Challengers

Description

Tomoe Tatsumi is a freshman attending university in Tokyo. Life couldn't be better: he's living in a really nice apartment for less than most people pay for a single room. This is all thanks to Mitsugu Kurokawa: salaryman, landlord, and (hopeful) lover.

It is due to Kurokawa's generosity that Tatsumi is able to live in Tokyo on such a tight budget. Kurokawa's intention is clear: to love, honor, and cherish Tatsumi until his dying days! And if big brother Souichi Tatsumi has his way - that day will come sooner than not!

For Kurokawa, progress can only be made by "challenging the impossible...." And thus, Takanaga sensei introduces us to her charming romantic comedy, Challengers!

DramaQueen

The main couple from Koisuru Boukun also have a few short chapters through out the manga that take place before Koisuru Boukun starts.

Type

Manga

Related Series

Koisuru Boukun (Spin-Off)

Associated Names

Goukaku Kigan (Hakusensha Version)

Goukakukigan

Küss mich Student! (German)

Please Allow Us To Love

Please Let Us Love

Rien n'est impossible ! (French)

ยากจะสอบผ่านหัวใจ

チャレンジャーズ

合格祈願 (Hakusensha Version)

愛的挑戰者

爱的挑战者

우리 사랑하게 해주세요

Groups Scanlating

kudouusagi

Storm in Heaven

Latest Release(s)

v.4 c.1 by kudouusagi 4 years ago

v.3 c.4 by kudouusagi 5 years ago

v.3 c.3 by kudouusagi 5 years ago

Search for all releases of this series

Status in Country of Origin

4 Volumes (Complete)

Completely Scanlated?

Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter

N/A

User Reviews

N/A

Forum

1 topics, 1 posts

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User Rating

Average: 7.8 / 10.0 (299 votes)

Bayesian Average: 7.66 / 10.0

20%

18%

22%

18%

12%

Last Updated

November 20th, 2023 3:09pm PST - 1 year ago

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Genre

Comedy Drama Romance Yaoi
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Categories

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Category Recommendations

Rimokon Kareshi

Sekai wa Futari de Dekite Iru

Moe no Shikaku

Tsuukin Densha no Hatsujou Perfume

Matsu no Ma

Recommendations

N/A

Author(s)

TAKANAGA Hinako

Artist(s)

TAKANAGA Hinako

Year

1996

Original Publisher

Hakusensha (1996)

Kaiousha (2004)

Serialized In (magazine)

Hanamaru Manga (Hakusensha)

Licensed (in English)

English Publisher

Drama Queen (Defunct / 4 Vols - Complete)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #743

(-33)

Monthly Pos #1992 (No change)

3 Month Pos #3128

(-262)

6 Month Pos #5095

(-14)

Year Pos #6933

(+28)

List Stats

On 273 reading lists

On 293 wish lists

On 996 completed lists

On 33 unfinished lists

On 305 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

Intro SouichixMorinaga?

16 years ago

User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

by FeyFujoshi
6 years ago

Rating: 5.0 / 10.0

Since this was shounen ai I thought it would be real nice, but I didn’t expect the same person to be kissed without their consent four times. Honestly, I should be used to this portrayal of kissing without consent,, but I am not. There was even a line here, “He didn’t get you like him even after you kissed him? Sure is dense”, like wtf? And, not to mention all the other stuff.

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What an Usual Series...

by ceruleantear
8 years ago

Rating: N/A

This 4 volume series is an emotional roller coaster. The humor can be laugh out loud funny, but at times feels too close to Ranma 1/2's slapstick style were reality doesn't exist. Then the drama can feel rather realistic and the jokes feel out of place.

While I eventually grew to enjoy the romance between Tatsumi and Kurokawa, I wasn't comfortable with how manipulative Kurokawa could be.

Souichi and Morinaga's relationship was a mixed bag. It was funny, but it doesn't look like it would last.

My biggest pet peeve in this entire series are the horrible, selfish, bitchy women. The mother was the worse culprit, but the Kurokawa's stalker was almost just as bad. These women did not add anything to the story and just annoyed me.

... Last updated 8 years ago

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Only read the first volume

by Kokorocha
8 years ago

Rating: N/A

And I doubt I will read more. I am disappointed with the Kurokawa being so forceful with his sexual interest in another. Sexual harrassment isn't lovely nor romantic.
:/

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not as good as the spin-off

by sarin68
9 years ago

Rating: 7.0 / 10.0

I read Koisuru Boukun first and loved it, but there were certain holes in the story that I couldn't understand, but those are answered in Challengers because it was the original story and that's the reason I read it. The story isn't BAD, it's just on the boring end. Kurokawa is a boring protagonist and Tomoe is just dull.

The best part about the series to me was Souichi, the older bro and protagonist in Koisuru Boukun, and not just because I read that series first. Souichi acts without thinking and gets himself into trouble. Tomoe has to be told what to do most of the time and Kurokawa is an insecure moron. Isogai must have insane patience to be friends with Kurokawa.

I guess the other best part about the manga is Tomoe's asexuality and aromanticism. You could argue he develops romantic and possible sexual attraction later on, making him demi-sexual and demi-romantic, but it's not certain. Even though the mangaka never gives it a name, it was just nice to see my sexuality shown in a manga that's realistic and doesn't treat it like a disease or problem.

