While its not a manga that attempts to break that rigorous shoujo mould, nor does it stick in the mind as a classic and hilarious story, something about it sticks like glue. I said that the author - Rie Takada - flaunts her strengths. Having read a fair few of her manga the main strength I see flashing in her stories is the humour. I can honestly say I haven't laughed so much at one author's works in very very long. Not only is the humour laugh-out-loud funny, but its also consistent.
I don't tend to mention the art because unlike for some, its not really a deal breaker unless its mind-numbingly awful. However I do love Takada's work, especially the close-ups. Truly beautiful (and wonderful fan service for a girl needing to live life vicariously through others! :3)
The story is actually set out on a surprisingly interesting premise. Girl who was the champion of an all-girls school is forced to adapt, alongside her classmates, to a co-ed school when their school is merged with an all-boys school. Upon doing so, she meets a Boy. Chaos ensues.
With only five volumes, its a surprisingly hard task to fill. She tends to do 10 volume strong stories (see Heart or Wild Act!!) which I think works better - while some argue that they are in fact too long. The problem with Takada's work I think lies in the depth of the story. If you say ''A shoujo? With depth, don't make me laugh.'' I refer you no further than to 'Akuma to Love Song' or 'Mars'. Very easily, these two create stories with depth. Takada had the chance to open the story up and delve deeper. There were backstories to be used, to be told and developed. Characters we could have become more friendly with. But unfortunately, the author took away this chance when she set up the back story, explained it briefly, and moved on. Had she done so, I think we'd have a longer and more fulfilling manga. I also think that this lack of backstory is the reason people complain her others are too long. As it stands, while its got a pleasant and sweet enough front, Happy Hustle High hasn't got any substance.
I think the characters themselves do go a long way at holding this story together. Hanabi is definitely a fantastic comedic character I'd have loved to see more of. In fact, Wikipedia sums her up nicely ''She leads the girls in their major activities, such as changing the school's rules or robbing perverts''. This summation is all I can say of this ballsy, fresh character who I loved learning about.
The male lead Yasuaki is an interesting one. Reading the wikipedia summary of him, it seems we know so much about him when to me it feels as if I know very little. He's a character who starts as a surfer-lover with an allergy to girls, but I don't think this 'allergy' was used to its full potential.
The other characters, Yoshitomo and Tokihisa are of the general side character shoujo type - there for mainly comical reasons or for the trouble arcs of the story when a love triangle / disaster is needed.
Reading this back, I seem rather critical of this manga, so I'm sure your wondering why on earth I ranked it as highly as I did so let me explain. I only really have two asks when I read or watch something.
1. The story must be interesting.
2. It MUST entertain.
While the story fell down at parts, and again I feel the need to critique the lack of depth, Happy Hustle High did without a doubt entertain me. I laughed...out loud at times and smiled through the majority of the chapters. If you are looking for something which will provide comic relief to your otherwise depressingly sad mangas or animes I suggest you look no further than this, or at least Takada's works in general.
