High School Debut
4 /10 1 Votes
| Genre Romantic comedy, Drama Duration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date 1 April 2011 (2011-04-01) |
High School Debut (Japanese: 高校デビュー, Hepburn: Kōkō Debyū, also known as Koukou Debut) is a shōjo romantic comedy manga by Kazune Kawahara (河原 和音, Kawahara Kazune). It was serialized in Japan by Shueisha in Bessatsu Margaret from 2003 to 2008 and collected in 13 bound volumes. The series was adapted as a drama CD and as a series of six light novels written by Yuu Kuramoto. The manga is licensed in North America by Viz Media, which published English editions of all 13 volumes between January 2008 and February 2010.
Contents

The series follows the relationship between Haruna Nagashima, an enthusiastic former softball star, and Yoh Komiyama, the cool boy she convinces to coach her in romance. It has been praised by reviewers as a standard shōjo manga premise made highly entertaining by Kawahara's handling of the characters, particularly the romantic leads, and artwork.

Plot
Haruna Nagashima gave her all to softball in middle school, now that she has made her high school debut, she has decided to give her all for a new goal: getting a boyfriend and falling in love. However, she has one small problem—since she never paid any attention to fashion or trends in middle school, she has no idea how to go about attracting her yet-to-be-found love. But a chance encounter with the popular Yoh Komiyama provides her with the opportunity she needs. If he coaches her in how to become attractive, surely she can find herself a boyfriend. He agrees to coach Haruna after her great persistence but on one condition: she mustn't fall in love with him. However she does end up falling in love with them and Yoh reciprocated those feelings back. Throughout their relationship they have to overcome several obstacles,such as the return of Yoh's ex-girlfriend, Haruna's several male admirers and a stalker who is very keen on breaking them up as she believes Haruna is not adequate.Although despite the obstacles, they are still deeply in love each other. In the final chapter Yoh had to move in order to attend university and they are still happily maintaining their long distance relationship.
Main characters

Manga

High School Debut was written and illustrated by Kazune Kawahara. It was serialized in Japan by Shueisha in the shōjo (aimed at teenage girls) manga magazine Bessatsu Margaret between 2003 and August 2008. The 52 untitled chapters were collected in 13 tankōbon volumes. It is published in North America by Viz Media under the Shojo Beat label, with all 13 volumes published in English. It is also published in Italy by Star Comics and in Korea.

Two sequel short stories called "Enren Debut" ("Long-Distance Love Debut"), set in the months after the conclusion of the series, were published in the March and May 2009 issues of Deluxe Margaret.
In March 2011 released a new volume of the series. -"Far Love Edition" or "Love Edition - Far High School Debut" - issued March 25, 2011. This sequel of October 2013, already published two volumes, including this. Another volume 15 issued July 25, 2013 called "Far Love Knitting".
Drama CD
The series has been adapted as a drama CD released 10 June 2005. Cast:
Light novels
The series has also been adapted as a series of six light novels written by Yuu Kuramoto (倉本 由布) and illustrated by Kazune Kawahara. They were published by Shueisha under its Cobalt imprint starting in June 2007.
- High School Debut (高校デビュー, Kōkō Debyū), published 28 June 2007 (ISBN 978-4-08-601047-4)
- High School Debut: (高校デビュー 好きになっちゃいけないひと!, Kōkō Debyū Suki ni Natchaikenai Hito!), published 1 August 2007 (ISBN 978-4-08-601060-3)
- High School Debut: Christmas Battle! (高校デビュー クリスマス大作戦!, Kōkō Debyū Kurisumasu Daisakusen!), published 1 November 2007 (ISBN 978-4-08-601097-9)
- High School Debut: Be Careful with Love Consultations! (高校デビュー 恋の相談にご用心!, Kōkō Debyū Koi no Sōdan ni Goyōjin!), published 26 December 2007 (ISBN 978-4-08-601120-4)
- High School Debut: Mass-Generated Love Troubles? (高校デビュー 恋のトラブル、大量発生!?, Kōkō Debyū Koi no Toraburu, Tairyō Hassei!?), published 1 April 2008 (ISBN 978-4-08-601154-9)
- (高校デビュー 恋の告白されちゃいましたっ!?, Kōkō Debyū Koi no Kokuhaku Sarechaimashita!?), published 2 September 2008 (ISBN 978-4-08-601212-6) - This is an original story, and not an adaptation.
Live action
A live action movie of High School Debut with filming beginning in October 2010 was released 1 April 2011. Junpei Mizobata and Ito Ohno starred as the leading actor/actress.
Reception
High School Debut was among the best-selling manga in Japan during publication. For example, volumes 9, 10, and 11 all reached number 2 on the Tohan best-seller list, and volumes 12 and 13 both debuted at number 3. Volume 13 was the 34th best-selling manga volume in the six months before 17 May 2009, selling over 360,000 copies. About.com's Deb Aoki lists High School Debut as the best shōjo manga of 2008.
Volumes one and two of the English edition were named as two of the Great Graphic Novels for Teens of 2008 by YALSA. A reviewer at About.com named the English translation a favorite new manga of 2008, calling it "well-crafted and lovable"; a reviewer at PopCultureShock similarly described it as a series that "just make[s] you happy". School Library Journal described the series as "standard fair for younger manga readers" and "a good purchase for schools and libraries." Joanna Draper at Comics Worth Reading called it her "favorite shojo series running" for being entertaining and inventive. Otaku USA criticized the first volume for the predictableness of the story.
Kawahara's art was praised for its clean style and layout, dynamic figures, and emotional expressions, and was compared by one reviewer to Yoko Kamio's. Reviewers consistently hailed Haruna as a comic heroine and a key to the series' appeal, but Kawahara's handling of the other chararacters was also praised, particularly with Yoh and his sister Asami. They also praised Haruna's relationship with Yoh, which is presented as a pairing of friends and equals. Some critics noted that the story's initial makeover theme was more deftly handled than a short summary led them to expect, though some still expressed reservations about it.