Another WSJ series starting, how long will this one last?...
Anyway, moving on from that half-joke/half-serious rhetorical question, this series seems to at least show something that a few others in WSJ in the last few months lack - actual commendable originality.
Now don't get me wrong... The whole "Help me become an Idol" followed by the typical romantic "hijinks" is nothing new at all, I'm well aware. Also, keep in mind I'm making this comment after the first chapter, these are only my FIRST IMPRESSIONS and not a review in any shape or form. Now that I got that out of the way let me explain...
There's a certain delicacy and subtlety to the plot that feels somewhat commendable. It is not everyday that we see WSJ tackling social/gender paradigms and stereotypical views of certain professions. In this series in particular these are clear by the dichotomy between the main character's dreams and their gender/behavior/look. The guy who enters the beauticians department, a professional area usually seen as feminine in nature. The rough-looking girl who wants to enter the idol world, a business dominated by cuteness, femininity, fragility and purity. That is actually pretty interesting and this dichotomy could provide a great premise for a light-hearted and funny but still deep series that actually had something to say. Now, you may say I'm reading too much into it and that's very much a possibility. Like I said before these are my first impressions I'm just calling it how I see it for now.
On a more concrete level it wasn't a particularly good first chapter. The author needs to work on how to introduce the characters more fluidly, needs to actually get some jokes beyond the "Haha she sent him flying" type, needs to spend a bit more time on his main character and give him more depth, etc. But overall it wasn't bad.
To be fair, considering the actual content of the first chapter I'd give this a 7 but for now it stays an 8 for at least trying to make a point. Jump will probably kill this one soon - and by kill I don't mean necessarily ax it, but putting enough pressure on the author until he turns this into every other school ecchi "panties-of-the-week" manga - but who knows... I can say this - if well handled and well executed we could be looking at a solid school life manga here. But then again I can't shake the feeling that this will be axed before it hits its 30th chapter.
