Look at “Henjo ~Weird High School Girl AMAGURI Senko~”
変女～変な女子高生 甘栗千子～
Henjo – The Strange Female High-Schooler Amaguri Senko

I’m often amazed at rubbish that gets licensed, and other stuff that doesn’t. Such is the case with Henjo ~Weird High School Girl AMAGURI Senko~. which is not licensed, even though its spinoff series Eroko-san on the Attack is (by a minor, digital only company and their rubbish system). Still, I liked the Eroko-san manga, so I thought I’d finally get to reading the original title.

The Story, in Brief (Mild Spoilers)

Childhood friends TAKAMURA Ryou and SUGITA Kouhei are job hunting when they encounter a blunt, shameless high school girl cleaning the male bathroom. A month later, the two guys interview at Handyman Amaguri for a live-in job. To their shock, the girl, AMAGURI Senko is there, the high school daughter of the owner. The guys take the job, though Ryou has to take the room next to Senko’s. Since she can sense when men get erect, and when people “meditate”, she demands he not do the deed and disturb her while she’s “meditating.”

While Ryou struggles to know if Senko is interested in him or not, things get a bit more complicated when Ryou’s cousin and childhood friend SETO Ruka shows up. She is romantically interested in “Ryou-nii”, and isn’t thrilled that he’s living in a house with an attractive high school girl. However, Ruka ends up becoming Senko’s first female friend as Senko attends a trade high school with only guys in it. Thanks to Senko’s influence, Ruka becomes a bit more bold.

As time passes, more characters are introduced, including members of Senko’s manga club, and a shy ojousama who admires Senko’s personality and longs to have the same, weird skills Senko has. All the while, handyman work must go on, and Ryou learns how it is nearly impossible to embarrass Senko, but that’s part of what makes her so attractive to him.

Not Your Typical Romcom

I’m not going to lie–Henjo is not going to be for everyone. Every chapter in this 18+ volume manga deals in some fashion or other with male sexual arousal or masturbation. As such, there is a natural, perverted nature to the manga series. This is accentuated by Konogi-sensei drawing some suggestive poses, such as Senko in a certain pose in her short, school uniform skirt. There’s never any nudity, even the Barbie Doll nudity of a title like Negima!

For me, what makes the manga interesting is Senko. This is a character who doesn’t care what people think about her. She’s going to say what’s on her mind, period. As such, she violates normal conventions by bluntly telling guys not to look at her sexually. And then when she senses them becoming aroused, she shames them by pointing it out.

That brings us to the romance angle between Senko and Ryou. Some people will object that the 23 year old Ryou has a romantic and sexual interest (even if he denies it for a while) in a high school girl. This didn’t bother me ’cause I didn’t forget my high school years, when girls longed for guys in their early 20’s to notice them. However, Ryou is a virgin, and he is a nice guy, so he’s not going to have sex with Senko. That said, at times, he wants to break Senko’s unfazed attitude.

And so it is this unique element that makes this romcom more interesting even though the constant penis discussions get a bit wearying at times. It is refreshing to see a female character like Senko, who’s no wilting violet. Yet at her core, she’s all woman.

Spinoffs

Although Henjo is published in Young Animal magazine, Konogi-sensei has done several spinoffs from it. I already mentioned Eroko-san on the Attack, which features Hoshi-kun, who originated in Henjo as someone also interested in Senko. That manga then got an alt-universe spinoff where Hoshi and Eroko are in high school together.

The ojousama character Riri, who looks up to Senko, got her own short spinoff series The Honest Princess and the Minus Prince. And while it didn’t get many pages, there was a manga featuring what I believe was an adult Senko dealing with a boss who sexually harassed female employees.

That aside, because Konogi-sensei often gets distracted with these other titles, it means that Henjo can go on hiatus for weeks or months even. That is unfortunate, but I do like Sensei’s other works. As I write this, Eroko-san is on hiatus and Henjo is getting the new chapters.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Through 119 chapters of this seinen manga, Henjo ~Weird High School Girl AMAGURI Senko~ is pretty enjoyable despite its focus on the male anatomy. There’s plenty of humor and a surprisingly wholesome romance at the core of the story despite the perverted shell. Its strange to me that no one has licensed it.