High School Debut

High School Debut (高校デビュー) is a shōjo romantic comedy manga by Kazune Kawahara (河原 和音). It was serialized in Japan by Shueisha in Bessatsu Margaret from 2003 to 2008 and collected in 13 bound volumes. The series was adapted as a drama CD and as a series of six light novels written by Yuu Kuramoto. The manga is licensed in North America by Viz Media, which published English editions of all 13 volumes between January 2008 and February 2010.

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. It has been praised by reviewers as a standard shōjo manga premise made highly entertaining by Kawahara's handling of the characters, particularly the romantic leads, and artwork.

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 (who's the school prince) provides her with the opportunity she needs. If he coaches her in how to become attractive, surely she can find herself a boyfriend.

Yoh then agrees to coach Haruna after her great persistence, but he tells her she mustn't fall in love with him; of course, that is exactly what happens. The story from then follows Haruna as she debates whether she should confess to Yoh, or keep her secret to herself.

Main characters

 * Haruna Nagashima (長嶋 晴菜)
 * A high-school girl who played softball in middle school. She is known to be a very dense person, a personality similar to Yoh's friend Fumi. 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. Shortly after that, she finds out Yoh goes to the same high school as Haruna and asks him to coach her on how to be attractive. After being rejected, 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 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".


 * Yoh Komiyama (小宮山 ヨウ)
 * A "total hottie" who's 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.


 * Asami Komiyama (小宮山 麻美)
 * Yoh's little sister. Although she's pretty and admired by many boys, she often shows her conceited side. She has a serious brother complex. She wants Yoh and Haruna to be together, but she sometimes tries to protect her older brother when she thinks Haruna is trying to get to Yoh sexually. 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. Haruna helped her notice how kind hearted Fumiya was and they have been going out. She gets angry at Fumiya when he didn't take any notice of her, even when she tried her cute poses.


 * Fumiya Tamura (田村 史也)
 * 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. His caring demeanor was suddenly vicious when women and children are being bullied or harassed. His nickname is "Sleeping Bear" which was given to him when he used to do judo.


 * Yui Asaoka (朝丘 唯)
 * 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. He once went on a date with Haruna to make Yoh jealous. When Yoh finally appears at date Yui tells her that he was acting. He hides his true feelings in jokes, but when Mami tells him: "You're always deceiving yourself by passing things off as a joke, so...now you don't even know yourself what your true feelings are." After that he told Haruna that he likes her, but she thought that he just was acting.


 * Mami Takahashi (高橋 真巳)
 * Haruna's best friend since middle school. She is notably calm and collected, being able to read Haruna like an open book. Their friendship is a close one and Haruna has described how Mami first became her friend by helping her with her pitching. She has a part-time job at a video rental shop and was the softball captain of their team. Haruna often has a very high opinion of Mami believing that she is 'amazing. She describes Mami as kind, clever and calm, which is often replied to by the statement that Mami is a 'nice girl' or a 'good girl'. It has been revealed too that Mami extremely values her friendship with Haruna, even going to the extent of saying that she 'betrayed' Haruna for not believing and trusting in Haruna's pitch, which had lost them that game in third year.
 * Mami has proven at several times, that she is highly perceptive, especially concerning Haruna. Haruna, in turn, demonstrates her affection for Mami by trying to help her find her own love.

Manga
High School Debut was written and illustrated by Kazune Kawahara. It was serialized in Japan by Shueisha in the shōjo (aimed at teenage girls) manga magazine Bessatsu Margaret between 2003 and August 2008. The 52 untitled chapters were collected in 13 tankōbon volumes. It is published in North America by Viz Media under the Shojo Beat label, with all 13 volumes published in English. It is also published in Italy by Star Comics and in Korea.

Two sequel short stories called "Enren Debut" ("Long-Distance Love Debut"), set in the months after the conclusion of the series, were published in the March and May 2009 issues of Deluxe Margaret.

Drama CD
The series has been adapted as a drama CD released 10 June 2005. Cast:


 * Haruna Nagashima: Junko Noda
 * Yoh Komiyama: Hikaru Midorikawa
 * Asami Komiyama: Rika Komatsu
 * Mami Takahashi: Sayaka Ohara
 * Fumiya Tamura: Katsuyuki Konishi
 * Asaoka Yui: Akira Sasanuma

Light novels
The series has also been adapted as a series of six light novels written by Yuu Kuramoto (倉本 由布) and illustrated by Kazune Kawahara. They were published by Shueisha under its Cobalt imprint starting in June 2007.


 * 1) High School Debut (高校デビュー), published 28 June 2007 (ISBN 978-4-08-601047-4)
 * 2) High School Debut:  (高校デビュー 好きになっちゃいけないひと!), published 1 August 2007 (ISBN 978-4-08-601060-3)
 * 3) High School Debut: Christmas Battle! (高校デビュー クリスマス大作戦!), published 1 November 2007 (ISBN 978-4-08-601097-9)
 * 4) High School Debut: Be Careful with Love Consultations! (高校デビュー 恋の相談にご用心!), published 26 December 2007 (ISBN 978-4-08-601120-4)
 * 5) High School Debut: Mass-Generated Love Troubles? (高校デビュー 恋のトラブル、大量発生!?), published 1 April 2008 (ISBN 978-4-08-601154-9)
 * 6)   (高校デビュー 恋の告白されちゃいましたっ!?), published 2 September 2008 (ISBN 978-4-08-601212-6) - This is an original story, and not an adaptation.

Reception
High School Debut was among the best-selling manga in Japan during publication. For example, volumes 9, 10, and 11 all reached number 2 on the Tohan best-seller list,  and volumes 12 and 13 both debuted at number 3. Volume 13 was the 34th best-selling manga volume in the six months before 17 May 2009, selling over 360,000 copies. About.com's Deb Aoki lists High School Debut as the best shōjo manga of 2008.

Volumes one and two of the English edition were named as two of the Great Graphic Novels for Teens of 2008 by YALSA. A reviewer at About.com named the English translation a favorite new manga of 2008, calling it "well-crafted and lovable"; a reviewer at PopCultureShock similarly described it as a series that "just make[s] you happy". School Library Journal described the series as "standard fair for younger manga readers" and "a good purchase for schools and libraries." Joanna Draper at Comics Worth Reading called it her "favorite shojo series running" for being entertaining and inventive. Otaku USA criticized the first volume for the predictableness of the story.

Kawahara's art was praised for its clean style and layout, dynamic figures, and emotional expressions,     and was compared by one reviewer to Yoko Kamio's. Reviewers consistently hailed Haruna as a comic heroine and a key to the series' appeal,    but Kawahara's handling of the other chararacters was also praised,  particularly with Yoh and his sister Asami. They also praised Haruna's relationship with Yoh, which is presented as a pairing of friends and equals. Some critics noted that the story's initial makeover theme was more deftly handled than a short summary led them to expect, though some still expressed reservations about it.