Customer Reviews

Gakuen Heaven (Yaoi)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As someone who didn't know about the anime or video game, I picked up Gakuen Heaven at the bookstore I work at, lured by the BLU logo and shrink-wrap. I have to say that this book did feel a little "crammed" - I could tell that there had to be more story going on somewhere.

Boy's Love seems to be a really lenient genre as far as what gets published in Japan, and even brought over to America. I have a lot of different BL books on my shelf, and not all of them are what I'd consider "keepers". Gakuen Heaven, for me, was right in the middle - on its own, it's pretty entertaining, the art is nice, but the characters are hardly developed at all - it feels like they thought fans of the game would be "bored" by the extra time that would take, so they jumped right into it.

It was hard for me to keep up with the apparent politics between the "Student Council" and "Budget Council" - I still can't figure out what the heck the problem was, who exactly was mad at who, and what it had to do with the rest of the story. When I learned it was originally a BL "dating sim", it started making a little more sense. It really feels like the plot to a dating sim. In order to fully enjoy this one-shot, though, I think you'd have to've played the series.

If you're looking just to build on your BL collection, this book should be around the middle of your list. Since it's based on a BL dating sim, it saves the "M" content for the very end. The illustrations are lovely and the book is almost worth it based on that alone, but the story only gives you a glimpse of what Keita and the school's world is probably like.

Anyone who saw the anime and just found this manga needs to understand 2 facts on this manga adaptation of a dating sim.

The reason why this manga focuses on this pairing was due to a poll which japanese fans voted as the pairing they want to see in manga form. So this manga simply adapts Keita and the King's plotline. So its not a case of the author screwing up the story, but a fan service that was part of a popularity contest.

That being said, since it only concerns one of the plotlines, you're gonna end up missing much of the story behind other characters, just like the game itself. Buy these only if you're fully aware for the reasons behind this product.

My god what did they do to this manga? The anime series was good but they just sucked the life out of the characters and the plot. They condensed too much into one book so there weren't enough pages to get enough character depth. They also decided to ignore annoying little factors such as the plot. You barley get introduced to the vast cast of characters. None of their personalities shine through like they should have as there wasn't enough space.

How the pair fall so deeply in love with each other so suddenly is beyond me. They should have left Keita and Kazuki together not paired him with King. Making King a main character changes the storyline completely, therefore they should have created a new plot and done something interesting to fit the new pairing. A disgraceful attempt at fanservice.

The translator needs to broaden their vocabulary. The dialog was so weak we are subjected to such eloquent lines as 'I love you so much. It's not even funny'. I can understand that fans voted for King but he is such a simple character he doesn't suit a lead role, he was a good side character. The art is good but you don't care enough to appreciate it.

I don't know how someone who hasn't watched the anime would view this. My guess is they would be twice as disorientated and confused as i was. There were such big chunks of plot missing one is lead to believe the manga-ka watched the anime while drunk and tried to recreate what little they could remember the next morning.

Amazing how the characters actually look like they have personalities on the front cover... what a cruel deceit.

*Slight Spoiler- if it had a plot*

Here's a summary of the manga: ` I've been accepted to a prestigious school. I don't deserve to be here. I don't deserve to be here. I don't deserve to be here. For some anonymous reason I've been asked to leave but I want to stay with my new friends after all. I love you King. Stay with me always. End'

I have seen the anime version and played part of the game.What I like about the manga version :The illustrations by You Higuri are amazingly pretty as ever,I love the different characters as well.
But I didnt like how they compressed the story on Keita in one volume.I may not be an expert but I have read enough plays ,script and manga to tell that the translations or script does not flow very well or in other words ,so so....It seems very fragmented.Did they even had somebody proof read this before printing...Oh well...Thats why I can only give this manga a 3 out of 5 .The ilustrations however is a 10 to me.

The first thing you need to know about this manga is the fact that it's visually stunning. You Higuri is one of the best mangakas these days, her style is flawless and she makes sure that her characters and even the backgrounds are very detailed. So I would give the style five stars.

The story itself is not so good, unfortunately. I think that a lot of manga readers like this manga for its yaoi potential more than for the actual story. I mean, you have a ton of guys there and the pairing possibilities are endless. And I think that that's what appeals to readers.

Should I compare the manga and the anime, I would say that I liked the ending and the main couple in the anime better but the manga was not so dragged out. In the anime, the main couple made more sense, because they knew each other from before. The whole "love on the first sight" didn't make much sense in the manga, especially between Keita and the King.

I didn't know how I would feel about this pairing as I saw the anime first. The book stays true to the movie to a point and then veers off into the King/Keita pairing. It was alright but I was much happier with the Nakijawa version but he is still heavily involved in this version. This is way more explicit then the movie and I wasn't expecting that but in a good way. As someone who truly loved the anime first I knew all the characters but I understand how it would be confusing for someone if they were reading this for the first time. Overall it was a good compliment to the anime and I enjoyed it!

I just want to make note I have am not familiar with these characters nor have I played the Yaoi PC Game version of Gakuen Heaven or even seen the Anime Series! So I can't give an official opinion to whom I really think Keita (the main character) should have ended up with, and what not.
But the true reason behind my 3 Star Rating is the story itself; the Art is simply gorgeous though! I think I was too nice in even giving this a `high' Rating to begin with.
The story is horrible. Straight away everyone absolutely loves Keita, for no reason. No one knows who he is or anything, so that sudden affection is confusing and unexplained. The first chapter itself contains a chain letter, Keita is not allowed to read but wonders around delivering to have a party at the end. Nothing important happens but he meets a lot of the students but nothing is really discussed to make it have a point.
And most of the characters are dull and unrealistic; they are original in any sense.
In the next chapter, the director wants to expel Keita because he isn't as strong or smart as the other students, and miraculously the director also announces a game that allows the winning students one wish that he will grant ~ no matter what it is. So guess what all of Keita new friends want? This Manga is too predicable.
The other students care too much, during the game, Keita is kidnapped by the Judo Gang cos he's not up to their standard and doesn't `deserve' to be in the school. Why does everyone care so much about one guy? Usually no one would even care!
Then we see Keita become absolutely obsessed with Niwa (King of the School). But there's no BL or Yaoi action until ¾ of the way through the book so it makes it a dull kinda `stalker' theme to it. He's always going on about being so in awe of him. But there's no real relationship anyway, it was completely stupid how they `fell in love' which was mainly `I wanna be near you' and then they were doing it. But I must say the one uncensored panel was nice. But when they actually said `I love you' it was the wrong moment.
And they even added in a old original three way love ~ Niwa's right hand man, Nakajima is in love with him and hates the idea of Keita getting in the way. What relationship do they actually have?
Another annoying thing is how weak of a person Keita actually is; he's always breaking down for some reason or another. `King doesn't like me' `I don't deserve to be here' and so on. He's paranoid 24/7.
The book itself was a huge let down. This is a sad pathetic attempt at Yaoi/BL. There's no real reason it could be called BL/Yaoi.