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Girl Meets Rock!

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Girl Meets Rock!
First tankōbon volume cover, featuring Chihiro Hatono
ふつうの軽音部
(Futsū no Keion-bu)
Genre
Manga
Jump Rookie! version
Written byKuwahali
Published byShueisha
MagazineJump Rookie!
Original runJanuary 7, 2023 – September 18, 2023
Manga
Shōnen Jump+ remake
Written byKuwahali
Illustrated byTetsuo Ideuchi
Published byShueisha
ImprintJump Comics+
MagazineShōnen Jump+
DemographicShōnen
Original runJanuary 14, 2024 – present
Volumes4
icon Anime and manga portal

Girl Meets Rock! (Japanese: ふつうの軽音部, Hepburn: Futsū no Keion-bu, lit. 'Ordinary Light Music Club') is a Japanese web manga series created by Kuwahali. It tells the story of first year high school student Chihiro Hatono, who begins playing guitar and joins her school's light music club. Kuwahali published the original work on Shueisha's digital platform Jump Rookie! from January to September 2023. A remake, written by Kuwahali and illustrated by Tetsuo Ideuchi, has been serialized on Shōnen Jump+ since January 2024. The remake is published digitally in English on Manga Plus.

Plot summary

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New high school student Chihiro Hatono buys her first electric guitar and joins the light music club. There, she and bassist Rin Koyama form the band La Cittadella. Not very good, they quickly break up, as do other club bands. After having heard Hatono sing, Rin sets out scheming to form the perfect band with Hatono on vocals. They quickly recruit drummer Momo Uchida, whose own band broke up after their bassist was dumped by fellow club member Koki Takami, a skilled guitarist and singer who is popular with girls. In order to play a concert in July, Hatono's band temporary recruits third year Tamaki Nitta as a support guitarist. Hatono's lackluster performance there spurs her to practice playing and singing in Nagai Park every day of summer vacation. When the second semester begins, Hatono's band recruits guitarist Ayame Fuji, who was about to quit the club after also being dumped by Takami.

Characters

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Chihiro Hatono (鳩野 ちひろ, Hatono Chihiro)
A 15-year-old first year high school student who is a self-described introvert. After her parents divorced, she moved from Kawasaki to Osaka Prefecture for her first year of middle school. Despite being a complete beginner on guitar, she borrows money from her mother to buy a Fender Telecaster. She has dreamed of being the guitarist and vocalist in a rock band since she was a child, but has suppressed the latter ever since her voice was made fun of in middle school.
Rin Koyama (幸山 厘, Kōyama Rin)
A tall first year student with short hair. She is a bassist who asks Hatono, whom she calls "Hato-chan", to form a band, La Cittadella. After secretly watching her sing, Rin becomes obsessed with Hatono's vocals, to the point of worshiping her as her "god". She pulls numerous schemes in order to form a new band with the perfect members and Hatono as frontwoman.
Momo Uchida (内田 桃, Uchida Momo)
An outgoing first year student with two braids in her hair. She is a drummer who befriends Hatono, whom she calls "Hattocchi", on their first day of high school. She initially forms a trio named Sound Sleep, but they disband in June when a member quits the club after being dumped by Koki Takami. After hearing Hatono sing at a karaoke session arranged by Rin, Momo joins their band.
Ayame Fuji (藤井 彩目, Fuji Ayame)
A guitarist with a wolf cut who is a former elementary school classmate of Momo. Ayame was the guitarist in the band Protocol until leaving it after being dumped in August by its vocalist Koki Takami.
Koki Takami (鷹見 項希, Takami Koki)
A skilled guitarist and singer who is popular with girls. He is the guitarist and vocalist of the band Protocol. Days after breaking up with the bassist of Sound Sleep, Takami begins dating his bandmate Ayame Fuji. He breaks up with her a couple months later.

Production

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Wanting to try something new during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kuwahali bought an iPad and started practicing drawing before eventually deciding to try his hand at manga, which he has liked since childhood.[3][4] Insecure in his skills, his first work was an essay manga about his high school life that he published in serialized form on Twitter.[4] He then conceived Girl Meets Rock! as he wanted to create fiction with more ups and downs in the story.[4] The light music club setting was chosen because he has personal experience in one and felt that focusing on a large number of the club members would differentiate it from other works featuring the same setting.[4] After publishing the first three chapters on Twitter, Kuwahali began uploading to Jump Rookie!—a part of Shueisha's digital platform Shōnen Jump+—with 22 chapters published from January 7 to September 18, 2023.[4][5] Believing there was no way he would become a professional manga artist due to his lack of drawing skills, he said it was the response from his gradually increasing readers that motivated him to continue, rather than any personal desire to create.[4]

