High School Debut

Infobox animanga/Header
name = High School Debut


caption = High School Debut volume 1
ja_name = 高校デビュー
ja_name_trans = Kōkō Debut
genre = Romantic comedy, DramaInfobox animanga/Manga
title =
author = Kazune Kawahara
publisher = flagicon|Japan Shueisha
publisher_en = flagicon|United States Viz Media
publisher_other = flagicon|Italy Star Comics
demographic = Shōjo
magazine = flagicon|Japan Bessatsu Margaret
first = 2003
last = August 2008
volumes = 12

nihongo|"High School Debut"|高校デビュー|Kōkō Debyū|also known as "Koukou Debut" is a shōjo romantic comedy manga by Kazune Kawahara. It was published in Japan by Shueisha in "Bessatsu Margaret" from 2003 to 2008 and collected in 12 tankobon volumes. It is licensed in North America by Viz Media, with five volumes published as of September 2008. The series follows the relationship between Haruna Nagashima, an enthusiastic former softball star, and Yoh Komiyama, the cool boy she convinces to coach her in romance.

Plot

Haruna Nagashima gave her all to softball in middle school, now that she has made her high school debut, she has decided to give her all for a new goal: getting a boyfriend and falling in love. However, she has one small problem—since she never paid any attention to fashion or trends in middle school, she has no idea how to go about attracting her yet-to-be-found love. But a chance encounter with Yoh Komiyama provides her with the opportunity she needs. If he coaches her in how to become attractive, surely she can find herself a boyfriend.

Characters

; nihongo|Haruna Nagashima|長嶋 晴菜|Nagashima Haruna: A tomboyish high-school girl who played softball in middle school. Shortly after entering high school, she becomes determined to find a boyfriend under the influence of all the shōjo manga she reads. She accidentally meets Yoh after a failed attempt at being "picked up" by guys and asks him to coach her on how to be more attractive, but is rejected. Shortly after that, she finds out Yoh goes to the same high school as Haruna and asks him to coach her again. After being rejected another time, she meets Asami, Yoh's sister and they become friends. Soon, Yoh reluctantly accepts to be Haruna's coach with one condition - she is not to fall in love with him! Yoh helps her on a daily basis, with clothes and such, and even gives her advice on what to do when she falls in love with one of Yoh's friends. Haruna starts to fall in love with Yoh, but rejects it since Yoh told her not to fall in love with him. Nevertheless, she asks Yoh a "hypothetical" question about what to do when she falls in love with someone she is not supposed to, but Yoh does not get why she is so serious about a hypothetical question. She tells Yoh she is in love with him, and Yoh surprisingly tells her he is happy that he's the one she likes. In the recent chapters, Haruna and Yoh are currently dating. Haruna can be described as simple-minded and doesn't seem to pay much attention to her surroundings, though she is very kind hearted and cannot refuse anyone who needs help. Her friend once stated that she is "pure-hearted to the point of being scary". She is also very strong, it is shown on more than one occasion, she opened a jar that even Yoh couldn't open and beat Yoh at an arm wrestling match. Yoh constantly tells her not to show off her muscular legs in public.

; nihongo|Yoh Komiyama|小宮山 ヨウ|Komiyama Yō: A boy in the grade above Haruna. He knows the ideas on how to impress men from a woman's point of view. Although a little shy and easily embarrassed, he represents a figure of cool demeanor, he was even asked out on a date when he was in elementary school. In the beginning when Haruna asked him to tutor her about profession in boyfriend-making, he warned her not to fall in love with him and cry around him. Yoh helps Haruna on a daily basis, with clothes and such, and even gives her advice on what to do when she falls in love with one of his friends. Soon after Haruna starts to fall in love with him, she asks him a hypothetical question on what to do after when she falls in love with someone she's not supposed to. He apparently doesn't remember saying anything of the sort, and unknowingly asks why she is so serious about a hypothetical question. He then notices how Haruna avoids him and acts weirdly around him and soon remembers her question and what he said after he agreed to be her coach. Yoh asks Haruna if she likes him and Haruna regrettably says no. Yoh seemed to feel a tiny bit depressed only until he saw Haruna run after him. After Haruna confessed to Yoh that she truly loved him, he finally accepted. Yoh and Haruna are currently dating.

: When Haruna asks him to coach her he says no because there are also faults about falling in love. Finally after seeing her play in her final softball game where she lost he discovers how determined she is and even when she gives up she keeps going. When Yoh was in middle school he would get love letters in his shoe box along with letters of hate from parents and even college guys. Because of that he was isolated from others. When he joins the basketball team he becomes close with the manager, a cute and popular girl named Kurihara. She's a very dependent person and Yoh being somewhat of a caretaker helps her all the time. He started walking home with her everyday and told her that his house was also in the same direction. Soon she discovers it's not and wonders if they are going out. She becomes so troubled by the thought she starts asking everyone on the basketball team whether or not they think so, soon breaking up the team spirit and isolating Yoh. They refer to Kurihara as his ex and as the "bead-incident" because she loved beads but Yoh pretended to not care even though he bought her a beaded necklace. They break up before he can give it to her. Later, when Yoh meets Haruna she finds the necklace and he breaks it apart, but Haruna fixes it and gives it back to him.

