Thanks to barnesandnoble.com for the cover image.

Rating “OT” for “Ages 16+”

In the manga Genshiken, the characters, who are “otaku” (devoted fans), read a manga entitled “Kujibiki Unbalance” – a manga within a manga.  Then, this fictitious manga “Kujibiki Unbalance” was snatched from the pages of Genshiken and turned into its own real anime series.  Kio Shimoku, the creator of Genshiken, joined with artist Koume Keito and turned “Kujibiki Unbalance” into an actual manga.

Kujibiki Unbalance, Vol. 1 introduces readers to 15-year-old Chihiro Enomoto, a boy who has been cursed all his life by bad luck.  A win in a mysterious lottery earns him a spot at Rikkyoin High School where everything is decided by chance – a lottery style game called “kujibiki.”  A player draws a “kuji” or ticket out of a box, and the kuji names the winner’s prize.

Chihiro’s kuji earns him the presidency of a kind of student council-in-waiting, in which Chihiro and his three fellow student councilman serve the whims of the domineering main student council and their bossy leader, President Ritsuko K. Kettenkrad.  Chihiro and the rest of the council (all girls):  the voluptuous Tokino Akiyama (vice president); the egotistical self-proclaimed genius, Renko Kamishakujii (secretary); and the shy, but powerful Koyuki Asagiri do everything from work in the school cafeteria to save the school from evil.  Maybe, Chihiro’s luck is changing.

THE LOWDOWN:  The art in Kujibiki Unbalance looks as if it were lifted right from the cel art for anime; then, drawn over by a comic book artist to improve texture and detail.  It’s certainly pretty, but Kujibiki Unbalance isn’t empty eye candy.  The story is a rollicking action fantasy that mixes high school hijinks with stories that are in a fun, juvenile sci-fi, spy vein.  Kujibiki Unbalance starts off slowly, but it’s soon racing through one silly scenario after another taking the reader on an enjoyable rollercoaster ride.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  In many ways, Kujibiki Unbalance is a kids’ comic book, but with so many buxom females, several scenes featuring scantily clad girls, salty language, panties and crotch shots, etc., this is appropriate for high school age boys.  They’ll love it.

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