SKIP! YAMADA-KUN

Tsugumi Ohba used his dark humor again, and it worked.

Yamada is a boy obsessed with suspense shows on TV - it's the only thing he actually likes. When he discovers the ability to skip or stop time, he decides to live only to watch them...


Yamada is a character so real I'm sure you know someone like him. If you don't, YOU are like him. Lazy, uncompromised with life, just wants to watch series. The identification hit me so hard that I made this review.

I highly recommend Skip! Yamada-kun. The art is ok for a one-shot. Yamada is everyone of us. The story is very well conducted, and you'll have a good laugh at the end. Ohba's irony and faith on human selfishness will never cease to amaze me.

Great story that was packed into 50 pages. Unlike most painfully exaggerated main characters, Yamada is astonishingly normal and relatable. He isn't a superhero with unlimited courage and strength, nor is he a perverted sexually deviant social outcast like many "self-insert" characters are. He is a normal guy, with flaws, that wishes to have a normal life but is bored and tired of every day monotony. He is fed up with study and work which many of us can relate to. While unpopular and not wildly successful at school, he is a normal guy, he has friends, he eats, he sleeps, he acts like a real person, making the comic feel alive.

Ohba's skill in writing corruption due to new powers definitely shows in this story. Yamada changes realistically, but horrifyingly over time as he uses his new power. I was captivated as I flipped the pages, seeing how he progressed.

Overall, this is a really interesting story with a realistic and likeable MC. With only 50 pages it is definitely worth your time to read.

9/10