Kawahara. Omnibus 13-14-15 Cover Art Cropped, High School Debut, Viz Media.
High School Debut – Information
Author of Story: Kazune Kawahara
Chapter Count: 15 volumes + one-shot sequel
Status: Completed
Content Warnings
These content warnings do not reflect the contents of the review below; only the literary work itself.
- Mentions mature topics briefly
Spoiler Disclaimer
This recommendation post may contain small plot spoilers for review purposes. Any major spoilers are hidden by default and are able to be revealed via click or tap.
High School Debut – Plot Summary
High School Debut or Koukou Debut follows a sporty girl named Haruna Nagashima, a freshman in high school who really wants to meet a special someone. She spent all of junior high playing sports, and now she wants to experience romance!
So, she changes her hair and tries a lot of new fashion—but nothing seems to catch anyone’s eye. Luckily, she meets a fellow student named Yoh Komiyama, who says she’s going about it all wrong. With his expert help and guidance, maybe Haruna will be able to find love!
Why I Enjoyed High School Debut
Although this story is on the slightly older side (published in Japanese in the early 2000’s) it still has a pretty good story and even lacks the more annoying aspects of older manga. Let’s talk about it!
Plot:
High School Debut is a great story for readers who are less into slow burns and more into romances that focus on the relationship once it’s already formed. It doesn’t take too long for things to get rolling in this story in terms of love.
The plot doesn’t focus on much other than the romance, and as for the setting the story mostly follows the characters’ daily lives throughout school. The romance also stays at the level of two students who are new to dating, and doesn’t get much more mature than that.
Just plenty of sweetness and youthful experiences as the two work to overcome early relationship challenges. It is a predictable plot, but enjoyable nonetheless.
There’s a few common shoujo tropes in this series, but luckily there isn’t many of the annoying kind. They are more of the cheesy, recognizable sort of tropes or cliches often found in romances (certain types of dates, holidays, scenarios, etc).
Although this story has its fair share of drama, it is the very mild old-school 2000’s manga sort of drama (not the other side of the coin which is just pure chaos and nonsense, like in Kitchen Princess and Peach Girl, haha).
Although this old school drama can feel a bit silly or feature unlikely scenarios, I grew up reading this sort of shoujo style often and so it feels almost like a weird nostalgia for me. I’d hate for new readers to miss out on the uniqueness of older romance manga! (*´∇｀*)
A lot of shoujo readers really love High School Debut, and I can understand why. While I will admit that the story isn’t exactly crazy exciting, it does have a likable simplicity and easygoing shoujo feel. It doesn’t have as much of the dramatic theatrics, fluffiness, bubbles, or sparkles that some shoujos have—but it is still a decent read.
It’s a very youthful and slightly silly romance. The romance is often very cute, showcasing many firsts and unique obstacles the couple faces during their relationship. It has some very sweet topics and an appropriate romance overall.
I did mark this as a romcom, although some of the comedy is a bit dated (some slapstick, and other exaggerations) so I wouldn’t rate it super high on the comedy-scale. The main character’s wild and very naive personality is the most notable comedic aspect, but this style of comedy doesn’t really appeal to me as much.
Characters:
One of the best aspects of this manga is Haruna. As a female lead, she comes off as very determined, strong-willed, and capable. She may be the sporty type with a sporty build, but still has a very cute side to her. The author doesn’t lean too far to the mega-sporty trope, nor do they make Haruna a weak or needy heroine.
Haruna is a great main lead character, although occasionally she gave me second hand embarrassment, haha. She can be kind of an airhead at times and is very naive. However, I liked her energetic, outgoing personality.
Additionally, the way the second main character was designed is perfect. Yoh is a slightly rough but kind lead who has a unique design when compared to modern ML’s. With unruly hair and thinner, sharper eyes, Yoh’s design and the art style of this manga helps set him apart from the typical dark-haired male lead look.
His character might feel as though he has less depth at first, but as the manga progresses we see more development for him, so no worries there! He’s a bit more reserved, but not necessarily what I’d call a tsundere.
Yoh is an uncomplicated and slightly introverted character, so next to Haruna their personalities clash in a fun way. He is easily embarrassed by romance and lovey dovey acts, which was very endearing and made this manga even cuter.
Art:
The art style of High School Debut is uncomplicated, but not bad. As I mentioned before, it isn’t overloaded with a lot of cuteness and sparkles, and it has a very simple design overall.
The art isn’t necessarily what I’d call my favorite style, but it wasn’t intolerable and I did really like the smiles of the characters. They just feel so sincere, and warm your heart! I also liked Yoh’s design—even though there are plenty of dark-haired ML’s out there—he just didn’t give the same vibe as a lot of shoujo ML’s do, so it was a nice change.
Kawahara. Volume 5 Cover Art, High School Debut, Viz Media.
Any Cons?
If you hate 2000’s fashion, you may not like the clothing in this series, haha! Although Haruna’s style is that of an amateur learning the ropes of fashion, the style throughout the series (even when it isn’t part of a joke) is still a lot of Y2K outfits (and I don’t mean modernized Y2K—the covers of this manga series are a good example).
However, they do spend a lot of time in uniforms, too. I for one consider this style nostalgic!
The FL does have some annoying personality traits that drag some misunderstandings in this manga. At times, her naivety just takes things to a new level. You’ve been warned. I will mention that it wasn’t bad enough to make me drop the manga, if that helps!
Although the original premise to this story felt rather unique, it falls off rather quickly once Haruna falls in love. I figured she would continue to change her style, outfits, or make-up, but that didn’t really happen.
I guess the point was to find love anyway (and from someone who would love her for who she truly is), but I was a just a tiny bit disappointed with how quickly that topic vanished. Maybe I’m just too into beauty-related mangas like Cinderella Closet, haha!
Similarly, a lot of characters come and go too, serving their purpose in a specific shoujo trope quickly and then fading into the background. It feels a little weird for an author to introduce new characters, make me hate them, and then almost erase them from the story completely—but I can also understand why the author would do so.
Final Thoughts
High School Debut is a cute, youthful romance centered around a very sporty, energetic girl. The story has some mild shoujo drama, but otherwise is mostly cuteness and character development.
The romance is sweet and appropriate, featuring a young couple learning to slowly overcome challenges together as they complete school. Although High School Debut utilizes a lot of common shoujo plot elements or recognizable character designs, it still has its own uniqueness to the story that made it enjoyable to read.
Disclaimer: Any images used for this blog are for illustrative purposes only, are not owned by me, and are under ownership of the artist or publisher.
Images Credit: Kawahara, Kazune. High School Debut, Viz Media, 2008.
