okay, so I'm going to vent a bit more
I know, I know, I know, I've said all of this and obsessed over all this a million times before. But really- 'Hey, Class President!' is actually a lot better than it should be.
Yes, it's typical and standard and generally follows the usual plotline of 'boy likes boy, hilarity ensues (cue smut)'. I've already mentioned the comedy and the non-resolution of anything and the plotholes and mildly disturbing portrayal of how not to deal with strange men touching you up on a train. Also, let's not forget the rolling-eye-worthy display of how feelings that could be considered experimentation in schoolboys of a certain age are suddenly blown up to the power of eternal love (seriously, the boys do think of this as eternal love once they get over the sudden shock of feeling so drawn to each other for their own nefarious purposes).
BUT!
You know how it is when you get a really good romantic comedy? Once that follows all the formula and does nothing different and doesn't even try to say anything new, but somehow manages to make the characters pop right off the screen? Or that book where you know the writing's not great but you can't help falling in love with it to the extent where you will re-read it no matter how easily you memorize the dialogue? Or even, at a pinch, that slash fanfiction that is completely not a real display of gay love but still manages to make you believe it could happen, if only the world was simpler and sweeter and just this much fun? Well, that pretty much covers 'Seito kaichou ni chuukoku'.
It should be ordinary, but I actually love this- bad scanlation panels (there are a few in the middle), weird bits of dialogue (like a really awkward emotional sex piece that starts with 'Kokusai... you really love my body, don't you?' and ends with 'yes, I love it'), squint sideways issues (Kokusai being unable to stand up for himself against strangers molesting him on the goddamn train is not a good depiction of how to deal with sexual harassment), instant love (just add blushing), sub-reality (the only time we hear about a parent is when Chiga says his mother is scary for yelling at him; since he's been held overnight at the hospital with a head wound, I side with her) and all.
The thing I'm getting at is that this shouldn't be brilliant. It shouldn't be something I can re-read again and again. There are more developed manga, more serious manga, apparently prettier drawn manga (seriously- a reviewer said this mangaka's art was an 'acquired taste' and didn't mean it in a good way), but this one just works for no reason that I can discern.
Every recs page gives me 'Junjou Romantica', for instance, but I tried reading it and lost interest halfway through the first couple of pages. The people were annoying; the dialogue was boring; the art was so-so. I didn't mind 'Haru wo daiteite' (a very, very, very long series about the trials and tribulations of two straight actors who fall in love and decide to go public while pursuing the higher goal of being the best in their field) and read every last word of it (all 77 volumes of it) and there are others. But nothing feels as fluffy and fun as 'Seito...'.
And for some reason, 'Seito...' also feels like the mangaka has used a really deft touch to keep the seriousness underlying but never on the surface where it interferes with the narrative. Re-reading doesn't show the flaws for me, but the planning. She's pre-warned for everything she does in the later volumes, even if I don't necessarily like the way she's developed it. But still. She's set it all up and manipulated her pawns into place and then she lets it all unfold and tangle even further and get even more complicated.
Now if only she could affect a proper resolution! I would love to read the end of this. Seriously. There's supposed to be four volumes but it can't possibly end where it is.
Yes, it's typical and standard and generally follows the usual plotline of 'boy likes boy, hilarity ensues (cue smut)'. I've already mentioned the comedy and the non-resolution of anything and the plotholes and mildly disturbing portrayal of how not to deal with strange men touching you up on a train. Also, let's not forget the rolling-eye-worthy display of how feelings that could be considered experimentation in schoolboys of a certain age are suddenly blown up to the power of eternal love (seriously, the boys do think of this as eternal love once they get over the sudden shock of feeling so drawn to each other for their own nefarious purposes).
BUT!
You know how it is when you get a really good romantic comedy? Once that follows all the formula and does nothing different and doesn't even try to say anything new, but somehow manages to make the characters pop right off the screen? Or that book where you know the writing's not great but you can't help falling in love with it to the extent where you will re-read it no matter how easily you memorize the dialogue? Or even, at a pinch, that slash fanfiction that is completely not a real display of gay love but still manages to make you believe it could happen, if only the world was simpler and sweeter and just this much fun? Well, that pretty much covers 'Seito kaichou ni chuukoku'.
It should be ordinary, but I actually love this- bad scanlation panels (there are a few in the middle), weird bits of dialogue (like a really awkward emotional sex piece that starts with 'Kokusai... you really love my body, don't you?' and ends with 'yes, I love it'), squint sideways issues (Kokusai being unable to stand up for himself against strangers molesting him on the goddamn train is not a good depiction of how to deal with sexual harassment), instant love (just add blushing), sub-reality (the only time we hear about a parent is when Chiga says his mother is scary for yelling at him; since he's been held overnight at the hospital with a head wound, I side with her) and all.
The thing I'm getting at is that this shouldn't be brilliant. It shouldn't be something I can re-read again and again. There are more developed manga, more serious manga, apparently prettier drawn manga (seriously- a reviewer said this mangaka's art was an 'acquired taste' and didn't mean it in a good way), but this one just works for no reason that I can discern.
Every recs page gives me 'Junjou Romantica', for instance, but I tried reading it and lost interest halfway through the first couple of pages. The people were annoying; the dialogue was boring; the art was so-so. I didn't mind 'Haru wo daiteite' (a very, very, very long series about the trials and tribulations of two straight actors who fall in love and decide to go public while pursuing the higher goal of being the best in their field) and read every last word of it (all 77 volumes of it) and there are others. But nothing feels as fluffy and fun as 'Seito...'.
And for some reason, 'Seito...' also feels like the mangaka has used a really deft touch to keep the seriousness underlying but never on the surface where it interferes with the narrative. Re-reading doesn't show the flaws for me, but the planning. She's pre-warned for everything she does in the later volumes, even if I don't necessarily like the way she's developed it. But still. She's set it all up and manipulated her pawns into place and then she lets it all unfold and tangle even further and get even more complicated.
Now if only she could affect a proper resolution! I would love to read the end of this. Seriously. There's supposed to be four volumes but it can't possibly end where it is.