The 80s Japanese LGBT community portrait made by Eguchi is hilarious, but not disrespectful. The humor is neither black nor soft. Considering the time and the country, the approach is very unexpected, at such point that not even the European cinema had explored that theme that way. It reveals that Eguchi was very aware of the trans community's anguish, and of the way Japanese society treated it. But he hasn't chosen a melancholic or morbid drama, breaking with the traditional approach.
About the characters, it is literally impossible to not laugh with them. The visual gags are very related to Hanna-Barbera's, and the Western reader can feel related to the manga very often. We have a lot of funny surprises that turn into silly jokes we cannot avoid to laugh because of its unpredictability. Hibari's very own personality brings a lot of those gags, flowing from an adorable and erotic girl to a responsible older brother that belongs to mafia.
Another similarity with the Western cartoons are the episodic arcs, that don't last more than five chapters. This makes the reading really easy-going, you don't have to seal a compromise with the manga. (I think the main cause of this style is Eguchi worried about the possibility of being fired next week)
Besides that, the portrait of Japanese society and culture of the 80s is so relevant and so legit that the manga turned into a symbol of J-Pop, and let us not forget of the portrait of sports and yazuka themes.
I see one problem, though: the frequent comments of Eguchi himself in the manga. We can clearly see his personality while he puts himself at the pages, and in the beginning this seems funny. But after 20 chapters, it's already boring, and it's obviously for the sake of Eguchi's laziness and procrastination. And because of that we understand why the manga had such an abrupt end.
