Oresama Teacher Graphic Novel Volume 23 cover image

Mafuyu Kurosaki was once the take-charge, hard-hitting leader (“bancho”) of a high school gang.  Hoping to reform her daughter of her delinquent ways, Mafuyu's mother sent Mafuyu to Midorigaoka Academy, an isolated school far off in the country.  There, Mafuyu reunited with Takaomi Saeki, the childhood friend who set her on the path of delinquency.  Now, Saeki is Mafuyu’s homeroom teacher.

As Oresama Teacher, Vol. 23 (Chapters 129 to 134) opens, Mafuyu enters her final year of high school.  Most of the schools' delinquents have graduated, and Mafuyu, Hayasaka, and their friends are looking forward to a peaceful senior year.  However, a mysterious freshman has arrived, and she has diabolical plans for Takaomi Saeki, which may cost Mafuyu a homeroom teacher.

Meanwhile, something strange is going on a Kiyama High School, a rival high school, where its students are getting beat up... apparently by someone from Midorigaoka.  When Mafuyu and recently graduated student, Kyotaro Okegawa,  investigate, they discover another mystery.

[This volume includes six pages of four-panel comics.]

THE LOWDOWN:  I have always found the Oresama Teacher manga to be a bit inconsistent.  When it is good, it can be a fun read, although at other times it can be a bit obtuse.

Oresama Teacher Graphic Novel Volume 23 begins the final year of high school for the series' star, Mafuyu Kurosaki.  Creator Izumi Tsubaki immediately launches the narrative into a series of mysteries, and I think that makes Vol. 23 a pivotal volume.  With the start of the new school year comes change, and this change offers fresh and engaging subplots to keep the readers coming back.  I have to admit that I find the volume intriguing enough to make me come back.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of offbeat high school shojo manga will want to try the Shojo Beat title, Oresama Teacher.

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8 out of 10