Diamond Head Vol. 1

Synopsis:

Ichikashi Nanao just transferred to Mehabia Catholic School and she was lost on her first day there when she met a beauty accompanied by 2 equally good looking guys who literally pointed her in the right direction.

During a conversation with her new classmates, she found out that she’s a supposed “genius” because she was the only one who ever manage to pass the school’s transfer exam. On coming out of the girl’s toilet, she bumped into the beauty she met just now – coming out of the boys toilet! Looking downwards (at his pants!), she finally realizes that he is a guy. According to the girls, seems that our 3 guys are pretty famous around school – freshman Tachibana Katsuma and 2^nd year Douno Kirihiko as well as 2^nd year Hanugi Leica (the beauty of mixed heritage). All three are from prestigious family, therefore considered as upper-class as well as a little stuck-up. Nanao defended them by saying that compared to the other 3, she felt that the girls were ‘fakes’ (Honestly – why bother making enemies with these girls!).

At the cafeteria, Nanao was invited by Katsuma to sit with them. They invited her into their club (where only the 3 of them are members) – the judicature club. It deals with disputes and judges the students in court. Nanao refused them.
Someone started playing pranks on Nanao, throwing her shoes away and ruining her books. While cleaning the poolside, she had a fight with 3 of her classmates when they pushed her into the pool. Katsuma saved her with both Leica & Kirihiko looking from the sidelines. Nanao decided to sue the girls. Kirihiko was the council for plaintiffs, Katsuma for defense, and Leica was the judge. With overwhelming evidence, Nanao won her case, but was ordered by the judge to join the judicature club!

The club got their second case when a girl, Azusa Takagi wants to sue her friend Miyuki for pushing her down the stairs. It seems that Miyuki is currently dating Azusa’s ex-boyfriend Mizuno, when Azusa advice her to leave him because he is not a good guy. Leica told Nanao to assist Katsuma in the defense of Miyuki. He wanted her to try defending the “person in wrong”. Nanao scolded Leica for being no help at all in the case. However, as Katsuma & Kirihiko later explained to her, Leica wanted to help very much, but as the judge, he should not be bias in any case, and therefore should not be involved at all in the investigation.

During the court session, Katsuma suddenly clutches his stomach in pain and had to be taken away. Nanao took over as defense council. She managed to persuade Miyuki to tell the truth. It was Mizuno that pushed Azusa down the stairs. Azusa decided to cancel her claims. She only wanted the judicature club to find out the truth. The trial ended with Nanao finding out that Katsuma only pretended to be sick.

The last chapter of the first volume revolves around the school fair. The judicature club decided to open a bishoujo tea house (a tea house where the waitresses dressed in cute outfits)! Nanao initially refused because she thought that she was going to be the bishoujo, however when the poster came out, she realizes that it was Leica who was going to be the bishoujo (kyaa!!!)
The tea house was a success. The guys were all enchanted by Leica’s beauty, and the girls love taking photos with Katsuma & Kirihiko. However, judicature club style, a dispute between 2 guys started and they decided to hold trial there and then! One accused the other for spilling spaghetti sauce on his favourite shirt. The trial was held, and as usual, Kirihiko represented the plaintiff, Katsuma the defendant & Leica the judge.

After much discussion and evidence (which include some really outrageous stuff), it turns out that Leica was the guilty one! The sauce from the plates that he was carrying spilled by accident when he was pushed by another customer. Because Leica was so cute in his waitress uniform, the guy decided not to sue him.
The volume ended with Katsuma carrying Nanao away to dance while Leica look at them in envy.

Reviews:

Whew! It is a long synopsis. This manga is written & drawn by Mizushiro Setona sensei, and she is good! I’m totally in love with her works. Even though her works are categorized under shoujo, it is anything but just that. When reading the front part, everything points to a light over-used storyline – with the usual bishounen, bratty female classmates etc. But the judicature club change all that. Suddenly, the storyline revolves around the cases taken on by the club. With just 3 chapters in this volume, it seems like a short read. In fact, the good storyline made it feel short. It was only when I typed this synopsis that I realize how long it was!

I seriously recommend this manga to all. It has nice simple drawings, but its strength is in the storyline, although sometimes it may seem outrageous. An example would be the tea house case. During trial, the chemistry teacher was brought in to analyze the spaghetti sauce sample. This would only ever appear on manga.

A note aside, I should point out the different spellings used for Leica. Sometimes, it was Ricker, sometimes Leica. However, I would be using the latter as it seems to be more correct in the Japanese pronounciation. For the next 2 volumes (yes, this manga is only 3 volumes long!) I will try to shorten my synopsis as well. There will always be the same repetition for each case – as in Leica would be the judge, Kirihiko for the plaintiff & Katsuma represents the defendant. Nanao would flit between the 2. I would not mentioned the names of the characters who appear on trial because it would only make my synopsis messy.

That is all for this volume. I look forward to reviewing the next one!

Labels: Diamond Head

Posted at 10:31 AM