; nihongo|Asami Komiyama|小宮山 麻美|Komiyama Asami: Yoh's little sister. Although she's pretty and admired by many boys, she's often shown her conceited side. She has a serious brother complex. She wants Yoh and Haruna to be together, however, sometimes she tries to protect her older brother when she thinks Haruna is trying to get to Yoh sexually (Haruna is not, actually...). Often, when Haruna goes to her when she's having a problem, Asami says it's going to be "fun" but quickly replaces it with "trouble". She likes Fumiya, but wanted to test him and see if he would wait forever in the snow for her. Even when Haruna liked him as well, Haruna helped her notice how kind hearted Fumiya was and they are currently going out. She gets angry at Fumiya when he didn't take any notice of her, even when she tried her cute poses. However, later in chapter 27, when she was getting sexually harassed, Fumiya snapped and protected Asami with much ferocity. At the end of the chapter, they finally kiss.

; nihongo|Fumiya Tamura|田村 史也|Tamura Fumiya: Yoh's friend, also known as "Fumi". He's a bit on the slow side, not getting some things straight even if it is right before his eyes. Haruna had a crush on him because of his caring personality, but when he announced he and Asami were going out, Haruna had finally decided that her heart was really set on Yoh's all this time. His caring demeanor was suddenly vicious when Asami was being harassed by a man to get him jealous, noting that he suddenly becomes angry when women and children are being harassed. Asami admits she only went with the man because she felt Fumiya didn't notice her enough, only to be surprised when he grabs her and kisses her.

; nihongo|Asaoka|朝丘|: Yoh's friend. He has a part-time job at a restaurant, and like Fumiya, he is calm and caring (fortunately, he has some common sense and is not as dense as Fumiya). Yoh says that ninety percent of what Asaoka says is out of kindness and that whomever goes out with him would be happy because of all the kind words he says. Haruna once tried to get Asaoka and her friend Mami-chan together, but Yoh got mad at her because he was jealous Haruna was paying more attention to Asaoka than him and left. In Chapter 20, Asaoka had Haruna go with him on a "date" to make Yoh jealous, since Yoh and Haruna were fighting. At the end of the "date", Asaoka "confessed" and suggested that she cheat on Yoh with him, even saying that he didn't mind being "the second guy". After Haruna refused and Yoh showed up, Asaoka claimed he was joking about his confession, but his realistic acting and his behavior in the more recent chapters say otherwise. In recent chapters, he has done many things that imply that he really has feelings for Haruna, like telling her to come to him if she ever gets tired of Yoh, but Haruna only takes it as him being polite. At the end of Chapter 35, Yoh asks him straight out if he likes Haruna. In Chapter 36, he challenges Yoh, asking what Yoh will do if he does like her. Yoh tells him to give up, and Asaoka turns it into a contest, saying that if Yoh wins more events than him at the school's athletic meet, he will give up on confessing to Haruna.:In Chapter 37, when Yoh wins, he denies he really likes Haruna getting Yoh upset. Once Yoh leaves, Mami comes up to him telling him that he is always deceiving himself by passing things off as a joke and that he doesn't even know what his true feelings are. She also tells him that Haruna is a good girl and it isn't strange for him to like Haruna. When Mami tells him this, he seems to be surprised. At the end of the chapter, when Asoaka looks out of the window he sees Haruna and he tells her that he likes her. Haruna looks up at him suprised, but then smiles, saying she isn't going to fall for that, thinking it was a joke.

Reception

"High School Debut" was among the best-selling manga in Japan during publication. For example, volumes nine, 10, and 11 all reached number 2 on the Tohan best-seller list,cite web | url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-08-01/japanese-comic-ranking-july-24-30 | title=Japanese Comic Ranking, July 24–30 | publisher=Anime News Network | date=2007-08-01 | accessdate=2008-08-20] cite web | url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-01-14/japanese-comic-ranking-january-1-7 | title=Japanese Comic Ranking, January 1–7 | publisher=Anime News Network | date=2008-01-14 | accessdate=2008-08-20] cite web | url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-04-30/japanese-comic-ranking-april-22-28 | title=Japanese Comic Ranking, April 22–28 (Updated) | publisher=Anime News Network | date=2008-04-30 | accessdate=2008-08-20] and volume 12 debuted at number 3.cite web | url=http://www.php.co.jp/fun/ranking/books.php?genre=f2008-09-03 | title=コミックランキング - THE 21 なんでもランキング - お楽しみ - PHP研究所 | language=Japanese | accessdate=2008-09-06]

