By Maki Minami
Published by Viz
Rating: 13+

I had a very vitriolic reaction to Special A. I feel more strongly about the title than Katherine did in her review of volume one.

Hikari’s life-long rival is Kei, who has driven the working-class Hikari to attend a school for the super-rich (sort of like Boys Before Flowers, but unfortunately lacking in class conflict). The school is ruled by an elite group of the top seven ranking students whom everyone admires (sort of like Kare Kano). The “Special A” as it is called, does not attend class, and spends their time drinking tea in a fabulous greenhouse on the school grounds (kind of like Ouran High School Host Club).

I have two major problems with this series:

Problem #1 Too many characters are introduced too quickly. All seven Special A students are introduced in an illustrated dramatis persona two page spread in the front of each book starting with volume three. Some of the details listed are hilariously irrelevant; Tadashi has “wanderlust” and Ryuu is the son of the owner of a sporting goods store, but as of volume four these details do not impact the story. With such a large cast, it’s hard to tell characters apart (some of the boys have nearly identical metrosexual hair), but instead of developing characters one at a time, Minami introduces additional characters; Kei has a random cousin who is in love with him (apparently a common problem in manga-Japan), Kei’s little brother is a pest, troublemakers Yahiro and Sakura become regulars, until finally in volume three we start getting some backstory for Tadashi (ranked 5th, the school director’s son). With so many major characters, I don’t see a need to introduce external conflict until we understand the relationship between all seven regulars.

Problem #2 I think we the readers are supposed to be laughing at Hikari’s “hilarious” efforts to defeat Kei at something, anything, but I sympathize so much with Hikari that I just can’t laugh at her. I desperately want Hikari to win. I’m fairly certain that the author presumes you the reader will concede that Kei is Hikari’s athletic and intellectual superior and Hikari is a fool to try and compete with a boy, but isn’t that misogynist?

It gets worse; as the price for losing one contest, Kei decrees that Hikari make him an onigiri (rice ball) to fulfill his desire to eat homemade food prepared with love, something he is too rich to have experienced firsthand in his life so far. Hikari’s training as a wrestling fanatic (see volume one) has left her with super-strength but no cooking ability. She tries her best to make onigiri for Kei, but she’s so strong that when washing the rice she grinds it into powder. Let me get this straight: Hikari is not very feminine because she can’t cook. Kei wants to eat an onigiri made by her because he loves her, but also so she can fulfill the role of his mother. GROSS!

Hikari is clueless about how Kei feels about her, no matter if Yahiro tells her Kei loves her and regardless of how many times Kei kisses her. Her cluelessness is supposed to be funny, but because Hikari is ranked second in her class I just can’t buy that she’s also some kind of an idiot. Maybe I’m taking this way too personally since I was salutatorian of my high school class. My friends in those days called me “smart but oblivious”.

I want S.A to be better. I want it to tackle class issues and discuss talent versus hard work. I want the Special A characters besides Hikari to attend class or at least study. For example, I have a hard time buying that being the son of the president of a sporting goods store makes you a math genius by default. In volume six we learn more about Kei’s photographic memory, which gives him a severe advantage in life but also makes him isolated from his peers. I want to cheer for Hikari like I cheer for Rock Lee in Naruto; Rock Lee has no chakra, Hikari does not have a photographic memory.

In volume five the Akira (daughter of an airline president) flies Hikari to London to stop Kei from transferring schools. Heretofore, the rich SA members have used their wealth for extravagant vacations and school festivals, but not to service the plot. In the same chapter, Hikari uses her superior athletic ability to jump the fence of Kei’s family mansion and outrun the security guards. Meanwhile Ryu, who loves animals, tempts away the guard dogs. I suddenly wished every chapter of S.A was more like Richie Rich, (or how I imagine Richie Rich to be without actually reading it).

I want the art to be better. Minami often draws outline-y stick figure-y things for non-important characters. Katherine praised the background detail and character designs, and mentioned that the characters are recognizable in chibi form, but I disagree. I had a hard time separating Yahiro from Kei in several volumes. Yahiro is particularly hard to identify in volume five, where he has stopped acting evil (his characteristic trait is suddenly dropped).

I recently revisited Ouran High School Host Club for Otaku USA, and as I reread volume one I realized that in Ouran the jokes are actually funny and each page; each panel is crammed with antics and busy with screentone. S.A introduces backgrounds and establishes setting better than something like Wild Ones, but then it relies on screentone to fill gaps. S.A’s jokes aren’t that funny, either. Hikari wears a rabbit costume for large sections of volume five and it’s just not funny.

I actually hate S.A and I’m not sure why I keep reading it. Is it because I said I would review volume four and went back and bought volumes two and three? Maybe it’s because I didn’t get it reviewed in time and two more volumes came out so I thought I would read them to be current. Or maybe there are other, darker reasons:

Possible Reasons why Erin Keeps Buying/Reading S.A:

1. Hoping to sell it on eBay as a complete set as if it’s an “investment.” (The series in Japan is up to volume 13 and may be ongoing.)
2. Secretly hoping it will get better.
3. Interested in seeing the surprising new ways Minami can offend me with misogyny.
4. Building up a case against it so I can de-program any S.A fans, should I ever meet one.
5. Hoping Hikari will eventually beat Kei.

In the depth of my bizarre S.A madness I watched five episodes of the anime series, which is currently airing in Japan. The anime is uninspired and modestly budgetted. It’s easier to tell the characters apart and some of the jokes are funnier. It is doggedly loyal to the manga, which is at best mediocre.

Here’s a very brief summary of events for each volume of the manga from two on:

Vol. 2 – Student council problem, wrestling, Hikari makes lunch, two school festivals, Hikari plays some sports, is invited to Yahiro’s party.

Vol. 3 – A big foot race, a trip to Hawaii over summer vacation, Kei has a date with Tadashi (Tadashi’s backstory).

Vol.4 – Kei gets sick and Hikari nurses him, the SA goes to a regular school, Akria’s backstory, Kei has an omiai with Sakura.

Vol. 5 – On a BBQ trip Sakura likes Jun and unleashes his other self (Jun’s backstory), Hikai cross-dresses in an attempt to ruin Kei’s omiai, Hikari wears a rabbit costume for a tour of another school, the SA go to London to stop Kei from transferring, the SA act as a host club at a cultural festival.

Vol. 6 – Ogata tries to seduce Hikari away from Kei so he’ll transfer schools, Hikari makes Kei and Ogata dinner, Kei and Hikari skip school to go on a date to an amusement park, Hikari realizes she loves Kei but overhears “Whoever falls [in love] first loses”, Hikari is ranked 13th after midterms, Hikari and Kei are put in charge of rival teams on for the sports festival.

By volume four the rivalry has fallen to the wayside in favor of the love story. I can’t tell you how angry it makes me that Hikari drops to 13th in her class as soon as she figures out she loves Kei (and by “figures out” I mean, “Kei points it out to her”). In Kare Kano Yukino and Soichiro’s class rankings both drop when they start dating (Yukino’s drops more because she’s the girl I guess) but in S.A Kei stays at number one.

S.A feels like a direct rip off of Ouran and Kare Kano, but with the good parts painfully removed.

Volumes 1-6 of S.A are available now.