High School.  A boy (Masaru). A Girl (Haruna).  And everyone trying to get in their way. This love story comes to an end. With university exams, the high school festival and all the other stresses that come with being in love and about to head out into the world, these two must find their way to each other.

Highlights

Monkey High is the story of two who have been together through all of their high school years. The final chapters are full of love and strife. The opening chapter is the physical love that is discovered at this age. The awkwardness is revealed along with the sentimentality that often follows.

Then comes the struggle to understand if the act has changed who they are or how they will relate to each other. But, to add insult to injury, Haruna's Father comes home from a hospital stay and brings his assistant with whom he plans to arrange a marriage with her. This leads to Haruna running away from home and staying at Masaru's home.  Both of the two lovers have to work through this and they both get involved in the big festival at school. Everything comes to a head at the school when Haruna's father shows up. This leads to the big finale.

I won't spoil it for you if you are a fan, but what happens is not a surprise.

Overall

Monkey High is a basic high school Shojo love story. It does take on an adult subject with the opening chapter that really does not have much bearing on the essence of the plot. It does show a willingness of the author to play off the emotional heart strings of a teenage girl to have a little gratuitous sex. The rest of this volume did a good job of showing the constant bipolar relationships that teenagers tend  to have. One moment all is good, the next everything is crazy and lost in a haze of confusion. I did enjoy the silly little interactions that were had between friends at the school festival, but overall I found this to be just a little too sweet form me. The outcome was too simple. Since I am not the person this was written for, I do believe the readers will be satisfied wit the outcome. For all you teenage girls out there that enjoy a good romantic comedy, this one is for you.

ComicsOnline gives Monkey High, Volume 8, 3.5 out of 5 raging hormones of youth.