Genre: Romance
Age Rating: Teen (13+)
Price: $ 8.99
Just when things are going well for Haruna, in walks transfer student Leona Matsuzaka. Beautiful Leona's got only one thing in mind-to destroy Haruna's happiness! Who is this vengeful girl and why does she want to hurt Haruna so badly?
It's a bundle of cliches in this volume. The vengeful girl from the past, and the green eyed monster jealousy comes by to cause the happy couple to fight and the guy's best friend to try and win the girl away. A few humorous moments do not save this volume though.
The volume starts with a mid year transfer student. Yeah, that never happens in manga. She has her eye on Haruna, and of course, being so clueless, Haruna thinks the girl admires her. Not even close. She turns out to be an old rival from Haruna's softball days in Junior High. Now, she's out to get Haruna. She tricks Haruna and Yoh into the storage basement and locks them in, expecting them to fight. Of course, they don't, though Haruna needs a two by four to the head to realize that Yoh might like to save her every once in a while.
Later, Haruna gets it in her head that her best friend Mami needs a boyfriend, and Yoh's friend Asami would be perfect for her. Yoh's plan for a date alone with Haruna becames a double date that ends up with Haruna and Asami together for most of it instead of Mami. Again, clueless Haruna doesn't notice Yoh's jealousy. They fight, and Asami, under the pretenses of making Yoh so jealous that he'll apologize, goes on a date with Haruna. Not that Haruna realizes it's a date until Asami confesses he likes her.
Haruna's clueless nature, cute at first, has become annoying. I really can't enjoy a story where the female protagonist is so mind-numbingly dumb. And it's not that she's not intelligent, she's just unaware of the world around her. That might be funny to some people, but it really starts to wear thin after a while. It was especially bothersome in the last story where Haruna and Yoh fight, and it's mostly Haruna's fault since she didn't notice that all her time with Asami bothered Yoh. He probably shouldn't have gotten jealous, but I can't blame him for it, but I can blame Haruna for not noticing, or appearing to care for his feelings.
I liked the initial idea of two people, not really knowing how to have a relationship, and watching them stumble through it. But this volume relies too much on cliche and the protagonist's clueless nature to be interesting or entertaining. Yoh and his seeminly endless patience with Haruna is the volume's only saving grace.
High School Debut remains a completely average shojo title, with a few humorous and interesting scenes. This volume is a perfect example of it's mediocreness. There are better shojo out there to spend your time and money one.
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