Wa!

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I like my comedy simple.

The thought never really crossed my mind until I finally decided to read Wa! around yesterday or so, as it had been on my PTR for months. How I found Wa! back then will forever be a mystery to me. I didn't think much about the series anyways because of the average rating and low amount of users. However, after continuously laughing the whole time I was reading it, I changed my mind.

Wa! is severely unknown and underrated.

Wa! reminded me of the comedy that I love so much from titles such as Nichijou and from characters such as ones from Baka ... to Test. In fact, if you loved either of those series, you'll thoroughly enjoy reading this.

What's so great about Wa! is how simple yet enjoyable it is. You don't have to worry about a complicated story or character development or worthless side characters.

Wa! is essentially a blend of moe, slice of life, slapstick comedy, and additional romance. As the synopsis indicates, it's a story about crushes. Each character likes another character and eventually it forms a circle(and a whole bunch of misunderstandings). However, each character has a very distinct and cliche personality that defines them, which Wa! uses to its advantage as it relies heavily on quick, random interactions between characters.

To make it simple, Wa! is able to weave all the your most favorite and hated cliche character personalities into a hilarious romantic comedy. Rather than focusing on individuals, Wa! uses each of these character archetypes to help lay out hilarious interactions and gags. Watching how the tsundere student president interacts with the eroge gaming vice president adds a level of predictability on their behaviors but also unpredictability on the outcomes of the situations. Inserted between these scenes are inserts of random and witty references to Japanese pop culture, adding more fuel to the slapstick comedy.

Wa! isn’t great because of its complex story or characters, but because of its simplicity. If you want something lighthearted with a hint of romance, I highly recommend reading Wa! Thanks for reading and please post any thoughts on my profile so I can improve my future reviews! Thanks, and have fun guessing who ends up with who at the end :P

"My interest is in observing others."

What is a romantic comedy? Wikipedia states that they are stories with "light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals". I find that the contrary is the case more often than not, with most romantic comedies using romance as a comedic device, using the various situations one finds himself in when in love as humor rather than focusing on the love. This leads to half-assed romances whose only relevant factor is how enjoyable the humor was.

Considering all of this, Wa! is a romantic comedy. Yet it goes beyond most and executes it perfectly. Wa! focuses on the many crushes of ... the students of Takamanohara school and in particular this one string of crushes that makes a full circle. The comedy side of Wa! is not restricted to the humorous situations the seven students find themselves in pursuing their crushes but also from a few supporting characters and in particular two very good friends who, much like in Azumanga Daioh, make pop culture references and jokes that requires knowledge of the Japanese culture and language to understand (Or the kindness of the translators to explain them to you). Meanwhile, what makes the romance side of Wa! great is the closure we get. Yes, we get to see how their crushes develops and who ends up with who! Even the supporting characters gets some closure!

The characters are made to fit into archetypes we are now familiar with and thus into certain relationship archetypes we are familiar with. Yet their characteristics are so pronounced that it adds to the humor. The sheer amount of characters makes it easier for readers to identify with or fall in love with at least one of them and adds to the enjoyment. And though the characters are drawn to be somewhat moe, the art of Wa! is very impressive all things considered.

Overall, Wa! is a great manga and if you are a fan of comedy and are not averse to romance, I highly recommend you read it.

I got really confused when I started reading this. It was recommended to me by way of another manga I enjoy so I gave it a try. Wa! is essentially many short strips with punchline gags. About 7 or 8 characters in school make pop culture references and spin them into jokes. Think Zetsubou Sensei, Seitokai Yukuidomo, or Lucky Star. A real problem with Wa! is that it starts off poorly. The concepts and writing style aren’t defined… like, at all. So the reader has trouble deciding what it’s supposed to be.

... However, once you get a feel for it, it actually begins to grow on you. Now that I’m 8 chapters in, I’m assured of laughing every time I get a new one. All of the characters are clichéd, but that was the intent. Much like Zetsubou, the mangaka overly emphasizes their usually overdone characteristics until you can’t help but be amused and remember why those archtypes were so popular in the first place. To top it off, the art is actually very good. It’s just hard to realize at first because it’s not there all the time. Even good drawing is used as an effect and even sometimes as a pun itself. It’s brilliant when you realize it, but it’s too subtle to understand in the first two chapters, which may or may not be a good thing.

I recommend this manga, but it’s early. Perhaps I’ll revisit a review when it gets to 20-25 chapters.