Koukousei Kazoku

As an American, it's possible that my views on high school, and the culture I grew up in, are affecting the way I view this series. But, that being said, no matter how many times I take a deep breath and reopen this series up on VIZ, I can't get through a chapter without deciding to stop reading.

This story is about a family who decides to go to high school at the same school as their son. From the perspective of someone who has already lived through high school days, the thought of having family go to school is an excruciatingly painful vision. Maybe, from the intended target audience of middle schoolers or high schoolers, the concept may actually be quite humorous (and Japanese readers might have different thoughts on high school), but, in my eyes, this series is hard to read from the very start.

Pros:

One of the very few series where I struggle to find positives; if I needed to pick at least one thing to put here, it would be the artwork. The pacing is good, and the artwork is somewhat minimalist, so it fits well with the jokes that are dotted throughout ( but while they were jokes, I didn't laugh at any of them).

Cons:

The plot of the story sets this manga into a deep hole, which the author isn't able to dig himself out of (in my opinion). Having an entire family attend high school with their kid, like I mentioned before, is an excruciating experience, so, in order to compensate, the mangaka should have included outlets that allow the reader to feel relief from the cringe (and moments of understanding, because I still have no idea why a family would attend high school in the first place). The author attempts to make this scenario lighthearted by having the family perform tasks and fit in with the students, but at the end of every chapter, I'm still plagued by the same questions: how can the father and mother both, on a whim, have a dream to go to high school, and then do it with no questions? How can the entire family begin to acclimate into the school without serious protesting from students? My inability to escape from these questions, while also not experiencing any laughs or smiles, made me feel extremely drained.

To end this review, let me just say that this series could be liked by other people. Unfortunately, for me, I could not get over the premise, and the humor only seemed to instigate my distaste for the lack of explanation as to why the family is there in the first place. My advice to anyone wanting to read this story is this: if you don't like it at first, the manga doesn't change, so stop while you can. If you like it, keep going.

So, ten chapters in, and nobody gave Koukousei Kazoku a proper review here on MAL? Well then, guess I'll do it, cuz i think it's really a great series and should be praised a little more than a "Fine" metascore.

So, Let's start with the story, as it's the first in partial ratings. Not much to say there cause it's a gag manga with no particular plot, but i can tell you that almost every chapter is really wholesome pack of heartwarming and absurd character interactions. Overall 8/10 for really well mixed wholesome absurdity

Second comes the art: It's pretty simple, but the almost childish drawings really add to the overall atmosphere of chaos. Solid 8/10 for me

Now about the characters: Here we have the titular family (Middle-aged salaryman, the housewife, little daughter, a cat and our protagonist) and people at school (the cliches you know from most of school-based anime and manga). Chemistry between the family is really good (making it believable even in this bizarre setting) and their unusual interactions with rest of the cast are really fun to follow. They're definitely great

As for the enjoyment: I laugh hard at every new chapter, and the heartwarming bits really manage to land, I honestly think 9/10 won't be an overstatement about how fun this series is

Overall it's 9/10 for the amount of laughs i got out of it, and how it can drop some little serious bits between them. I think you really should give this one a chance if you like absurdly wholesome series

This is a gag comic through and through, and while not on the level of Gintama or Saiki K (in my opinion) it's a funny read that passes the time.

Basically the main character, Kotaro Ietani, goes to high school and his whole family tags along. Even the cat. Each of their family members have a cliche to them (father is the one with the sad backstory and is really good at volleyball, sister is a 5 year old genius, etc.) and make for some interesting interactions with other classmates at the school.

In the midst of his oddball family, Kotaro wants to have a normal high school life, but it doesn't seem like he'll be getting that any time soon. The rest of the school has more or less gotten used to the 40 year old salaryman sitting in the back of their geometry classes though, so we'll see how this pans out.