The Essentials
Name: I”s
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Drama
Tankoubon: 15
Serialized In: Shonen Jump
Released: 1997 - 2000
Story & Art: Masakazu Katsura
Published By (Japan): Shueisha
Published By (US): Viz
Scores
Story: 7/10 (x 3 = 21 pts)
Art: 9/10 (x 3 = 27 pts)
Gut Score: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Total: 80/100 (80%)
Review
I”s is a story about a boy named Ichitaka and his attempts to date a girl in his class in high school - Iori. However, Ichitaka soon runs into several complications including an old childhood friend of his - Itsuki - returning to Japan, his friend Teratani handing out dubious advice, Iori’s mixed signals, and a very assertive girl who falls for Ichitaka at first site - Izumi.
Ichitaka himself also tends to self-destruct when confronted with women as a result of a rather traumatizing rejection by a girl when he was little, which can result in both making it look like he dislikes girls he likes as well as liking girls he doesn’t have an interest in.
This is just further complicated by the fact that Iori soon finds her dream of becoming an actress close to becoming a reality as she starts getting into show business, often causing her to be too busy for Ichitaka to hang out with, as well as an intentional source of disruption in Ichitaka and Iori’s relationship once they do start dating.
I”s is basically set up with the concept of Ichitaka constantly taking 3 steps back in his relationship with Iori and then taking a large step forward resulting in a slight net-positive change in the progress in the relationship, before taking 3 more steps back and repeating the cycle. This, of course, has the result of Ichitaka spending most of his time sticking his foot in his mouth or otherwise having his relationship with Iori, which is where all the drama and comedy is in this series.
New events and the introduction of new characters along the keep the series fresh enough to not make it boring, by the cyclic nature of Ichitaka and Iori’s relationship may become tiresome after a while for some, given that it goes on for 15 volumes.
The manga also comes with a Parental Advisory - and with good reason with probably at least one (and usually more) breast and/or panty shot in every volume. Viz tried censoring most of the topless scenes in the first half the series before finally seemingly to give up in that endeavor and just slapping a parental advisory label on the book. (I should also note that the majority of these scenes are typically from Ichitaka’s daydreams/hallucinations, which also often get him into trouble).
The art is pretty good, and as usual, Katsura’s character designs shine - especially for the girls. If you don’t mind the nudity or the cyclic nature of the manga, which makes it feel almost like reading a soap opera, then I think you’ll find I”s to be a pretty good romance drama series.
First Read: October 2005 - August 2007
Do I Own: Yes
Do I Recommend: Yes, if you don’t mind soap opera-ish stories
Josh’s Anime Blog Podcast Episode #27 is now online! In this podcast, I re-review the anime series I”s Pure.
Name: I”s Pure
