ロッキン・ヘブン 2

ロッキン★ヘブン [Rockin' Heaven] #2

by Mayu Sakai

Sawa applies to Heaven’s Wing Academy, thinking she would look cute in the uniform. But she never expected the academy to be a previously all-boys’ school! And the head honcho of the school, the class president himself—Ran—doesn’t seem to like her one bit and takes no pains to hide it. At first, adjusting to life at the academy is tough. Sawa is bullied and teased, and the boys in the class even throw her new shoes in the water. While attempting to retrieve her shoes, she falls into the water and is unexpectedly saved by Ran, who up until this point has made her life hell. The newfound gentleness in Ran intrigues her—and she finds herself falling for him. What will her days be like for the rest of her school life?

Genres: Manga, Romance, Shojo, Comics, High School, Graphic Novels, Contemporary

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

• Name in native language: 酒井まゆ
• Birthday: January 7
• Blood Type: A

Reviews

[Merb · Rating 3 out of 5]

~ 3.5 ~

Continued to be lots of fun. I do wish things were more fleshed out, and I’m not sure if they will be as the series progresses. The side characters are mostly there for comedic relief, and don’t really play a serious role in the plot. The romance is also progressing quicker than I like, but that’s fine, I’m still pretty invested as it’s cute. I really like our heroine, she’s very kind and outspoken, and I like her selflessness and determination. On to the next one!

[Bibliothecat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review for complete series

I believe Rockin' Heaven is the series where Sakai makes a big leap in her manga career and matures a lot in terms of writing and art. The first volume still shows several traces of her older style and somewhat disproportionate face, especially for male faces, but it solidifies so much over the course of the series and by the 8th and final volume shows a very confident and nice art style which has lasted through to her most recent works.

Also the plot is much stronger than her previous works - on the surface, this seems a very basic shoujo manga filled with clichés and a shallow lead character. And perhaps that impression isn't entirely wrong, but Sakai handles it really well. Our main character Sawa is about to attend her new school which she purely chose for the sake school uniform. It's only after she enrols that she realises that this was a formerly all boys school now open for the first time to girls as well and she is only one of two girls in her new class which also happens to be a rather infamous one for slack rowdies. On the surface, the second girl Akira's only purpose is only to play second fiddle to Sawa who takes centre stage in this boy-filled class room stage and of course the ring leader Ran is the most handsome and also happens to be the director's son - clichés are unavoidable, especially in the first volume. But I believe that Sakai has smoothly carried these characters through this eight volume series with some surprisingly mature themes all the while avoiding some of the common downsides of these tropes.

First and foremost, I was glad to see that neither does Akira purely play a secondary figure, nor do all the boys gather around Sawa. Of course, there will be certain jealousies and dramas, but that's to be expected in a scenario where there are only two girls in a class that otherwise only consists of boys. But I appreciate that there was a good focus on friendships among the classmates both amongst each other but also between Sawa and Akira and between them and the other classmates. There were a plenty of moments where it seemed a potential romantic rival could have been introduced, but I felt that this was kept to a relatively low level when I compare it to other works of this genre.

There was a healthy and realistic focus on how Ran and Sawa's relationship developed. I was surprised by some of the decisions they made along the way but in a positive way. Were they the best decisions? Perhaps not, but I could relate to where the characters were coming from. It also dealt with heavier subjects such as loss of family members, attempted suicide and pressure from parental expectations.

I enjoyed Sawa as a character and, although she sometimes seemed a little too selfless, I thought it was well explained in the later half of the series and how it ties in to her own family background and how even in her selfless way she develops selfish thoughts and feelings. It is by no means the deepest manga series out there, but I do believe it has some thoughtful scenes and is all in all one of the superior series of its kind. You definitely can't go wrong with it if - like me - you simply enjoy shoujo high school romances, clichés and all.

[Yoyomaus Die Büchereule · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nachdem die kleine Sawa sich endlich an der Jungenschule eingelebt hat und gemeinsam mit den anderen Jungen gelernt hat, können diese ihre ersten Schulerfolge verzeichnen. Alle freuen sich mit ihr, nur Ran scheint sie abzuweisen, dabei ist sie doch heimlich in ihn verguckt. Was Sawa nicht weiß ist, dass Satoshi seinen Freunden nach dem lernen erzählt hat, dass er in Sawa verliebt ist. Als Ran krank wird, besucht sie ihn und kocht für ihn. Als Satoshi dort auftaucht, wimmelt Ran ihn ab, was Sawa nicht verstehen kann. Als sie den Grund dafür erfährt, bricht in ihrer Welt Chaos aus und dann taucht da auch noch ein Mädchen von der benachbarten Mädchenschule auf, die sich als Rans Exfreundin entpuppt. Sawa wird eifersüchtig und bemerkt, dass sie sich gänzlich Hals über Kopf in Ran verliebt hat.

