Originally posted here at Anime Radius.

Despite the slightly lackluster quality of the previous volume, Seiho Boys' High School! has continued with its fifth volume to be a surprisingly entertaining and emotional series. Nothing about it screams 'typical shoujo' and the humor can be crude at times (which is fair, considering the setting) but certain chapters pack as much of a wallop as some other more notable series in the genre; the Maki/Takano subplot continues to tug at the heart as these two damaged young people struggle to be together considering all the baggage holding them back, physical and otherwise. At no point does Kaneyoshi Izumi attempt to gloss over the fact that Maki still cares about Erika or that Takano is, well, Takano and that is what makes every scene involving them feel so sincere, with no drama solely for the sake of drama.

There's also a rather sweet and silly chapter in this volume concerning Hanai and his crush on the campus prince among boys, Kamiki. Does anything actually come out of it? No, because Kamiki isn't interested in boys. But at least it shows Seiho Boys is fully aware of Hanai and his own problems having romantic interests in a hetero-dominated boys only school. One can only hope that Izumi gives poor Hanai a boyfriend before the series is over. As for Kamiki, he may soon be in his own relationship before long, with the girl who has been pursuing his heart for over a volume or so now, Miyaji. Which must mean Kamiki is getting over his sister complex, right? Although not as developed as Maki/Takano at this point, it has become obvious how much potential Kamiki/Miyaji has in the long run. This means the only character in the main crew this volume who did not have a romantic story thread was everyone's favorite glasses-wearing snob, Nogami. Perhaps there will be more of Nogami and his lady love, Nurse Fukahara, in the next volume; their screwball romance would be a welcome break from the angst of Maki and Takano.

Seiho Boys' High School! is halfway over and has greatly improved from its early chapters when it was not really sure what it wanted to do or how it wanted to present itself. It's become a boy-centric shoujo with edges but also one with heart that can be sentimental without going overboard and humorous without becoming a pantomime show. If the rest of her work is as good as this one, Viz would not go wrong by licensing more of Kaneyoshi Izumi's work for the near future.
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