Rating: OT 16+
Price: 10.95 USD
Kujibiki Unbalance is the actualization of the manga-within-a-manga Kujiki Unbalance (or Kuji-Un) from the popular Genshiken series which just wrapped up it's nine volume series in English. If that introduction confused you, then so might Kujiki Unbalance. Having not read Genshiken, I approached Kuji-Un as it's own stand-alone story.
And as a stand-alone story, Kuji-Un starts solid. Very exclusive private schools with no tuition are nothing new in the shonen/shoujo worlds, and that's exactly what Rikkyoin High School is. To get into Rikkyoin, a potential student must win a sort of lottery. How the self-proclaimed unlucky boy Cihiro made it into what appears to be a mostly girls school doesn't seem so unlucky, but we soon realize that every single decision made at Rikkyoin is by kujibiki lottery. School has barely started, and already it's time for student council elections...or the student council lottery. It isn't surprising to hear that in the school of 5000, Chihiro wins president just after his kawaii and long-time friend Tokino finds out she is vice-president.
We soon find out that being on the student council is is a lot of work and if the four new member-elects cannot complete certain timed tasks all will be expelled from school (so why would anyone want to be on the student council in the first place?).
These first introductory chapters are funny and fit within their own logic. However in the following chapters it is sometimes hard to keep track of this large harem and who likes who and who doesn't like who.
The art is nicely done and thankfully the large group of characters has distinct looks to match their personalities. Light fan-service runs rampant throughout. I liked the inclusion of a good number of Japanese terms which are clearly explained in the back of the book. However I felt the occasional inclusion of profanity a bit forced and unneeded.
It is common to have humble author notes in new manga, but when the book has "Unbalance" in the title and the author says things like "(This book) began as something that was thrown together..." and "...of course things didn't go exactly as I planned," doesn't instill the highest confidence in the reader. I understand this is a cultural issue, but I felt a little reassured that the confusion I sometimes felt wasn't all my fault.
If you have read and enjoyed Genshiken there is little doubt you'll want to continue the experience in Kujibiki Unbalance. However, uninitiated readers might experience a little unbalance after an otherwise solid intro.
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