Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun — 07

• Episode 7: Seventh Issue: The Manga Artist’s Brain, Nozaki-kun

I wish I’d been born a slender bishounen!

With all the characters introduced, we take a little break and refocus on our main trio again. For once, Nozaki has some rare free time, so he and Sakura hang out at the mall. For a while, she’s excited about their “date” but soon she realizes Nozaki’s still all about manga–they watched a movie because Nozaki wanted to see the different angles of the school in it, they eat at a restaurant because the characters in Nozaki’s manga will be going to a restaurant and he needs reference pictures, and when they go into a clothing store Nozaki picks some out for Mamiko.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun — 05

• Episode 5: Fifth Issue: The Man Who Envisions Love

Those two think only about love, and don’t study at all.

This week we get a change of pace! Instead of watching the antics of Nozaki and his friends (manga assistants and oblivious people alike), we get to see the departmental side of the manga-making (and the antics involved on their end). We meet three new characters this time around: Ken, Maeno, and Miyako. The first two are Nozaki’s current and previous editors, respectively. Miyako is another shoujo mangaka who lives in the same apartment complex as Nozaki and work for the same magazine, with Maeno as her editor. 

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun — 04

• Episode 4: Fourth Issue: There Are Times When Men Must Fight

I love you more than those twelve girls, Tomoda!

While we aren’t introduced to any new characters this week, we do get a lot of hilarious moments between our main trio of Nozaki, Sakura, and Mikorin. It’s a simpler episode focusing on two main events which let us delve deep into how our characters, mostly Mikorin and Nozaki, view life experiences and handle social situations.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun — 03

• Episode 3: Third Issue: Violence vs. the Prince

Princesses and witches are both charming, so I’d like to have them both! Is that okay?

This week, two more characters are added onto the cast, and one of them is my favorite character! Can you guess who it is?

Following up on Nozaki’s search for a character model for his manga and Mikorin mentioning that he knew somebody perfect for that, we’re introduced to his friend

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun — 01 + 02

Once I found out Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun was getting an anime for this Summer season, I was immediately ecstatic! If I had to choose a favorite 4-koma, it would be Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun!! I’m also not much of a pure comedy reader, but the humor in Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun just lines up with my tastes so perfectly–as do other works by Tsubaki Izumi. After seeing the first episode, I was already sure that this was going to be one of my favorite anime. I have to admit, though, that the reason I didn’t do my reviews until now was partially because I got too pumped up and reread the currently available manga chapters again (maybe two or three times, actually), all the while laughing my ass of at practically every page. For this, I have to apologize to my brother. He said I was being distracting…

But anyway, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun could have been a simple, typical rom-com, but it is so much more than that. Although the romance the series starts with and often pokes fun at has been pushed into being more of a subplot, all the characters are really interesting and hilarious in different ways, and the punchlines are perfectly delivered at every fourth panel. I was incredibly impressed with how well the story was translated into anime. It made it feel less episodic and like it actually had an overarching plot, which I like, but all while maintaining all the various gags and jokes. If you have some time, I suggest picking up this show (or the manga) and watching it. I promise you’ll get a few (or a lot of) laughs out of it!