Ichiroh!, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

No, this is not about a baseball player. "Ichiro!" (complete in five volumes) is a four-panel comic about an 18-year-old girl Nanako Konishi, who has just failed her entrance exam for a college. To prepare for the next year's exams, Nanako and her best friend Akane Nakazawa decide to live together in a girl's dorm and attend a "yobiko," a special privately-run preparatory school.

What easygoing Nakako didn't know is that the dorm is owned by a Shinto shrine, and she has to work as a part-time miko (shrine maid) to live there. Not only that; people she meets at the shrine and the prep school are so ridiculously unique that she often finds it very hard to concentrate on studying.

"Ichiro!" created by Mikage had been serialized in Houbunsha's "Manga Kirara Time Max" 2006 through 2010 and in "Manga Time Kirara Carat" 2006 through 2009 (the latter being known for "K-On!" and "Sunshine Sketch"). Like many comics published by Houbunsha, the story itself is almost non-existent, following the funny episodes of the likable characters with slightly eccentric traits and happy-go-lucky vitality.

Most characters in "Ichiro!" have something to do with today's otaku culture in Japan: maid café, video games, Komike (Comic Market) and "miko." But most jokes are character-based. Like in "K-On!" they are based on the delightful interactions between the characters with distinct personalities. Cute artworks and colorful expressions of the characters are also a plus.

Though the relations between characters are sometimes confusing (partly because of the yobiko system unique to Japan), "Ichiro!" is pretty fun to read, even without knowledge about pop culture.

Ichiroh! is about a girl named Nana and her two best friends who all vow to go to the same college. But don't get me wrong, this manga-typical story line does not follow the normal shojo formula. One of the three gets into the school while the other two have to attend cram school. In the meantime they live in a dorm on shrine property and work part time as miko. Add in a crazy love triangle, which ends up being a fight over Nana between one of the friends and her older brother, and you have a quirky and entertaining series. This is by my definition a good read and definitely worth the bargain price of $4.40.

One thing I would like to talk about however is the formatting. The book is extremely thin so be prepared. I ordered it expecting a standard size manga but the book is about half an inch wider and taller than your average Yen Press book and maybe half the thickness. The manga is set up in newspaper style panels however unlike most manga the paper quality is more white and less grey and seems to be pretty high quality. Something else awesome about this book is the number of color pages included. I think there are about four sheets of color, both front and back. The only sad thing about the color is it looks like there are other pages that were originally in color that ended up being in black and white. This manga is so cute that if Yen Press republished it in a full color omnibus edition (like HoTD) I would definitely re-buy it.

So far I have only read book one and two but I am definitely committed to finishing this series, especially because it is only five books. It is light-hearted and an easy read so it's not something that will keep you on the edge of your seat but it you want a feel-good comedic manga you will probably enjoy this one.