Review: HIGH SCHOOL PRODIGIES HAVE IT EASY, EVEN IN ANOTHER WORLD!

 Of course, I can't do nothing but review stone-cold classics that are both old and new.  That would just get dull after a while.  This month is also an opportunity me to trash on garbage like this.

HIGH SCHOOL PRODIGIES HAVE IT EASY, EVEN IN ANOTHER WORLD! (Chojin-Kokoseitachi wa Isekai demo Yoyu de Ikinuku Yodesu!), based on the light novels by Riku Misora and character designs by Sacraneco, with art by Kotaro Yamada.  First published in 2016 and first published in North America in 2018.

PLOT:

Seven ultra-talented high school kids, talented in everything from politics and business to medicine and stage magic, find themselves transported to another world after their plane crashes.  Now they are stuck in a fantastical world with elves and beastfolk and corrupt nobles.  They will need to employ all their talents if they want to both repay the kindness of the village that took them in and get ahead in this strange new place.

STORY:

To the shock of absolutely no one who has been reading this blog for the last few years, once again I find myself reading a manga adaptation of an isekai light novel and once again I utterly hated it.  I hated it for many of the usual reasons I don't like them: shallow (if not obnoxious) protagonists, copy-and-paste worldbuilding, gratuitous fanservice, laughably obvious villains - it's all here.  You would think that having seven protagonists instead of a single Potato-kun would make a difference, but it does not.  The answer as to why lies in the story's title.

"Prodigy" is a poor choice of word for these protagonists because their talents are downright laughable in their ludicrousness.  Either their talents verge upon superpowers (like the swordswoman who can take on modern armies, the inventor who basically solved the energy crisis, or the magician who make the Statue of Liberty disappear) or have jobs that no teen should have like "doctor" or "billionaire" or "literally the Prime Minister of Japan."  At least most isekai protagonist don't get their ridiculous powers until after they are transported/reincarnated into their respective fantasy worlds!  When you introduce such fantastical elements right from the start, it's hard to take any of this even a little seriously.

Then there's the "Easy" part.  Since these kids are all so stupidly overpowered, they have absolutely no trouble overcoming any problem or threat thrown their way.  Are there goons harassing the local village?  Just send the magic kid to do some tricks to scare them?  Need to find a way to make money fast with few resources available to you?  Just make mayonnaise! (Let's not even get into the practicality of mass-producing that condiment in a world without refrigeration).  Want to make some money without having to deal with the local (and deeply corrupt) merchant?  Just bribe the mayor to get a license to sell, do a bunch of wheeling and dealing to snatch business away from him, and make a bunch of promises until the greedy merchant submits!  No matter how complex the plan may be, it always goes off as planned without the slightest complication.  This is meant to make these kids look all the more brilliant, but instead it just undercuts anything resembling drama.  Instead we (like the beast folk) are left to stand by while the protagonists explain their plans and how brilliant they are in excruciating detail.

There are technically seven protagonists, but really only two of them really matter here.  The first is Masato Sanada, described as "the world's greatest businessman."  He's a egotistical loudmouth who is all too happy to participate in a corrupt system even as he undermines it, but what else can you expect from a teenage capitalist?  The other is Tsukasa Mikogami, the wunderkind Prime Minister.  He's the one being set up as the ultimate protag, as he's the first kid we're introduced to, the one who automatically takes the leader role, and the one behind the mayonnaise plan.  He's also the only one with anything resembling a backstory, where he exposed his immensely corrupt father (the previous PM) and was disowned by his mother after his father was sentenced to death.  He's also the only one to get a love interest in the form of the cover girl elf Lyrule.  When she's not serving as a boob delivery device, she's there to simper over Tsukasa and praise his brilliance like every other non-villainous supporting role.  

ART:

It's hard to say if Kotaro Yamada's artwork is a step down from that of the light novels, as Sacraneco's original art is itself very generic and focused on fanservice.  It's a lateral move at best as Yamada's work here is very workmanlike.  There's only two things that he puts any effort into.  The first is in the faces of the villains, where he savors every opportunity to twist their wrinkled, ugly faces into hideous grins and grimaces.  The other is Lyrune's tits.  

Yamada never misses a chance to shove her boob socks into frame in the most distracting fashion possible.  He (and the publisher) are clearly counting on her as the lure to bring the usual horny lunkheads with zero standards.  That's why she's put front and center on the cover, despite being a fairly minor figure.  That's also why Yamada draws her in the same spine-twisting pose but clad only in her underwear in his afterword.

RATING:

High School Prodigies might have it easy, but it's a lot easier to just not pick up this manga in the first place.  It has nothing to offer that you can't find in countless other isekai adaptations other than a fascination with mayonnaise and a lot of chuuni nonsense.

This series is published by Yen Press.  This series is complete in Japan with 13 volumes available.  11 volumes have been published and are currently in print.