“I’ve always been your fan!”
Chiyo Sakura finally asks dreamboat classmate Umetarou Nozaki out only to discover he’s artist of a hugely popular shoujo manga and unexpectedly become his apprentice.
The more manga I read that use it, the more I personally find the 4-koma format lacking for comedy based manga. Something about the abbreviated pacing throws off the tempo for me, and the jokes usually fall flat. The only 4-koma manga I recall really enjoying is much more drama than comedy.
In this particular case there’s also the issue that despite the fact that I enjoy manga, I find this “peek behind the curtain” to be a bit boring. It’s more about the characters, but said characters are largely one-note and I found myself rolling my eyes at the humor more often than chuckling. So for me it has neither enough interesting things to say about manga making nor a compelling enough cast to properly capitalize on its premise.
I’m in the minority regarding Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun and if quick comedy surrounding high school students who secretly work on popular shoujo manga sounds amusing to you by all means try it for yourself. But personally I had to force myself to finish even this one volume and won’t be continuing. It’s not bad, just too bland.
Derailments of Thought 
4 replies on “Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun Volume 1 Review”
Is 4-koma where they do 4 panels one below the other?
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Yep. So far Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro is the only manga in that style that’s really impressed me.
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My only experience with that format is Azumanga Daioh. And even then, I liked the anime better 🙂
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Haven’t read that yet, but I do have the omnibus so will likely try it at some point. Remember the anime being cute.
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