When the anime adaptation of Aho-Girl came out almost a year ago, I paid it no mind. It seemed like just your typical anime slice-of-life comedy that, of course, takes place in either middle school or high school, and involves several wacky characters who, by virtue of simply being who they are, manage to turn everyday events into the most hilarious incidents. It’s a formula that has been done for years, and I’d be here forever if I had to list all the anime/manga guilty of using this formula. However, seeing it’s simplistically drawn cover (as seen above) and it’s (surprising) thickness, I wondered what exactly Aho-Girl had in store for me…
The premise of Aho-Girl, like most other manga, is simple: Yoshiko Hanabatake would be your average teenage girl… except for the fact that she is always hopefully clueless. She never thinks ahead, doesn’t know how to recognize (or get herself out of) a bad situation, always gets zeroes on her multiple-choice tests… and has only one (often fatal) weakness: bananas. Her only friend, Akkun, one of the smartest students in his grade, is more-often-than-not tasked with keeping her in line. However, much to his dismay, Yoshiko’s charm and fun-loving personality only attracts more friends, including the too-kind-for-her-own-good Sayaka, delinquent Ryuichi who is won over by any type of kindness, a head monitor who harbors a strange (to say the least) crush on Akkun, and even a big, fluffy dog.
This four-panel (four-koma in Japan) manga became a surprise hit, and it’s not hard to see why. Fans of helter-skelter slice-of-life gag manga like the classic Azumanga Daioh and Lucky Star will love this series – it’s filled with all the funny, wacky gags that you can expect from something like this, and Yoshiko’s and Akkun’s “crazy guy and straight man” routine gets played up for all it’s worth (and you could say that for the rest of the characters), but the situations they get into are so weirdly hilarious that it’s hard not to crack a grin, even if the characters themselves don’t exactly leap off the page. Of course, Hiroyuki is no slacker when it comes to the artwork; even if this is a four-panel comedy manga, his over-exaggerated character faces and amusing action sequences (it makes sense in context, trust me) only add to the fun. Overall, this equal parts silly, adorable, and subversive comedy was an enjoyable way to pass time, and I hope to read more soon.
Final rating: 7.5/10
The Art Archive 