- Overall (6/10): High School Family is definitely a hidden gem if you are searching for a good slice-of-life comedy. Yes, if you see the overall points of 6/10, you may not believe me, but even with its flaws it is way more complex and funny than you think at first look… Just like I made this mistake at the beginning! So give it a chance! But before that, let’s talk about the details. - Story (6/10): What is High School Family anyway? A boy starts to go to high school. Very basic, nothing special. But this time, his whole family, his 40+ years old Dad and Mom, hisalmost 10 years old little sister and even his goddamn cat! Is going as well!
Okay, this stupid madness will scare away a lot of people. It almost got me as well. However, as time goes by, we get a well-written love story, hilarious sports drama, funny twists, gang fights, David vs Goliath shogi championships and and and! The list goes on and on, and believe me or not, these story parts are really good! Nevertheless, the absurd comedy added sometimes 1-3 plus points, but also destroyed an almost perfect written story a lot of time. So it swung between a 4 and an 8 all the time.
- Art (3/10):
On top of that, the biggest weak point, which may drive away a potential reader, is the terrible art style. It is very simple, very basic and somehow ugly. I needed at least 10-20 chapters to get used to it. And even if it became better with the time, including backgrounds and paneling, it was sometimes still very off or abstract. For visual media, that’s a hard pill to take. But it is worth it!
- Characters (8/10):
And that’s due to the cast of this manga! It has a lot of characters, and a lot of the comedy manga fail exactly because of that. They are including more and more running gags, forcing a laugh out of you by at least one of them. But at the end, none of them has even a tiny bit of backstory or proper reasons. High School Family does not make this mistake. Every new character, be it a running gag or not, still has their own story, their own developments. Sometimes just 1-2, and sometimes over 10-20 or 30 chapters long. Meanwhile the MC’s, the High School Family, don’t come short either… At least almost. The mother and the cat are barely there. They have a few moments / chapters, but that’s all. There are side characters with way bigger impact. And the, call it true MC, boy is often outshined by his father or little sister. For a manga, with shounen as the main demographic, it misses the target. While for an older reader the comedy could be too crazy.
- Enjoyment (7/10):
In the end I have to say, I recommend this manga! I had a lot of fun, because of the great sport aspects, the well-written romance, good character developments and of course the outstanding crazy comedy which hits sometimes out of nowhere, but also misses completely probably too often. It is hard to get used to the art, yes. And the premise sounds stupid, also correct. But as I said, even with its flaws, it is a hidden gem of all these slice-of-life comedies, so give it a chance. If you join this madness, you will enjoy it!
