Gakuen Heaven (Yaoi) [Paperback]

As someone who didn't know about the anime or video game, I picked up Gakuen Heaven at the bookstore I work at, lured by the BLU logo and shrink-wrap. I have to say that this book did feel a little "crammed" - I could tell that there had to be more story going on somewhere.

Boy's Love seems to be a really lenient genre as far as what gets published in Japan, and even brought over to America. I have a lot of different BL books on my shelf, and not all of them are what I'd consider "keepers". Gakuen Heaven, for me, was right in the middle - on its own, it's pretty entertaining, the art is nice, but the characters are hardly developed at all - it feels like they thought fans of the game would be "bored" by the extra time that would take, so they jumped right into it.

It was hard for me to keep up with the apparent politics between the "Student Council" and "Budget Council" - I still can't figure out what the heck the problem was, who exactly was mad at who, and what it had to do with the rest of the story. When I learned it was originally a BL "dating sim", it started making a little more sense. It really feels like the plot to a dating sim. In order to fully enjoy this one-shot, though, I think you'd have to've played the series.

If you're looking just to build on your BL collection, this book should be around the middle of your list. Since it's based on a BL dating sim, it saves the "M" content for the very end. The illustrations are lovely and the book is almost worth it based on that alone, but the story only gives you a glimpse of what Keita and the school's world is probably like.

Anyone who saw the anime and just found this manga needs to understand 2 facts on this manga adaptation of a dating sim.

The reason why this manga focuses on this pairing was due to a poll which japanese fans voted as the pairing they want to see in manga form. So this manga simply adapts Keita and the King's plotline. So its not a case of the author screwing up the story, but a fan service that was part of a popularity contest.

That being said, since it only concerns one of the plotlines, you're gonna end up missing much of the story behind other characters, just like the game itself. Buy these only if you're fully aware for the reasons behind this product.

My god what did they do to this manga? The anime series was good but they just sucked the life out of the characters and the plot. They condensed too much into one book so there weren't enough pages to get enough character depth. They also decided to ignore annoying little factors such as the plot. You barley get introduced to the vast cast of characters. None of their personalities shine through like they should have as there wasn't enough space.

How the pair fall so deeply in love with each other so suddenly is beyond me. They should have left Keita and Kazuki together not paired him with King. Making King a main character changes the storyline completely, therefore they should have created a new plot and done something interesting to fit the new pairing. A disgraceful attempt at fanservice.

The translator needs to broaden their vocabulary. The dialog was so weak we are subjected to such eloquent lines as 'I love you so much. It's not even funny'. I can understand that fans voted for King but he is such a simple character he doesn't suit a lead role, he was a good side character. The art is good but you don't care enough to appreciate it.

I don't know how someone who hasn't watched the anime would view this. My guess is they would be twice as disorientated and confused as i was. There were such big chunks of plot missing one is lead to believe the manga-ka watched the anime while drunk and tried to recreate what little they could remember the next morning.

Amazing how the characters actually look like they have personalities on the front cover... what a cruel deceit.

*Slight Spoiler- if it had a plot*

Here's a summary of the manga: ` I've been accepted to a prestigious school. I don't deserve to be here. I don't deserve to be here. I don't deserve to be here. For some anonymous reason I've been asked to leave but I want to stay with my new friends after all. I love you King. Stay with me always. End'