Can high school delinquent Mafuyu clean up her act and still kick some butt?!
Mafuyu is the no-nonsense, take-charge and hard-hitting leader of her high school gang. But when she gets expelled for being a delinquent, her mother, fed up with her daughter's wayward ways, sends Mafuyu to an isolated school far off in the country.
Mafuyu has a typically bizarre visit to her hometown over winter break, but even that weirdness isn't enough to prepare her for what's going on back at Midorigaoka Academy--someone is impersonating Super Bun to do evil deeds! Can the Public Morals club unmask the creepy doppelganger before Super Bun's reputation is permanently destroyed?!
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.
After an abrupt detour to Mafuyu’s hometown for winter break cross-dressing mayhem with old allies and rivals, the story returns to the Christmas cliffhanger. But instead of forcing Hayasaka to confront Mafuyu about her secret identity, the plot takes an unexpected turn with a mysterious new character. So even though the state of the Hayasaka-Mafayu relationship remains the same, the Super Bun doppelganger brings fresh intrigue into the school.
The Review
The cover for this volume confused me. The girl dominating the design didn’t match any of the Midorigaoka students so I assumed it was a tribute to Hayasaka’s cross-dressing past. It wasn’t until I read the Mafuyu/Takaomi text exchange at the very end of the book that I realized it’s actually someone from Mafuyu’s hometown. The featured cross-dresser is not Hayasaka, but West High bancho Sakurada!
That’s because Mafuyu abruptly returns home for winter break, a scene change I found jarring and irritating. After the anticipation built up during the Christmas party in Volume 20, the tension plummets as readers are forced once more to recall who is who in Mafuyu’s old gang life. This side arc, the tale of a cross-dressing date gone wrong, is actually kind of amusing once you remember the characters, but the timing makes it seem as if Tsubaki-sensei is stalling while she figures what to do about Hayasaka’s Christmas discovery.
So it’s two chapters later that we get his reaction. However, instead of the major shift in the Mafuyu-Hayasaka relationship that I anticipated, we get a new challenge for the Public Morals Club. All suspicions Hayasaka have about Mafuyu being Super Bun fall to the wayside when a Super Bun imposter appears before them! And this rabbit has an agenda. Not only does she creep out the student body, she actively attacks the Student Council where they are most vulnerable. This causes chaos for the council and reflects badly on the Public Morals Club. In addition to the comedy associated with a weird bunny-masked double, she also brings a new mystery for our characters to solve and raises additional questions about her first victim, President Miyabi. Perhaps the Student Council’s efforts didn’t bring down the Public Morals Club, but the fate of Midorigaoka High is by no means secured.
Extras in this volume include Characters and Story Thus Far, 4-panel comics, and a character relationship chart.
Wow, It ended so great! I wish it wasn't the ending of the whole series. From how it ended (I think there will be more) She never got to tell him how she really feels about him, Same for him.
I almost wish that I had been following this series more closely. I do quite enjoy the humor here, and while there are too many characters to keep track of, I do enjoy the comedy and antics involved.
At the beginning of the volume, there's a chapter involving crossdressing, in which one guy pretends to be a girl and has to reject a guy that confessed to “her”, and Mafuyu gets to pretend to be “her” boyfriend. There are a lot of misunderstandings and silly competitions involved.
After that, there's an impostor Super Bun running around campus and causing havoc, stealing stuff. Mafuyu is confused by it, but also very freaked out at having so many of her masks all over the place. I do quite enjoy all of the comedy involved, misunderstandings and the confusion that ensues.
This series is quite fun, and I do enjoy reading it. I look forward to seeing who this fake super bun is in the next one.
A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!
Another good volume in the series so far. Been liking the series and at times, thought the series can be a bit long. But at the same time I'm kind of liking it and like some of the characters. The overall story is interesting too.