Kuwahali said that at first, Girl Meets Rock! was like an essay manga when he started it. But this changed when Hatono became depressed over making mistakes at her first live and picked herself up and started to practice; "I started to feel that Hatono was like the protagonist of a shōnen manga. With that development, I felt like the character's attributes became clear again. The excitement of the work rose, and it felt like it was not as relaxed as it was at the beginning, and it had a rather hot-blooded, sports-spirited element to it."[3] It was around this point that Kuwahali was approached by an editor at Shōnen Jump+ to have a meeting about turning Girl Meets Rock! into a proper serialized manga.[3] He was hesitant because of his lack of skills and because he already had a full-time job, but agreed once it was decided that he would focus on writing the story and Tetsuo Ideuchi would be in charge of illustrating it.[4] When serialization was decided, Kuwahali used the chapters published on Rookie! as a base and reworked their pacing. With an increase in page count from 8 to 19, he said he enjoyed going back and rearranging the storyboards to show parts he previously had to skip.[4] Kuwahali does not plan the story in advance. Although there are times when he thinks of developments he wants to do in the future, he does not decide on how to get there and just focuses on the immediate developments as he draws the storyboards.[3] For example, he never thought about having Yonsu return to the club. Knowing that chapter 30 would be the end of the third tankōbon volume, he felt ending on Hatono's discussion with her dad would be weak, thus he brought in an unexpected character with Yonsu.[3] Kuwahali said the only thing in his writing that had changed since the shift to Shōnen Jump+ was that he now thinks more about adding a hook to the end of each chapter.[3]

Although he is often told that his characters are realistic, Kuwahali said he is not conscious of that at all when writing, but suggested it might be due to the influence of the essay manga by his two favorite manga artists; Saho Yamamoto and Shigeyuki Fukumitsu.[3][4] There are no clear models for his characters, and although he thinks they are mixed with the essences of people he has met and characters from other works, the author largely believes he is projecting his own thoughts, personality, and experiences. For example, he embarrassingly admitted that Yonsu's "slightly creepy" way of asking someone out is something he actually did in the past.[4] The main character of Hatono is largely a projection of Kuwahali himself, and the other characters were created based on their connection to her.[4] Each one was conceived based on a rough first impression, such as "cheerful" or "cool", and the author then wrote chapters that gave them more dimension. For example, Momo is introduced as a cheerful and energetic girl, but is later shown to have trauma and a complex surrounding love.[4] Another example is Rin, who began as the "cool" character, but as Kuwahali wrote, he came to want a "powerful" character who can move the story forward and selected her for the role.[4]

When deciding which songs to include in the manga, Kuwahali chooses from those that he listens to personally.[3] He noted that although Hatono was initially portrayed as a rather stubborn fan of Japanese rock who made fun of major label bands, he decided this was not a good message to readers. So he consciously selected major bands that Hatono would listen to.[3] Kuwahali said the reason there have not been any original songs in the manga yet, is simply because he wants to introduce some of his favorites, but said original songs may appear as it goes on.[6]

Publication

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Written by Kuwahali and illustrated by Tetsuo Ideuchi, Girl Meets Rock! started on Shueisha's digital platform Shōnen Jump+ on January 14, 2024.[7] Shueisha has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes, with the first one released on April 4, 2024.[1] As of November 1, 2024, four volumes have been released.[8]

The series is published digitally in English on Manga Plus.[9] On June 29, 2024, it was announced that it would be "temporarily suspended" from the platform;[10] it returned on November 23 of the same year.[11]

Volumes

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No. Japanese release date Japanese ISBN
1 April 4, 2024[12]978-4-08-884019-2
2 June 4, 2024[13]978-4-08-884082-6
3 September 4, 2024[14]978-4-08-884238-7
4 November 1, 2024[8]978-4-08-884260-8
5 January 4, 2025978-4-08-884334-6

Reception

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Girl Meets Rock! won the 10th Next Manga Award in the web category in 2024.[15] It was also ranked tenth at the third Late Night Manga Awards in 2024 hosted by Bungeishunjū's Crea magazine.[16] As of November 2024, the series had over 36 million views on Shōnen Jump+.[17]

Satoru Shoji of Japan Anime News wrote that unlike most works centered around school music clubs, such as K-On! and Bocchi the Rock!, Girl Meets Rock! takes a different approach by portraying the realistic emotions and actions of ordinary high school students, but called the manga itself "far from ordinary" due to subverting readers' expectations on upcoming plot developments and for depicting the struggles of characters without becoming too heavy in tone.[18] He cited Chihiro's internal monologues as one of the highlights of the series, and believes readers will enjoy "being at the mercy" of master strategist Rin. Shoji expressed frustration that the English release changed the manga's title from "Ordinary Light Music Club"; a title that he described as "so profound that I could write an entire article just explaining it".[18]

In Brutus, Kenta Terunuma concurred with Shoji, writing that despite many manga being set in light music clubs, the distinctive feature of Girl Meets Rock! is that the characters do not aim to make their professional debut or win a contest, and no dramatic events occur. However, he explained it is not simply a heartwarming work, as the ensemble story focuses on the human drama hidden in the small events of high school life.[6]

