Mar 18, 2025
This one-shot was a shitpost machine in the best way possible.
On a first look, the art and character designs look whack, like that of a newbie otaku still learning how to draw or that of a very low budget, short-schedule manga. The massive anime eyes, the weird faces, the awkward angles. The dialogues are no different, since at first glance, it goes so straight to the point that it's almost endearing.
Yet, it becomes apparent really quickly from the absurd situations that it is a very disengenious and intentional deadpan humor that takes every delinquent trope in the book and makes fun of it.
...
I know, doing that sounds like a cliché on itself, but this goes further than that. It doesn't try hard to be funny like other manga of this kind usually do, and there's no immediate sign that all of it wasn't supposed to be serious from the start.
This mangaka wears his punchlines on his sleeves, and then it's ride or die with them. A critic could totally tear it appart for doing just that if the joke went past way over their heads, like it tends to happen with this risky kind of comedy. It's up to the reader: either you realize that you have to read between the lines (because it's so rough around the edges and over the top) or you just take it literally and think it's simply a bad manga.
And, in this case, it's so bad that it's good. Great even. But that's totally on purpose, the author clearly did want to cause that effect. It's not just a parody of the delinquent genre (the childhood friend/love interest, arriving to a new school on the first chapter, aiming for the top dog, etc.), it's also an autoparody: it makes fun of itself with the generic character designs and concepts, the amateursih artstyle and then the ridiculous situations that complete the package.
Not only that, but it also makes fun of the medium and the community as a whole. All the poorly drawn doujinshi (not hentai, it just means unnoficial fan creations), of bad storytellers doing generic stuff as a one-off and repeating the same worn out premises and topics all the time (wild monster/alien appeared - let's make a whacky surreal comedy about it that will never see the light of day!).
It's done in such a pure way though, with so much heart. There's no butt of the joke here - it's clear as day that everything the author laughs about is also close and dear to him. He must have loved delinquent manga back in the day, and does probably feel nostalgic about the times when HE used to be the whacky amateur with the mediocre art, making bad quality doujinshis that nobody cared about. And he supports and fosters that with this work (while making fun of it at the same time - guess it's just a funny thing to reminisce).
But is it entertaining, you may be asking? YES. It managed to make me laugh out loud more than a couple of times. Rare thing for me to happen at all reading manga, or with japanese humor in general. If you want a referent in overall style, I would say Beelzebub would be the greatest fit, although not perfect.
And let me say... it left me wanting more. although I guess it's better to leave way too early than too late. The only comment about it there was, was saying the exact same thing: what do you mean that it was just a one-shot?! No more chapters? So... I think that speaks (paradoxically) to the quality of this manga.
Bad aspects you ask? All in all, not many actually. It's a well rounded short gag manga that is totally worth it. The "sketches" are fresh, the punchlines are unexpected yet clever. They actually have compact little lessons packed into them (small tidbits, that's all). So, very good stuff, it helps deepen the comedy aspect with some extra substance.
The only reason I can't give it a 9 or a 10 is because there's only so much you can do while making a twist on a pre-existing concept. Especially with only as much as a single chapter. Plus, yeah... the monster was a bit out of place, even if it was meant to be that way (the design was more disruptive than anything; but at least it served its role for the comedy sketch).
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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