Life imitates art when Mafuyu Kirisu reads a romantic manga and starts to see the world through rose-colored, lovey-dovey glasses! When everything seems like innuendo, how will this straitlaced teacher manage to keep her cool?
Volume notes: Fumino gets an arc for her own. I'm happy. 5 stars.
Series review: "We Never Learn" or #BokuBen is a comedy manga that draws its laughs from the interactions of the main character Yuiga with his harem, I mean, his classmates Fumino, Ogata, and Uruka. He tutors them, with a college scholarship on the line for him. There are also two other supporting characters in the periphery, teacher Kirasu, and recent alum Asumi, whose orbits sometimes cross into the paths of the main cast. It has the usual pervy tropes found in manga of its ilk, although toned down because of the high school setting. It was a manga I did not expect to enjoy as much as I did. It gave me that "finale high" which I associate with stories that get me as a reader.
One reason I probably enjoyed this series is the earnestness of the main character. One can't help but cheer for him. He's a good guy and hopelessly clueless sometimes, which is main component of his charm.
Make no mistake, this is a welcome step up from the last couple of volumes of We Never Learn. It doesn’t start out that way - there are some rough stories at the start that really don’t do much for me. The first four chapters are pretty predictable and lean heavily on the worst habits of the series.
Once we get to the chapter of Furuhashi and Uruka sharing a mostly-sweet moment at a diner, things get a lot better. It’s not a stretch to say that if this manga has a beating heart, Furuhashi is it. She gets short shrift a lot just because she puts her friends above herself constantly, so it’s nice to see her get some focus.
Kirisu stories are typically hit-or-miss, but this next one is pure gold, as an appropriated volume of shojo manga causes her to start projecting the story into her real life encounter with Nariyuki. This one is worth it just for the fake shojo pages in the arc, which are achingly bad but still feel very true to the genre.
We end with the first parts of a multi-chapter Furuhashi arc involving her and her father that sees her move in with Nariyuki and it’s got both heart and a lot of goofy fun. There’s a great set of panels where the two are brushing their teeth in tandem that works really well.
Heck, they even get some good jokes out of Nariyuki’s sister’s brother complex, which is one of those running gags that’s always just slightly on the bubble for me. I wasn’t expecting much from this volume, but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
Beh, questo l'ho letto più volentieri di tanti altri volumi. Forse anche perché leggevo un capitoletto nelle pause tra i miei 400 salti con la corda giornalieri.
E si scopre che tra le tante qualità di Nariyuki c'è anche quella di fare dei massaggi straordinari, mentre la professoressa si fa prendere troppo da un volume di fumetti.
Non avrei mai creduto di arrivare fin qua... Ma ormai potrei arrivare alla fine della serie.
Oh dang we've slowly built an arc up! Visiting universities, turning into parent-teacher conferences about career prospects, and finally we're getting a multi-parter about Furuhashi and her relationship with her father! It's neat how everything tied together, and definitely a highlight when put up against the same-y stuff that happens in the one-off stories.
All the girls are adorable. Mr. Tutor is a lucky man. He just doesn't realize it. At least not yet. Ah, school days. To be young & in love again. These stories warm an old man's heart. Now for the wait until the next volume is released. Art, very good. Dialogue, excellent. Characters, believable, relatable, likeable.
Summary of chapter 79: I'll have what she's having.
Other than that, there's the usual shenanigans and Fumino is now my precious tiny child who needs all the love and support because she is trying her hardest to succeed at her dream and to be a friend for Rizu and Uruka (even dropping hints to the oblivious Nariyuki that Uruka likes him). And then we meet her father...
Oh my god, I hate her father. I hate his guts. He needs to die and burn in hell for all eternity where he is forced to sit through literature classes forever! WARNING: RANT TO FOLLOW You sir, are a terrible parent and I don't care what kind of 'redemption arc' this author comes up with, I will hate you until the day I die!
Fumino Furuhashi is my favorite in the harem that is central to this story. She motivated my interest to continue reading after volume 6 when I saw that one of the coming volumes dealt with her relationship to her father.
That story starts in the last three chapters of volume 10. It wasn't what I expected; it was far better! Taishi Tsutsui is a far better writer than the first nine volumes led me to believe. (Partly, this opinion reflects my reading of the first chapter in volume 11, which borders on visual poetry.)
Volume 10 also has plenty of the silliness of the earlier volumes; but I am easily swayed by the beauty of a moment.