Hey, Class President! vol. 1 by Kaori Monchi review

Hey, Class President! vol. 1

Author/Artist: Kaori Monchi

Publisher: 801 Media

Rating: M – 18 and above

Genre: Yaoi, Drama, Romance, School Life

Grade: C

*** Review originally appeared at The Journal of the Lincoln Heights Literary Society at http://liheliso.org/. Check it out! ***

For any yaoi reader you know that when you have an all-boys school there is going to be hooking up. In Kaori Monchi-sensei’s Hey, Class President! there is plenty of sex to go around.

Kokusai and Chiga have been in the Judo club together but recently Kokusai has been elected as class president. It seems that the school’s tradition in to elect the most wanted guy. And that guy is Kokusai. Kokusai gets to select his vice president and that lucky soul is Chiga. Chiga doesn’t understand why on earth anyone would want to elect Kokusai as the class president. He’s slow and clueless to things that are going on around him. He’s a stalker and pervert magnet and he’s always being groped by strangers on the train. Now that Chiga is in the picture he keeps creeps at bay. Chiga is a known womanizer and never has a shortage of girlfriends but since he can’t seem leave Kokusai alone he finds himself attracted to Kokusai as well. What will happen to these two?

With Hey, Class President! I’ve found it hard to explain the plot of the story because I don’t really understand what is going on. Not only do you have the things going on in the school and the dealings with Kokusai and Chiga but you also have other things going on outside of school. There seems to be a stalker making the rounds in Kokusai’s neighborhood and actually has set his sights on Kokusai. Since this is the first of four volumes we won’t find out who the stalker is for a while. One thing I have figured out is Monchi-sensei writes whatever she wants regardless of whether it makes sense or not.

Right now I don’t know if I like the series. The story is kind of all over the place and doesn’t make sense in some places but that might clear up as the series goes on. The art is definitely unique and you can tell immediately that it is Monchi-sensei. The sex is hot and plentiful towards the end (you get a lot more in the second volume.) And I must say that this has one of the longest self loving scenes I have ever read in a manga. Dang!

With this being an 801 Media release you know the smut factor is going to be high and with this one it is definitely smutty. I like 801’s productions values. The books are about the same size as the Japanese originals and they always include a full color cover sheet. One thing I really liked was the font choices. Normally I take it for granted, but when the font is off it really pulls you out of the story. 801 (and DMP in general) always do an amazing job on their translation, cleanup, and design.

Do I recommend this title? Well… it’s still early in the series. Since it doesn’t make much sense to me right now doesn’t mean I’m ready to give it up (besides being obsessive/compulsive like I am once I start something I finish I have to see it through.) So let’s all give this a chance, cool?

***Review Copy provided by 801 Media***
***Reposted with permission from The Journal of the Lincoln Heights Literary Society***