It’s not difficult to get admitted to Bright Free High School. They’ll take anyone, even other schools’ rejects, and theoretically whip them into shape with strict rules that exceed even the military’s notions of discipline. This volume introduces the four students and one freeloader who are sharing a dorm room. Episodic adventures ensue.
I’ve seen this kind of premise before, but usually in a way that incorporates character moments in with the fun. Rolling doesn’t do that; it just sort of drifts along with no point or direction. Honey and Clover, for instance, might use the chapter about the ramen shop opening up across from campus to highlight the students’ insecurities and romantic woes. In Rolling, the main point is: how come Il-yong always gets an egg?
The back cover also hints at possible romantic involvement between the characters, but this never quite materializes. Two characters are particularly cuddly with each other and some sudden personality transplants (a character shown in chapter one to be logical is suddenly inane by chapter three) allow for a nude laundry scene, but there’s no real shonen-ai to speak of.
When all is said and done, Rolling is bland. We’re given no reason to care about these characters or to find their escapades interesting.
Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.
[…] and given it to me to read, I never would’ve guessed it was from the same creative team behind Rolling. It’s got solid characterization for one thing, and a plot that looks like it’ll actually go […]