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Takishima and Hikari Hanazono, the protagonists of Maki Minami’s battle-of-the-sexes comedy S.A., are a gender-reversed version of Frank Butler and Annie Oakley. Ever since Kei bested Hikari in a childhood wrestling match, Hikari has dedicated herself to outshining him athletically and academically, even convincing her working-class parents to send her to an expensive private school so that she can compete directly with Kei. There’s just one problem: no matter how hard Hikari studies geometry or practices her jump shot, Kei always prevails. Her efforts don’t go unrewarded, however, as Hikari is the second-ranked student in her class—right behind Kei. The two belong to an elite group known as “Special A” (or “S.A.” for short), comprised of the top seven students in their grade. The other five members of S.A. are a quirky lot, identified at the beginning of each chapter by rank and epithet. There’s seventh-ranked Ryu Tsuji, the “son of a sporting goods company president”; sixth-ranked Akira Toudou, “daughter of an airline company president”; fifth-ranked Tadashi Karino, “the wanderlust-stricken son of the school director”; and fourth-ranked Megumi Yamamoto and her third-ranked twin brother Jun, whose “parents are a music producer and a genius violinist.” Most of volume one reads like Frank Butler and Annie Oakley’s most famous duet, as Kei and Hikari bicker over which one is stronger and smarter. Hikari gradually realizes that Kei respects her, even if he relishes her indignant reaction to the nickname “Number 2.” Before the kissing and hand-holding can begin, however, Kei will need to overcome a formidable obstacle: Hikari’s cluelessness. She’s too absorbed in her quest to defeat him (or perhaps too dense) to acknowledge his obvious affection for her. Some readers may find the fantasy of a hot guy digging a smart girl so appealing that they’ll overlook the fact that Kei is rather sexist. He seldom allows Hikari to succeed or fail on her own terms, intervening whenever she looks poised to injure or humiliate herself and reminding her that she shouldn’t try so hard because girls just aren’t as capable as boys. (At least when it comes to slam dunks and lay-ups.) The other drawback to S.A. is the under-utilized supporting cast. By emphasizing her characters’ privileged backgrounds, Minami seems to be laying the foundation for conflict between Hikari, whose father is a carpenter, and her well-to-do friends, whose parents are captains of industry. Yet no one seems to notice the class differences that separate Hikari from her peers, nor does Hikari’s ferocious work ethic attract much comment from her monied pals, none of whom bother to attend class. In fact, the other students—with the exception of Megumi, who records her thoughts on a pad of paper instead of speaking—barely register as characters at all (at least in volume one). If the characterizations sometimes disappoint, Minami’s crisp artwork does not. Her character designs fall within the norms of mainstream shojo, but are rendered with regard for anatomy and facial structure that’s rare in many comedies; characters are always recognizable, even when reduced to a deformed, arm-flapping state. Minami also scores points for her unusually detailed backgrounds. Whether she’s drawing the teeming streets of Hikari’s neighborhood or the opulent interior of the Takishima family villa, Minami’s attention to architecture, furniture, and signage grounds the story in a more specific locale than the generic Shojo Space-Time found in so many high school comedies. Volume one also includes “Incomplete Chorus,” a short story about a shy girl who overcomes her stage fright with the encouragement of a talented violinist. The artwork here is a little more restrained than in the main narrative, with fewer extreme close-ups and more white space. It’s a nice coda to the book, and showcases a more thoughtful side of Minami’s storytelling—one I’d like to see more of in volume two of S.A. Volume one of S.A. is available now. Filed under: Reviews, Blogs, Manga Reviews, Manga Recon, Shojo Beat, Viz