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Love That's Not That Interesting...

by VIIIX
12 years ago

Rating: N/A

I feel like I'm the only one who didn't like this story that much. I discovered "Challengers" from the side story sequel "The Tyrant Falls in Love" and although I read chronologically backward I found Tyrant to be much more interesting than this one. I see this story as Takanaga's starting weak points. I also didn't like the style that much (I guess since I am so used to/love Takanaga's current style a lot more) but the story was humorous, cute and the moments of love were sweet. However, I guess I didn't like the couple too much. I just found how they met and developed a relationship to be too unrealistic and bizarre as odd as it sounds. It was even too unrealistic for BL manga standards when based on a realistic setting. It had no real foundation. Tomoe seemed to be a typical type of character/uke in BL but I did like him. I thought he was very cute but he was very plain and kind of under developed to me. He was a typical naive uke being set at the pace of the seme. I found it weird he could be so obliviously trusting and not understand Kurokawa's motives by his behaviors. [spoiler/ Kissing Tomoe goodbye before he even knew who he was or if Tomoe was even interested.[/spoiler] I found Tomoe's naivety kind of irritating at some points yet I didn't dislike his character. I admit though that he had more presence in Tyrant and he's barely in it. Kurokawa was just as boring and also lacks a lot of development. He's always cowering in fear from either Souchi or his own stupid actions and never really takes full responsibility in a way I see fit. He's bold in aspects of advancing sexual related needs but in all else he's pretty spineless even for Tomoe's sake. It's a shame but a side character like Isogai was more interesting and he too was just as bland as the others.

concerning what little plot existed I just think necessary elements were thrown into this story to make it interesting and just fell short of anything really worthwhile. I honestly only read this story to learn more about Souchi and Morinaga's past revealed only in Challengers. Which, even at it's slowest point of development of their relationship in Challengers it was still a lot more interesting than the main couple of this story.

The story's pacing was very strange as well and it felt like in some chapters a lot was thrown out at once which made the story seem jumbled and even harder to read.

Example being when Tomoe went missing after a drunk Kurokawa almost raped him then all this stuff came out at once when Tomoe was found and confronted by everyone who was looking for him. It was just awkward and a weird way for feelings to blossom from Tomoe and for Kurokawa to admit his feelings.

I actually really liked Souchi in this despite his overbearing nature because it's relatable. His younger brother went off on his own and moved in with an older stranger who as he suspected had more or less indecent motives to a older sibling's standards. Souichi was truly the height of this manga for me and found myself wanting to skip ahead to the story that concerned him and Morinaga. I can't say enough how unrealistic this story was for me to a point that it's a little lower than mediocre.

If you like somewhat cute, classic/generic art style and typical/cliched stories then this is for you but if you're looking for a more compelling tale of BL love this just isn't it. If I ever had to convince a fellow friend the splendors of BL and recommend a good read this would be the last manga I'd ever consider.

... Last updated 12 years ago

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gets too many negative reviews

by SAimNE
13 years ago

Rating: N/A

I found the story to be really funny, and really sweet. The art wasn't my favorite, but I thought the story was solid. Its a simple romantic comedy, but I'm glad it doesn't have the smut/drama. It fits a sweet romance like this.

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Lighthearted

by Ibleda
13 years ago

Rating: 8.0 / 10.0

Well... it was okay. I wanted a cute shounen-ai and nothing too complicated, and I got one. I definitely agree that Koisuru Boukon was more interesting, even though I only watched the anime and didn't dare touch the manga... Yes, because of that yaoi tag that's in the way = =|||. Hell, for all I care I'll remain single for life! Yes, that means despite my love for yaoi I can't touch them since it's too dangerous and I'll accidentally or rather already did learn the man's body...

Back to track. It's nothing special. The art is decent and the story is cute. But honestly, there's nothing that stands out to it. Characters were weak and story's your run-of-the-mill. Art's not too bad, but since the only character I love is from or rather extended into Koisuru Boukon. So yes, inferior again = =;;.

In any case, there's nothing too bad about it. So if you're just in a mood to find something cute and easy to read to waste your time, well, you're in the right place. It did a great job on not boring me out or pissing me off, a very wonderful average manga lol. A manga doesn't need to be special to be good if you're in the mood for it XP. Gives pretty decent laughs too!

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Surprisingly good...

by streetwalker
13 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

I only went on to read this cos I really liked Koisuru Boukun and wanted to know the whole story but I must say I enjoyed reading this a lot more than I'd thought... The art in the beginning was god awful but even that gets gradually better. The plot I thought was rather charming throughout and, despite the onesidedness of the characters' feelings, there's little forcing going on. Tomoe was a bit irritating at times cos, c'mon, no one's that naïve, but I thought there was something realistic about his undecidedness. Love can be really confusing when you're new to romantic relationships. Plotwise, I also loved that it was Kurokawa giving up his life for Tomoe and not the other way around. That was refreshing! 😉 And of course it was interesting to know more about Souichi and Morinaga's beginnings... I'm sure lots of people read them in this order and I must say, though this isn't as good as its sequel, it's totally worth a look. It was entertaining in its own right and parts were funny enough to make you laugh out loud! 😀

... Last updated 12 years ago

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Bad, but good

by varianthart
13 years ago

Rating: 7.0 / 10.0

Really, there was a ton about this series which I found totally stupid, but in the end I read through the whole thing and did not at any point think "why am I still reading this?". I think if I had gone in to it looking for a sweet, touching story, I would have been very disappointed. The relationships in it I found pretty meh, but it is well written and pretty funny. I loved the best friend and even enjoyed the self-congratulating mother.

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I hate Challengers because of Tyrant Who Fell in Love.

by torride
14 years ago

Rating: N/A

Seriously. I haven't even started reading this one yet. I got a peek at it sometime ago, but Koisuru Boukun was more interesting (I was basing it off other review + rating + summary) which naturally lead me to read KB first, and now I'm irritated with Challengers 😐 Seriously....I hate the little brother for being so fickle, and I hate the seme for not even having the backbone and for being sly! (yes I am so bias with Souichi's view of this couple)

And damn I just hate Tomoe. > 🙁 I just hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate his lame ass fickle inconsiderate ass 🙁

... Last updated 14 years ago

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