Bamora!

I'm really surprised by this manga. The first tome was not really interesting, and the personnality to Kamasaki is sometimes exasperating. I dislike who Kamasaki is a stupidly fan to Kume. It seems like people who doesn't have temper and reasoning, and it's not her. However it's a touching manga, with good sports scenes, and good drawings. Interesting psychology of characters, with not idiots and fragile characters. The main character isn't a naive and ridiculous nincompoop ! Each characters have his own psychology and point of view. There are no supperfluous secondary characters.It had been a long time since a shojo haven't touched me.

This is the quintessential coming-of-age story, with the length of a film. “Bamora!” is one of those series that simply charms the reader into looking at a journey. A person we don't really sympathize with, understanding their wrongs, their rights, and eventually getting to somewhere that's better or maybe even worse than the past. As a story, you can't get simpler, but it's not about what we know in the genre. The story is carried by how unpredictable our main character is, even if she's the narrator of our story, and unreliably so. Unlike unhinged characters, or simple protagonists with a goal, the portrayal is thatof a real human going through a massive change in their lives. Of course, they don't know how to react to normal feelings, to love, to new friends, to the concept of tolerating people or to be tolerated by those who don't like you. It's a perfect way to look at somebody different from us, or strongly like us. Every other character isn't wasted, but a foil to a concept of social interaction that's needed to advance the narrative. No page was wasted, nor a beat. Dialogue worked wonders, feeling like a fluid conversation that makes sense coming from each mouth. The art, on another hand, feels so perfect for this story. Like how cinematography is something that's better not noticed; the art from “Bamora!” works perfectly on expression, on simplicity, not abstracting too much to intrude on the story, but working as part of punchlines or terrible moments. There isn't a bad panel, and equally, nothing stands out to intrude on the tone established. I loved the way the art worked, is what I mean. The manga worked perfectly as a small, bite-sized film that tells a compelling, fun story, with extreme cringe moments of horrid teen memories we can all share. A perfect coming-of-age that doesn't paint the image of a heroine, but of a simple, teenager whose social awkwardness will lead her to the landmine that is having friends. Solid 8/10, I just wish there was a little more to develop the ending. It wasn't rushed, but it could've been a bit more with some extra pages on every other chapter.