She is a Japanese manga artist known for creating The Magic Touch and Oresama Teacher which have both been serialized on the Hana to Yume magazine. Tsubaki began drawing manga in her first year of high school. She was soon selected to be in the top 10 of Hana to Yume Mangaka Course, and subsequently won the Big Challenge contest.
This year’s Nozaki-kun tankobon is maybe one of the weaker ones yet, though that just means I laughed seven or eight times rather than completely lost it at several points.
Still, even the worst of these is typically doing better than any other 4-koma gag book I’ve read and that continues to be the case. A lot of the gags come from people completely misinterpreting a statement, then being extra, but it works.
The first sections are some of the strongest, as Nozaki attempts to pull some heroine moves on Mikoshiba and starts to monologue the entire thing. This ropes in Sakura and Kashima as well and gets wildly silly.
The second segment, which pairs Seo and Nozaki in fancy dress chasing after Waka once the latter appears to be heading on a date, is probably the strongest. The girl Waka goes out with is clueless, but also turns out to be hilariously more ‘shojo manga heroine’ than she seems in one of the best reasons behind an obvious misunderstanding I’ve ever seen.
These side girls who show up for a couple moments this volume do tend to steal the show. The one above is so daft that she becomes a lot funnier than she appears. There’s a second one later on whose talent for falling in love leads to her being taken advantage of by an unscrupulous donut vendor.
This is mostly, I admit, a ‘what made me laugh’ sort of review. Nozaki and crew are so incredibly good at this sort of thing and also so very set in their roles that you are not going to come to like it now if you don’t already.
The drama club also scores big this time, as Hori steals one of Nozaki’s ideas for promoting creativity and, as expected, chaos ensues. Then random members start gaining their own fan club when an audience participation idea goes awry.
There are just a ton of great moments here and I love that it doesn’t forgot all that lore we’ve seen built up. Beyond the usual antics of Nozaki’s characters in his manga (winning as always), we get a deadly joke about Nozaki’s flip phone use that really made me laugh.
Even Nozaki’s brother, who I generally consider one of the more one-note characters, gets probably the second best storyline when he tweaks his behaviour to inspire his judo club members with alluring and then ludicrous effect.
The version of this review that takes a whole paragraph is basically that if you liked the other volumes, you’ll like this. Not the best, but still very good and very funny. I appreciate the yearly treat that these represent.
Ummm, some funny parts but I’m too far removed to understand what is really happening in each mini story. I just want the two mains to get together already. 😖 Does anyone know if this is the last volume?? It felt like filler, tbh.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Hilarious but I do feel like 16 volumes is a lot for a gag series. I wonder when the mangaka will end it? Oh and don’t read this for romance. Yeah, they talk about shoujo manga a lot in this series but it’s to make fun of it. As of right now, there’s really NO progress between any of the characters. It’s all fun and games lol.
Every volume of this manga is so jam-packed with wacky shenanigans that it can be challenging to untangle the threads when it comes time to review. (I think the four panel format exacerbates this issue.) Suffice it to say that this is filled with all the crazy misunderstandings that you have come to expect from this crew. I don’t think I could even pick a favorite story. Would it be the whole Kashima’s sister craziness or the gang helping Mayu to better relate to his team? Nope—it’s impossible to choose!
Ok, so coming straight out of volume 15 didn't do 16 any favors. It's got some good chuckles, but it's not as nearly laugh out loud funny. Still though, it's Nozaki-kun and if you like the series then you know what you're in for.
That said, I absolutely lost it with the iguana. Mayu earned an actual laugh, and Waka at dinner led to some great moments, too. Love this series.
I noticed in this volume that even though none of these characters are couples on the traditional sense, they still seem to belong to each other and show an element of jealousy that is usually reserved for the significant other. It's cute and makes the pairings feel more natural. Takes the pressure off the romantic angle and makes it more enjoyable. (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤
Volume 16 made me laugh out loud so much!!! The hilarious silly antics continue like always with all our beloved favorite main characters!!! This series is full of heartwarming laughs and hilarious dialog!!!
Fantastic Nozaki-kun material. It was so worth the wait to get this volume. Most of it is absolutely hilarious, though the issue about stanning was more confusing than anything else. I adore these characters and wish that they were published more quickly!
These are sadly declining in joke quality but there was a panel where Sakura was likened to a squirrel stuffing her cheeks with nuts and that got me for some reason
i love this series and I'm so excited with the development that's happening with Chiyo and Nozaki's relationship I just want them to be togetherrrrrr 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Llevo 5 años leyendo esta cosa y esperando cada agosto para leer scans piratas de los volúmenes and yet... cada que lo termino de leer me invade una tristeza aplomadora. Mis muchachos.
I feel like this took twice as long to read as a normal manga volume, because I kept pausing to laugh aloud and squee at the minute romantic developments
As usual, Nozaki-kun left me grinning ear-to-ear and blushing 😊