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Manga Before Flowers -- Back to School Blues DAY 1
In my area we are heading back to school this week and it already seems like it is going to be the hardest week ever all over again. And then I thought, oohhh! Manga always make school seem like so much fun! Or potentially life threatening! So every day this week I'm going to pick a manga with a school setting and talk a little bit about the awesome.
This is also part of "Danielle's back to school survival strategy" -- i.e. talking about fun things! Won't you come along and join the discussion?
1. After School Nightmare (published by Go! Comi). ASN reminds us that high school can be the ultimate head trip, as every day can be a battle for *psychological* survival. Go! Comi was kind enough to send me the 8th volume to review, but all I can say is that the series remains strong, head-trippy and heart-rendering. Imagine your high school self battling out your worst fears in a dreamscape where the rest of your class can see your soul laid bare. And then imagine the person you love is in that dreamscape often seeing you at your absolute worst. And sometimes provoking the worst out of you. Man, high school's a bitch. Aren't we all glad we're done with all that? (And this is the thought that will keep me sane through day 1!)
So what manga must we absolutely talk about if we are taking about school-oriented titles? Drop by and let us know which titles we should talk about this week!
Possible suggestions:
Paradise Kiss
Azumanga Daioh
Honey & Clover
Venus in Love
Fruits Basket
My Heavenly Hockey Club
Vampire Knight
High School Girls
Drifting Classroom
Reborn!
Flower of Life
Ouran High School Host Club
- Posted on August 25, 2008 @ 04:42 AM
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17 Comments
jun
August 25, 2008 at 5:47 am
How about X-Day, also by the creator of ASN. And Gakuen Alice probably deserves a place on the list, as well.
OTL
August 25, 2008 at 5:53 am
It may be more of a "guy's manga", but there's always "Cromartie High School". (How can you not love a series about a high school populated by a juvenile delinquents, including a robot, a gorilla, and Freddie Mercury?)
Danielle Leigh
August 25, 2008 at 6:07 am
Ohh....excellent suggestions! And somehow I completely forgot Gakuen Alice (which is pretty lame, no?). And speaking of magical school series...there is also Negima. Which I don't read so maybe someone else can cover that...I tend to think of that series as "Harry Potter with lots of boobs."
And OTL "guy's manga" is always welcome here! Especially funny guy's manga....I've read the first volume of Cromartie and I mostly remember the really tough guy who gets all kinds of motion sick, which amuses me since I do as well.
Grico
August 25, 2008 at 8:42 am
School Rumble is also a good choice. Lots of zany school antics.
James Moar
August 25, 2008 at 10:59 am
If a not-translated-yet pick is OK, how about Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei?
Anonymous
August 25, 2008 at 11:26 am
hi James -- I'm really looking forward to reading that...I have seen scanlations but decided to wait until it was released (by Del Rey, I believe?).
Danielle Leigh
August 25, 2008 at 11:26 am
whoops! That comment above was me, sheesh!
Tekende
August 25, 2008 at 11:54 am
Kiss Me Kill Me?
Da Fug
August 25, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Ranma 1/2? That has some kind of school in it. I only read the first couple of a bazillion volumes though.
Johnathan Ender
August 25, 2008 at 1:47 pm
I think it's probably been discussed before in this column, but "Kare Kano" is still one of the best (if not THE best) high school manga out there.
-JE
Andrew Collins
August 25, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Grico beat me to it, as School Rumble was the first one to come to mind...
On the shoujo side of things, I've been enjoying SA: Special A from Viz, about a special group of elite students at a prestigious academy. It's pretty funny...
CJ
August 26, 2008 at 4:04 am
GTO is good. Focuses more on the teacher side of things, but still very entertaining
MangaBlog » Blog Archive » Special lit-crit edition
August 26, 2008 at 4:35 am
[...] hasn’t started already, and Danielle Leigh takes her mind off it by asking readers to suggest school-oriented manga. And once your brain is revved up again, check out Akemi’s notes on The Yaoi Hero, applying [...]
Elizabeth
August 26, 2008 at 9:06 am
Here is Greenwood (by Viz) is my favourite High School manga other than Flower of Life. It's funny and it has interesting characters and good story (even though I feel the end of the story is too abrupt to my taste).
Danielle Leigh
August 26, 2008 at 11:29 am
ha! Man, I completely forgot about Here is Greenwood. Ha, oh those all-boys schools!
Katie
August 26, 2008 at 4:26 pm
-School Rumble
-Honey and Clover
Ouran High School Host Club Vol 11 | A Blog About Anime
December 29, 2008 at 6:05 am
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