Koukou Debut

First of all, what really captures me about a shoujo manga is that the main characters are good looking and the story.

Story 10: more like a 9.5 actually, because i wanted them to be more "hot & heavy" with each other and not so much comedy for crying out loud.

Art 8: Cause i have seen Dengeki Daisy and i'm taking dengeki daisy as the standard for how to draw shoujo.

Character 10: Love the male main character cause he is a bad-ass and when he is put in a bad situation he takes the logical steps to deal with it and even surprises you to a degree that even in real life you might do what he he did in the manga.

Enjoyment 8: more like 8.5, cause got sick of the female main character always goofing around and always turn to a comedy act. Plus, the mangaka drew too much the main with funny faces and like a chibi for comedy purposes, it turned me off completely sometimes.

Overall 9: next time if you want a romantic COMEDY shoujo, this is for you. But if you're looking for the passionate one with a lot mature scenes (not meaning xxx all the time, but grown up stuff) then this is not for you.

I have read 8 volumes of this title so far,so i thought i was good to write a review about it :)

Story:This is a typical high school comedy-romance with some small dramatic elements.The story is about a tomboish girl,Haruna ,that entering High School is decided to find a boyfriend,and thats when she meets Yo,a superpopular guy,with an 'eye' about this stuff,and asks him to be her trainer.It really is cliche as story,but enjoyful.As the story goes,the relationship between Yo and Haruna develops more and more.

Art:The art is good enough for a shoujo manga,but i have seen better.
I didnt like how the artist designs them with the mouth open sometimes for example,looked a bit unnatural.The eyes-design though is pretty good,and makes nice hair.

Character:That is the strong part of this series.The characters.
Haruna,the tomboy,masculine girl that was playing baseball in middle school and had no time for anything else.She is incredibly optimistic,good hearted,and naive.And when it comes to a hard situation,she always gives her best shot.Yo,is the popular pretty boy type as teh series start.He seems to have some bad experiences with girls in the past,and he seems that cant stand them.Besides that,he is incredibly smart,doesnt misunderstand serious situations,thing that happens to many shoujo manga,and has a good personality also.Their friends are also quite interesting characters too.

Enjoyment:There goes another 10.Because this manga is really enjoyful from first to last page.I cried and laughed in different parts of the story(ok i cried only once,i know that at the end of each volume all goes good :D ).I really couldnt stop reading it,i read all 8 volumes that were realesed there as fast as possible.And,i am still asking for more :)

A story that will make you smile sooo much.

The heroine is diffrent from the usual. She's strong, protective and yet happy natured. She just sneaks into your heart before you'll know it.

The relationship between the two slowly evolves, but its worth the wait.
I also like the fact that they are always sticking together and theres no annoying love triangle.
The more you read the more you get stuck into and you can feel the love blossoming page by page.

A must read for fans of the genre. The story doenst feel dumb nor transparent at any time, which is very refreshing.
Its just funny, cute, touching.... just entertaining. :)

This manga is such an enjoyable, heart warming, tear jerking manga you can't help but fall in love with it.

Haruna is a ex-softball queen tomboy who has just moved up into high school. She has decided to renounce her softball, tomboyish ways, so she can throw herslef into finding a boyfriend. Unfortunately, with no-one to help her, not even Mami - her middle school long-suffering friend, she fails miserably. Until she meets Yoh, a second-year high schooler who cynical and bitter ways leave him almost unapproachable to most girls. That is, most girls, not including naive, throws-herself-into-everything-feet-first Haruna. After a lot of begging, Yoh agrees to be her love coach, on the condition she doesn't fall for him.

The story is a sweet tale that needs no frills, no theatrics, and no 'high school rich kids' to liven things up. Kazune Kawahara does an excellent job of simply telling a high school love story, as ordinary as they come, without overstepping it. Haruna is the most lovable heroine I've come across, her naive and innocent ways making you laugh and smile. Yoh is lacking at some stages, but his awkwardness yet willingness to do whatever it takes to help Haruna, is so sweet you can't help but love him.

The only complaint I could have about this fantastic manga is the fact the mangaka leaves one thread untied and not finished. I won't say anything, as to not spoil the ending or any part of the story, but hopefully if you read it you might understand what I mean.

I'd thoroughly recommend this manga to anyone who enjoys shoujo, or just a heart-warming romance. Definitely worth the read.

This was the first manga I read (ever) and it was the best decision that March.

A fun and exciting take on life in general with lol moments.

Summary:
Haruna Nagashima wants what (almost) every high school girl wants, a boyfriend. Ex baseball player with an optimism to match no other, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that.
She does everything the magazine and manga tell her to do, makeup, clothes, hair, "what am I doing wrong?"
In a Cinderella style fashion she meets, Yoh Kamiyama, not exaggerating there really was a shoe involved. He helps her and walks away, leaving Haruna wondering who he is.
After trying and failing at getting guys to approach her, her friend gives her an idea. To look at it from a sports perspective, what does every team need? A coach.
Who better to coach her at becoming the best girl out there than, the school's top guy, Yoh?

