Tropes are things that were conceived in one work, were deemed popular by the enjoyers of said work, and then migrated to other works. Some of the tropes get overused, which brings either stagnation or parody. Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun chose the latter way. It's a 4-coma comedy manga with a little romantic subtext that is centered around Chiyo Sakura, a cheerful high school girl, and Umetarou Nozaki, her tall, quiet, and handsome schoolmate. However, Nozaki also turns out to be a pretty popular shoujo manga artist who publishes works under the pen name of Sakiko Yumeno. But despite being good at writing shoujo, Nozaki is extremely oblivious in terms of real-life romance and human interactions in general.
And that is exactly what makes this work a great parody of romance tropes. The frustration that stems from misunderstanding is one thing; but characters are willingly trying to recreate some shoujo manga tropes in order to see whether they would work in real life or not, just so Nozaki would be able to describe them believably in his manga — and often these tropes turn out to be completely unrealistic.
A lot of gags lie in the story's characters. Nozaki is the main source of light-hearted frustration, not the one that makes you want to smack him but the one that forces you to stifle a laugh. He's so oblivious and he is so certain in his own worldview, in his own logic, that you just can't get mad at him, because from his perspective he's actually right and has some valid points.
And he, who looks cold-hearted and stoic, but in reality is a huge goofball, is not the only character who breaks the stereotype. But the beauty of this story is that the breaking of stereotypes is clever, more ironic than sarcastic, never taking itself too seriously. The absurdity is the series' closest friend, one that, through Nozaki and his lack of common sense, ties together a flock of very interesting people. The side characters are fully fleshed, and have important roles and development alongside the main pair. The story may seem simple, but the character dynamics is far from that.
It's a silly story that enjoys itself and deconstructs the shoujo tropes in the safest and nicest way possible.
To understand shoujo you must think like shoujo.
Tropes are things that were conceived in one work, were deemed popular by the enjoyers of said work, and then migrated to other works. Some of the tropes get overused, which brings either stagnation or parody. Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun chose the latter way. It's a 4-coma comedy manga with a little romantic subtext that is centered around Chiyo Sakura, a cheerful high school girl, and Umetarou Nozaki, her tall, quiet, and handsome schoolmate. However, Nozaki also turns out to be a pretty popular shoujo manga artist who publishes works under the pen name of Sakiko Yumeno. But despite being good at writing shoujo, Nozaki is extremely oblivious in terms of real-life romance and human interactions in general.
And that is exactly what makes this work a great parody of romance tropes. The frustration that stems from misunderstanding is one thing; but characters are willingly trying to recreate some shoujo manga tropes in order to see whether they would work in real life or not, just so Nozaki would be able to describe them believably in his manga — and often these tropes turn out to be completely unrealistic.
A lot of gags lie in the story's characters. Nozaki is the main source of light-hearted frustration, not the one that makes you want to smack him but the one that forces you to stifle a laugh. He's so oblivious and he is so certain in his own worldview, in his own logic, that you just can't get mad at him, because from his perspective he's actually right and has some valid points.
And he, who looks cold-hearted and stoic, but in reality is a huge goofball, is not the only character who breaks the stereotype. But the beauty of this story is that the breaking of stereotypes is clever, more ironic than sarcastic, never taking itself too seriously. The absurdity is the series' closest friend, one that, through Nozaki and his lack of common sense, ties together a flock of very interesting people. The side characters are fully fleshed, and have important roles and development alongside the main pair. The story may seem simple, but the character dynamics is far from that.
It's a silly story that enjoys itself and deconstructs the shoujo tropes in the safest and nicest way possible.
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