Puri Puri, Vols. 2-4

By Chiaki Taro
Published by DrMaster
Rating: Ages 15+

It’s a scenario that just welcomes wacky hijinks: an aspiring priest enrolls at a private divinity school, not realizing they recently changed from an all-girls institution. As a result, he is the only boy, surrounded by young ladies who either don’t know – or don’t seem to care – how to behave properly around someone of the opposite gender. Every moment at the school is a battle against temptation, as flashes of skin and underwear constantly threaten to derail his dream of becoming a man of the cloth.

The priest-in-training in Puri Puri is Kamioda-kun, who takes his own virtue as seriously as that last sentence implies. But Saint Sophia Academy does feature a considerable number of temptations, and Kamioda constantly finds himself in situations that put his urges to the test: face-to-face with cleavage; cheek-to-cheek with a coed’s rear end; pinned underneath some boxes with the girl he finds hopelessly cute; naked in a bath with a willowy female samurai warrior-in-training.

Granted, a lot seems contrived, especially in volume one, but writer/artist Chiaki Taro’s series is not without inspiration: specifically, the hormonal battlefield we all experience as teenagers, between our intellects and desires, our brains and other bodily organs.

That’s all subtext, of course; on the surface, Puri Puri may be drawn in a squeaky-clean style, but Chiaki devotes as many panels as possible to T & A – effectively simulating the distraction-prone mind of Kamioda. Unfortunately, this means an inordinate amount of page space gets devoted to girls in their undergarments or less, which does get old after a while. However, it’s also the source of much of the series’ humor: the fact Kamioda is practically living through stereotypical male locker room fantasies – those that can be published for audiences age 15 and above, at least – but they’re mostly nightmares to him.

Looking back on the first four volumes, the series does improve quickly as Chiaki gets away from schemes to get Kamioda kicked out of the Academy, introducing wacky supporting characters, over-the-top scenarios, and potential love interests instead. The decision proves correct, given how exploring the religious school’s appropriately-themed clubs – along with choir, there’s one for exorcism, even a Knights Templar that makes sure students obey the behavioral code – is more fun.

And quite frankly, Chiaki’s lone attempt to introduce a more traditional adversary for Kamioda – as opposed to just letting her oddball and sexually-obsessed cast play off one another – ends in an unsatisfying deux ex-machina. Our hero doesn’t need to face off against a devious student body president. His worst enemy, he knows all too well, are his own raging hormones.

The would-be comedy sequences also seem to get more elaborate, even if the punch-lines frequently involve nudity. At least Chiaki takes an equal opportunity approach to exposing and embarrassing her characters; by volume four, everyone’s revealed so much of their bodies already that it’s impossible to predict how a game of strip “rock/paper/scissors” is going to turn out.

It may sound as if Puri Puri will mostly entertain male audiences, but if there is a reason for female readers to also pick it up, it’s probably the character of Sherrice, the captain of the Knights Templar. This being a manga, of course the private school has its own student-based security force. However, Sherrice also serves as the female counterpart to Kamioda, constantly struggling to balance the rigorous training required of the samurai with her own personal desires. She’s a refreshing antidote to Puri Puri’s other female protagonists, given she’s quite possibly the only one who displays determination, focus, and confidence. She definitely merits her own series.

Volumes two through four of Puri Puri are available now.