Manga + Movie Review: Doukyuusei

Title: Doukyuusei
Japanese Title: 同級生
Author: Asumiko Nakamura
Published: July 2006 to July 2007
Movie Aired: February 20, 2016
Sequels: Sotsugyousei, Sora to Hara, O.B., Dousoukai
Tags: Slice of Life, Shonen-ai
Extra Info: From MAL



Summary (From manga):
A boy met a boy.
They were in the flush of youth
Their love felt like a dream, like sparkling soda pop. 

Wdebo's Review: I discovered Doukyuusei roughly five years ago and since then this manga has been one of my favorites both as a BL and as a general romance story along with Seven Days. That's why when it was first announced last year that Doukyuusei would be getting an anime movie adaption I could not wait, especially since Seven Days had gotten a two part live action movie earlier that year as well. I have been waiting for the movie to be subbed and posted online for me to watch for a while and finally got around to watching it today and it is still as cute as I remember it to be.

Doukyuusei is the first book in the series and starts out following the two protagonists, Kusakabe and Sajou. Kusakabe is a fluffy-headed, laid back musician who meets his fellow classmate, Sajou, a studious quiet boy with no musical inclination. Kusakabe decides to tutor him to be ready for their class' musical program, but they unwittingly start to fall for one another. The pacing of the story is very important and gives the story a stronger presence. For the first book, it starts out slowly, folling the boys as they fall in love, kiss and gradually develop deeper feelings for one another. Though it is slower, it gives it a very gentle, calm tone that is very sweet to watch. This is especially evident in the movie (which followed the plot of the story well) and its usage of its gentle OST to greatly exemplify that air. What I did love about the story was that it just shows the gradual feelings of the characters intensifying for one another, it does not base its plot on unnecessary drama such as a love rival or gigantic misunderstanding. Additionally, if you continue from Doukyuusei and read more of the books, it adds more to the characters as the protagonists go through school, graduate and start college/post grad life. Also more characters, fellow students and teachers, are added in to the ensemble and the plots follow their love lives as well.

Additionally, one of Doukyuusei's more unique features is the art style. The author is famous of her artwork which uses more feathery and flowy lines that also adds to the gentleness exuded by the story and characters. However, it takes a bit to get into when you first start into the story, the lines seem a little rough and characters a bit strangely proportioned in the manga; however, in the anime movie it was more smoothed out and worked out better than I felt the manga had.

And finally as stated before, the OST for the movie is wonderful. I love its gentle tones which compliment the story perfectly. It can be seen even in the trailer:



All in all, this manga/movie is wonderful and gives such a gentle touch of romance to a simple school based story and is definitely worth a read/watch.

Grade: A

Wdebo :)