ODA Tomohito Name (in native language):小田智仁 Associated Names:オダトモヒト
Tomohito Oda won the grand prize for World Worst One in the 70th Shogakukan New Comic Artist Awards in 2012. Oda’s series Digicon, about a tough high school girl who finds herself in control of an alien with plans for world domination, ran from 2014 to 2015.
One star each for the last five pages, overflowing with immense love and intense heartbreak. There are other pages in the book too, but they are just filled with a roster of nearly every character who has ever been in the series (plus a few new ones) and a couple of festivals (sports and cultural). It's all good, but none of it compares to. those. last. five. pages.
Volume 16 is relatively uneventful, in terms of important progress, though a lot of stuff happens: Another sports festival, summer time bike rides and cat cafes, and another cultural festival. Fave characters continue to be Tadano, Komi, and Manbagi, who figure here importantly and Najimi, who is not so important in this volume.
The play's the (best) thing in the volume. All the machinations within the play production are well done, moving the Komi, Manbagi and Tadano relationships (as always) slowly to their inevitable conclusion. So I like what happens there, well-written. But I mean, in how many volumes has there been almost no movement at all in the Tadano-Komi relationship?! Ugh. I understand we are actually through volume 23, so far, so we can’t expect resolution any time soon. But it is over all still fun.
I have said it before: Komi does not need to make 100 friends (the premise of the series). The ones we have now are a pretty good cast of characters, I’d say.
This story became much more interesting when it introduced Rumiko to the mix.
Turning this into romantic comedy from the slice-of-life high school comedy kept this series fresh as long as it can.
However, once this romantic tension disappears, I wonder if the author can keep their readers entertained for a while longer. I guess I only need to stay tuned to see if that happens.
Another Volume of Komi that just makes me laugh and smile.
I love the progression of this series very much. Komi has grown so much, and now we are headed into a major conflict with a friend in the next volume, and yes, its the one that we have been anticipating for a while. It's coming to a head now, and I am interested to see how Komi and Todano both handle the situation.
Sports festival! Bike rides! Manbagi and Tadano! It’s all mere prelude to the school festival, where a brainstorming session ends up landing on a play performance and, while she may not be good at it, Komi finally puts the lie to her own title.
When a volume of manga doesn’t lead with its best foot, it can be a bit of an uphill battle for it to go anywhere, which is why this one turns out to be a bit of a pleasant surprise.
This latest sports festival is a rehash of the previous one, but it’s been so long that a new or new-to-most-of-us cast of characters is trotted out and most generate an emphatic shrug.
I won’t say it doesn’t have its moments - Komi and Manbagi missing out on their chance to feed Tadano because of the latter’s unexpected popularity is really good (and also features a brief cameo by possibly my favourite tsundere in manga history).
The student council president takes her dedication to fair play way too seriously, and there’re a couple of positively adorable side moments with everybody’s other favourite hyperhydrosis sufferer, Ase.
We also get some cute cat cafe antics that show that Tadano has cross-species appeal and that Manbagi’s chest is alluring to at least one zealous male. There’s another section featuring Komi’s dad and her brother that has an okay ending, but otherwise plods along. The kiss flashback is also kind of dull.
Then it gets better.
Over the course of the last few volumes, it has been common for me to vent a bit about the way Manbagi is about to be emotionally shredded as our leads grow close (even as she makes some real overtures this time out, bless her). I’m pretty sure that happened this volume and, credit where it’s due, it isn’t as bad as I thought.
Largely because of how it’s done, wrapped up in one of the best ‘school play’ stories I’ve seen since the one done in Nisekoi: False Love, which was better than that series deserved and remains my benchmark.
This one’s genesis comes from the aforementioned brainstorming session that basically causes Komi’s class to be even creepier than usual and the play ends up being the more sanity-adjacent compromise.
Naturally, cue Najimi taking over as the most miserable (assistant) director on any Hollywood backlot (absolute power and all that) and poor Komi being stuffed into a role she’s demonstrably unsuited for.
One thing that has made me appreciate this series much more is realizing/learning that almost all the characters have incredibly dumb puns for names. So when a new character who’s a female that performs male roles shows up to not be Tadano, you had best bet that she is, yes, named after the all-female Takarazuka Revue. Brilliant touch.
And between her causing widespread swooning and utilizing Tadano to the best of his ability to urge Komi on, well, the play still just isn’t working. So she writes her own and they do two plays and swap out some roles and…
Look, at the end of the day, I am a basic guy who wants a good laugh and/or a good moment out of any given manga. The ending of that play, much as it can easily be swept under the rug next time (hopefully not), is a big moment that has been a long time coming and the mangaka kills it here.
From the revelation on the stage to the revelation for at least one unsuspecting audience member (again, I honestly don’t think there was a better way to wrap that thread up save the recognizance implied here), it just says a lot while, fittingly, saying it very quietly.
