220https://cdn.myanimelist.net/images/manga/3/31842l.jpg Gyaru or as known to the Western world Gals are the gaudy hilariously tanned party animal girls of Japan that were quite the hot issue back in the 2000s. Theyre what would be if the popular white girls of Cali spent every afternoon at a Brazilian tanning salon and romped around downtown with flashy hairstyles and clothes that look like a unicorns salad. And most importantly theres a manga about them. And its actually much better than youd expect On the surface GALS seems like your runofthemill ubergirly shoujo manga from the 2000s. Its got the same big bubbly eyes plastered on every female character in the story its got a handful of conveniently handsome hunks and everything about it basically just falls under the category of something thatd get you beat up if you were caught reading it in the locker rooms back in the day of course. But to pass this manga off for those trivial reasons is one hell of a crime. Its complexity and variety of truetolife topics it deals with blanketed with routine gags and cheesy romantic subplots are a delightful surprise and one that would make you guffaw if you were to look back at the cover and think something like this is actually something like that? GALS starts out basically like a gag manga youve got the main character Ran Kotobuki selfproclaimed Queen of Gals who lives solely and proudly for the present with her girlfriends and doesnt give a flying frickfrack about the past and future. She also couldnt care less about love complex relationships or studying shed rather put all her focus into picking out the perfect outfit stuffing her face and trying to wheedle some extra dough out of her tightknit policeman father who is completely done with her B.S. Shes loud shes mean shes a hardass when she needs to be but a complete dumbass otherwise. You take one look at Ran and think How the hell is she a shoujo protagonist? Why should I like her? but thats only because youre comparing her to what I like to call wet cardboard protags found in 95 of shoujo manga and thats where youre wrong. Ran and her friends seem perfect on the outside. Theyre pretty popular theyve got mad fashion intellect and they radiate pure moxie and spunk. But the point of the manga was to show young readers that not all which glitters is gold. Theyre not cookiecutter bubblyeyed Queen Bee girls. Each and every one of the characters is flawed and do or say things that will probably piss you off and I admit I got pretty pissed at times but thats a sign that the story and its characters are GOOD. They act and say things irrationally like real people and later suffer due consequences. Theres the stubborn holierthanthou bitchy type theres the clingy insecure type the wildchildturnedtamed type each one with their own backstory and pointofviews and each of them struggling in their own ways. The romance in GALS isnt very orthodox either. The entire manga is unpredictable for better or for worse. The topics that GALS deals with are the real gem. They range from the mundane such as dealing with exams personal goals and work to the much more dark and serious like bullying stalking selfharm suicide theft and fraud and even child neglect and abandonment. Theyre all written and dealt with very skillfully and responsibly in my opinion and the morals to be learnt from each situation shine in contrast to the mangas otherwise glitz and glam nature chronicling the Gals everyday adventures between school and Shibuya. I cant let this review slide without noting some of the disappointments I came across in GALS To begin with the more darkertanned girls Ganguros are drawn and treated in a...quite inappropriate manner. I understand that this is just one of the many Gyaru styles but here the Ganguros are seen as ugly disgusting and unworthy. Why? Because of their dark skin tone and lips. Thats literally the ONLY reason why. It raises a lot of red flags and shows you that no matter how good a manga can be mangaka are prone to fucking it up by cracking a joke solely at the expense of a characters appereance. Not very good for a manga aimed at children. Theres also a slightly uncomfortable minor/adult relationship which unfortunately is one of the main focuses of the manga so if that kind of thing irks you you could just gloss it over like me but if you cant pass let it be known though that nothing explicit happens until the minor is of age. On a more positive note the art is absolutely gorgeous. Everything is drawn so neatly and the constant shifts in style between normal and comical are almost seamless. Despite the pages being packed with illustrations and effects they were never an eyesore to look at. One teeny tiny little nitpick I had however was that the eyes are all identical on the females no matter main or supporting characters. I had a hard time telling the characters apart sometimes for this reason but thats just me. I love this art style so I cant even complain that much. Mihona Fujii is clearly someone who knows her stuff and wants to do it right. And its apparent as in the process of writing GALS she regularly went out into Shibuya to observe firsthand the daily affairs of reallife Gyaru the places they frequent the issues they face etc. and she also documented her research in the sidebars of the manga itself which were neat little tidbits I looked forward to reading along with the main story. Her effort made the story that much more worthwhile and believable which is quite commendable. Fujii loved the culture and wanted to portray it as accurately as possible through her characters while still making them fun and relatable. And she succeeded since GALS is now regarded as a Gyaru Bible of sorts. I wouldnt really blame anyone for overlooking GALS for a mere chickflick on paper if they saw it on a shelf or a website we all tend to judge books by their covers and with all literal meaning especially in manga. But this is one of those rare instances where you simply cant let yourself be bamboozled. I enjoyed it a lot even though I went into this thinking what so many people have probably though that this was just another colorful flashy kiddie manga. GALS takes the phrase live love laugh and paints it all in your face until its ingrained in your soul. Its about having a good time and letting yourself go living life to the absolute fullest not by being irresponsible but by believing in yourself doing whats right and pushing forward no matter what you might face in life. Theres more to girls than a pretty face and theres more to GALS than just hotties heels and hibiscus flowers.