Akutou Danshi Collection

Akutou Danshi Collection is a Shoujo, Smut, Romance, Comedy about the challenges of dormitory life. Well that’s what I thought at first but the short story really has no focus and just does things has it pleases.

The story follows our heroine (Suzuno Himura) who had to give up the life in an all-girl school & expensive dorm and downgrade to a co-ed school & cheap dorm, due to her family’s financial problems. Being the only girl there, things could get rather difficult for her and it is then that she gets mixed up with the fierce dorm leader (Kazuomi Shinriyuuji). This set-up is made specifically for the reader to sympathize with Suzuno but to me it is ridiculous, especially when you include the ‘save the dorm’ plot. Although the main focus of the story, through these 3 chapters, tends to easily lose focus and randomly move onto others things like: Suzuno’s well-being, the school Principal and the growing relationship between Suzuno & Kazuomi.

When talking about Suzuno, she seems to fit the bill for the standard ‘naïve girl’ role well and her only special trait has to be her absurd strength, which is really the only reason to justify her being in so many dangerous situations. Kazuomi also fits the bill for ‘tough-guy with a heart’ role well, making the pair very unremarkable. The other characters were not even important enough to be given names and if they were given a name it’s easy to forget it straight afterwards.

The artwork for this shoujo manga was really good, when it came to the way the characters & scenery looked during close-ups but was really average when it came to anything else, including the crudely drawn comedy.

Overall Akutou Danshi turned out to be an uninspiring manga, which not only did poorly with the simple story it had but it failed in both smut & comedy. The romance was one of the redeeming factors but it was still too common for any shoujo manga reader. If you’re not a fan of short manga then this one certainly won’t change your opinion.

^_^

Hmmm...I enjoyed these stories. It's a bit different from the last scheme of mangas that I've read although it maintained a decent level of light smut. The volume starts off as more of a mix or collection of one-shots put together. The author basically states that they're a collection of one-shots into one thing. However the first two chapters are totally unrelated to the rest the following chapters. The rest are interrelated starting at the third chapter (of sorts) is the beginning of the main story which is attributed to the cover. The last one of the three is really the beginning of a sequel for the last piece.

First chapter one-shot:
It was alright. Just a light story to carry on the premise of the story. Fairly silly story. The main girl is a young girl in middle school who looks very young for her age and I felt the writer wrote her in a way where I saw her as childish which I was supposed to gather. She's in love with her childhood friend who's about 4 years older than her I believe and they are in a committed relationship. The best way to describe the pair is along the lines of Sailor Moon's Darien and Serena or Itazura na kiss' main couple. She's a ditzy girl who only things about the lead male and loves only him and forgoes school work to try to do "ecchi" things with him. The lead male is studious, attractive, intelligent, and wanted by his female classmates. The main plot which is a bit wishy-washy is her studying hard as a dare by him so that if she meets the 80th percentile they can finally do the deed. So the entire premise is about her wanting to lose her virginity. However, the final part of that chapter shows that she grows up and is focusing on maturing. So the story takes a rather serious yet light turn. The characters aren't that special but the writing for them makes them endearing. The art is mediocre to good. Nothing wow, but well put together. I sort of liked this one-shot.

Second one-shot:
This one is a bit different. It's about a girl who ends up living with a younger male model who's fantasized about. What's interesting with him is that he has a nasty habit of harassing women. Think Miroku from Inuyasha. The male lead is a 12 year old model who likes touching and harassing the lead female who's older than him. She's actually my main problem in the story. She to an extent permitted him to take some extreme liberties in the story and you'll see what I mean when she goes to his photo shoot. It's a bit off and I felt this story was a bit weak and I was a bit uncomfortable with a 12 year old getting into this action (even if he was a boy). That's not even legal age in Japan. The art was again mediocre. I liked this story even if I was a bit put off by some elements of it, yet don't expect solid gold from this reading. It's fair at best.

Third series like one-shot:
I really liked this story. I mean it's a bit silly and mediocre with a weak plot. But there were interesting elements that I won't get into or you'll be spoiled. However the lead female was well put together and I liked her. She's an uber tough girl who can beat up people with her strength. The lead male is the quintessential king of the school who's pretty strong but even loses to the girl. They meet when she becomes the manager of the boys dorm that turned co-ed. There are sub plots to the whole thing so it's not just one thing going on and that's why I appreciated the story a bit more than some might. It wasn't just about another guy who has a thing for the same girl. Secondly there was no objectification from either the male or the female character side. Third, the character development was a bit richer and you got to know them even in a one-shot although I felt she sacrificed possibly great minor characters to focus entirely on the main. Fourth, the female lead was independent until the end. It's a mediocre story that has a lot of elements carrying it that it turns out alright. The art was fun as it added to the goofiness of the writing and I really enjoyed this peace overall.