Like I said in my post on W-Juliet, I am currently looking for mangas that make me go "doki doki" (heart thumping or heart beating fast). I happen to come across "Boys' Kingdom" by Oda Aya. The art looked okay, and it was only one volume, so I decided to give it a read. Surprisingly, I liked it a lot. I noticed some comments that it was fast paced, but I think it is more that the mangaka did not waste anytime and just went from one thing to the next.
The story is about Himeno, a girl who is transferring to a school that used to be an all-boys school but is now co-ed. The reason she is transferring to this particular school is because her parents got divorced, and in order for her to stay in her mother's custody, she needs to be enrolled in school. However, she does not want to burden her mother with tuition fees, so Himeno obatins a scholarship at this school, which was pretty much giving away scholarships to any girl that would want to enroll to increase its female student population (of course, she does not know about that part).
On her first day, she notices only boys everywhere until she finds one girl named Kanna. They quickly become friends, and she finds out that Kanna is part of the Hallelujah council, which is why none of the boys dare to touch her. However, Himeno is constantly harassed by the boys at school to the point that she was being forced to accompany them. Luckily, Gaou, the president of the Hallelujah council, saves the day, but apparently he does not like girls as he finds them annoying. Himeno faces the problem of how can she live a peaceful school life if she is constantly being harassed, and is not strong enough to protect herself.
So what made me go "doki doki" in this manga? When Himeno gets kissed all of the sudden by... not telling. This manga fulfills all the criteria in a high-school romance manga. You have the female character who is in danger, and gets saved. Love interests. Obstacles to overcome. Rejections. Confessions. The pain of keeping your feelings a secret! *cough* Of course, since this is a one-volume manga, there is only one situation per category. If you want a shoujo manga that is a quick read, then this manga is for you. I give this manga a 4 out of 5 only because I probably would not read it again. Although it covers all of the points a romance shoujo manga should have, it does not bring much uniqueness other than the situation with the all-boys school turning co-ed (but I am sure that there are at least 3-5 mangas out there that cover this particular situation as well).
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