Monkey High, Volume Two by Shouko Akira

Haruna Aizawa's father was a politician caught up in a nasty scandal. But his fall ruined her life, and she left her old school to escape the whispers of fellow students. But, she got a bad view of the social culture of Schools, comparing them to a Monkey mountain where everyone fights to be the lead monkey. Now, her new boyfriend Macharu Yamashita, actually looks like a baby monkey! Can Haruna be something besides one of the monkeys on the mountain, or was her fate sealed when she agreed to be the girlfriend of a baby monkey?

Haruna and Macharu go on their first official date, to an amusement park, but being followed by the park's mascot, a man in a monkey suit, is just weird. Haruna finds the park to be more geared to kids, but Macharu's enthusiasm and good heart (he comforts a crying child who dropped his ice cream and buys him another one) win her over, and she actually finds herself enjoying their time together. But when a trip on the roller-coaster makes her dizzy, Macharu gets her a drink only to find a group of rough guys hitting on her when he returns. To run them off, he gets help from the costumed monkey, who turns out to be his good friend Atsu, the one who gave him the tickets to the park, as well as the rest of their class, who Atsu also gave tickets. But did Haruna really have a good time after all?

Then, when Atsu and Macharu's constant one-upsmanship results in the breaking of a very expensive vase belonging to the pricipal, Atsu and Macharu recruit the entire class to go on a quiz show to get the money to replace the vase. Haruna agrees to help, but when her father is released from prison early, her zest for life goes right out the window, and she no longer feels good enough to go on the game show. But can Macharu convince her that they need her help to win, or will the loss of two players kill any chances the class had of winning?

In another story, Macharu's sister Misato is in love with Macharu's best friend Atsu. But being two years younger than him, can she ever catch his eye? Or will she find herself falling for her pain in the side classmate Miura instead?

This is an incredibly cute series, and I really find myself enjoying it. Haruna would so love to divorce herself from the rest her her class and be the odd one out, but her relationship with Macharu keep drawing her back in to class activities and friendship with the other kids in her class. She's so often melancholy that her pairing off with the always happy Macharu works. He's the Yang to her Yin and keeps her from isolating herself into a cold gray world.

Their classmates bring in their own share of craziness, but this volume brings a fair share of the wackiness that is Japan to manga readers with the entry of the class into a nationally televised Quiz show. In fact, given that MXE network shows re-dubbed reruns of the Japanese game show Takeshi's Castle, makes me think that the game show featured in this volume doesn't even show half the craziness that Japan is capable of when it comes to game shows.

If you like your romance mixed with Angst and a great deal of comedy, this is your series. Haruna's private problems and public romance, combined with the wackiness that is their classmates, pushes this romance series beyond generic romances and into a spot that will make fans of Fruits Basket will find familliar. A cut above most romances. Try it, you'll like it.