Nov 18, 2021
TL;DR: What with the push among some for BL manga to be “wholesome” and “relatable”, I think it’s hilarious that Ganbare Nakamura-kun is one of the poster children. This manga could be considered insidious—it masquerades as a cute, silly story about a guy who loves his classmate, but if you squint, you can easily reveal the author’s fetishes. If you’re uncomfortable with some of the less savory BL tropes, be wary of the sequel. This is relatively tame; the sequel is worse. I doubt that the events of that story are a misunderstanding or a setup for criticism of that trope because of what I’ve
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seen in the author’s other work. Overall, I think the uproar in favor of this work as one that is a “great step forward” for LGBT+ manga is misguided; from my perspective, it’s just more of the same old stuff I hate and would like for authors to move on from.
The rest of this review will contain minor spoilers.
As for my problems with this manga outside of that: I found Nakamura kind of annoying and just downright weird. I’m not really rooting for him, though the author most certainly wants me to. The humor was the wrong kind of ridiculous for me, and that’s coming from someone who has a flair for the bombastic. Like, it wasn’t believable, which is fine, but it wasn’t even interesting. I couldn’t take any part of the story seriously because of it, but the more serious parts are not all that riveting or groundbreaking to begin with. For some, the themes might be a breath of fresh air, but I’ve read so many works with LGBT+ themes that this one felt dated and stale.
To clarify what I alluded to in my introduction, a student is mistaken to be in a weird situation with a teacher for “haha funnies”. However, it was not funny at all because it was like, “why would THIS be what you’d jump to”, and it made me feel suspicious of the author. I tracked down their other works and I found…more teacher/student stuff, but worse. I am fine with reading about morally questionable topics as long as they are treated with sensitivity; there are shown to be consequences for the negative actions (and the author shows awareness that it was messed up); and/or the execution is thought-provoking or interesting. Ganbare Nakamura-kun isn’t that for me. While nothing actually happens, it comes off like adult/minor teacher-student relationships have been normalised and fantasised about by the author; after all, it is clearly a BL trope they like. It doesn’t do much to critique the trope, merely playing it off for laughs and to shed light on Nakamura’s extreme anxiety. That is why it irks me that people think this manga is one of the pinnacles of “wholesomeness”. You’re allowed to like stuff that isn’t 100% sanitary anyway, but it’s also ridiculous to blindly promote something as “wholesome” just because you loved parts of it so much you didn’t notice that something was off. If the “wholesome” medal is meant to protect younger readers, then be extremely careful with what you choose to bestow it upon.
Anyway, there’s no actual romance, so I don’t feel inclined to call it much of a BL. If you are chill with that and just want to read about a guy with a crush, this will be fine for you. If you don’t have a thick stomach and don’t want the positive connection you made with this book ruined for you, you probably shouldn’t read the sequel.
Overall, I do think there should be more queer stories about “a guy with a crush”, as they can be relatable for many readers (just DEFINITELY not me). However, I’d prefer for them to be thoughtful, well-intentioned, and actually funny. IMO, there is much better BL (and otherwise) out there if you feel like looking for it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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