First published in France June 2018 by Pika, Make me up! is a surprising shonen in which the hero does not wield the sword but the blush brush. It invites the reader to immerse himself in the daily life of Kobayakawa, a high school student whose peaceful routine will be turned upside down by Hoshino Misaki…
Original title : 星野、目をつぶって。 / Hoshino, Me wo Tsubutte.
Alternative title: Make me up!
Mangaka: NAGASHII Kouhei
Type : Shonen
Genres : Comedy – Romance – School Life
Japanese publisher : Kodansha
French publisher : Pika (Pika – Shonen)
Year of launch: 2016 (Japan) – 2018 (France)
Number of volumes published : 13 (Japan) – 3 (France)
Status: Completed
Synopsis:
She is the very popular Misaki Hoshino. Pampered by her friends, she actually hides an unspeakable secret. He is Kobayakawa, a most ordinary boy who spends his time pretending to sleep, but with a real talent for painting. One evening, he discovers by chance his secret. Now, it's up to him to protect her, no matter the adventures! The bored boy and the girl having fun will now share the same daily life! (©Pika)
A shônen?
Anyone who frequents manga would tidy up Make me up!In the categorye shojo because a trained eye would immediately recognize the type of graphics of this genre of manga. However, the series of Kouhei NAGASHII is indeed a shonen. We follow the daily life of Kobayakawa, a young high school student who chooses not to integrate into his class.
How? Simply by pretending to sleep at every break. Thus, he creates his own little world where he controls everything because everything depends only on him. Kobayakawa has a gift, however, and not that of pretending to sleep so perfectly that others see only fire… No, he is an outstanding painter. It is also through his art teacher, Mrs. Yuge, that the fate of this calm boy will cross that of Hoshino Misaki, a tornado who is in the same class as him.
The story is based on the experience of Kobayakawa who must learn to open up to others, and especially to girls, not to judge on appearances but also to make up…
The meeting of characters with opposed temperaments
Make me up! stands out for its light humor and offbeat situations but the manga still tries to touch readers through its characters.
Hoshino Misaki, the disruptive element of Kobayakawa's life, looks like any popular, superficial high school girl who wears flashy clothes. But who is she really? What our hero discovers is a young girl who surpasses her shyness thanks to a makeup mask in high school. And who, despite his desire to side with the popular students, does not hesitate to remove this mask and rescue those who need it incognito. Close to Kobayakawa's art teacher, she was the one who was in charge of making her up… Until now.
Mrs. Yuge decides to pass the torch to her most gifted student. If it is absolutely necessary to make up Hoshino in the morning before his classes, it is also necessary that our apprentice makeup artist remains on the alert because at the slightest opportunity, the girl removes her makeup to play the superheroines of the school.
Kobayakawa finds himself forced to surpass his principle to stay away from all the stories of his high school, not to make friends because of Hoshino. What we learn from this forced plunge of the hero into the life of his high school is that the principle he imposes on himself comes from a wound deeply imprinted in him. He shares with Hoshino the fact of hiding from others.
Iori Matsuka completes the strange duo. A student in the same class and attending Ms. Yuge's art class, Iori is a shy high school student. She is harassed by her comrades until the intervention of Hoshino whose secret she discovers by chance.
The three high school students will have to learn to get along to save to keep Hoshino's secret intact!
A serious substantive subject…
What touches while reading Make me up! This is the cruelty of the group in the high school. Kobayakawa, at first, is completely ignored by his comrades. He is left out and, even though he has decided to be in this position, others do not even remember his name… He sees all the groups around him, all the pretenses of those who pretend to be friends to join the group. It is a construction that disgusts him and that is why he decided not to fit into the mold. He decides to flee social pressure.
This is the opposite of what Hoshino Misaki does. Every day, she arrives in front of the school jogging and without makeup and then goes to transform into a girl with makeup and well dressed in the plastic arts room. She needs to play a role to be part of the popular group and she agrees to play it.
And the transformation is dazzling, no one recognizes Hoshino when she is not made up or dressed. Her character is torn between the friends she has made in the circle of popular people of her high school where she plays her role and that of the natural Hoshino, gifted in sports, always ready to fight to save those who are victims of injustice or harassment. That's how she gets unmasked by Iori.
The latter is the archetype of the shy girl. She has no friends in the classroom or in her art club. Girls regularly target her and steal her belongings to put them in the garbage and publicly humiliate her. She is alone against everyone because no one dares to go against the group that harasses her until Hoshino intervenes.
… but a pleasure to read always present
On the one hand, it seems clear that the fact of wanting absolutely, even if it means changing, to belong to a group is dangerous. But, on the other hand, staying alone doesn't seem like a reasonable option either. If makeup may seem insignificant to Kobayakawa, it is what binds him to Hoshino and Iori… He has built himself a small group in spite of himself where pretense does not prevail.Thus, it could be that true friends exist and that they only require you to be yourself. It is a message of hope that creeps into the manga even if the tone is never too dark or tortured. On the contrary, it is a well-thought-out comedy !
As you will have understood, the manga is not afraid to show the wickedness of the students among themselves but knows how to remain light. Make me up ! offers us a touching and funny story about the budding friendship between temperaments that everything opposes.
