Manga Review: Rockin' Heaven vol. 1 by Mayu Sakai

Title: Rockin' Heaven vol. 1
Author: Mayu Sakai
Pages: 176
Publication: June 15, 2006
Publisher: Shueisha
Summary taken from Mangaupdates:

Sawa applies to Heaven’s Wing Academy, thinking she would look cute in the uniform. But she never expected the academy to be a previously all-boys’ school! And the head honcho of the school, the class president himself—Ran—doesn’t seem to like her one bit and takes no pains to hide it. At first, adjusting to life at the academy is tough. Sawa is bullied and teased, and the boys in the class even throw her new shoes in the water. While attempting to retrieve her shoes, she falls into the water and is unexpectedly saved by Ran, who up until this point has made her life hell. The newfound gentleness in Ran intrigues her—and she finds herself falling for him. What will her days be like for the rest of her school life?

3 STARS - I LIKED IT ENOUGH

MY REVIEW:

It's been a while since I've read shojo manga. I'd forgotten just how much screentone and sparkles could fill a page. And the huge eyes and naive protagonist that seems to be ubiquitous in this genre.

But yeah, I decided to reread this manga since I found out that it was finally finished at eight volumes, and remember totally loving this series back in middle school when I first started reading it.

I've read a lot of shojo manga since then, so now it's easy to recognize the usual cliches and standards in this genre whenever I start reading it, which is why I haven't read one in a while.

Unfortunately, Rockin Heaven falls in with the usual shojo trope. Heroine is a cute, optimistic girl who eventually falls for the leader of the guys in her school since he saved her and helped her out a few times. She manages to win over the unruly guys in her class because she's persistent and does nice things for them. SPOILER: There's going to be a love triangle. There's the perfect ex-girlfriend who's still in love with him. The usual.

The series isn't bad, per se, it's just not that original. But I can't help but be a little biased since I still do like it enough to want to finish reading the series.