Love Attack

I forget just how I came across this manga, but it's for sure one of the best I've ever read. The story and characters are pretty unique, with some lovely typical shoujo scenes written in as well. All the characters are really well made, the story is so fun and enjoyable to follow. I cracked up alone in my room multiple times while reading or re-reading! The relationships are very touching as well as entertaining, and I enjoyed every page. It's seriously amazing. Go read it :D

I was excited for this manga since Girl Got Game, which was written by the same author, is one of my favorites. And for the first few chapters I really enjoyed it. It was funny, the art was great, and the relationship between the main couple was developing at a nice steady pace. Thennn the homewrecker arcs started appearing. The first time it was fine, quite comedic actually, but then there was another...and then another. The whole story just became repetitive. First a new character would show up and try to seduce one of the MC's. Then the other person would assume that the other wascheating and get upset/jealous without actually confirming with the other person as to whether or not it was true. Not to mention it ends with a cliffhanger. The author for whatever reason decided to continue the manga with a different series and the translation for it cannot be found anywhere.

Over time, this became really really frustrating to read. At the beginning, I was amazed by the characters and the connection between the two main characters. They were crazy but incredibly fun. Sadly, that's all there is to say about its good points. The 'plot' of this manga is purely romantical, yet it completely sucks at it. There is no romantic development whatsoever, even after a certain huge drama which went on over multiple volumes, they still behaved exactly the same afterwards, doubting eachother at the very first opportunity. On top of that, you don't really get to see them being lovey-dovey that much, or actuallygoing on dates. Most of the story happens at some open places like the school, and when they're in private it's mostly something like trying to make out and being interrupted in some way (sounds fun, right? even better if it's the 5th timme happening!) The plot itself doesn't make up for it either. This is the most repetitive plot I've ever seen in a romance - and that's special since most romances are pretty similar in their general outline. After the first few volumes, what could we do to get some content? How about a love-rival? And after that... another one! And on it goes.. until the very end. Seriously. Nearly the whole plot consists of new people getting introduced who try to break them up. You might as well only read the first few volumes, it goes downhill from there.

Absolutely disappointing. (Please only read this review if you have read the whole manga as this little essay of mine is full of spoilers.) I am aware that is an extremely abrupt and harsh beginning, but that's how Junai Tokkou Taichou! made me feel. To begin with, the story is simply just all over the place. A story that could have had SO much potential ended up being a total chaos because it was taken to the wrong, perhaps worst, direction. I mean, a story about two deliquents falling in love? Sounds good, right? Nahh. The pacing was rather quick, especially at the beginning when Hirata's confession occured inthe very first chapter. There could have been so much room for developing an actual, good base for their "love" - I hesitate calling what is between these two love; it's almost like they completely lack chemistry. I think this is an excellent case of two people who like/love each other but aren't supposed to be together. That's why when [spoiler] Akifumi Hirata broke up with Chiemi Yusa [/spoiler] during the whole Tachibana "arc", I actually felt relieved and fully agreed with poor Akifumi - they just aren't suited for each other. Unfortunately the author kept forcefully pushing these two back together. In addition, instead of focusing on Hirata's and Chiemi's relationship, everything just became a foolish chase of a final sex scene (there were at least 3 cockblock scenes by the way, which became super annoying). Is being intimate everything there is to a relationship? Well, for Chiemi Yusa in particular I guess it is - throughout the whole manga that's everything she thinks about, "being intimate with Hirata, kyaa", while pretty much ignoring her boyfriend's actual feelings for her. Now I understand that they are young and horny, but that doesn't exactly justify all the mistakes Chiemi has made. Chiemi is a problematic character to begin with, because she falls under the idiotic cathegory of poorly executed shoujo protagonists who just wAnt tO sEe ThE beSt in OtHeR peopLe uwu, she's so kind and thoughtful! Yet Hirata's problems are always the ones that get ignored while Chiemi just happily hangs on to all toxic people who have ruined her relationship *cough* Tachibana. I have no problem with flawed chatacters, quite the opposite. However, when Chiemi's actions are portrayed as being right and Hirata's wrong, when Chiemi blames him for the crap she did (and poor Hirata believes her), well, then I do have a problem. Akifumi Hirata on the other hand, is literally the embodiment of the ideal boyfriend - handsome, strong, sincere and hardworking. It just sort of feels like Hirata put much more effort into keeping the relationship alive than Chiemi, which is sad. Truthfully, Hirata deserves someone better. An another thing that really made me mad was how the whole manga was pretty much just a continuous circle of "OH LOOK a new love rival" even though many of these characters wouldn't even have been necessary/relevant to the story, especially [spoiler]the trap dude who miraculously fell in love with Chiemi at the end[/spoiler]. So was there anything good about Junai Tokkou Taichou? Yeah. I found myself hooked on this manga mainly because of it's humour. The comedy in manga is actually good and not dry like in the majority of shoujos and some panels made me laugh out loud (especially some of Chiemi's faces hahah). An another thing I enjoyed was Yukari's and Ohno's little love story (it was more enjoyable than Hirata's and Chiemi's to be honest). It was cute. And as much as I have given Chiemi and her personality some cruel critique, she actually has a less naive part to her as well, which was absolutely amazing to see. I mean, some of her actions and words were unexpected in a good way, so kudos for that. Perhaps the biggest plus of this manga was Hirata Akifumi himself. If it weren't for him, I would give this manga a 5, but he's an incredibly good character, at least on the shoujo manga scale. All in all, Junai Tokkou Taichou! failed to make use of the potential it had and only remains as a fun little manga with a bad storyline.