The Spring 2021 Manga Guide

School Zone Girls

What's It About? 

Yokoe and Sugiura have been Together Forever, and they've mastered the art of making trouble when life's a bore. High school might be a drag, but these girls in love know just how to inject a little chaos and comedy into their sloppy school life.

School Zone Girls is drawn and scripted by Ningiyau and Seven Seas Entertainment released its first volume both digitally and in print for $9.66 and $12.99 respectively

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Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

School Zone Girls is one of those manga about high school girls being goofy, odd couples with plenty of yuri bait, and the odd joke that made me laugh out loud. Given that this type of series typically leaves me pretty cold, getting two or three genuine laughs out of a 180-page book isn't that bad. In part that's because of what School Zone Girls doesn't do – it doesn't rely on too many of the same old tropey jokes that most similar series use to pad out their chapters. Yes, there's one gag about girls groping each other's breasts without consent, but it's off the page and mostly used in order to show how Yokoe is overcome with jealousy that she's not involved rather than for tacit giggles about how fun and funny it is that girls can touch other girls like that. (Or should I say “can” touch?) There's little to no fanservice, and while Yokoe clearly has a thing for Kei, it's not the foundation of their relationship. In other words, this is a book about high school girls behaving like the kids they are without excessive reliance on anything beyond that.

The story mostly follows pretty-but-lazy Yokoe (who may also be less-than-gifted academically; it's not clear if she's really not smart or just so incredibly lazy that she can't be bothered to try) and her friend Kei, the straight man of the duo. Yokoe and Kei have been in the same class since they started middle school, and while Kei might not mind some time away from Yokoe, the other girl is panic-stricken at the thought of being in different classes. Kei would probably be the first to tell you that they don't have a real – or at least a close – friendship, feeling more stuck with Yokoe than anything, but as far as Yokoe is concerned, they're the bestest friends ever, thus setting up situations where Yokoe does something dumb and Kei ends up going along with it, like a contest to see who can kick her school shoe the farthest that results in Kei smashing a distant window with hers, or both assuming the other will have brought an umbrella to school and them both getting drenched. We also check in with a couple of other girl duos of varying degrees of closeness, with the other standout being the twin sister of a first-year at Yokoe's school and the obnoxious transfer student who latches on to her. Mostly they stand out because they don't get along as well as the rest of the groups, although each pair or trio does have their own distinct dynamic.

School Zone Girls isn't particularly innovative and doesn't have great art (although everyone is easily told apart, except the identical twins, so it works), but it is good enough. It's a fun little comedy, and while I could see it getting grating if it went on for too long, as it stands, it's good for a laugh or two when you're in the mood for something light and silly.