When it came to softball, Haruna Nagashima was the top player in middle school. Now that she's in high school, Haruna is hanging up the bat and gloves and focusing all her energy on one thing: getting a boyfriend! But finding the right guy is easier said than done, especially if you're a girl who has never been on a date or even approached a boy directly. Help arrives in the form of Yoh Komiyama, who agrees to be Haruna's love coach. If she can better herself, she has a better chance of finding a boyfriend! But what happens when the student of romance falls in love with her teacher? It's an exciting high school debut of romantic courtship and dramatic hijinks everyone will want to look out for!
Highlights:
The thirteenth and final volume of High School Debut opens with Haruna still reeling from her recent decision to keep Yoh from going away to school in Tokyo, conflicted over whether she has done the right thing. She realizes that she’ll never be happy if Yoh is not happy, and tells Yoh that if he does not go to Tokyo for college, she will break up with him! Yoh receives the letter that says he’s been accepted for a university in Tokyo, but doesn’t know what to do. During the send-off party all of Yoh’s friends hold for him, Yoh and Haruna promise each other they won’t let their relationship die, even if it is a long-distance one. Later, they all go for a weekend vacation in the mountains and Yoh realizes how possessive he is of Haruna after seeing several guys hit on her and try to be friendly.
Christmastime comes and sees Haruna going to Yoh’s house to meet his mother. She’s going to have to do her best to make a good impression on her boyfriend’s mother if she wants to keep being with Yoh! But when a snowstorm keeps Haruna overnight in the Komiyama house, will Yoh’s mother put the screws to Haruna in order to find out how she truly feels about the woman’s son? Time flies by and it is soon graduation time – which means signing photo books and giving graduation speeches, and one of them will be Haruna’s. The pressure of writing a speech encompassing all her high school experiences almost becomes too much; she struggles to balance them with her memories of falling in love with Yoh. The book ends with Haruna seeing off Yoh at the airport, where there are plenty of tears, laughs, and love to go around.
Overall:
Unlike many shojo series, which never know the right time to bow out, High School Debut knows exactly the best time to end. Manga-ka Kazune Kawahara’s expert hand at pacing means that when the end comes, it is a moment prepared for – for both the cast of characters and the readers. The story comes to a close like it started, with just the right blend of madcap humor and sensitive romance that makes the series such an outstanding read.
The art is not particularly outstanding; at times, it can seem a little lazy with its simplistic backgrounds and odd facial expressions. But it also lends itself to the story, as it does not overpower the dialogue or the underlying story – no overuse of textures and tones here, thank goodness. The characters are still as memorable and interesting as usual, with Haruna her usual quirky and determined self. What is great about this series is that the cast retain their core characteristics but still mature throughout the story; the Yoh and Haruna we see in the final chapter are definitely not the same couple seen in the first volume. They’ve grown up and been through so much, so that everyone genuinely cheers when they get together for good. It’s a realistic relationship that you can believe in.
Is High School Debut the quintessential shojo series? No, not exactly: some of its humor will not impress all, and some more jaded readers will find something lacking in its ending. But for those readers who like a light-hearted series with a semi-serious core, filled with romance and drama and entertainment in spades, the series ends on a perfect note. For thirteen volumes, it is not a series you will regret picking up. Any shojo fan will enjoy themselves while reading the high school hijinks of Haruna and Yoh as they fall in and out of a crazy little thing called love.
ComicsOnline gives High School Debut volume thirteen 4 out of 5 crazy romantic entanglements.
