Dec 15, 2023
joshikousei no mudazukai seems like it wants to follow in the tradition of "offbeat high school SOL comedies"' like azumanga daioh and daily lives of high school boys. however, poeple aren't going to want to read the exact same thing over again if it's not a isekai rape power fantasy, so the mangaka was faced with a problem; "how do i differentiate this from all those past manga?" unfortunately, it seems her answer was to "make all the main characters unlikable jackasses who very clearly despise each other, but somehow claim to be friends". now, let me be clear: i have no problems with the
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"group of shitheads who are constantly bickering" genre. some of my favorite manga and anime belong to that "genre", so it's not like i can't appreciate it. but there's a very fine line you have to tread when writing characters like these, and i don't think the mangaka did it successfully.
plastic nee-san is a very good comp to the type of manga this was trying to be. it's also about 3 JK main characters who are assholes, but there's two big differences in their characterization. firstly, the main characters seem to generally enjoy hanging out with each other. secondly, the manga really leans into the absurd in terms of character actions. the last part especially is what separates the two. when reading plastic nee-san, the feeling you get is "what the fuck is wrong with these people (lol)". they act so fucking abnormally that it's impossible to take their behavior seriously. when reading jk no mudazukai, the feeling you get is "i know about 5 people like this irl, and i hate all of them".
the comedy is kinda repetitive. it usually revolves around tanaka being delusional or a bully, and her "friends" reacting to it by calling her a dumb piece of shit (which she is). her friend ota is an intelligent and pretentious dork, and robo is the emotionless and unapproachable stoic. a simple way to describe their personalities is, "what if tomo, yomi, and sakaki from azumanga daioh had none of the charm or redeeming qualities that made them fun to read about?" the best parts of this manga are generally when the main characters aren't involved, which is a problem. the three of them are all so insufferable that i look forward to the chapters about the side characters, who aren't anything special to begin with.
in conclusion, unless you like very realistic assholes doing the same asshole-y things for a bunch of chapters, i can't recommend this manga. if you're looking for a similar, but more fun type of manga, i'd recommend the aforementioned plastic nee-san or chio-chan's school road. those do a much better job with their gremlin-ass FMCs
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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