Tokyo Boys & Girls, Vol. 1

東京少年少女 [Tokyo Shounen Shoujo] #1

by Miki Aihara

The school year starts off well when Mimori befriends the beautiful Nana, but things quickly turn sour for her when she is chosen to be the class representative. Through a series of unfortunate events, she finds herself the focus of attention by three boys and her teachers for all the wrong reasons! Mimori is reunited with Atsushi, a boy she knew in elementary school--and it turns out he despises her for allegedly bullying him in their grade school days. In fact, he plans to exact a little revenge!

Genres: Manga, Romance, Shojo, Fiction, Comics, Young Adult, Graphic Novels

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 1995

About the author

Miki Aihara (相原実貴 AIHARA Miki) is a Japanese female manga artist noted for creating the manga series Hot Gimmick and the series Tokyo Boys & Girls. She debuted with the series Lip Conscious in the manga magazine Betsucomi.

Reviews

[Rainy-Night-Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars ⭐️

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tokyo Boys & Girls is one of Miki Aihara’s more underrated works, and I think part of it stems from the first volume. I first read it as a young adult that was obsessed with Aihara’s more popular series Hot Gimmick. Eager, I picked up the first volume of Tokyo Boys & Girls and felt only lukewarm, and didn’t revisit the series until a decade later.

The story follows a girl named Mimori making her high school debut, she’s excited to make friends, become fashionable, and spend her high school days with a handsome boyfriend. It’s cute honestly, and the older I get the more I like Mimori. I liked the group dynamic and it was fun to follow the chain of crushes as they developed.

The drama remains relatively low stakes which makes this first volume feel cozier. There are some silly parts of the series, like the boys developing a game and for some reason only saving their files to a floppy disk with no backups. I had a hard time believing it, but I could forgive it for the sake of the story.

Overall I think Tokyo Boys & Girls deserves more of a chance, and it only gets better as the series progresses. I’m glad that I gave it a second chance all those years ago and have enjoyed re-reading it again out of nostalgia.

♥ Basically Pure-Hearted: The bonus story included at the back of the volume was mediocre at best and the first time I read it I got a little angry. The story follows a nice girl whose dating a popular guy, pretty standard stuff. It’s a high school romance and the central conflict comes from a lack of communication. Both of the main characters are immature and their relationship is toxic, but at least the level of toxicity is believable.

[~Cyanide Latte~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slice of life and romantic drama shoujo manga typically isn't my thing. However, this popped up in my suggestions on here and on a whim I purchased a copy, because I vaguely remembered having thumbed through volume 1 in high school when at a friend's house and raiding her manga shelf.

I will say I really like the art style here; it's not what I'm used to in manga or anime and it's a refreshing change of pace in that regard. The story...eh, I could take it or leave it. It definitely sets up for a super-angsty teen romantic drama, with aspects of slice of life on the side. At present, many of the characters feel slightly one-dimensional: they seem to be defined by one or two mentioned character traits, and it doesn't feel like those get expanded upon as the story progresses throughout the volume. Granted, it is just the first volume, so perhaps more depth and personality to everyone is shown throughout the series as a whole?

I'm not sure what else could be said without directly giving spoilers as to the events in this volume. So I will leave it at, if you don't care for teenaged romantic drama, then skip this one. If that's right up your alley, then I think volume one here is at least worth a read.

Will I continue with the rest of the series? At present I'm leaning towards "no". It's not that I'm not intrigued to see what happens, but based on ratings and reviews for the later volumes that I've seen [both on here and on Amazon], it looks like the series doesn't wrap up well and has a lot of issues. :/

[D.T. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fast-paced but a little messy. Mimori's excited about her high-school life at a school she's always wanted to go to. On her first day, she makes friends with a super cute girl who is super sweet as well, but she also manages to make some enemies with the boys' academy/classroom next door.

This manga is definitely older with the floppy disk (that takes me wayyyyy back) and casual use of the f-word. The now-retro artwork is cute, but I didn't find the story charming.

There's a guy, Haruta, who is big mad at Mimori but won't tell her WHY. Little boy, get out of your feelings. @__@ I bet you $5 he mad about something stupid. In addition, there are two other boys Mimori's entangled with, Ran (who desperately wants her friend) and Kuniyasu (a playboy who sets his sights on her).

I think if I had read this when it first came out I probably would've been hooked. But as it is now, I could take or leave it.

[Cat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Note: rating for the whole series!

Read this short series in a single go (only 18 chapters/5 volumes) and I’d probably consider it thoroughly mid. It’s not bad, but also not good; it’s a teenage slice of life with romance and friendships and unrequited love, plus some drama, obviously. But I’m rating it a bit lower at 2 stars because the manga shows its age in the romance tropes (like having relentless pursuit be an acceptable thing, or miscommunication/lack of communication be romantic), and I don’t really feel like anything was developed or explored to any deep level. Overall, the series isn’t something I’d recommend to anyone.

