By REBECCA P.
“Haruna Aizawa thinks that school life is just like a monkey mountain — all the monkeys form cliques, get into fights, and get back together again. The school that she just transferred to is no exception. There’s even a boy called Macharu Yamashita who reminds her of a baby monkey!
It’s hard enough fitting in at a few school while dealing with family problems … Will Haruna remain jaded and distance herself from everyone around her? Or with Macharu win her over with his monkey magic?”
My thoughts
Haruna finds her family disgraced after a scandal her well-known father was in. As a result, she transfers to a low-key high school. To her, her new classmates are nothing but a bunch of monkeys. She retains a stubborn and stern outside appearance, which only results in being considered a snob and being rejected by many of her new classmates.
With the help of the childish Macharu she begins to come out of her shell and soon becomes accepted by her classmates. Haruna herself does come off as a snobbish character. She isn’t in reality and does it to be stubborn and partly out of fear. By the end of the volume she has opened up a lot but still retains a high-class mannerism yet true to herself appearance. She’s an interesting character in the realm of manga and she works. Macharu is adorable and a bit awkward, and his best friend, Atsuyuki, makes a welcome addition. The other characters in this volume fit the mold of the core story and well, that’s about it.
I enjoyed Monkey High more than I thought I would. It’s cute and just funny enough to set it above the bar of the average shojo. It’s a fast read, and it almost feels too fast. Within in a few pages of meeting Macharu and Haruna are already in the pre-relationship stage and are going out halfway through the book. I thought their relationship moved too quickly, and there wasn’t a lot to build up to it. It was disappointing, so it’ll be interesting to see if the series can keep the momentum it has or get better as time goes on.
Macharu and Haruna are the core of the story and they’re a goofy couple to say the least. However, they’re a goofy couple in a welcoming way. As opposed to choosing the cool hot guy, Haruna picks the goofy guy whom a lot of girls just pass off as a friend. It’s very sweet and endearing for that reason. It’ll be interesting to see how this goofy couple develops and to see if they can last despite social differences.
There’s an underlying theme to Monkey high in social status. Haruna’s family was formally very upscale and it’s reflected in her mannerisms as she’s educated in different areas (such as sewing and cooking) and acts more mature than some of her classmates. Macharu on the other hand is your average high school boy, though a bit childish and less mature, he does show a side more mature than some of his classmates in certain circumstances. It’s a tale of social class and expectations and Haruna is thrust out of a top hierarchy because of her father’s ill-doings and into the norm.
To summarize Monkey High, it’s a good series so far. It’s not perfect, but it does rank above your average shojo on the marketplace and it’s fun. It’ll be interesting to see where it leads and how social aspects affect the relationships of the characters in general. The art style is good and what you would expect in a shojo, and that’s all it needs. While I don’t plan on running out to buy the second volume of Monkey High, it is a series I plan on continuing because it has promise and I think the mangaka is well on her way of grasping it.
