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Reviewed by Michael Aronson “In Volume 7 of High School Girls, the moron group find themselves facing the danger of breaking up as they embark on their school trip to Okinawa. Also, the moron group’s own Celeb Club takes their moronic level to a notch higher as they try to figure out how to get guys. Plus, Eriko fears of losing her genius brain, and an episode that centers around the friendship of Himeji and Ogawa-chan.” Man, I have no idea which group of readers High School Girls is intended for. The girls have to contend with mundane routines like clubs, maintaining relationships and stressing about school work, which would suggest to me that a young female teen would appreciate the material. But the scenes are interjected with brazen displays of T&A; nearly full nudity, as well as recurring dialogues about sex and fashion in regard to their breasts, and I can’t imagine the female reader being quite as interested as a teenage guy might be. The problem is that these sexual themes aren’t handled with much maturity at all, and as a male reader I wasn’t really titillated at all. But then, how often are “mature” ratings really intended for an audience of mature tastes? Perhaps something was lost in the translation that was able to handily entice both Japanese male and female readers, or maybe Japanese girls have some casual appreciation for female nudity. Either way, High School Girls is going to pass over the heads of westerners above the age of thirteen. The art is rather nice though and effectively differentiates between each of the main girls and the supporting cast, even when the script is a little bland and fails to grant them unique personalities. There’s an accessible introduction page that imparts all necessary information to the new reader, but there isn’t much at all continued from chapter to chapter, and that likely goes for volume to volume. The humor isn’t all that funny, but the frenetic activity and hyperactive reactions of each girl keep the events of the story kinetic, which helps make the mundane activities seem significant. However, the appeal of this series continues to elude me. Comment on this review of High School Girls v7 on the Manga Life Forums. |
6 October 2009
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