And if this post doesn't make sense in some places, you can blame the small concussion i picked up playing football earlier tonight
Having read it all, i'd definitely say that Jamie is at least half right in that the characters do fit tropes, but they're definitely different from the norm. Queen is a Tsundere, that's pretty straight forward, although i'd argue she's less tsun than her type usually are. Moon Young is a bit of a tomboy, but she's far more interesting than the usual tomboy females who tend to descend into "omg you guys, i'm actually pretty girly lol" really quickly, and really obnoxiously. Dal-Dal is the cute one who falls hard for the main guy, but again she stands out for me as she can take care of herself, and doesn't get bogged down in the whole harem competition thing too much. So while they do fit tropes, i don't think it's a negative thing.
The main guy being physically fit isn't a problem for me. I'm one of those people who is naturally slender, fit and pretty strong, and without working out or watching what i eat i can maintain that pretty easily. And when i do more physical activity than i usually do i can get noticeably stronger in a short period of time. As for Jau-Gu, getting up early, walking about at school then working before getting back at 1am means he's barely sitting down and he's unlikely to over eat, it's natural that he would be at least averagely fit, and with his naturally good physique it's not silly that he can get in good shape pretty quickly. It would be a problem if he became uber macho and was suddenly beating season pro's, but he isn't, he was barely able to stand up after beating his old school bully, let alone a proper professional. Although, his sudden abandonment of his mother issues was disappointing, and probably the worst part of the series for me so far. I mean he just suddenly realised he was hanging out with girls and that was it, it was dropped for a load of chapters before being mentioned once or twice in meaningless sentences. That was reeeeeally lame.
As for the harem thing, it's pretty low key so far compared to most manga/anime. Dal-Dal is head over heels and very in your face, and Queen obviously likes him, Moon probably does as well, and although the interactions with Dal-Dal are prominent, the usual harem clichés aren't thrust in our faces all the time, and what we do get isn't annoying. He's the only guy at school, and by all accounts he isn't a dick, or actively ugly, so again i don't see it as being unreasonable that a lot of the girls are interested in him, and he does have a little more to his character than most male leads (not exactly difficult though) who are completely plain and boring beyond being the dude every girl goes mad for.
Story wise, it's been pretty enjoyable so far, and i'm looking forward to seeing how the fights pan out for the rest of the tournament. I'm unsure where Jae-Gu will go from here though, i just don't want it to turn into an ordinary, forced harem series with all the girls tripping over each other to win his affections being the only thing going on.
The art is exceptional, especially the close-ups which look gorgeous. The fight scenes look brilliant too, and get across motion really well. I love the way the characters are drawn differently depending on mood and emotion as well, sometimes they go chibi, sometimes they go more realistic and sometimes minimalist. And i like the unorthodox layout, it's different, and not irritating.
I'm not sure who my favourite character is at the moment though, i'm leaning towards Moon i think, but Dal-Dal is great too.
