The cast is great. The female lead (JK) is a bit of an anti-thesis to the usual shoujo heroine but still retains some of the tropes. The ambivalence of her being cynical/of a darker mindset versus her cute/sensitive side works out flawlessly. The same applies to the male lead (Haijin) -- messy, chaotic, and gloomy, he nevertheless shows himself to be highly aware of the thoughts/emotions of people around him and do the 'adulting' part right.
'Tsuiraku JK to Haijin Kyoushi' is a bit episodic/circular in its nature. The characters and plot progress, but there's a particular formula to how the chapters/short arcs are structured. Sometimes the series reminded me of 'Boku to Kimi no Taisetsu na Hanashi' a bit - but a darker twist on how the two leads of 'Boku to...' communicate with each other.
In any case, this formulaic approach to JK and Haijin got me worried at one point. What if the series gets a bit too...repetitive for my liking?
Thankfully, the mangaka is VERY good at breaking things up from time to time to 'reset' this feeling of circularity. The side character cast most of the time is the 'device' used to do this reset. Fortunately, the side characters and their interactions aren't shoehorned in any way -- they're added very organically to the plot progression. Sure, they aren't the most fleshed out, but somehow it works out well.
Art-wise, the mangaka is doing great. Beautiful art, rich expressions, crisp panels. This has all the ingredients of a great shoujo with some unique fragments thrown in. I swear at some times JK was drawn as if she'd fit right into xxxHOLIC, lol.
I disliked some of the stalker/jealousy/restrictiveness sides to how the relationship takes shape. Then again, this - and the age gap, are built-in for a shoujo series like this one.
A solid 8-8.5/10. Definitely a great take on what the shoujo world offers. Aside from the sometimes too forceful interactions considering the age gap/social roles of the two leads, and the occasional sluggishness/me needing to take a break, it's a gripping story.
