| | |  | SHOJO BEAT | Home » » » Monkey High!, Volume 1 | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | It's hard enough fitting in at a new school while dealing with family problems... Will Haruna remain jaded and distance herself from everyone around her? Or will Masaru win her over with his monkey magic? | | | Features: | |
• ISBN13: 9781421515182
• Condition: New
• Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Shouko Akira | | Paperback:
| 192 pages | | Publisher:
| VIZ Media LLC | | Publication Date:
| March 04, 2008 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1421515180 | | Package Length:
| 7.3 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.0 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.7 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.4 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 4 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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A sweet, entertaining seriesNov 27, 2009
The story revolves around Haruna, a pretty and composed high school student, who transfers to new school after a scandal involving her dad, who is a politician. The first volume starts with her moving and trying to settle into life at her new school. Among her classmates is Macharu, a cute, lively, good-natured guy (who is compared by everyone to a monkey), who she ends up making friends with. As the story progresses you basically watch the relationship that develops between Macharu and Haruna, who initially seem to be opposites.
The main and supporting characters are really likeable and have a lot of depth. The relationship between Haruna and Macharu is really sweet and it's refreshing to have a lead female character who is intelligent and cool, paired with a cute, naiive boy. As the story progresses it's nice to see different aspects of their personalities emerge as well. The story is well developed and entertaining too.
Overall, this is a light-hearted and sweet read. If you're looking for a cute, entertaining shojo series I'd definitely recommend it!
 lovableAug 10, 2008
I don't read shojo manga. I've been picking up samples of Viz's Shojo Beat manga at Comic-Con since they started putting out the sampler and nothing ever caught my eye until this year. For me Monkey High isn't like any other shojo manga I've ever seen. All the other shojo manga had ridiculous premises that the reader was just supposed to believe could happen in real life. If we're going to go with something far-fetched, you might as well throw magic or an alternate dimension in. Or I just couldn't relate to the characters, and who wants to read a manga where you can't relate to the characters? What I love about Monkey High is that it has that sense of realism to it, and the characters are lovable. With great artwork and good pacing, it all just falls into place.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 Interesting Characters, Dull Plot (3 1/2 Stars)May 10, 2008
"Monkey High" is about a girl named Haruna who has to transfer to a new school after her father is involved in a political scandal. Haruna never had any friends to speak of, and she's always thought of high school as a "monkey mountain" with all its juvenile cliques. But at her new school, she meets Macharu, a sincere boy who happens to look just like a baby monkey.
This manga has strong characters. Haruna is more serious than most manga heroines. She doesn't spend time wishing she had more friends or mooning over some guy. She's really indifferent to high school life. "Aloof" would be the perfect word to describe her. I find this refreshing after seeing so many dramatic shojo heroines. Macharu is absolutely adorable. He's baby-faced, innocent, and very straitforward about his feelings. He's one of the sweetest shojo manga heroes I've read in a while. Macharu and Haruna have an interesting chemistry. Macharu doesn't force himself on Haruna, but he's very sweet to her, and makes his feelings known. Haruna doesn't know quite how to react to his sincerity. She seems to like Macharu, but doesn't want to tear down the walls just yet.
The major drawback to "Monkey High" is its plot. It's pretty much a line of cliches. The first chapter is about the school play. Really, how many times do we need to see this one? (But at least Haruna doesn't end up playing the prince to Macharu's princess.) There's also the school trip. *Yawn*. I've read some of volume two, and it doesn't seem to get much better. It's a shame, because the characters and their interactions were interesting. I would have liked to have seen them in more interesting settings.
Still, it's not a total loss. "Monkey High" was entertaining enough to get me through the volume. It doesn't have any mature content, which makes it a good choice for younger manga fans. I would most strongly recommend it to younger girls who are just starting to get into shojo manga. I think it would have been more interesting to me if I wasn't so familiar with shojo cliches.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Monkey High, vol 1 review!Apr 20, 2008
This is a cute story about a girl who transfers to another school because of a family "scandal".
Here she sees the other students as monkeys, and the fun starts from here.
Read about her way to get accepted and make new friends, even a new boyfriend.
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