By Leroy Douresseaux
April 17, 2009 - 10:36
Hey! Class President cover image |
Romance; Rating: “18+ Mature Content”
In Hey! Class President, Vol. 1, a yaoi manga by Kaori Monchi, a high school athlete finds himself lusting after his rival.
Hasuhiro Chiga believes that he should have won the election to be class president. Instead, victory went to slowpoke upperclassmen Kokusai. Much to Chiga’s surprise, Kokusai asks him to be his vice-president, but it seems as if Kokusai needs a bodyguard more than he needs a VP.
The new president has the uncanny ability to attract peeping toms, perverts, stalkers, and other assorted degenerates. Classmates, instructors, strangers, etc.: it seems as if someone is always groping Kokusai. Now, Chiga finds that his major duty is to keep Kokusai out of harm’s way. With all the time he spends with Kokusai, however, will Chiga also want to cop a feel or two?
THE LOWDOWN: I was put off by Hey! Class President. Yes, it’s randy and steamy, and there are explicit sex scenes, but I found this volume a bit odd. After thinking about it for a bit, I realized that this story doesn’t hinge so much on character or intercourse, as it does on desire. Practically the entire narrative is an exercise in depicting how the characters struggle with their physical want for other characters. This desire isn’t a case of a character simply being “smitten;” this is full-on lust. It’s not uncommon to find a character tearing at his own body as he fantasizes about the touch of another. Even the art by Monchi is toning-heavy, fever dream of want. Hey! Class President is an unusual read, but it elevates the sexual fantasy from theme to character.
POSSIBLE AUDIENCE: Readers who like a little demented-on-the-side will enjoy this first volume of Hey! Class President.
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