Yankee-kun to Megane-chan

I know almost everyone in the world has seen some sort of romantic comedy, whether it be a tv show, movie, or a book. They all usually have the same formula: the meet-up, the romance and fun hijinks, the arguement, the sadness of being apart, the conclusion where they make up and everything is hunky-dorey. Toss in some McConaughey and Lopez and it's popular for a while before being tossed into the DVD bargain bin.

 Now take all your worldly knowledge about romantic comedies and throw it out the window because Yankee-kun to Megane-chan is anything but your typical romantic comedy! Called Flunk Punk Rumble in the USA it is the story of Daichi Shinagawa, the school delinquent, and Hana Adachi, the class representative, an unlikely pair that will have you falling out of your chair with laughter as they make new friends, run for student council, and get involved in various sticky situations.


Characters
The characters in the story are all so unique and have great back stories, and although many of them are "out there", they are all lovable and unique. They range from the tall and sort of fearsome looking yet reserved Seiya Chiba, to the short and rebellious little Rinka Himeji. The character's faults are well balanced by the strengths of their friends to make a truly likable main cast. Hell, even the side characters, some of which get very little screen, - er page time are interesting.


Art
The art for the manga is definitely unique. It doesn't have the ridiculous sparkly eyes and killer pointy chins of the 90s and early 2000s, and it still doesn't have the overly cutesy and sparkly style that is popular now. The one part of the art that is amazing is the detail in facial expressions, sometimes its over exaggerated, but it works. Sometimes it's over simplified, but it works. Miki Yoshikawa has a gift for knowing the art of expressions.The backgrounds are done beautifully and have just enough detail to be interesting, but not too much so as to get your attention off of the character art.


Story
The story starts off with only Daichi and Hana as the main characters and slowly more and more are introduced. They are introduced in a way that you can tell, "Oh they will probably be part of the main cast," however it's not super in your face about it and the addition comes naturally. The only character whose introduction felt a little too, "BAM! In your face!" was Rinka Himeji's with her just breaking down a door and announcing herself.

The series is still going strong in Japan though the fan scanlations are a bit far behind. The story goes through their years of high school and there are sort of clumps of chapters with certain themes and then it goes on to the next story arc. A fun part is that characters that you may not have noticed or thought much about several chapters back might make a comeback and be important to the story later on.


Live Action Drama
On April 23, 2010 the first episode of the live action drama premiered on tv. It has Hiroki Narimiya playing as Daichi Shinagawa and Riisa Naka as Hana Adachi. They both do an amazing job with the personalities of the characters and their voices and expression fits the characters perfectly. It's over-the-top and hilarious, and being the first live action show I have ever watched I was pleased..

The live action takes a different turn from the manga completely however it is still enjoyable to watch for those who have never read the manga, and those who are avid fans. The main cast of five characters is there though some like Gaku Izumi are introduced earlier.

The episodes can be watched with subtitles on Viikii which is a site where people of all different cultures who know all different language work together to translate and sub many different tv shows in many different languages.

One of the only downsides of the show is that it has only been scheduled to be ten episodes long, however the manga is still going very strong. (That was horrible and unintentional rhyming)


Conclusion
Yankee-kun to Megane-chan  is a very funny and clever series with lovable characters, and an interesting art style which sets it apart from most series. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good story that they can read and just have fun with it.