My Heavenly Hockey Club 1

This shoujo manga was one of the first series I read as tween, showcasing how ridiculous a romantic comedy can be where romance isn't necessarily the main theme. It's great! Whoever is reading this should continue reading the rest of the books.

This book piqued my interest as I kept seeing the ad for it in the back of other Del-ray manga.The concept of the series has been done, girl somehow gets involved with a group of hot, popular guys. But Morinaga's brand of random, comic hilarity and cast of characters that completely mock their stereotypical counterparts, bring a whole image to the sports and romantic comedy genres. What drew me to actually get it was the character of Hana herself. Morinaga has very beautiful and interesting artwork especially regarding Hana who looks and behaves totally different from the standard bright- eyed, bushy- tail, energetic, cute girl you normally get in this genre. She's not sickenly naive or un-necessarily hot-headed (her reasons for getting mad at the boys are actually valid). She's lazy, irritable, gluttonous, and flawed, your REAL average girl. The way she interacts with the hot all-boy posse including her love interest, Izumi, is priceless. It's a real journey of her learning to get along the clueless and spoiled rich boys and coming to care for them (it's blatantly obivious at first that she could care less for any of them). Hana Suzuki is a refreshing contrast to your average manga (and anime) heroine and if you pick up this title for any reason, it'll be to see her character evolve.

This book is really funny;. It also has really good art work. The last time I laughed this hard was when I read "Queens" and "Demom Diary" The author really has a gift for doing things in a funny way plus there is plenty of romance, which we shoujo lovers enjoy. It's a very enjoyable read. I plan on getting the whole weries.

If you're expecting a sports manga, you're going to be dissappointed. Very funny with similarities to the earliest parts of Kare Kano, but without any serious aspects. Quite funny, nice artwork.