Shame about the mediocrity before it. If the whole thing has been this good it would have been an easy five stars. Instead…
4 stars - I mean, I telegraphed that one, right? Come for the last story and I can’t see many people being disappointed, even if the outcome wasn’t quite what I wanted. At the end of the day, that’s just good writing.
While some of the gags weren't that funny (did we REALLY need "Emoyama likes emoi" written at the end of every panel during her chapters?), the sports festival was entertaining (as most tend to be) and the start of the Culture Festival nearly brought me to tears. It never ceases to amaze me how certain volumes tend to be emotional rollercoasters that end in a gut-punch to the feels. Something I will say about Emoyama's chapters is that I appreciated how it was more so showing the relationships between characters than the (in my opinion) unfunny gag. Finally, the former student council president is a riot and I'm glad she's still in the series.
Not much to add, loved this volume despite its flaws.
Favorite moments: -The whole class feeding Tadano part of their lunches because he forgot his. -Tadano patting Komi's head to cheer her up and instantly getting embarrassed about it. -Komi taking her friends to the cat cafe. -When Shosuke said he had to change his email 5 times since meeting Hitomi because she keeps giving it out to people. -The scene in the play where they played Beyblades with the townsfolk.
This series has so many small moments that make me laugh out loud, I love it so much!!!
We see plenty of liveliness at the school’s sports festival while Komi’s brother and dad have some interesting father-son bonding time. Later, Tadano spends time with Manbagi at her home and she nearly spills the beans about her secret infatuation for him and the class puts on a very interesting play for the school’s cultural festival that has a small surprise. A- (91%/Excellent)
A little disjointed at times, but as some familiar events make their return in the new school year, friendship and romance will make themselves known one way or another.
Overall this volume is a strong one and it ends on a very high note, that’s all I’ll say about that. My favorite chapters from this volume are chapters 210 (😂), 213 (👀), 215 (😶😶), and 223 (😳). I always enjoy reading this series and that hasn’t changed after finishing this volume.
***
This volume begins with the sports festival, which took a second to get into. I feel like there was a lot of stuff going on at first but, after a few pages/a chapter, I was able to settle in soon enough.
Then we get to see Komi and Manbagi each grapple with their feelings towards Tadano. They both like him but they also don’t know how to tell him how they feel.
In between that we also get to see Shosuke and his father (Masayoshi) bond, sort of. I really like how Oda uses silence to create mood. Oda really let’s the art do the talking/Oda let’s action do the communicating.
There’s also a wholesome moment between Masayoshi and Shuko. I wonder how Oda determines what happens from chapter to chapter. I don’t see how this chapter fit within the story as it comes after Manbagi and Tadano go to a pet store.
That said, the play was super well done by Oda and the next volume is sure to be full of tough conversations.
Ese final entre el "Te amo" del teatro y las lágrimas de Rumiko me ha dejado una sensación agridulce. He pasado de tener el pecho calentito a notar una enorme presión. SOLO QUIERO QUE LAS DOS SEAN FELICES
Kisahserial ini menjadi semakin menarik seiring Rumiko bergabung dan kini Rumiko semakin sadar bagaimana perasaannya pada Tadano hhe. Daaaaan di akhir jilid ini, lewat dialog drama festival sekolah, Rumiko "menyadari" nya hhu
Meski begitu, Oda sensei tetap mampu membuat serial ini menjadi komedi romantis dari komedi SMA yang bertemakan slice of life, setidaknya tidak membuat alurnya menjadi stagnan.
Namun, begitu ketegangan romantis ini hilang, pembaca mungkin bertanya-tanya apakah Oda sensei tetap dapat menghibur pembacanya lebih lama lagi. Ini tentu perlu dinantikan volume berikutnya untuk melihat apakah itu terjadi.
I felt so bad for Manbagi at the end :( This volume really picked up steam in the second half; honestly, I felt that the first half didn’t have much impact. I love how the storyline veered into talking about the love triangle through the use of the school play as a foil, I thought it was done well!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Llego el momento del festival deportivo y lo más sobresaliente es que Tadano olvidó su Benito y Komi se sentía triste Ah la salida padre e hijo de los hombres Komi estuvo muy divertida. Las secciones de los padres Komi cuando son jóvenes me encantan.
El festival cultural llega y el grupo de Tadano y Komi hacen una obra que hará que Mangabi abra los ojos
This volume wasn't only your regular kawaii, but also emoi ;)
Plus any volume with Shosuke and, more over, Komi's dad in it, it's just a joy. Not to mention cats, some pats in the head, and an ending that seems to be pretty reveling and quite promising for some of us that weren't that happy to face yet another love triangle.
i was going to give this a solid 4 stars but then!!! the theatre chapter happened so now it gets 5 stars because of my emotional attachment to the characters