Ranked #1180

Bonnouji (Manga)

Moving on a recent relationship breakup sure is hard, even harder if that past relationship had span for quite long period of time and what makes it really hard for a person to erase the bitterness is the way that person still lurks on the past and throws fits because of it like it was just yesterday, eventually becoming insecure to his/her ex had become, or worst plotting a revenge to that person that broke his/her heart. But what if you have something to preoccupy yourself with? Perhaps drowning yourself in tons of work, breaking sweat on a particular sport or embracing a new hobby - things could help rehabilitate not only our heart but also our mind.

Now this brings us to the starting premise of this manga....


Bonnouji is about a boy and a girl who lives in the same condominium. The girl's name is Ozawa, 26 year old working lady, who had just recently broke up with his 5 year old live-in partner. Then she met a boy named Oyamada in the most crucial time in her entire life - the moment she needed to use the bathroom. If you think things will go sticky from here on then you're getting the wrong idea, for his room wasn't filled with tons of porn books but instead, it was decorated with souvenirs, collectible items, figurines and boxes. Yes, you've read it right, boxes and some more boxes. And what do these boxes contain? Well, that's one of the reasons why you should read this manga. In any case, these boxes are packages containing random stuffs from Oyamada's brother.

After she saw Oyamada's bizarre room and opening a box, they chug down a wine-looking liquid that they got from the box and they got laid... Oh wait! they didn't...instead they talk about how brokenhearted Ozawa is then Oyamada comforted her and that's the start of their friendship. And everyday, driven by curiosity, Ozawa comes to Oyamada's room to unravel what lies inside the boxes. Basically that's the gist of the their encounter.


Story: 8/10

There aren't many complications and twist in the story, aside from the ones I've already narrated, for this is just about interactions between characters, some developments, eccentric boxes and a hint of romance. Essentially a slice of life story. The problems in this manga aren't as grave or heavy as you expect to come out from a story that roots from a brokenheart. It's not filled with angst, envy nor extreme sadness, in fact, the atmosphere is just light in nature and refreshing. There aren't any absurd dramatic moments nor stupid misunderstandings that are most of the time the reason why 'romance' manga stretch out for too long.

The flow is episodic in nature and slow but the slowness is not a bad thing, for it takes it time for the readers to feel their daily life and to make out a bit of development in every chapter. It may look like that only each day are passing by every chapter but in reality, weeks are passing. From time to time, you'll get to read remarks like 'Oyamada-san hasn't been visiting for weeks now', basically that's just that. Also, events are taking place into two places, the condo and Oyamada's working place.

Characters: 10/10

The characters aren't deep, however, you might think that they are very shallow and plain-- not enough to put a spice in the story-- but that just contributes to the charm of this manga which is its simplicity. The girl is 26 and the boy's age wasn't given but it seems that there is a gap in the age of characters, with the boy being younger, but isn't really felt with their interactions and there is a potential for romance between the two.

Art: 9/10

The art is great, it fits the atmosphere and each character has a trademark look, like the main guy wears a glasses and has slightly long hair, and the main girl has a very long black hair. The dialogues aren't misleading too, despite being all over the place some times because of the art, some lines has a small doodle like a face with glasses hinting that the character with glasses, which is the main guy, is speaking.

The girl is 26 but she doesn't really look like one. It could be that my image of a 26-year-old character looks older because of the other manga that I've read that has female girls in their mid-20s or she's just drawn to look young way because she is portraying a cute, either of the two or both.

Enjoyment: 9/10

I enjoyed the whole the first volume of the manga and will read some more later. I like how the anime is fun and light that despite having a combination of 'Seinen' and 'Romance' tag, there are no sex jokes. Not that I hate sex jokes, I certainly do love them but I'm surprise this one get by and gave me a few chuckles without being dirty. I did catch myself laughing and smiling on some moments. Overall great. read more