Dankaisan gets a dorm!
Creative Staff
Story: Mayu Shinjo
Art: Mayu Shinjo
Translation/Adaptation: Tetsuichiro Miyaki
What They Say
Now that all St. Nobara Girls Academy knows Akira is a boy, the students want Mizuki to stop dating him because of Dankaisan Boys School’s awful reputation. Pressured by her classmates and the student council president, Mizuki decides to do the unthinkable: she goes to Ran for help.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With the close of the previous volume, the band’s reunited, they’ve won a special award despite Akira blowing his cover, and Mizuki and Akira are free to date openly. Happily ever after, right? Wrong. Now that everyone knows Akira’s a guy, the girls at St. Nobara are vehemently opposed to him dating Mizuki–not because of Akira himself, but because of his school.
Although Shinjo-sensei’s made much of the fact that St. Nobara’s a much more dignified place than Dankaisan, it hasn’t come across as a snooty, but it does in Volume 4 as fellow students pressure Mizuki to stop seeing Akira. The really interesting thing is that Mizuki does feel like she’s forced to choose between the school she loves and the boy she loves. Being a tomboy rock guitarist, she seemed more the rebellious type, but her loyalty to her school runs deep. As she struggles with a very shojo dilemma, St. Nobara takes on the aura of an extremely strict sorority, especially with the introduction of President Ageha. She’s among the rare St. Nobara students who wear pants, and she certainly wears the pants when it comes to dominating the school. Taking on an evil stepmother-queen type role, Ageha throws Mizuki into the brig (apparently St. Nobara has one) and dictates to Akira the terms by which he can reclaim her.
All this sets the stage for an Akira-rescues-his-Princess storyline. But because the challenge is about improving Dankaisan’s image, it’s not exactly a “dark Akira” situation. Of course, Ran and Rui offer a solution tailored toward their own self-interest. Turning Dankaisan High into a boarding school to reduce juvie cases seems a bit of a stretch, but it provides an additional setting for Ai Ore!’s resident perverts to harass Akira as well as the premise for a new regular to the cast.
Enter Banbi (i.e. Bambi-chan), Akira’s roommate. Banbi is an awesome addition to the series. While Mizuki has her sister and rocker friends, Akira hasn’t had male characters that he can relate to in a normal way. Ran and Rui are always on the verge of sexually assaulting him, and his brothers are idiots. With Banbi though, we get to see a different kind of vulnerability in Akira, which has been hitherto lacking, and Banbi’s certain to please fans who like big brother types that are tough looking but actually sweet on the inside.
In Summary
Those who like seeing Mizuki as a damsel in distress will enjoy this installment of Ai Ore! when she literally gets locked up for daring to date a Dankaisan student. Of course, given the nature of this series, the drama’s interspersed with raunchy humor as Ran and Rui use her dilemma to manipulate Akira into living with them in Dankaisan’s brand-new dormitory. In her mangaka notes, Shinjo-sensei talks about increasing Ran and Rui’s appearances, and their zaniness is definitely prevalent in this volume. However, their lewd comedy act is tempered by the unexpectedly normal friendship that blooms between Akira and his new roommate Banbi.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: February 7th, 2012
MSRP: $9.99