Wieder einmal hat die Autorin Mayu Sakai eine wirklich süße Story geschaffen. Der Manga ist nicht so überladen und überzeugt durch einfache Zeichnungen, dafür aber herzliche und emotionale Dialoge. Sakai behandelt die Dinge, die Mädchen im Teenageralter interessieren. So geht es um Freundschaften, die erste große Liebe, die Schule und Leistungen, die zu erbringen sind. Es geht um eigene Werte und auch um Güte gegenüber Menschen, die man vielleicht nicht so gut leiden kann. Sawa als Charakter zeigt immer wieder Herz und schafft es allen ein Lächeln ins Gesicht zu zaubern. Sie macht sich viel Gedanken und versucht immer für alle eine gute Lösung zu finden. Man muss diesen Charakter einfach ins Herz schließen und gern haben. Empfehlen möchte ich diesen Manga allen Mädels, die leichte Liebesgeschichten mögen und gerne träumen. Der Manga ist wirklich gut gelungen.

ISBN:9783867191623
Sprache:Deutsch
Ausgabe:Taschenbuch
Verlag:Tokyopop
Erscheinungsdatum:01.11.2007

[inas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Satu hal yang aku kurang suka dari komik ini tuh pace-nya lambat banget. Mungkin karena ceritanya sederhana, dan nggak tergantung premis (tokoh punya tujuan, terus ketemu halangan), melainkan ya ngalir aja ngikutin alur.

Masalah pertemanan Ran sama temen-temennya juga lumayan bikin bersimpati. Meski aku kurang setuju kalo Sawa dijadiin semacam "I can fix him" type-of-girl 👁👄👁 Like, Ran is mature enough to deal with his problem, nggak perlu dituntun lagi buat nyelesaiin issue-nya. Dan misal dia sebagai cowok terlalu cuek dan nggak bisa menuhin keinginan pacar, ya udah, lepasin ajaaa. Get some other guys, girl, and don't settle for less??

Also, salut sama mama Sawa pas pengen anaknya naksir Junichi aja, lebih green flag dan mentally stable, wkwkwk. Meski Ran juga punya kualitas sebagai male lead dan sering nolong Sawa ya 🤭

[Ris Sasaki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Those teenage feelings and love. Just everything ❣️

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

me ha gustado mucho el cómic me ha encantado y quiero seguir leyendo más cómics

[Julie J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rockin‘ Heaven ist eine besondere Liebesgeschichte. Manchmal etwas langatmig, kann die Autorin Mayu Sakai dennoch mit einer spannenden, teils sogar dramatisch-traurigen Geschichte punkten.

Band 1 endet damit, dass die quirlige Sawa es schaffte die Clique rund um Ran und selbsternannten Boss der Klasse zum Lernen zu motivieren. So traf man sich bei Sawa zu Hause. Dort kamen sich Ran und Sawa auch tatsächlich ein wenig näher. Doch dann gesteht Satoshi, ein Junge aus der Clique, auf dem Nachhauseweg, dass er sich in Sawa verliebt hätte.
Die Steine, die sich Sawa und Ran in den Weg legen häufen sich. Nicht nur, dass Ran Sawa links liegen lässt (da ja sein Freund Satoshi auf die steht), nein, es taucht dann auch nur Rans Ex-Freundin auf, die ihn wieder zurück haben will. Daneben erfährt man privates aus Rans doch sehr traurigem Leben. Und Sawa registriert erst langsam, dass sie Ran liebt. Will dann aber nach dieser Erkenntnis alles tun, um ihn für dich zu gewinnen, was gar nicht so einfach ist ….

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Series Review: Rockin' Heaven is a cute and short manga that was fun to pass the time with. The characters were good though I sometimes questioned their reactions to certain events. The plot wasn't that in depth but still enjoyable.

[Kadie D♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The after chapters very cute and funny, especially the mother of Sawa and Ran ! He is acting so cute at the swimming scene XD

Going to volume 3!

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5

[Katie (Katie's Corner Blog) · Rating 4 out of 5]

see full review @ Katie's Corner

[Kaede · Rating 4 out of 5]