A youthful, musical drama about high school students who put all their energy into their band activities – Introducing three unusual aspects of the manga “Ordinary Light Music Club”!Have you heard of “Ordinary Light Music Club”?

The work is a band manga currently being serialized on the manga app “Shonen Jump +”.

The story follows Hatono Chihiro, a high school girl who is a beginner at guitar and loves sophisticated Japanese rock, as she joins her school’s light music club and struggles with band activities.

Although this work has the word “ordinary” in the title, in fact, it has an extraordinary charm.

In this article, we’ll introduce three unusual points about the highly anticipated band manga “Ordinary Light Music Club”!

While depicting ordinary everyday life, we will explore the appeal of this heart-wrenching work through the drama woven by high school students.

This is a band manga written by Kuwahari and illustrated by Deuchi Tetsuo.

In December 2022, the original author, Kuwahari-sensei, will post the predecessor manga on his social media accounts, and from January 2023, he will also begin posting the manga on the manga posting site Jump Rookie! (until September 2023).

Due to its entertaining nature, it became very popular, and in January 2024, Deuchi Tetsuo was appointed as the illustrator, and the series finally began serialization on “Shonen Jump +”.

As of July 2024, two volumes of the comic have been published.

The story is set in the light music club at a high school in Osaka,

and the activities of the club are depicted in detail.

The light music club has a large number of members, both male and female, and its members range from those who practice enthusiastically to those who lack motivation.

As a member of the large club, Hatono experiences a variety of things related to bands, such as diligent practice of instruments, forming a band, interpersonal problems, and eventually the band disbanding.

This work depicts the thoroughly “normal,” and even in scenes where the story would develop significantly in a normal manga, this is not the case.

Hatono is one of 45 new members in the light music club, and this is his first time playing guitar and playing in a band.

If you want to make the story more exciting, you could have the protagonist, who has nothing, show off his hidden talent and suddenly give a performance that amazes everyone around him.

However, just like in reality, such miracles unfortunately do not occur in Hatono.

No matter how much I practice, I can’t seem to get any better at guitar, and I make lots of mistakes when practicing with the band.

We grow by facing failures and setbacks, but one step at a time.

The light music club activities depicted in this way are connected to the reality we live in, and you’re sure to empathize with them as if they were your own story!

だからこそ、読者は軽音部経験の有無に関わらず、物語の世界にすっと入ることができるのです。

そんな軽音部に所属するのは、等身大の高校生たち。

であれば、彼ら彼女らのキラキラした青春にスポットが当たりそうな気もしますが、本作ではそうならず高校生たちの「ふつう」の青春に重きが置かれています。

例えば、第1話冒頭の鳩野がギターを買いに訪れた楽器店で、ギターの才能あふれるイケメンの少年・鷹見項希に遭遇する場面。

偶然にも鷹見は、鳩野と同じ高校の同級生で軽音部でもあるのですが、すぐさま作中ナレーションでいい感じの仲にはならないことが強調されます。

普通の漫画ならここで出会ったイケメン男子と軽音部で運命的な再会を果たし、お互いを意識し合うように・・・といった形で物語を動かすこともありそうですが、本作はそれをきっぱりと否定！

現実ではドラマチックなことは意外と起こらないもので、それは本作の高校生たちについても例外ではありません。

そんな彼ら彼女らの抱える悩みや葛藤は切実で、どれもリアル。

例えば、鳩野のクラスメイトで同じく軽音部の友人・内田桃は明るく元気いっぱいな印象を受けますが、後に恋愛への苦手意識を持つことが明かされます。

このように、登場人物たちは第一印象とは違う面を持つのも特徴で、多感な時期ならではの悩みやコンプレックスと向き合う姿は見逃せません。

それぞれの人物の内面や過去が丁寧に描かれることで、読者は自然と登場人物たちに共感し、感情を揺さぶられるのです。

ここまで紹介したように、軽音部や登場人物など、土台となる部分で徹底的に「ふつう」を描く本作。だからこそ際立つのが、予測不能な展開を見せる物語です。

作中では高校生たちの日常に寄り添いつつ、感情を揺さぶるドラマが次々と展開されていきます。

その展開にはふつうとは違う、意外性に富んだものが登場することもしばしば。

例えば、鳩野にとって初めて組んだバンドが、あっという間に解散の憂き目にあってしまう展開はありそうで無いものでしょう。

ふつうなら中盤以降に出てきてもおかしくない展開ですが、本作では物語序盤で突然の解散劇となってしまうので、その衝撃たるや計り知れないものがあります。

軽音部や登場人物といった要素が丁寧に描かれているからこそ、予想外の展開に対する驚きはより大きなものに。

こうして、読者は少しずつ成長する鳩野に感情移入しつつ、意外な展開やドラマチックな場面で驚きや感動を味わうことになります。