Instant Teen: Just Add Nuts, Vol. 04

おとなにナッツ [Otona ni Nuts] #4

by Haruka Fukushima

Fifth-grader Natsumi, who can transform herself into a supermodel by eating nuts, becomes confused about her identity when she learns that her childhood friend, Asuma, may move to another town.

Genres: Manga, Shojo, Romance, Comics, Young Adult, Comedy

192 pages, Paperback

First published July 5, 2002

About the author

Name in Japanese: フクシマハルカ
She is a Japanese shōjo manga artist. She made her manga debut in 1999 in Nakayoshi Magazine with her award-winning manga Sakuranbo Kiss. She considers Otona ni Nuts (Instant Teen: Just Add Nuts) to be her masterpiece.

Reviews

[Cristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I fagioli non sono mai stati tanto magici da quando...piantandone uno nel terreno ne scaturiva una pianta colossale pronta per collegare il proprio mondo a quello dei giganti.
Questa non è la solita storia anche se le premesse principali ci sono tutte ma un tocco di fantasia ed originalità ha dato luogo ha: Nuts Panic!
Una piccola miniserie in 4 volumi che semplicemente da la possibilità ad una piccola peste di essere femminile ancor prima di crescere e di fare esperienze giocose e simpatiche senza cadere nell'indecenza ma anzi facendola crescere con ancor più voglia di fare le piccole esperienze di ogni giorno, volta per volta.
Carinissimo e simpaticissimo

[~Avi Ward~]

I liked the premise of this, but there was waaay too much junk.

[Bibliothecat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review for the complete series



Eleven-year-old Natsumi can't wait to become an adult and rid herself of all the limitations children are put under. As fate has it, Natsumi comes by a pack of magical nuts that turn her into an eighteen-year-old. Even though she is thrilled, she's starting to see that life as an adult isn't all fun and games. And in the end, it's up to her childhood friend Asuma to help her out whenever her adult-shenanigans have gone wrong.

Instant Teen: Just Add Nuts ended up with a rather embarrassing-sounding title for its English translation. Interestingly, I find this manga's plot to be incredibly similar to Fukushima's other work, Ai ga Nakuchane!, which was never actually translated to English. Natsumi's story focuses on how she becomes older by eating nuts whereas the other work focuses on a girl who becomes more stylish by the use of magical make-up. Not just the premise but the characters, main and supporting, are very similar. Fukushima does rather like plots that tamper with characters' appearances, especially younger characters, and I do have to say that she does it rather well.

I've always appreciated how Fukushima writes younger characters. Natsumi loves the idea of becoming an adult but doesn't quite grasp what that entails. Above all, she doesn't realise that taking these nuts doesn't actually change who she is on the inside: a child. Her friend Asuma seems to understand that better than she does, though, and I appreciate the resulting banter. They're pretty cute together and yes, there's a bit of a romance which I think has a sweet development.

Despite their similarities, I find myself liking Fukushima's Ai ga Nakuchane! a tad more. It probably comes down to length, which might come as a surprise, given that one is a four-volume series whereas the other is a oneshot. Natsumi's story has more time to develop, which I'd generally always consider an advantage, but in this particular case, I really enjoyed the oneshot's pacing and Natsumi's story became rather repetitive.

There's quite a bit of sexualising which I probably could have done without but I would still deem this a harmless manga that can be read by the intended younger audience without worry. Otherwise, it's a fun manga but nothing outrageously special.

[Victoria Reyes]

Out of all the books, this was my favorite.

[Ceejay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fourth volume of Instant Teen is a great ending to an excellent manga series. I won't give away the ending, but assuming that you've read the first three volumes, I feel you won't be disappointed. Ms. Fukushima has also included a bonus story called The Cherry Kiss. It's an enjoyable Rom-Com story, and was apparently her first effort when she was attending a manga school. Instant Teen is well worth putting on your list of romantic comedy series!

[Judyth · Rating 2 out of 5]

~1.5-2/5

[Read more at my blog, Geeky Reading!]

I was expecting this to be a cute, short series. I’ve read other series by Fukushima and enjoyed them. So I was disappointed to find that not only did I not like the story, but the characters even got on my nerves.

The character development was not good, and that was my main problem. Natsumi, the main character, is a kid who wants to grow up. Her feelings for wanting to grow up faster are childish, but not particularly in a bad way. My biggest problem with that is that she never really grows out of that, she never realizes that where she is now is fine and she doesn’t need to, nor should she, try to speed that up. Asuma, her childhood friend, is always there for her, and trying to get her not to grow up so fast, but she never really listens to him.

I just didn’t like Natsumi. She’s childish and selfish, she doesn’t think about anything before she does it, and she never learns. She makes similar mistakes over and over and yet never learns from them. She’s selfish in her decisions, and never learns to think about how they affect others.

The other characters never really get developed, either. There’s even a big time skip between volumes three and four, where side characters get married without actually showing the reader that they’re thinking of going in that direction.

Nothing really got enough attention to be developed. The characters and their reasons rubbed me the wrong way.

I’m disappointed with this series, really. I was hoping for more than it gave me.

[Fhily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lanjutan nya Growing Up Nuts vol. 3

Kalau disini tentang Natsumi yang sudah mau lulus SD, ketika kelulusannya itu Asuma mengajak Natsumi untuk berfoto bersama dengan Asuma dalam wujud 'anak-anak'. Namun, Nantsumi malah mengganti tampilannya menjadi dewasa membuat Asuma kecewa, padahal sebentar lagi Asuma dan keluarganya akan pergi?

Lucu sama endingnya bikin ngakak hahahaha... pas Natsumi sama Asuma mau menikah mereka memakan obat penenang karena mereka sangat gugup, ternyata yang mereka makan bukan obat penenang melainkan obat yang baru dalam tahap penelitian profesor yakni membuat orang yang memakannya kembali ke kanak-kanak... alhasil Natsumi dan Asuma kembali dalam wujud kanak-kanak...wkwkwkwkwkwk

[Reader17 Der · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoy this cute series. Sad that this was the last volume.

[Maria]

Dat love is 2 sweet 4 a girl like er do dat

[Mara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read/rated in grade school.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series was pretty fun as a whole and the characters were all entertaining. I also really enjoyed the bonus chapter "The Cherry Kiss" at the end of this volume.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute ending.

[Samantha Ewasiuk · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another fucked up lame boring Manga. I don't know why she making all her manga so badly like this. This manga make no sence at all. The story/plot/characters make no sence at all. She was all about growing up and being a adult. It was all about her and only her. She could not even see how her best friend felt/was going through at all. She only cares about being cool/sexy/adult/popular/a star. She think being a adult is all about being popular/sexy/cool nothing else. She does not care about being a chid/enjoying being a kid. She almost lost her best friend and is the only friend she have it seem. She was being hit on by older men and dating them like WTF OMG.