Photo from Wikipedia
I don't even know why I'm writing about this just now, because this is my most favorite shoujo manga. I read and finished it when I was still in high school. High School Debut or Koukou Debut is about a girl, Haruna, who wants to finally experience dating upon entering high school. Before she entered high school, all of her time was dedicated to playing soft ball. Now that she's entering high school, she wants to experience dating (or love) for the first time in her life, that's why she's trying her best to be more attractive enough that someone would actually try to 'hit on' her. While she was on her journey to making herself become more likable for the boys, she meets Yoh, and for some reason, Haruna got Yoh to coach her in dating.
I really like everything about this story, even though it's just a lighthearted shoujo manga. It brought me so much emotions that my naive heart fell for Yoh's character like Haruna did. Their relationship was too cute and very shoujo that I melted every time.
The manga has 13 volumes, and the only volume I'm missing is the 3rd. How come? I collected the Viz Media (Shoujo Beat) English translated version from volume 4, because older volumes were always out of stock. I got the first and second volume in Japanese version, and because I didn't have enough money to buy volumes 1 to 3, I only got two, which leaves me with one missing volume.
You wouldn't imagine my fangirl madness when I found out about the release of a live-action movie version of Koukou Debut. I had never expected that they would make it into anime back then because I thought that it was too old to turn into one. Thank goodness for the kind people who decided to make it into a movie. I was not quite satisfied with the actor that they chose for Yoh's character, because I imagined Yoh to be taller and more 'dapper' looking that Mizobata Junpei. Don't get me wrong though, Mizobata Junpei is one hot piece of man candy but I think someone like Mizushima Hiro would fit better for the role. The other actors and actresses got the looks just fine, especially the other man candy Furukawa Yuki. Although, I think that Mizobata Junpei was (and all of them were) able to pull it off in the movie.
The movie was satisfying enough; it was funny, cute, and very shoujo-like. It depicted the manga almost as good, but of course, reading the manga was more exciting because the movie did not really went through the whole story. The manga is quite long, although the 13 volumes are just right for the story. That's why I think that having an anime would be better so that the story will be more detailed unlike the movie. I'm saying this because I wish that the movie was longer! (but it's too impossible to squeeze all of the Yoh-Haruna goodness into just 2 hours huhu)
Koukou Debut (and Yoh-Haruna) will always have a place in my heart. Now I'm off to re-read a random volume from the series!
No comments :
Post a Comment