Love Master A

Love Master A by Kyouko Hashimoto (amazon)

When a manga opens with a young girl vowing that she’ll experience a normal high school life after the trauma of middle school, you know that the high school she’ll be attending will be the opposite of the quiet and conventional haven that she seeks. In Love Master A, Aria has received the unfortunate nickname of “Love Master” due to her extreme ineptitude at romance. She’s confessed her feelings to 50 guys and been rejected each time, so she has forsaken love. Aria hopes that her new high school will be normal, but the instant she arrives she’s pulled out of class and told that she’s the new student council president.
She’s immediately thrown into a reverse harem situation. Her companions on the student council are Jin, a dim but good looking and sporty health and safety coordinator, a cross-dressing female-hating girl secretary named Mizuki, the conniving near-sighted treasurer Kurusu, and the strong and silent vice president Chikayasu. Aria resists joining the student council because being surrounded by cute guys isn’t good for her “closed-off heart”. But eventually she relents and finds out that news of her nickname has proceeded her. Students at her new school don’t realize that the “Love Master” title was ironic, and they start seeking out Aria for advice on their romance problems. Aria’s new student council buddies help her out as she begins to function as an unqualified high school matchmaker.
There isn’t anything new about the characters or storyline of Love Master A. Aria begins to fall for the attractive and energetic Jin and at one point everyone gets horribly lost in a snowstorm, a fate that seems to befall 2 out of 3 shoujo heroines and their male companions.
I think I prefer my shoujo reverse harem stories to have a certain amount of satire that isn’t present in this manga. My Heavenly Hockey Club and Ouran High School Host Club are superior examples of this subgenre. That being said, the art is attractive and there are a few funny bits in the book. This falls into the category of a manga I might check out from the library as opposed to collecting every volume.