I read Fujoshi Kanjo mostly because I'd just read Fujoshi Rumi, therefore I was expecting a similar plot: funny and exaggerated, with little emphasis on the romantic aspect.
So I was thrown off a bit by this manga which had a) a main character who wasn't stupid and/or average b) an actually romantic plot line that expressed the type of relationship that wasn't a "love at first sight" or a "you 'saved' me so I love you" but a simple "you looked like a fun nice person so I want to go out" and c) no love triangles, bullying, or depressing pasts.
Fujoshi Kanjo is a really laid back series for people who want the simple pleasure of watching a normal guy get himself into a romantic entanglement with a yaoi obsessed girl. Good for a lover of slice of life comedy.

Helpful

read more

Jumping into this story, I was already intrigued by its differences from other shoujo manga. The protagonist is the male student Taiga. The main relationship features a couple wherein the female is older than the male. The biggest thing to notice is that the girlfriend is a fujoshi; I doubt I’ll ever see that being a huge part of a story again.

After those are pointed out, though, I think the story falls a little flat. I might have read it faster in the beginning because I wanted to see how Taiga handled things. It was funny to see him slowly learn all these Japanese terms for closeted interests, become disgusted, and steadily tolerate everything because he loved his girlfriend. He never could have imagined that this was how their relationship was going to turn out. I was delighted to see Taiga being able to complement his girlfriend either way, though; it showed how nice of a person he was despite all his frustration.

I could see how the manga ended the way it did, though. I can’t say it was very conclusive, but there wasn’t much to end anyway. The whole plot depended on Taiga’s adjustment to Yuiko’s obsession with boy love (at one point even asking him to write her a yaoi fanfiction), and it dragged on and on. Of course, the mangaka wove different situations around Yuiko’s addiction, but it became a wee bit boring for me after a while. I was thinking that at some time he’d get over her weirdness, but social appearances were important to them so that kept them hiding stuff every now and then.

I’m sure that in this manga Yuiko was supposed to be a funny character because she was the fujoshi and couldn’t help talking to Taiga about her fantasies and making him cosplay, etc. It was pretty humorous at first but then it became predictable and after that I wasn’t sure what to think of Yuiko. There were a few other conflicts here and there, but her longstanding attraction to yaoi was the pinnacle of her existence. I can’t say I enjoyed every moment of it. She was the same the entire time.

I was never quite taken by the art. It seemed pretty standard for shoujo, except sometimes the closeups on them made the faces look too long and awkward. The shading is pretty simple. You can tell when pretty boys are supposed to look pretty and all that, but there isn’t anything special.

۵ ۵ ۵ ۵ ۵ I was expecting more from this manga since the premise was unique and it seemed like the plot could go places, but after the fact, it didn’t go far beyond what it started with. I mentioned the main conflict seemed extended, but it didn’t exactly feel like the mangaka was milking it. It just felt dry and stale after a while. It was comic in the beginning but it’s not something too noteworthy except for the aforementioned different aspects.

Helpful

read more