Thursday 25 June 2015

Manga Review : First Flash by Mochida Aki & Maki Yoko



Title: First Flash 
Original Title: Pika Ichi
Author: Mochida Aki 
Artist: Maki Yoko

Year of Release: 2010
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, School Life, Shoujo

Status: Completed (translation ongoing)
Chapters (Translated in English): 23
Volumes & Chapters: 
Volume 1 Chapters 1-5                Volume 4 Chapter 13-16                    Volume 7 Translation in progress
Volume 2 Chapters 6-9                Volume 5 Chapters 17-20
Volume 3 Chapters 10-12.5         Volume 6 Chapters 21-23



Summary


"Pika Ichi" is the story of two painfully shy teens who love yakuza movies. An incident at school pushes them over the edge, and they decide to drop their mousiness in order to dispense some "justice."

My Thoughts


Review covers 22 chapters 

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Katie’s corner! Today I have a really great manga being covered here. I do not really remember how I came across this manga, but I do remember that I stayed up all night to finish all the available chapters, because it was really interesting.

You might say that the idea behind the story is not so new, however, how everything is down played and described is something worth applauding to. The characters, the place, the life situations that the manga covers are well described and give off strong individuality. Our main characters – Suzuki Tarou and Suzuki Hanako are absolutely amazing. No, they are not siblings; they just have same surname. Those two are plain, four-eyed students, normal average Japanese people (stated in the manga, not my stereotype).





They applied to the super elite school, only because the principles of the school influenced them. But, when they get to see that those principles are just words and that in their school bulling is a normal thing, they change themselves according to their role models (yakudza boss-from the movies) and now they will make the Aidan School into the school of their dream. Will they succeed? Start reading now and know it for yourself!

I’ll be definitely making a second review as soon as the all chapters are available on the site I read on. So today I will be focusing on the “villain” of this story – Naoji Dougan. Why did I choose him? If you’ve read the manga then you know whom he is. For those who don’t: he is the sun of the director couple of the Aidan Academy. He is also acting as the student council president and the model student for the whole academy. Everything would have been amazing, if not his awful attitude towards the school. If in the very beginning and up till chapter 11 he’s the awful villain, after that the more you seem to get to know about him the more you understand him and you might even find yourself supporting him. What’s his problem? Well, the problem mainly is in his parents, especially in his mother. I don’t get her; she just tries to strip him off his personality just to get an heir to the school, how sick is that. When she handcuffed him, and made him color pictures and do origami I couldn’t contain my astonishment and I became so team Naoji. Though I do understand his motives, but I just can’t support him, mostly due to violence and bulling the core of the changes he tries to make. He makes an amazing character; he’s one of those villain characters that are essential to the story. Without such character the story wouldn’t have been as great. I really wish to see how his relationship with Ibuki will be going, I so wish those two to end up together for good, and she will make him find his happiness.

I hope you’ll find some time to read this amazing manga. It is full of nice jokes and life situations; the story is fast paces and very interesting. Next time I review it I’ll be focusing on relationships between the characters and of course on our favourite Suzuki Duo.



You’ll love them really a lot. They are amazing characters, but we’ll talk about them next time. Enjoy it to its fullest and don’t forget to share your thoughts below. Stay tuned for more reviews as well as promos on Katie’s Corner. Happy reading!

XOXO


Katie

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