The song "Riyū Naki Hankō (The Rebel Age)" by A Flood of Circle went viral after being included in Girl Meets Rock!. Frontman Ryosuke Sasaki credited this with helping sell tickets to the band's August 2024 concert at Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall.[19] Other recording acts who are admitted fans of the series include Acidman, Ado, Kana-Boon, Kyuso Nekokami and Hump Back, all of whom lent their names to a November 2024 poster promoting the manga.[17]

References

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  1. ^ a b 邦ロックを愛するギター初心者女子が軽音部に入部して奮闘「ふつうの軽音部」1巻. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. April 4, 2024. Archived from the original on June 1, 2024. Retrieved July 4, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Chanmei (April 30, 2024). 『あくまでクジャクの話です。』『ういちの島』『ふつうの軽音部』……漫画ライター・ちゃんめい厳選！　4月のおすすめ新刊漫画. Real Sound [ja] (in Japanese). Blueprint Co., Ltd. Archived from the original on May 11, 2024. Retrieved July 4, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Maeda, Hisashi (November 5, 2024). 『ふつうの軽音部』ELLEGARDENは作品の象徴として選曲。原作者が楽曲セレクトやキャラクター造形を語る【クワハリ先生インタビュー】. Da Vinci (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 5, 2024. Retrieved November 27, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 【第113回】『ふつうの軽音部』が生まれるまで【クワハリ先生インタビュー】. Jump Rookie! (in Japanese). April 4, 2024. Archived from the original on July 14, 2024. Retrieved November 27, 2024.
  5. ^ ふつうの軽音部. Jump Rookie! (in Japanese). Shueisha. Archived from the original on November 28, 2024. Retrieved November 28, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Terunuma, Kenta (November 1, 2024). 漫画『ふつうの軽音部』に夢中。キタニタツヤとクワハリが語る、規模の小さい青春の魅力とは. Brutus (in Japanese). Retrieved November 27, 2024.
  7. ^ 銀杏、ナンバガ……邦ロックを愛する陰キャ女子の青春描く新連載がジャンプラで. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. January 14, 2024. Archived from the original on June 1, 2024. Retrieved July 4, 2024.
  8. ^ a b 【11月1日付】本日発売の単行本リスト. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. November 1, 2024. Archived from the original on November 28, 2024. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
  9. ^ Manga Plus [@mangaplus_o] (January 13, 2024). "【NEW SERIES!】(For English Series) A high-octane drama of unfiltered youth and musical ambition! Girl meets Rock! Chap 001~004" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 4, 2024. Retrieved July 4, 2024 – via Twitter.
  10. ^ "Notice "Girl meets Rock!"". Manga Plus. Shueisha. June 29, 2024. Archived from the original on April 24, 2023. Retrieved August 5, 2024. The distribution of all chapters of "Girl meets Rock!" on "MANGA Plus by SHUEISHA" will be temporarily suspended. We will announce when the title will be available on MANGA Plus by SHUEISHA again as soon as it is decided. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
  11. ^ "Notice: "Girl meets Rock!" to resume". Manga Plus. Shueisha. November 23, 2024. Archived from the original on April 24, 2023. Retrieved November 24, 2024. We are pleased to announce the resumption of "Girls meets Rock" on MANGA Plus by SHUEISHA. All chapters up to the most recent are now available to read. New chapters will be updated simultaneously with the Japanese release. Thank you for your patience, and we hope you enjoy reading!
  12. ^ 【4月4日付】本日発売の単行本リスト. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. April 4, 2024. Archived from the original on April 5, 2024. Retrieved July 4, 2024.
  13. ^ 【6月4日付】本日発売の単行本リスト. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. June 4, 2024. Archived from the original on June 3, 2024. Retrieved July 4, 2024.
  14. ^ 【9月4日付】本日発売の単行本リスト. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. September 4, 2024. Archived from the original on September 3, 2024. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  15. ^ Cayanan, Joanna (August 28, 2024). "Kagurabachi Tops Print Category, Girl Meets Rock! Wins in Web Category of Next Manga Awards 2024". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on August 28, 2024. Retrieved August 28, 2024.
  16. ^ 「CREA夜ふかしマンガ大賞2024」発表！ 第１位は谷口菜津子『じゃあ、あんたが作ってみろよ』が受賞 (Press release) (in Japanese). Bungeishunjū. September 6, 2024. Archived from the original on November 26, 2024. Retrieved November 25, 2024 – via PR Times.
  17. ^ a b 漫画『ふつうの軽音部』アーティスト15組の応援ポスター ACIDMAN、Ado、キタニタツヤら参加. Oricon (in Japanese). November 1, 2024. Retrieved November 27, 2024.
  18. ^ a b Shoji, Satoru (August 24, 2024). "[Manga Reviews] Girl Meets Rock! by Kuwahari, Tetsuo Ideuchi - Shonen Jump+". Japan Anime News (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on September 12, 2024. Retrieved November 27, 2024.
  19. ^ 「シンプルに飽きた、次はどうしよう?」 a flood of circleのロックンロールが今ここで変わる理由. Oricon (in Japanese). July 10, 2024. Archived from the original on September 10, 2024. Retrieved November 27, 2024.

Further reading

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