Mission! School

Make no mistake: Mission! School is a stupid manga. It quickly forgets its own central plot (premise: hijinks ensue as girls trained for combat have to adapt to a normal school setting), and its characters are one-note at best. But it's funny. It's really really funny. And it doesn't have to be anything else.

You see, Mission! School is first and foremost a gag manga, full of weirdos and fools doing silly things in variably ridiculous scenarios, framed as a romantic comedy and peppered with a moderate disregard for the Fourth Wall. In it, we see male lead Ishikawa - a mildly reserved guy (who, as the manga gleefully and excessively points out, has no remarkable features or abilities) - generally play the put-upon straight-man to female lead Haduki, who drives the comedy with her earnest, overeager, and ultimately doomed attempts to do normal teenage stuff in a normal way, in spite of her ridiculously out-there rich-girl upbringing, her insane world-conquest-focused schooling, and "help" from her lazy, self-interested, possibly-sociopathic attendant/friend/classmate Minagawa. A cast of strange supporting characters join in and try to interfere with or aid Ishikawa and Haduki's misadventures and budding relationship, all either starting off as or becoming slaves to the gag-a-minute nature of the manga. And everyone and everything in Mission! School is so sincerely and excitedly committed to its gags (and particular gags, at that!) that it skips right past feeling "forced" and becomes amusing in and of itself.

Mission! School is not a witty manga. It is incapable of utilizing much if any character humor. It doesn't derive entertainment value from situational humor (save for absurdism). No, when it comes right down to it, Mission! School's primary strength is its ability to repeatedly defy minor expectations about what's going on (in the plot and in the characters' heads) in generally stupid ways with vast enthusiasm, perfect timing, and expressive art.

And that's it. As a romance, Mission! School is insubstantial and unfulfilling. As a story, it has no plot, and there's no depth to its characters. Heck, its final volume is 50% comprised of meta-humor about their impending cancellation. As a comedy, though? It's light-hearted, good-natured, and, most importantly, gut-bustingly silly. I laughed often and wholeheartedly.

So what else is there to say that's really meaningful? Maybe it's ultimately forgettable, but I've never smiled, chuckled, and laughed as much while reading a manga. Simple and (perhaps) disposable though it may seem, Mission! School holds a special place in my heart. So maybe you should give it a try!
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Story: 3/10 - It forgets its own premise for the most part and has only the vaguest sense of narrative motion
Art: 9/10 - While not innovative in any sense, the character art is a constant highlight of the work. It is energetic and expressive, effectively adapting its style for whatever suits the gag-du-jour. Comedic timing is controlled with skillful panel composition.
Character: 5/10 - Character development is just about the last priority of this manga, and consistency isn't far behind. Case in point, multiple supporting characters end up abandoning their key characteristics or being forgotten entirely. But, while they may have the level of complexity in their personalities as cardboard cutouts would, oh boy are they fun to watch!
Enjoyment: 10/10
Overall: 9/10

“Just your average young ladies”-Hatsugi, Haduki. These girls are anything but average. Ohmi, Takeshi, introduces you to a story full of slapstick comedy, strange characters, and mindless fun.

The story revolves around Ishikawa, Takuya. A high school boy who soon finds himself with an “average” group of high school girls. These average high school girls turn out to be more than “average” Equipped with guns, knives, bombs, and any other random weapon you can think of these girls are really trained soldiers who have set out for world domination. As serious as that might sound, there is nothing serious about it at all. The story is full of gags and random references that will give you a good laugh.
The art contributes a lot to the stick of the manga. The over-exaggerated expressions in the story perfectly depict the mindless and silly style of the story. There is a lot of detail in the characters, as well as details in the execution of events that occur. Such as the noted detail in the background and the actions of the characters.

The characters in Mission! School aren’t the most fleshed out characters you’ll ever see, but they don’t need to be. You have a complete wuss with a maiden heart; an Oujo-sama who is in love with the MC and is a lethal human-weapon; plenty of masochist and sadist, and a cemented cast of characters, each with their own strange quality that adds to the already bolster of randomness and fun.

Mission! School is definitely a fun and whacky manga to be read for those that want to enjoy a story full of fun and random characters.

This manga is all around incredibly strange. First of all, in terms of plot, it goes in completely different directions randomly. It starts off with a bunch of girls from a military school and such, but then it pretty much drops that concept and then focuses on how Haduki is the daughter of the head of a major corporation, and though that remains a focus it ends up going on completely random tangents. The same applies to characters. The relationship development is completely random, with the main relationship actually starting as a joke and then suddenly being a real thing that's supposed to be taken seriously. Character development never really occurs, and a lot of the characters are quite inconsistent, having their personalities changed to better fit the arbitrary plot, or as is more common being introduced, mattering for a bit, and then suddenly disappearing. However, despite all that, I would still say this manga while not necessarily high quality, is still quite interesting. The reasoning for that, is the attitude of the author, in that he clearly does not give a damn. The manga is full of parodies, random shots, and what not, with a sub commentary on such. It has long stretches where it breaks the fourth wall and then suddenly goes back to normal. It is so completely and utterly random, that while the issues previously highlighted would utterly destroy most mangas, while they still definitely can't be seen as a positive, don't harm this manga that much. It ends up quite amusing and refreshing to read. The art and fanservice is also really good.

A manga that is lacking in most areas but is crazy in a good way such that it's still interesting.

7/10