Title: Tsuiraku JK to Haijin Kyoushi (Falling High school Girl and Irresponsible Teacher)
Author: Mizuki Sora
Year: 2017
Status: 12 Volumes (Ongoing)
Licensed: No
Genre: Age-gap, Comedy, Drama, Romance, School life, Slice of Life, Student-Teacher, Shoujo
Synopsis:
“Why don’t you fall in love with me before you die?” A story about a suicidal high school girl who’s about to jump off the school building and a ridiculed teacher who saw what she’s doing. A dark-humored manga about love, life, and death.
Where to read:
Opinion:
I’m not a fan of slice of life in mangas but this is a big exception for me. I admit I know most people would frown with the idea that this is a student-teacher relationship but there’s more to this than just “flirting” or what you’d assume as “cheesy flirting”. Give it a chance and I’ll bet my money that a lot of you will really enjoy this!
You could already tell it’s a comedy when a series starts with characters breaking the fourth wall. The story immediately starts with our Main FL wondering if there are a lot of stories where the main character dies at the start. (Of course, there are. I’m sure everyone had their fair shares of Isekai Romances, right? HAHA)
First Impression:
This manga isn’t an Isekai, btw. We just really have a suicidal FL here who wants to jump off the building because she got rejected after confessing. She couldn’t exactly jump at that moment because she got interrupted by her teacher, Haiba Jin.
You’d assume he rushed there, panicking while trying to talk her out of dying, but nope. He’s just there relaxingly taking a smoke while worrying why the students call him “Baron Nicotine”. I know, you guys might think we have a shit ML here, but hear me out!
We can still see him as a nice teacher since he still went to the trouble of checking on his student. I mean, he could’ve just gone on his own business and continued his lectures but- uhh, wait. Does this count as him slacking off if he’s supposed to be in the middle of work?
Anywhoo, Mikoto (Our FL) asked why he’s at the rooftop when it’s in the middle of class, and Sensei here bluntly said he’s out for a smoke. Okay, he might be pretty addicted to cigarettes, but he definitely has some good traits!
Haiba Jin is Mikoto’s Physics and Homeroom teacher. He’s introduced pretty much as a “no-good” teacher since even the students call him “Haijin”. It’s a wordplay in JP. Haijin came from his name, HAIba and JIN. Combine it and you get Haijin which means “Cripple” in different spelling. He’s actually pitiful since Mikoto sees how much he’s ridiculed by the students, but I don’t think Sensei cares at all.
Characters:
Mikoto’s still on the edge of the building when Sensei said, “What’s wrong? You can talk to your teacher, JK.” She ignored him, though. Expected since he just called her JK which is literally slang for the word “High School Girl” in Japan.
What do people do when they get ignored? You repeat your question, right? Wrong! You guess the person’s problem. That’s what Sensei did, so he said, “You farted in class, didn’t you? Don’t worry, that happens to everyone. Cheer up, JK” Wow, no wonder students don’t take him seriously. Also, how would you actually feel if someone said this to you while you’re in the middle of killing yourself? HAHAHA
It’s obvious Mikoto would be upset, plus he kept calling her JK. So, she snatched his lifeline (The cigarette). Yeah, the cigarette’s his lifeline because he admittedly said it, too. To be literally, he said, “What would you get for taking away my reason to live, JK?!”
She opened up, after that. She told him she’s broken-hearted because she confessed to someone, but got rejected. Remembering it makes her feel like she’s dying from embarrassment.
Sensei then told him the most typical line a person would tell to someone broken-hearted. “I know it’s hard, but it’s not something for you to be that sad about. It’s not the end of the world yet.” He’s right, but Mikoto cut him before he could finish the line because she’s sure it felt like her world ended.
Interractions
Mikoto further explained how it’s hard for her when she sees the guy he likes get awkward whenever they meet. She said she doesn’t want to live a life where she makes the person she likes get uncomfortable, thus she feels depressed and wants to die. She’s so nice, isn’t she?!
Sensei’s surprised to know the whole reason why she wants to die, but he also didn’t invalidate her reason to feel that way. In fact, he shared his own experience. He experienced rejection 5 times back when he was still a student. 5 times! That’s way worse, right? He was so chill about it, that he even showed 5 cigarette sticks to give the value instead of just counting with his fingers. HAHAHA
Of course, Mikoto being nice, she felt broken-hearted in Sensei’s stead because she just imagined how hard that must’ve been for him. Her empathy is so strong LOL. She also said she knows Sensei might think getting rejected once is nothing, but she felt really happy because the guy talked to her despite her gloomy character. She just hopelessly liked him.
After that, Sensei gave his opinion about her. He said she might think she’s gloomy, but that’s not what he thinks about her. He said “You’re calm and mature. And your body measurements are 80-52-83. It’s his loss for rejecting you.” That’s supposed to be the “Aww” moment until we realize that he checked on her HAHAHA. Mikoto even tried to gauge his eyes, but in Sensei’s defense, it was just a lucky guess LOL. Oh, Haijin.
