Enter the tertiary characters!
Creative Staff:
Story & Art: Izumi Tsubaki
Translation: Leighann Harvey
Lettering: Lys Blakeslee
What They Say:
Hit shoujo manga-ka and high school boy Umetarou Nozaki will do just about anything to find ideas for his manga! He’ll test his courage with horror games. He’ll even play the role of the girl manager for a sports team! But will he get that romantic payoff at the end? Better yet, will Chiyo, whose passion spirals out of control when her beloved Nozaki is away?!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
In Summary:
Now six volumes into Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, we’ve become fully familiar with the core cast to the point that what was originally novel has become the norm for both the readers as well as main character Chiyo who served as the reader’s self-insert. While initially reacting surprised at Nozaki and company’s shenanigans, Chiyo has slowly gotten accustomed to her world’s eccentricities to the point that she doesn’t even bat an eye at Nozaki’s own cluelessness about her one-sided love for him. So what’s the story to do at this point to keep things fresh?
While previous volumes have tried bringing the main school cast to different locations like the beach or a classmate’s house, this feels like the first real volume where tertiary characters are beginning to be explored outside of their initial introduction chapter. Long neglected characters like Nozaki’s brother Mayu and editor Ken are finally getting chapters that delve a bit more into their character outside of their shallow exteriors and it benefits the series as a whole. Author Tsubaki tows the line with Ken’s in-office humor, feeling more like an extended version of Nozaki’s manga-ka antics. But her real strength this volume is with how she treats Mayu, who felt little more than a one-note character when first introduced.
The main problem with Mayu is that he’s lazy—comically so to the point that coming up with scenarios to fit his character felt like something that couldn’t support itself for too long. This time around, though, we’re beginning to see how Tsubaki is able to take a purposefully bland character and craft a scenario around him. While the majority of the cast’s stories are character-driven, their colorful personalities actively forming the scene around them, Mayu’s has to be scenario-driven—since the character literally does nothing, Tsubaki forms a plot around that, forcing Mayu into a corner until he has no choice but to act. It’s interesting just in how different the character is in comparison to the rest of the cast and shows just how skilled Tsubaki can be with her own characters when she tries.
Such a trait again shows up when an additional character is introduced in the form of Seo’s older brother. Rather than acting as a punching bag for his younger more aggressive sister, Ryousuke acts more as a compliment to college-aged manga-ka Miyako. Where earlier volumes had nameless classmates make inferences on Miyako’s work life, having Ryousuke around gives someone more substantial to follow around. And while he doesn’t offer anything that hasn’t been done before, having a named classmate added to Miyako’s college life does feel like a step in the right direction.
Add to this the slightly more sparing, but noticeably more wacky shenanigans at Roman High School and you have a volume that’s far from stale.
In Summary:
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun volume 6 continues to deliver the laughs, upping the silliness at the series’ central Roman High School, while making a point of progressing its lesser characters as well. Nozaki’s world is expanding, and so is the series’ possibility for new nonsense.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Teen
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: February 28, 2017
MSRP: $13.00