Media

Manga

"High School Debut" was published in Japan by Shueisha in "Bessatsu Margaret" between 2003 and August 2008 and collected in 12 volumes.cite web | url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-06-12/high-school-debut-shojo-manga-to-end-in-japan-in-july | title="High School Debut" Shōjo Manga to End in Japan in July | publisher=Anime News Network | date=2008-06-12 | accessdate=2008-08-20] cite web | url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-07-10/high-school-debut-kawahara-launches-aozora-yell | title=High School Debut's Kawahara Launches "Aozora Yell" (Updated) | publisher=Anime News Network | date=2008-07-10 | accessdate=2008-08-20] It is published in North America by Viz Media under the Shojo Beat label, with five volumes published as of September 2008.cite web | url=http://www.viz.com/products/products.php?product_id=6744 | title=Viz Media . products . High School Debut , Vol. 1 | publisher=Viz Media | accessdate=2008-01-18] It is also published in Italy by Star Comics and in Korea .

Graphic novel list/header
Language = Japancite web | url=http://books.shueisha.co.jp/CGI/search/zen_list.cgi?siries_isbn=X-08-847728-6&siries_kanren_isbn=&mode=2 | title=高校デビュー／第1巻～第10巻 | language=Japanese | accessdate=2008-05-10]
SecondLanguage = North Americacite web | url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=7892 | title=High School Debut (manga) | publisher=Anime News Network | accessdate=2008-01-18] Graphic novel list
VolumeNumber = 1 | OriginalRelDate = 2004-03-25 | OriginalISBN = 978-4-08-847728-2 | LicensedRelDate = 2008-01-01 | LicensedISBN = 978-1-4215-1481-9Graphic novel list
VolumeNumber = 2 | OriginalRelDate = 2004-07-23 | OriginalISBN = 978-4-08-847765-7 | LicensedRelDate = 2008-03-04 | LicensedISBN = 978-1-4215-1482-6Graphic novel list
VolumeNumber = 3 | OriginalRelDate = 2005-03-25 | OriginalISBN = 978-4-08-847837-1 | LicensedRelDate = 2008-05-06 | LicensedISBN = 978-1-4215-1483-3Graphic novel list
VolumeNumber = 4 | OriginalRelDate = 2005-05-25 | OriginalISBN = 978-4-08-847858-6 | LicensedRelDate = 2008-07-01 | LicensedISBN = 978-1-4215-1731-5Graphic novel list
VolumeNumber = 5 | OriginalRelDate = 2006-01-25 | OriginalISBN = 978-4-08-846025-3 | LicensedRelDate = 2008-09-02 | LicensedISBN = 978-1-4215-1732-2Graphic novel list
VolumeNumber = 6 | OriginalRelDate = 2006-04-25 | OriginalISBN = 978-4-08-846051-2 | LicensedRelDate = 2008-11-04 | LicensedISBN = 978-1-4215-1733-9Graphic novel list
VolumeNumber = 7 | OriginalRelDate = 2006-11-24 | OriginalISBN = 978-4-08-846118-2 | LicensedRelDate = 2009-01-06 | LicensedISBN = 978-1-4215-2189-3Graphic novel list
VolumeNumber = 8 | OriginalRelDate = 2007-03-23 | OriginalISBN = 978-4-08-846156-4 | LicensedRelDate = 2009-03-03 | LicensedISBN = 978-1-4215-2190-9Graphic novel list
VolumeNumber = 9 | OriginalRelDate = 2007-07-25 | OriginalISBN = 978-4-08-846195-3 | LicensedRelDate = 2009-05-05 | LicensedISBN = 978-1-4215-2191-6Graphic novel list
VolumeNumber = 10 | OriginalRelDate = 2007-12-25 | OriginalISBN = 978-4-08-846249-3 | LicensedRelDate = — | LicensedISBN = Graphic novel list
VolumeNumber = 11 | OriginalRelDate = 2008-04-25 | OriginalISBN = 978-4-08-846287-5 | LicensedRelDate = — | LicensedISBN = Graphic novel list
VolumeNumber = 12 | OriginalRelDate = 2008-08-25 | OriginalISBN = 978-4-08-846325-4 | LicensedRelDate = — | LicensedISBN =

Drama CD

The series has been adapted as a drama CD released 2005-06-10.

References

External links

* [http://annex.s-manga.net/koukoudebut/main.html Official Shueisha Website] ja icon
* [http://www.viz.com/products/products.php?series_id=743 Official Viz Website] en icon
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