Jumping off buldings
Here are some strategies I picked up from this chapter on how to stop someone from jumping off the building.
• Strategy 1: Tell them it’ll be painful
Sensei: Don’t jump because it’ll hurt.
Mikoto: They say you faint while falling, though.
Sensei: And what if you don’t?
• Strategy 2: Get scientific
Sensei: Here’s a question, how many seconds does it take to fall from a 10m height? I taught you that in class.
Mikoto: Why are you asking out of the blue…
Sensei: The answer is 1.4 seconds. Do you think you have the time to faint?
Mikoto: You don’t need to showcase your character as a Physics teacher
Sensei: That’s not what I’m doing here.
• Strategy 3: Tell them they’ll trend online
Sensei: Your dead face will spread on the internet, y’know.
Sensei: Kids these days share everything online. Sensei: That’s what they did when I messed something up.
If Strategy 3 doesn’t work, try to share your own “trending online” experience. As for Sensei, he told the story when the students posted a picture of porn magazines and said they were his. He thought his life was over when the principal called him, so he had no choice but to kneel and beg the principal not to fire him and cut his salary HAHA. Back to the list!
• Strategy 4: Tell them a true story
Sensei: The biggest reason not to, is because someone already failed from jumping here.
• Strategy 5: Tell them how cruel life is
Sensei: Don’t feel depressed during times like this because life always has something to make us feel down about.
Sensei: Examples are grades, exams, employments, my wage.
Sensei: That’s what they did when I messed something up.
Sensei: I thought my life’s over when the principal called me.
• Strategy 6: Give them a new reason to live
Sensei: Didn’t they say, a heart, broken by a man can only be healed by another man?
Sensei: Just go find a new love to forget about your failed one.
Mikoto: It’s not that easy to fall for someone…
Sensei: You can use the “Suspension Bridge Effect” to deceive yourself and the person.
Mikoto: And here I thought you’re the type who ridicules love, Sensei.
Love
From how Mikoto sees Sensei, she thought he’s the type who’d ridicule love but Sensei defended himself because he also has someone he likes.
He described that person as someone smart, has a nice figure, and someone innocent. On top of that, he said that girl’s the only one who respects and takes him seriously in class. And above all, he thinks she’s really pretty. Haijin, aww!! This is where you’re supposed to be feeling the butterflies in your stomach, guys!
Because of those, he had no choice but to ditch his class and rush over when he saw her standing on the rooftop. He said he panicked. With that, Sensei dropped the final convincing line to stop her, “Ochiai Mikoto, why don’t you fall in love with me before you die?”
She slipped after that, died, and got isekaid. I’m kidding, Sensei caught her arm and pulled her up HAHA. He even said, “I’m not gonna let you die before I could even seduce you. LOL he’s so sly, he even used the “Suspension Bridge Effect” on her here. The author reminded us that Sensei’s a “no-good” guy. Oh the flags, HAHAHA
That said, our FL isn’t that easy to swoon. She told him not to underestimate high schoolers because she won’t fall for him that easily. Spoiler alert, Sensei really had a hard time making her fall for him LOL.
Before she left the rooftop, he called out Sensei’s addiction to cigarettes because it’s bad for his health. Although, she admitted that she doesn’t hate how he smells with it. But because of that, Sensei also tried to consider stopping smoking. She’s not sure if Sensei’s serious when he confessed to her, but for now, she thought she’d refrain from dying.
Final Impression:
This series has a lot of flawed characters. We have a “No-good” ML and a “Depressed” FL. Yeah, there are a lot of times you’d think the ML’s raising a lot of flags but the FL’s quick to think during those times. Regardless, I hope you guys are enjoying their interactions. They’re really like this most of the time. The comedic banter would make you laugh out loud while romantic moments would make you scream and blush because of its wholesomeness.
I’ve read this up to the latest, so I’m not gonna spoil anything but despite the whole plot-less slice-of-life vibe this series gives, it actually has a story. Just pay attention to the hidden clues they give, and you’re on for a plot twist.
Feel free to share what you think of this, guys. I’m so addicted to this that I even bought the photobook and listened to its drama cd because I’m so engrossed with the characters. (I’ll make a separate post for the photobook and drama cd)
I swear, give it a try! I highly recommend it even if you don’t like age-gap or student-teacher stories. This series gives a whole different definition of what shoujo is because this isn’t just your typical angst or fluff. The way they cover mental and societal problems is enough to keep this on par with josei and seinen. There are times it might give you some suicide triggers (or ways how to kill yourself), but it also shows how some of the situations here are happening in real life. The dark comedy is gold, and almost all the chapters teach you not to belittle death and also appreciate life.
The series is still ongoing and currently at volume 12. It’s released twice a month in Japan under Hana to Yume magazine.