The plot is simple enough: there is a boy who is a 'natural born victim', or a constant target of criminals. He ends up transferring into a new classroom of criminals where he learns and befriends each one, with the last student ushering in an actual plot line about the importance of being known and of others being there for you. It's a light read with decent comedy that hinges on the absurdity of each of the classmates that the Ichimura, the MC, meets. Even though it is admittedly not the most innovative thing to do, the author handles it well enough to the point that it stays pretty consistently funny.
The characters are definitely the most important part of the story. Each one of them is a certain type of criminal on the outside, but a very different person on the inside. The sweet and shy girl is actually a really perverted stalker, the scary faced yakuza son actually loves baking, the assassin is actually really soft and girl on the inside, etc. All these characterizations really emphasize the main theme of the manga, which is that who we are on the outside is not always who we are on the inside, so we need to look past first appearances and look towards who people really are. Or to put it simply, don't judge a book by its cover. A sweet and succinct message from a short story.
That being said, the last handful of chapters is a standalone storyline about the last missing student that we don't get to meet until then. It is much more emotional and impactful than the rest of the story, which was something I enjoyed, but is plagued by terrible pacing. It is obvious the author had a tight timeline to keep so they couldn't fully tell the story they wanted, but you gotta judge a story by what is there, not what it could have been. The main villain has no real motivation, and the problem gets solved way too quickly. If more time were given to more fully explore each individual character as well as the interactions between sets of characters, then this manga may have made much more of an impact in the grander scheme.
The only other thing I didn't like about the story was the way the endings of each chapter was structured, with a few pages of 4-komas. Don't get me wrong, they were mostly funny and important to building up more character traits for each character, but they took away from the pacing of the story, especially at the end. They would be more suited for their own specific chapters separate from the main story.
Overall, I really enjoy this manga and wish it got the treatment it deserved rather than what it was allowed. It had good comedy, a message to say, and didn't take itself too seriously: a perfect combo for any work. It's a quick and light read for all, so I would highly recommend it.
--------Spoilers for best girl ending--------
As an aside, I liked how best girl was chosen in the end, but it really rubbed me the wrong way since best girl was chosen second overall, so was it really a win? It makes me lowkey upset but I guess it's better than any other girl winning in the end.
