it came to my attention that a lot of fellow manga readers often don't read as much manga as they would like. sometime due to the schedule, other times due to reading a particularly long manga or even times when they just don't know what to read. so with this blog, i will profile a different underrated or little known manga for manga readers to read now or when time permits. and what other way to start this off than with one of my person favorite mangas, SKET DANCE.
STORY: the story takes place in a high school in japan, home to the "sket dan", a club that takes on oddjobs from anyone who approaches them: students, teachers, kids from other schools, even people who dont ever go to school. even though there are only 3 people, they are considered a club but not viewed in the highest esteem by the student body as a whole. the majority of the manga revolves around different jobs they are given and using their unique talents to accomplish the tasks at hand.
MAIN CAST:
fujisaki yusuke, AKA bossun: the leader of the sket dan. he fits the typical shonen manga hero: simple minded boarding on stupidity, big eater, and pure hearted. bossun's appearance is goofy when compared to the other students as he sports goggles and a helmet hat from one of his favorite cartoons when he was growing up. bossun also has a habit of pulling off silly and, according to himeko, extremely cute facial expressions when feeling certain emotions.
bossun's special ability is his mind. when he places on his goggles, his powers of concentration reach superhuman levels, allowing him to shut out outside distractions, process mass amounts of info like a computer and notice minute details that even genius tend to miss.
hime onizuka, AKA himemko: the muscle of the sket dance. she is the typical tsunadre female: loud, bad tempered, and prone to violence. although it appears that she smokes, himeko actually sucks lolipops of unique and disgusting flavors that no one else can stomach. she was once a legendary yankee(thug or delinquent) known as onihime but she has retired and calmed down since those days. she is still quite feared by those who even know her name but she prefers not to use her past or talk about it at all. himeko is also something of the mother of the sket dan, doing all the cleaning in the club as well as a good cook. she plays as a straight man to bossun, usually being the only one to understand and laugh at his jokes. she also has a close relationship with bossun, which board lines on romances since she is the first to comfort him with a hug or finding the things he does as cute.
himeko, as the muscle, is the only one of the group who can fight. her weapon of choice is a field hockey stick named the cyclone which she can use like a club. her strength is so high that she can take down entire gangs of men without taking a single hit.
Kazuyoshi Usui AKA switch: the brains of the sket dance. the most notable trait of switch is that through out the entire manga, except during a flash back, he never utters a single word. instead, he speaks through a advanced speech programs that translates the words he types into his laptop (which he has all the time) into human speech. even though he denies it, he is a die hard otaku, often going on forums and trolling about his favorite anime. despite his serious expression, he is shown to be just as big a goof as bossun is and shares the same interests as him. he has something of a romantic rivalry with reiko, a member of the occult club. the two often have arguments of sciene vs. supernatural but everyone jokes that it just hides the fact that they like each other.
switch, being the brains, is a master hacker, able to find information on anyone in the school and beyond. he was a inventor but most of his early inventions where either too stupid, served no real purpose, or just plain disturbing.
Sasuke Tsubaki: vice president of the student council, the main rivals of the sket dan. tsubaki is the polar opposite of bossun: serious to a fault, overzealous of his duties and unrelenting in his beliefs. because the president is so lazy, he often times leads the council in meetings and in fights. he believes that the skat dan serves no purpose and as such, he and bossun often times butt heads.
tsubaki is a skilled martial artist, so much so that the boxing club wanted him as their top member. he also tends to research his opponent and exploit weaknesses.
now if you are wondering why I'm only profiling him and not the rest of the student council, its mainly because i cant find any good pics of the rest of them so i just left them out for now.
TALKING POINTS:
the structure of the manga plays out like episodes, with each job taking about 1-3 chapters to resolve. they is only one real major arc in the series so far with other long stories focusing on flash backs.
the jobs tend to run all over the map. from funny and overly silly (testing a old video game system with a super mario rip off. lol) to sad and tragic (saving a girl from getting framed for something she didnt do). but the sket dan makes the cases very enjoyable. the saddest parts of the story come from the flash backs on the members of the group and suffice to say, they are surprisingly dark and tragic for such upbeat characters.
speaking of them, the characters are surprisingly deep and well written. i think the author knowingly made a lot of his characters using the sterotypes found in manga and thus surprises the reader by showing different facets of those same characters.
another good point about this manga is the fact that it breaks the 4th wall so many times, you'd think the sket dan were related to deadpool. in one scene, when the group is talking about a new kids, bossun complains that he's the main character of the manga. in another, the group goes to sporting goods store to buy a new field hockey stick after her old one broke. after getting it, she wonders what to name it, to which bossun suggests tensa zangetsu, the sword of ichigo kurosaki, the main character of bleach.
possible the most blatant case of 4th wall breaking is the character poll. now in other mangas, character polls are often shown at the beginning of the manga and have nothing to do with the story. how does sket dance do their character poll?
THEY SPEND TWO WHOLE CHAPTERS ON IT!
that's right. just about ever character turns out for this event, with bossun spazzing out if he makes the list or not.
SHOULD YOU READ THIS?
if you are veteran manga reader and otaku, I'd suggest this one big time. like i've told a lot of people, its a manga reader's manga. it will make you laugh and maybe even cry a little.
if you are new to the world of manga, I'd put this one on the back burner. if you are ignorant of the sight gags, word play, and over the top humor can go over the heads of newbies but once you are deep into the world of manga, i'd come back and read this one.
well that's it for the first installment of MANGA YOU SHOULD BE READING. hope you enjoyed it and hope you give this one a read. you wont be disappointed.
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