming collection. Each story has a different strong point and charm making the collection stand out from other similar collections. The first story has a few nice twists in terms of characterization and the romance is cute. The second story develops the romance through the medium of letters, which gives it an unique feel, but also develops the main character's feelings in a realistic way. The third story is all around funny and cute. And the final story introduces us to some interesting characters. I sort of wish the last story was longer because the group of friends seems quite fun. Overall, the characters are likeable and the romances are fun to watch. In fact, I wasn't expecting this collection to be as good as it was. Recommended!