Amano Megumi wa Suki Darake!

[Le_Dook]

So I was in my Japanese class one day recently, and the teacher was going on about school related Kanji. One of these said Kanji was 学, or school. However like most kanji, it has a second reading and meaning. The second meaning was "To Learn", the reading was "Manabu". And right there and then, in the middle of the class, I put my head on the desk at the realization. Our titular hero, Manabu, is literally named "To Learn". Poor bastard

 

[willis1712]

3:<

 

[DjAlexDubCheck]

She's cute but deserves a better manga

@RadioForrest Amen brother

 

[kirigayakzuto1190]

Is this worth to read?

 

[FusedSlayer]

Ah, the Legend of the Thiccc returns. It has been some time.

 

[cowofjustice]

This boy's about to get beheaded for perfectly understandable reasons.

 

[Zeus1439]

Thank you

 

[wezzy]

let's ride this into the sunset, boys.

 

[zerimas]

How much does this fucker need to study? Why even bother taking mock exams in first-year anyway? You haven't learned all the material necessary from high school to even do it. What the fuck do they even put on these exams that would require three-years-worth of studying? Why would it be so beyond what you would normally learn in high school? Do the Japanese not have a standardized curriculum for their secondary schools? The exam can't be that difficult—3 years is how long many degrees are at university.

I feel like Maa-kun needs to chill the fuck out. He probably can't study because his brain is fried due to constantly being exposed to stress hormones.

 

[Liquidxlax]

@zerimas its like he is doing the classes that let you basically skip first year. He and many others go far beyond what is necessary imo

 

[Zeus1439]

More please

 

[supermonkey123]

The standard in Asia is just that much higher than the rest of the world. E.g. They learn much more advanced level maths many years before other country's students.

 

[MCX01]

One of the better lengthy Romcoms out there.

 

[anon259]

WHEN WILL THEY FINALLY FUCK

 

[KazumaLee94]

While I like this manga for the most part, it's just that this manga has two major issues holding it back

1. Too much time has passed with nothing to show for it.
While romance manga can have some leeway for when the main couple can become official, I feel like it's appropriate to say that said leeway has officially ran out with this story. Seriously, after 140+ chapters and nothing. The whole school trip arc was basically the author telling the readers "These two will perpetually stay in the 'Will they? Wont they?' part of their romance until the day this series ends." I'm not going to hold my breath to see if this manga pulls a Lovely Complex. Plus it isn't like the dynamic has changed at all between the two leads, like in Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san. It's always boy is diligent while girl is ditsy, girl fawns over boy while boy chooses to be oblivious, girl gets put in a provocative scenario that boy witnesses, resulting in boy getting unjustly punished for it. Rinse and repeat. No variation whatsoever

2. The male lead is treated more like a side character.
Yes, I know the title has the female lead's name in it. Yes, I know that romance manga is geared more towards female readers. Yes, I know the author wants the female lead to be put in as much fanservice situations as possible. However if your story is about a romance between two characters, what good does it do for the romance to have one half of the couple get little to no screen time? There are a lot of chapters where the male lead only gets either a page or just one panel of screen time and some where he doesn't physically appear at all. It seems like the author wanted this manga to be more about Megumi and her group of friends in the kendo club, making the manga another one of the many Azumanga Daioh/Lucky Star/Nichijou clones. The only issue with that is that wasn't the type of manga the original premise and the first couple of chapters said this would be. Even if romance manga is more for women, I'm pretty sure most readers would like to get to know both sides of the main romance, or at least want to see more of the romance the manga said it would provide, just look at Ore Monogatari for proof of that.

Message to romance manga authors; If you don't find one of the leads of your story interesting enough to warrant screen time, either find a different character to be the romantic lead or don't make your manga about the romance between the two leads in the first place.

 

[TwilightFaze]

@KazumaLee94: Your issues are well-placed, but there's a gaping hole (mainly in your first issue) in your review:

"Too much time has passed with nothing to show for it."
That's because it's a Slice of Life manga, hence the tag (Not being a prick, a lot of people miss this). Just in case you don't know what it is, Slice of Life manga is where plot and story progress takes a backseat while character interactions are what happens every chapter. Once the interactions for that scenario are done, the mangaka will move the story a bit further so more interactions can be made. For those more interested in story, this genre is akin to watching paint dry. If you're hoping for the story to move along, you'll only disappoint yourself.

"The male lead is treated more like a side character."
Because he is, though barely unlike the other girls. You were actually spot on: The story is about Amano and her life. Manabu is just "straight man" of the story to Amano's "comedy" style. Even though Manabu has his perverted thoughts, those are all kept to himself. For the most part, Manabu doesn't have a lot of motivations, unlike Amano. His only goal is to study to get to his ideal college to chase after his dream girl. He cares for Amano (unaware of his own feelings) and protects her "openings" whenever he can, but generally prefers to be alone to study. That's it. This goes in conjunction with your first issue. The only way Manabu will get more screen time is when Amano does something daffy (like in the last page of the latest chapter) or if the story itself progresses. Until then, don't expect Manabu to get a lot of close-ups.