Also, the ending is thoroughly weird - why is the solution for the MC to move into the apartment complex of the rich guy who refuses to stop pouring her, but the solution to that awkward situation/potential for further jealous miscommunications is that her boyfriend gets to move into a neighboring apartment too lol.

[B · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very paint-by-numbers shoujo setting with art and characters that just ooze that early 200s0s vibe. Main character Mimori just wants to survive high school and get herself a few friends (and maybe a boyfriend) but uh-oh ~SHENANIGANS~ land Mimori in the middle of a chaotic group of boys. And what's that?? Do I smell a looove triangle???

Fairly dated but may be enjoyed with rose-tinted glasses for the nostalgia factor or by readers new to the genre.

CW: lots of questionable consent in regards to girls getting grabbed and kissed, general jerkiness from the very ~very~ tsundere male lead, and casual drop of the f- slur.

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mediocre start to a series that I hope will grow on me. The characters were bland and uniform; sometimes it was hard to distinguish them from one another due to similar physical characteristics and blended personalities. I bought the entire series used though so I am going to tough it out.

[Kristin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hard to follow.

[TT · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this series but it just wasn't as good as her popular series was. I quit after v. 1.

[Stephanie Jachymek · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series is not good. Most of the main characters are garbage. Nana is the worst though.
Will I even remember this in a few months? Probably not.

[Avery Taryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay, I would read the second one

[Kristin ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I see the potential

[Sam (superblomper) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A romp™

[Silje ! ☆〜 · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️3.75 :p

[aya 🐉 · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is so toxic but idc

[Evelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

This was so cute! I picked up this series at a used bookstore the other day and I’m so glad I did. I really liked Mimori and the boys. I’m excited to see where this story goes!

[Kereesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

In complete contrast to most about this series (or at least this first volume), I actually enjoyed this more than the mangakan's previous (& more popular), series Hot Gimmick.

In comparison, Tokyo Boys & Girls is quite similar to Hot Gimmick. It revolves around a group of boys and girls that develop relationships, with various degrees of hatred, love, jealousy, etc..., within the larger context of a school setting. Despite that fundamental similarity, however, I can't help but really be drawn to Tokyo Boys & Girls more than Hot Gimmick.

Maybe it's the fact that Tokyo Boys & Girls doesn't have the douchebaggery asshole very mean character of Ryouki.

Nahhhh.

Regardless, it's a very interesting start, and I can't help being drawn into the drama dynamics, jealousies, and relationships that Aihara does so well, whether its in Tokyo Boys & Girls or Hot Gimmick. The art, as always, is wonderful and adorably cute :) 4-4.5/5

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm currently reading and re-reading a load of manga from my teenage years, and I've moved on to Tokyo Boys and Girls by Miki Aihara. Volumes 1 is a good introduction to the storyline, though I was expecting the characters to be running around Tokyo a bit more considering the title of the series, rather than being largely confined to a high school.

So far, the characters are likable. One thing I HATED was the bonus story at the end. The guy is a class A douche. He's mean to his girlfriend, belittles her, abandons her to go out with other girls, and gets jealous when she talks to other guys. Oh, but because he loves her we're meant to forgive all that?! Considering the age demographic for this manga is teenage girls, I worry about the message this sends out.

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first Manga and I'm not entirely sure I enjoyed it nor got into the story. The story lines kept stopping abruptly and it broke the rhythm and it made it tough to follow along. The issue between Mimori and Atsushki was never explained but just referred to and that kept getting a little tired. While I got a decent sense of what the characters were like, I never felt invested enough in any of them to consider reading the next in the series.

[Kathleen Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

After checking out a few reviews I decided I'd give this series a shot. I found a great deal on Ebay for for the first five volumes for only $10!

It really was a fun manga, glad I have the next four in the series. it's fun and silly, and has some real feelings and moments sprinkled between everything.

I have yet to find the third boy who'd be "into" the main character, but either he comes in later, or it's just one of her classmates who fels she owes money too and it's not romantic.

[Genevieve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another cute series by Miki Ahihara. I really like her drawing style and the story is short and cute.

To be honest, I don't exactly remember everything about this story but I do remember liking it. Looks like I'll have to reread it. >_<

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first volume of "Tokyo Boys and Girls" proves to be an entertaining high school romance. Neither the art nor characters are as captivating as Miki Aihara's "Hot Gimmick" series, but the story is quite cute and bound to entertain any shojo fan.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting manga. Not sure where the story is going to go. But I am going to keep reading to see what the beef is between the two main characters. Will they end up making up or will they become rivals? I will have to wait and see.

[Emily S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great series! I liked it a lot.

[Kerry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried reading this one, but I just couldn't get into it.

[Casimiro Deleon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hard to follow

[Introvert Booklover · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's okay.

[Fyre.Katz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like her mangas!

[Cristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good re-read. XD

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

good story but the art wasn't really my type