Yankee Juku e Iku

As a reader, it's hard to pin down Yankee Juku e Iku.

Ikariishi is a delinquent. Not much is revealed about his past, his goals, or his ideals. Throughout the story, he doesn't really become a better person or change his life drastically. It's quite difficult to tell exactly where the plot is supposed to be going, because it seems to have a mind of its own.

There is no narration in this manga, just pictures and dialogue. Many of the characters are butt-ugly, including the main character. It's strong point is neither action nor comedy, and its characters are about as complex as a LEGO structure built by a child.

Yet somehow, when you combine all these things together, it creates a weirdly fun story.

The first chapter immediately thrusts us into the world of Ikariishi, a typical scary-looking delinquent handing out ass-kickings like a beast. He has a chance meeting with a pretty girl and she misunderstands his silence as confirmation, dragging him to her cram school. He then defends her in front of the asshole teacher and decides to actually start studying to go to a normal high school. Meanwhile, another delinquent comes back from reform school, with a bone to pick with Ikariishi. She convinces him not to get into any more fights, and he is stuck between a rock and a hard place. But, in the spirit of true camaraderie, he does do the right thing in the end.

Contrary to what we expect from the manga medium, Ikariishi truly does look intimidating. The manga holds no punches when it draws the characters; most of them are ugly, fat, or creepy. Just like their outwards appearances indicate, they are mostly self-absorbed pushovers or assholes. Yet some of the beautiful people, too, are bitches; some of the ugly ones are kind at heart. There is a certain complexity to these characters, a hidden meaning behind their one-dimensional characteristics.

Or not. It's up to you, really.

This manga is very blunt. Teens are bad just for fun, bully out of boredom, and rarely think about anyone except themselves. Teachers are just as bad, and parents are far from perfect. Ikariishi does not have a strong sense of justice, and he makes mistakes. He's often compelled to make difficult decisions, but he usually makes the right ones.

Yankee Juku e Iku completely disregards traditional storytelling and tropes in manga. Somehow, it's fun to read, just purely based on how unique it is.

So here's a weird one. I stumbled upon this manga by complete accident and seeing as it was 4 volumes long, it couldn't be too bad. Turns out it's pretty good.

It's a well-known fact "delinquent manga" is usually a bunch of badass, tough, cool looking dudes punching the hell out of each other repeatedly while screaming about WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A MAN, and while those are super fun to read and nail some really important parts of being a man growing up, Yankee Juku e Iku nails the side that people don't usually acknowledge.

"Teens are so stupid and absolutely not badass."

Ikariishi himself is an ugly idiot known for being the strongest delinquent and winning just about every fight, YET he's a pretty mellow guy who just wants to go to college. His friends and the other people around him are equally as ugly and stupid, just like teenagers are, and they act like teenagers do, down to the absolute immaturity of some of them.


Like the only other review for this says, it's a very blunt manga. These are real teenagers being idiots messing around, and Ikariishi is a surprisingly great character despite all that. Seeing the kindness and spirit behind people's faces is a message that's as old as time but very few works actually pull it off as well as this one.

I'd say give it a try, it's extremely fast to read with maybe 2-5 speech bubbles each page at most. At best you walk away with a better understanding of people, at worst you wasted maybe 1-2 hours of your time. Regardless of the outcome you'll most likely remember it in some way.