 

[exocel]

The thiccness coefficient is increasing.

This is good.

 

[KazumaLee94]

@TwilightFaze

I am well aware that this is partially a slice of life manga, however this is mainly a romantic comedy manga. The description says that this manga is about Manabu and Megumi's relationship and Manabu's plight to get into Tokyo U. The first couple of chapters follow up on this premise, showing the interests and issues the two leads have. It's just that as the story goes on, less and less focus gets put on that and Manabu becomes almost insignificant to the plot as the attention shifts to Megumi's day to day life rather than the romance the manga claims is the main plotline.

So what if the story is "slice of life", that shouldn't mean that the romance (which is advertised as the main focus) should be put on the sidelines. Acchi Koichi is a slice of life comedy series first and foremost, but even that puts more attention to the romance between Io and Tsumiki than this manga does with Megumi and Manabu. Ore Monogatari has slice of life elements in it as well, and that story got the main couple together in the first couple of chapters. What's this manga's excuse for not developing the relationship between the main characters?

Plus the fact that the manga is being, shall we say, "coy" with the main relationship does not excuse the lack of a tangible change in the couple's dynamic. In Lovely Complex, even before the main couple became official, their relationship went through all sorts of ups and downs. They weren't following the same routine (which is ironic since the side characters referred to them as a "typical comedy duo"). And these changes in the status quo would last for multiple chapters. When this manga decides to have Manabu take part in a chapter, the author rarely, if ever, takes a break from the "studious guy accidentally catches ditsy girl who likes him in a provocative scenario and so he gets beaten up for his troubles". It gets very repetitive.

And if the manga wanted to focus more on the girls from kendo club, that's fine. The prolem is that these girls, outside of Megumi, aren't that interesting. Despite the screen time given to them and some of them entering relationships of their own (even if said relationships amount to nothing in the grand scheme of things), these girls do not show any interesting traits outside of their initial characteristic given to them to fulfil a trope. You get the stoic one, the romance obsessed one, the perverted one who does things that should get her arrested for harassment, and so on and so forth. Let's be honest, compared to other slice of life manga centering on a group of female high school students (Azumanga Daioh/Lucky Star) does this cast of girls really stand out in any way?


I'm not trying to say you're wrong for not agreeing with me. I still like this manga. I'm just saying it has it's issues, and no genre tag or "just accept the trope for what it is" explanation will make said issues less apparent.

 

[TwilightFaze]

@KazumaLee94: You bring up good points, but there's still a few things I think you got confused:

"I am well aware that this is partially a slice of life manga, however this is mainly a romantic comedy manga."
It's actually the other way around: It's mainly a slice of life manga that is partially a romantic comedy. After all, in the end while we are seeing Amano and Manabu's relationship, we've been mainly seeing Amano in her day-to-day during, or after, school, at Kendo, around the house, or with her friends. The synopsis is originally focused on Manabu, sure, but the mangaka made it clear the story is focused on Amano. That's their fault.

"So what if the story is "slice of life", that shouldn't mean that the romance (which is advertised as the main focus) should be put on the sidelines."
That's exactly what a Slice of Life manga means, though. Also, Ore Monogatari and Lovely Complex are both Shoujo manga and this is a Shounen, so that's not a fair comparison. Shoujo are much more romance-focused since it caters to women-readers and Shounen focuses on male-readers who prefer reading more action. So the mangaka's excuse is pretty obvious: They're catering to a generally male audience who don't really care that much for romance and focused more on the ecchi. It's not hard to create romantic moments that gets the characters hearts pumping, but as for story progression, slice of life will almost always make story sit on the sidelines.

"It gets very repetitive."
Not disagreeing with you there. Actually most Slice of Life manga are like this. Though I think you're more focused on Shoujo than Shounen (I'm the opposite), so as someone who typically reads such things (Nisekoi, Yuuragi no Yuuna, Bokutachi wa Benkyou, etc.), Slice of Life always gets repetitive with their characters. Again, it's more about their interactions than actual progression. As such, while things get repetitive, sure, it's all about enjoying the present and not worrying about what will happen later, like most manga.

As for Amano's friends, they're actual supporting cast. They make an appearance so we can take a break from Amano's shenanigans and see something different (the commercial break before returning to the show, if you will). Some people like them, some don't. To be fair, though, I'm not pulled by them either.

All in all, you've made a lot of comparisons to Shoujo manga vs Shounen manga. I think that's the core of your mistake. You've been comparing an apple to an orange: They are both fruits (Slice of Life manga), but one is sweeter (Shoujo) and the other has more kick (Shounen). All in all, you're views are on point if this was a Shoujo (Seriously, dude, what you wrote was well described! Kudos!). But because you're reading a Shounen, same rules don't apply.

 

[balenol]

So, this is my daily NUTrition.