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U19 is like shounen's first post-modern existential dystopian novel... but with art!

It might be too early to write a review for this, as only the first chapter has been released; however, I believe that this has the makings of a great story in a fairly unexplored realm of fiction. Really nothing quite happened so far: there was an introduction to the setting, a few characters, and what will probably become the main conflict of the series. The setting is probably the most interesting: in the near future, after Japanese students' academic performance had been dropping rapidly, a Political party, the Grown-Ups Party, rose to ... power, re-instituted corporal punishment in schools, and redid the academic system to force students to be placed into castes after their 20th birthday Adult Admission Test. The contemporary dystopian setting really excited me, but the characters and conflict just don't seem to mix well with the setting. A hotheaded MC and a bland conflict and a premise that would make Thomas Pynchon proud is like oil and water, but U19 is a shounen and it might serve to deepen the author's intention.

The art is really good.The faces especially great given that they're expressive and we immediately feel what the mangaka wants us to feel. The color pages also look like they were done with colored pencil; a look that I think I enjoy.

The characters are what I liked least about U19, but I feel that the contrast of adults' and students' personalities and expressions might actually serve to further the simulacrum that the characters live in.

I gave this a high enjoyment score simply because this series really does have the ability to be a stepping stone to heavier Post-modern fiction. If this even piques your interest in that realm, definitely check out Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49, a short book, or Don DeLillo's White Noise, which is quite a bit longer.