Reading the reviews posted here, it seems that Oresama is popular primarily because of its humor, which I find surprising. The humor has its moments, but most of it is the over-the-top absurd kind of humor that I find cheap. Overall I would say it is a pretty lackluster shoujo (sorry! too harsh?). In short: if you're looking for sparkling confessions or even a hint of romantic tension (like, I don't know, a single kiss?), then let me preempt your disappointment by saying that, as of now, you will not find those in this manga. At least, not in the mainline.

At this point, I am up-to-date as far as chapter 122 (although I read that 123 is lurking somewhere), and all I can think is, "That's it?" Oresama has upheld many plots and subplots through these chapters, but when it comes to the genre it seems to be missing a key element: romance. It's refreshing to have the focus of a shoujo manga land more on friendship and action, but the omission of a directed love interest for the main character is so forced at this point that it's pitiful.

Kurosaki (former-gang-leader-turned-typical-high-school-wannabe-except-actually-still-fighting-all-the-time leader character) does not lack a selection of eligible men. In fact, the comments left after every story arc are pretty comical, because the audience of readers can't commit to "shipping" a single male character; there are at least 4 characters who could potentially have interest in her. Note that word choice, "potentially." Seriously, this manga is so deliberately avoiding the obvious question of "who am I supposed to root for?!" that no character has ever looked at Kurosaki seriously and said, "Gee, she's great, and I could potentially fall for her." At least 3 of these 4 characters have even gone on dates with her, and even those were made to be platonic (Hayasaki -> "It's not Kurosaki, it's Usa-chan-man", Banchou -> "So glad someone wants to be my friend", Kengawa -> "I just wanna see if she knows how to behave on dates")! I mean...COME. ON. It wouldn't be so upsetting if it wasn't so overt! Either the mangaka really doesn't know how to handle romance, or they are mistakenly priding themselves on the fact that they haven't "sold out" Kurosaki.

But they HAVE sold out Kurosaki! The charm at the beginning of the series is that this unassuming girl is, in reality, a BA fighter who can take down anyone, but is doing her best (and failing) to repress her fighting instincts to live a more normal life. Instead of just gaining more control, she has actually just gotten to be weaker as the series goes on. She starts losing more fights, gets "protected" more often by the surrounding male characters, and just becomes a weaker presence. Congratulations, mangaka-sensei. Your character is completely losing her distinction. Keep it up and she will truly be just a run-of-the-mill shoujo lead. Stop introducing so many side characters and focus more on the existing relationships. Who do we root for?! Why are all these characters so dense about their feelings?!

Also, why make Kengawa the most attractive and endearing male in the series when I know you aren't even going to let him win?? Why?! </3