I Reads You Review: GREAT PLACE HIGH SCHOOL (YAOI)

Creator: Naduki Koujima (cartoonist); Sachiko Sato (translation)

Publishing Information: Juné Manga/DMP, paperback, B&W with some color, 164 pages, $12.95 (US)

Ordering Numbers: ISBN: 978-1-56970-747-0 (ISBN-13); 1-56970-747-2 (ISBN-10)

Drama/Romance; Rated “M” for “Mature 18+”

Great Place High School is a manga from Naduki Koujima, the creator of the manga series, Our Kingdom. The story takes place at a high school full of rambunctious boys and has elements of boys’ love (both shounen-ai and yaoi), bishounen, and high school comedy.

Great Place High School may be like most high schools, with a student body comprised of jocks and geeks and popular girls and not-so-popular girls. The focus, however, is the computer club known as the Information Management Club. There, control freak Ryouichi Tsuruga has to keep things in order, which is made difficult because he has to fend of the machinations of his ultra-vain twin brother, Naruhito.

The arrival of a new member, Minami Wakamatsu, a cute kid with a tendency to destroy electronic gadgets, only complicates matters. Naruhito has a cuteness fetish, and he begins to both harass and hit on Minami. But why should Ryouichi care, unless he also has strong feelings for Minami, whom the Tsuruga brothers feed and dote on as if he were a small pet.

Meanwhile, two other comic melodramas ensue. We learn the history between Student Council President Rin Amanohara and Vice-President Eichi Shidou who have been together since childhood. Also, people think Kotone Kimura and Suzune Kimura are identical twins. They are really first cousins whose mothers are sisters. One thinks they are rivals, but the other cousin thinks they should be romantic.

One of my favorite manga artists is Naduki Koujima because of her gorgeous art. She cartoons the human face with such skill that her characters are beautiful (or pretty like a girl) whether she’s drawing them straight or super-deforming them. I could make viewing Koujima’s comic book art a daily exercise in uplifting my spirits.

Great Place High School, however, is not a great manga, but it is offers light entertainment. It is a collection of short, short stories and several pages of four-panel, vertical gag strips. The Rin-Eichi stories are yaoi as they feature graphic depictions of sex between a male lovers. The Kimura stories are light-hearted shounen-ai boys’ love. The rest of this book is boys’ love comedy – more comedy than BL.

Most of Great Place High School is feel-good and cozy. One might even think of it as BL comfort food. Those who like me enjoy the eye-candy art of Naduki Koujima will want this comfort food.

B