My Neighbor Seki

In one word, I'd call My Neighbor Seki "delightful."

This slice-of-life manga is about two middle school aged kids in the back of a classroom. Seki, the boy, is always goofing off in class and is never paying attention. But instead of simply staring out a window, Seki has a teddy bear rescue going on via remote control helicopter. His games are elaborate and well thought out and Yokoi, the girl, is constantly being distracted by everything he does. Simple games of "Go" get turned into a massive battle between good and evil. Seki refinishes his desktop to look like stained glass and so on. These are small skits are comical and good for a much needed laugh or (at the very least) a good smile.

I enjoyed how they seemed to get closer and closer as the series went on though a romance doesn't actually happen, no matter how much Gato (Yokoi's friend) believes there is a relationship between the two. At the beginning Yokoi gets so very angry that Seki and his games are so distracting, but as the series goes on she gets into it. On the book covers, their desks move closer and closer as Yokoi becomes more engulfed in the stories Seki ends up telling as well as the intricacies of the contraptions.

I also think it's fun that not only does Seki have the imagination to come up with his games every class period, but that Yokoi gets it. She gets upset that he's playing and distracting himself from studying, but then she is distracted as well and ends up understanding what Seki is trying to do.

It is also interesting that throughout the whole series, Seki never says a word. A lot of it is Yokoi's internal dialog with little bits of dialog from surrounding students, though they don't actually notice the games. This way of conversing and getting the information across to the reader is different and is helped out a lot by the artwork. This too is well done and fun to look at and read through.

This would be a good series as in introduction to slice of life for anyone, most especially middle schoolers. It is a simple series, but very much fun.