There's a strange paradox in terms of the stories I tend to enjoy -- I look forward to them having more chapters, yet, almost without exception, they tend to go down the hay-hell along the line. The niche ones get axed early on and leave a lot to be desired, yet the ones that become popular tend to way-overstay their welcome, and end up leaving even more to be desired.
Banchou-san falls in the latter category -- it became popular, and, as is the case in the manga world, when some work becomes popular, author will do anything in his/her power to maintain it for as long as possible, even if it means sacrificing everything that made it good in the first place.
If you are a romance-manga-debauchee like me, you have without a doubt experienced this phenomenon as it's the most frequent destroyer of all-things-holy. Nearly every romance manga that I've read, and that has gotten popular, has shot itself off the rails in the long run. As the matter of fact, I can perhaps think of 3 off the top of my head that hadn't -- and Banchou-san doesn't fall in that category.
With a simple premise, and even a simpler story, one of misunderstandings that seemed to have become a staple of the genre, I was along for the quiet, and hopefully 30-40 chapters long ride. A few shenanigans here and there, some misunderstandings, a bit of drama, resolution of it all, and bye-bye. In the end, however, that's not what happened.
The enjoyable, simple story went off the haywire with the introduction of a completely unnecessary character that served a single purpose -- prolong the crippling story. Whatever made it entertaining and likable at first was thrown out the window for the staple cliches of the genre, and now, fifty chapters in, I've given up. It's too stale, too boring, too annoying, and not worth it anymore. There are literal thousands of ways to introduce drama in the story, and for the life of me I will never figure out why majority of romance-manga writers seem to resort to the worst possible ones imaginable. It's almost as though there exists a curse that says there are '20 dramatic things you can write in and nothing else', and everyone sticks to it like it's the Holy Bible of Writing.
Part of it has something to do with my personal taste, no doubt, as I generally tend to avoid romance mangas that go on for longer than 40-50 chapters, regardless of whether they're seinen, shounen, shoujo, or josei. There's just something about that length that speaks to me. Now, if you look into my favorites, you'll see that it's not the golden rule I swear by, but it's certainly a general lining. And Banchou crossed it.
I said a lot, yet seemingly nothing, so let's get to the point: the story was supposed to be about a wimpy guy gaining courage over time by slowly getting to know this badass chick and, for the longest time, it looked like that was the case. Then, out of nowhere, it backtracks, spins around, shits on itself, and laughs at us, as though taunting. Now, it's a story about a retard, a vagina-having retard(s), and how long can the author milk the story for all that it's got. And, I get it -- I really do. Making it in manga business can't be easy, which is what makes stories like these even more depressing. The author had a chance to end it early and properly, but there was never a guarantee his/her next work would have made it -- so, instead, we now have more, and more, and more, and more.
Characters went from interesting, albeit exaggerated buffoons, to some limp, soggy, drab makeshifts that are about as interesting as what I had for breakfast today.
I've had my fair share of fun reading Banchou-san, which is why I won't call it that bad -- but I will say I am disappointed it turned out to be literally 'just another popular rom-com'. At this point, I can only hope for some sort of a revolution in a manga world where short, but concise stories are the ones that authors want to make, rather than long and overdrawn garbage they spew out just to stay relevant and employed. I don't envy them, nor do I hate them -- if anything, I understand them as someone who relies on popularity to remain financially afloat. I guess, we're just two sides of the same coin.
It's a decent manga, and it's certainly fun throughout its first part. I do recommend, however, letting it go during the chapter where the wimpy MC finally breaks out of his shell and admits to his feelings out loud. It was a perfect moment to end on, and everything after that is just a downward spiral that will leave a bitter aftertaste in your mouth.
So long...
