B Gata H Kei translates to B-cupped Slut. That pretty much sums up the whole main character.
Except that she wants to be a slut, but she's not. Meet Yamada, 15 year old girl in high school, and since a year, has known about sex and masturbation. Her goal is to have a 100 sex partners (or was it a 1000?) in her life. Since she's really pretty and very popular among the guys, you'd think she'd be whoring herself all over the place, right? Wrong. Yamada gets paranoid every time a hot guy shows interest in her. She thinks that once she has sex with them, they'll make fun of her because she's still .... a virgin!
So Yamada is still a virgin, yet she desperately wants to have sex with as many people as possible. Unfortunately, her paranoid and obsessive behavior outright rejects all advances made on her. Then she has a brilliant idea; if she has sex with a virgin, then they can't make fun of her, because they wouldn't know any better! Yamada then sets her eyes on the most plain guy you'll ever meet.
Kosuda is a plain, regular high school guy, who happens to be in Yamada's class. Yamada sees him and claims he's a virgin (since he's so plain, no way he could have had sex before her). She then tries to get him to have sex with her. Hilarity ensues.
B Gata H Kei is a damn funny manga. It's also damn perverted, I mean - the main character is the biggest pervert you'll ever read about. The humour comes from the fact that Yamada wants to be a slut, and tries to have sex whenever she can - but the majority of the time, she fails and hilarious scenes unfold. Aside from the humour, there is slow progression between Yamada and Kosuda, but it's very cute to read about.
In fact, pacing is the main flaw of this manga. At one point
they finally manage to kiss each other
, but then nothing happens for 8 months,
! it's stated it has been 8 months since their first kiss by Kosuda himself, when he finally kisses her a second time.
The weird time frames make it look really unrealistic and you often ask yourself; then what the hell did they do in all that time? Ignore each other?
I'd have to point out that the anime version of this manga fixes this pacing flaw, and makes everything flow together quite nicely. If you're done with the manga, give the anime a try, it's really great!
Anyways, B Gata H Kei may sound like Love Hina, but instead has a female main character - but they're not alike. Yamada is perverted, and she* wishes* she had a harem of boys - but this never ever happens. Unlike Love Hina, where the main character is a plain boy, who happens to stumble into perverted things and get an accidental harem. The humour comes from the fact that Yamada wishes to be like that, but will never achieve it. Instead of stumbling into perverted things, she seeks out to do this on purpose!
For a manga that is so perverted, I find it very 'moderate' on an ecchi level. If anyone has ever read The Hating Girl, a manga that is somewhat similar to this one, let me tell you that The Hating Girl is more ecchi than B Gata H Kei. Sure you'll see plenty of 'masturbation' scenes, some boob grabbing scenes, some erection scenes - but it's presented in such a way that it's not really that ecchi. Then again, I've only read up to chapter 175, who knows what will happen in later chapters.
Now that the newer chapters are up, the ecchi level has transcended into full glory nakedness - except for showing the penis. Showing a triangle for a vagina doesn't seem to be illegal or something. Yamada and Kosuda are trying to have sex, and you get a lot of naked shots of Yamada, but it shouldn't come as a surprise to those who have read that far. It's less porn, and more 'these teens are trying to figure out how to have sex and deal with the problems that can occur during it'.
Anyways, I love this manga personally. It's devoid of drama (which I avoid like the plague), has character development, perverted people, and excellent comedy. Not only that, but it's extremely cute to read the relationship between Yamada and Kosuda. I've reread the manga several times, just because it's so much fun.
However, B Gata H Kei is an acquired taste. If you consider yourself a prude, skip this manga. If you think masturbation is icky, skip this manga. If you have a problem with Yamada's younger sister implied to have sex with several dozen of guys, skip this manga. If you do not like to see sex so carefree and thrown around in your face, skip this manga. If you're a plot loving manga whore, skip this manga.
If you're not all of those things, enjoy reading B Gata H Kei!
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