Happy Hustle High Book 1
- Posted by Johanna on January 8, 2006 at 2:29 pm
- Category: Manga Reviews
- CREDITS: by Rie Takada; adaptation by Janet Gilbert
- PUBLISHER: Viz, $9.99 US
I expected to enjoy this book much more than I did. The ingredients sounded very promising — tomboy falls in love with aloof boy when their previously same-sex schools are integrated — but the recipe didn’t come together. I don’t have any enthusiasm to read further, because the characters are often flattened into stereotypical roles.
The lead, Hanabi, is an active girl who’s happy to stand up to perverts and bullies. When all the other girls in her school are busy falling in love with Yoshitomo, the new student body president, or Yasuaki, the vice-president, Hanabi’s the only one who can talk back to the boys. This is significant, because the guys want to keep a “no dating” rule in place, and the girls don’t. (The question of why a previously boys-only school has a rule against dating isn’t raised.)
The student council guys agree to waive the rule if Hanabi can get their three signatures. The president signs, because he’s not much of a personality, and another can easily be bribed with food. That leaves Yasuaki. Since the school is apparently right next door to a beach, he goes surfing before classes. He agrees to sign if Hanabi can ride a wave.
This sequence oddly reminds me of Frankie-and-Annette movies. Hanabi’s not a bad surfer, although she’s never done it before. Her wipeouts provide comic relief, and when a huge wave takes her under, Yasuaki gets to be a hero, reasserting his strength and superiority in saving her. His mouth-to-mouth resuscitation becomes her first kiss.
She’s infatuated, but he’s secretly afraid of girls, so the second half of the book follows her pursuit of him. There’s also a tennis competition and the risk of video game addiction. At times, it feels like the chapters come from different series, but perhaps that’s just because they’re so familiar in setup. Little is done with the more interesting situation of the blending of the schools, and the cast is quickly reduced to the three student council guys and Hanabi.
The boys are drawn in typically elongated style, with long, lanky bodies and narrow eyes and faces. They’re distinguishable primarily by hairstyle. Hanabi, in contrast, has a compact body and an almost clownish, round face with huge eyes that look like marbles. Manga readers may know the author from the Wild Act series, about a girl who stalks a movie star.
More information can be found at the publisher’s website.
January 9, 2006 at 9:37 am
I like this. I like that the pair are relatively open with eachother, and that misunderstandings tend to get resolved within an episode or two instead of dragging on and on. Mostly, though, the expressiveness of the cartooning, particularly of Hanabi, makes me smile.
April 29, 2006 at 12:00 pm
THIS BOOK IS SOO COOOOll !! I fell in love with it!! haha my sister looks at me weird when i laff by myself ahah this book cheers me up on my days that i am depressed… where’s vol. 6!!?? :-D
May 4, 2006 at 11:39 am
2 comments no way. I love this book! I love Hanabi’s tough girl attitude, it makes me wanna kick some butt ^^ It’s really good, I’d recommend it to anyone.
June 12, 2006 at 6:12 pm
I have to agree with you. I picked up the first volume and the story seemed to lose its momentum later on. The first kiss scene didn’t do much for me, and Hanabi isn’t really my type of female character. Although different from a weak heroine, she certainly does feel like flat character. I may get the second volume to see how the story continues, but I’m not so sure.
June 18, 2006 at 6:53 pm
too good! book three is my ultimate fave!
August 1, 2006 at 8:05 pm
I bought HHH on a shopping spree with my cousin and quickly fell in love with the series, because of its romanticism. Hanabi is my type of girl, a tomboy, which is kind of straying from the usual girly-girl manga that I usually find, and the love story really got to me, and it kind of feels magical, even when I read it over and over. The series continued to draw me in through volumes 2 and 3, and I couldn’t buy 4, though I have 5. Throughout, there is one thing to be said about Yasuaki, the perfect boyfriend. I cannot speak for others, but Yasuaki is the guy I wish I could meet and fall in love with, because he is the best thing that could ever happen to a tomboy!
August 23, 2006 at 9:18 pm
I loved this book, It kinda remined me of when I was going to school. Just like Hanabi I was a though girl who stood up to bullies and perverted boy’s ^_^;. Ah yes and thuss is why I love this book.
August 23, 2006 at 9:23 pm
This book is so awsome and Hanabi is so hot I’d tap her hard
January 13, 2007 at 7:57 pm
I love this series. It is my all time favorite. I find some of the comments very amusing (aka vol 1. “She’s not a girl, she’s an evil alien who looks like a girl”) and it always seems to cheer me up no matter how many times I read it!
January 28, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Good interlect of pharaphrasing, but wish I could read all Manga books.
March 17, 2007 at 8:43 pm
OMG once i read the 1st book i fell in love and was hooked to the series immediatly. I love how yasu(super hot) and hanabi are paired together. I wish there were more books in the series than just 5!
April 13, 2007 at 2:31 pm
This is one of my absolute favorite series and I am sad that it ended at 5. But what a great 5! I have read it several times and each time it makes me smile.
May 14, 2007 at 11:12 am
This is totally my favorite manga ever. I’ve read so many and this is by far the best. I totally id with Hanabi. The thing was that I accidentally read the 2nd book before I read the 1st book, so it was kinda confusing. After I read the 1st book I appreciated it even more than I had already. I’ve got the first 4 books and I’ve been searching for the last one. I’ve heard some things about it and read some reviews, thus I’m really inclined to read it!!!
September 25, 2007 at 7:24 pm
Anyone who doesn’t like this series is evil!!! It rocks out loud!! booya!!
October 13, 2007 at 9:15 am
dis series is soo gdd! i ned 2 get volume 3 since its not out yet!! xx
November 22, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Omg i jus LOVEEEEEE dis manga book!!
Such a gr8 storYy_
Da sroryz Rely fantastic & da drawingz r vewii imaginative_xx
JUS Love Diss BooK_x
WaiitiN fo vOlume 3
<33
November 28, 2007 at 9:57 pm
AGREED. This book is absolutely amazing! So teenagers! And the story is so smooth! I love it! :) I love the drawing, Yasuaki’s and Hanabi’s face is soooo cute! I really like Tokihisha Aido! :)
January 21, 2008 at 10:51 am
OMG i absouloutely love these series of book’s my friend lent me the first one and i was absouloutely hooked so i asked her for the rest of them
March 29, 2008 at 11:33 pm
O M G I’m pretty much addicted now .
its so awsome ! ! ! !
April 23, 2008 at 2:55 pm
this book is like no other book i’v ever read. it rocks hard they should make like alot of seasons of it.