[SPOLIER] I don't think it's a real spoiler since they are on the cover of every manga together but, Yoh agrees (you would too if Haruna stalked you) as long as she promises not to fall in love with him. "Okay"

Now, if you're thinking that this is just like a regular shojo manga where they get together and live happily ever after...that's not the case at all.
They are too mismatched for that to happen, Yoh is a serious , aloof, popular guy who 'hates girls'. Haruna is a honest, tomboy of a girl, who wants to fall in love. Koukou Debut is their spiral into knowing each other and accepting someone for who they are.

End of Summary.

Characters: None of them are perfect and they each have qualities they wish they didn't.

Haruna- Though she is the protagonist and automatically she sounds like a stereotype, she isn't. What's amazing is her thought process and actions. She is gullible and sweet but she is also strong and will stand up what she think is right.

Yoh- Underneath his cold demeanor is the sweetest smile you have ever seen. Though he dislikes girls because they 'randomly get depressed and cry' he does decide to coach her and that shows that deep inside he wants to help.

Asami- Yoh's younger sister, has a real brother complex. you don't notice right away but her character was the one that seemed the realest from the manga, maybe because underneath the pretty exterior she was as human and scared as the rest of us.

There are other charcaters like, Asaoka and Fumiya who are Yoh's friends and play parts in this manga, but they don't really give them back stories but their present lives were the ones that gave this manga light. And let's not forget Mami, Haruna's best friend, she is the best, best friend anyone could have, why? because she supports you, even when she thinks what you're doing is COMPETELY insane.

The Art in the manga was great. Their expressions were unique and believable, just because you know their characters doesn't mean they shouldn't feel human. And if I'm being honest, just watching how Haruna dresses herself made laugh.

At the end though, it teaches you the best lesson you could learn. Who you are is amazing and you shouldn't change.

With that in mind I'll leave you with a quote from no one other than Haruna,
"I'd rather strike out by swinging than just watching it pass by."

This is such an enjoyable manga in every way possible. The story is lighthearted, but not superficial nor dumb; it is a typical shoujo manga that should satisfy any fan of the genre, yet there's still a freshness to it that won't make you feel like you've already read this a thousand times before.

The story's premise is fairly simple. Haruna is a tomboyish girl who spent most of her junior high school involved in sports, and now that she's in high school, she wants to get a boyfriend and learn how to act and dress like a girl. The problem is, she has no idea how to do it. Even though she tries her best to follow magazine's advices and her own misguided intuition, it all ends in disaster.

By chance she meets Yoh Komiyama, an attractive guy who knows how to improve a girl's appearence to boost. Fortunately for Haruna, Yoh goes to her school, and after she begs a bit, he gives in and accepts to be her "coach" in the whole dressing-up/ dating deal.

I think that one of the most attractive aspects of this manga are the characters. They are all so interesting and well developed! Haruna is not the stereotypical shoujo heroine, even if by description she might sound like it. She's so naive, pure-hearted and clumsy, and yet so strong, determined and brave that you can't help but love her. Yoh seems like the typical cool, reluctantly popular hero, but he's endearingly honest, sharp and full of issues regarding relationships. The supporting characters are equally complex and charming and not just faces to help move the plot along.

The way the relationship between Haruna and Yoh develops and make them evolve and overcome their flaws is done with care and love for the characters, which is a bonus for this mangaka. She definitely knows her characters and never betrays their true nature.

As a conclusion, I can say that this story will make you laugh, get involved with it and leave you with a warm feeling when you've done reading each chapter.

Koukou Debut is about Nagashima Haruna, a tomboyish girl that has just entered high school. In middle school she was the star softball player neglecting the idea of love or being in a relationship. Since entering high school she has decided that her goal is to find love. Unfortunately, she has no sense of fashion skills at all. She reads too many fashion magazines and just combine them all. One day she meets Komiyama Yoh, a cool high school hottie. She begs him to coach her on how to look good, which he agrees to, under one condition: That she must not fall in love with him.

Story: The overall plot is quite good. Since it is a shojo manga, there will be the typical rival love or heartbreaks. However in this manga series the way the author depicts these scenarios are quite different than the others I have read. There will be times where you think the story is going to go one way, then you see that it was actually going a whole entire different direction. So this just made the manga more enjoyable because it was not so predictable. Also I have to mention that this is all told through Haruna's point of view, since she is pretty innocent, there will be times where you will just laugh.

Art: The artwork is really good. You can tell that the artist spent a lot of times drawing these characters. There are a lot of details in the clothes and the character looks pretty realistic, compared to the generic manga characters where sometime their hair or eyes just seem impossible.

Character: The character development is just outstanding. The tomboyish, all happy, clumsy, and somewhat dumb heroine Haruna would just make you laugh. Her personality is just really fun to look at. While the cool cold secluded Yoh slowly become less shy. What I really like about this manga is how both Yoh and Haruna each slowly influence each other causing each to change. Also the supporting characters has their own character development too. So you just don't see the supporting character as just there, but as actual characters with their own personality too.

Enjoyment: This manga was really great. There were many parts that was just funny, especially how the author drew these characters. Some scenes I just couldn't help but laugh, and some scenes were just so cute and sweet. The characters all develop well as they solve problems. The character development in the supporting characters were awesome, though I believed that the author could have developed some more than others. Also I reallly loved the way how some situations just turn out in a way that you would not expect at all. I really loved this manga and it was extremely enjoyable. Well hope you enjoy it too!