The Beautiful Skies of Houou High - Reviews

Alt title: Houou Gakuen Misoragumi

The Beautiful Skies of Houou High
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Friedrich124's avatar
Apr 24, 2021

Quick Version: The comic is overall silly with a lighthearted mood to it and a dumb main character. Those who want good LGBT+ representation won't want to read it. It's pretty heteronormative and low-key homophobic.

If I'm being honest, I ended up hating this. Typically, I like the girl-disguised-as-guy comic but only if it seems like it offers something new to the genre. When I read the summary, I was hesitant but tried not to judge too much.

The most interesting and unique part of the comic was Saeba Kei. When I first discovered this comic, I got excited because it was the first time I saw a lesbian in manga. I quickly grew frustrated when the mother and every other character treated Kei's homosexuality as a joke, an illness, or a phase. The idea that making Kei fall in love with a boy to become "normal" is ridiculous but having Kei go to an all-boys school to get rid of her homosexuality just reminds me of those conversion camps.

It was annoying that Kei's homosexuality was based on fear of men, which in turn was caused by a really stupid reason that wouldn't cause actual aversion to others in real life.  What was written as her legitimate reflex of vomiting near guys became a running joke. I further became disappointed at the author when it became evident that Kei would 'get over' her love for girls and fall for the sadistic male protagonist (Although I expected this, it still fcking hurts.)

3/10 story
7/10 art
4/10 characters
4.5/10 overall
Matthew1432's avatar
Aug 10, 2023

I really hoped this manga to break the stereotype of lesbian girl not falling in love with the guy trope which it failed miserably. You don't even have to read the full thing to see where the story is heading. I really liked the main character until the whole "I hate men because of trauma and thus I'm gay" thing started. Every other character is basic. 

Anyone who likes this manga are either homophobic or just bad reader. I said what I said. A lesbian doesn't become straight outta nowhere. The whole buildup was pointless. It's just the author's depressed thoughts. 

1/10 story
4/10 art
5/10 characters
3/10 overall
mcmanga's avatar
Feb 1, 2012

This was a cute manga. Although the "girl hiding identity in boys school" has been done before, it was a different set-up and had some cute humor in it.

?/10 story
?/10 art
?/10 characters
8/10 overall
FlowingRiver's avatar
Mar 7, 2023

Okay, I read it YEARSSS AGO but I still remember the plot. I don't have to reread it in order to confirm that someone was partially gay or lesbian. What the heck is wrong with the comments? Lesbian who? Just cuz the girl was tall and she threw up because of boys? Trauma would be a more appropriate answer....lol, wtf. Like being a hetero is such a crime. Go read something with a bl or gl tag...why trash someone's work because of your own fantasies? Moreover, it's a manga. It was pretty popular to write stories about girls who were 'princes' back then. 

The work itself is fine. I mean...I read it in my teens. I would not find it appealing in my 20s but I did like it back then. It's kinda silly, romantic and entertaining. SEVEN out of TEN. 

7/10 story
7/10 art
7/10 characters
7/10 overall
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EveOrelon's avatar
Sep 8, 2020

I have many mixed feelings about this one. I always love a girl-disguised-as-a-boy story but this one felt like it had a different spin on it; not that that's a bad thing, I had plenty of fun. It just felt like something was missing, I just don't know what. The story could have been better, and the characters (especially the side ones) could have been developed far better. I don't know, I just feel unsatisfied. 

7/10 story
9/10 art
7/10 characters
7/10 overall
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