Suki Desu Suzuki-kun

You know the key ingredients of a shoujo manga. Romance. Love triangles or in this case love quadruple. In Suki Desu Suzuki-kun, it is one of those love stories between 4 classmates of a junior high school, Hikaru Suzuki, Shinobu Suzuki, Chihiro Itou, and Sayaka Hoshino. If you notice a couple of characters having the surname Suzuki, they are not related in blood whatsoever and their character and physiques differ very much. One is a midget and the other a wealthy kid. You get the idea. Watch their love development and the pangs of love in the 2 episode OVAs are based on the manga of the same name. Not very much, huh?

Episode 1
Hikaru & Chihiro’s Opening Scene
As Hikaru walks along, he sees Chihiro being hit on by several guys. They’re so annoying that she even wonders if she should just kick them in the crotch. Hikaru butts in to warn the guys that this girl eats a lot and likes to fight but Chihiro protests and they start arguing. The bullies didn’t like being ignored especially from midget Hikaru and are going to beat him up. Hikaru gives them the slip with his cool basketball dodging manoeuvres and dunks on their head. Chihiro narrates that she was the one who taught him those moves when Hikaru starts acting cocky.

Shinobu’s Opening Scene
Hikaru’s buddies greet him and they’re lucky they’re in the same class with cutie Chihiro. Suddenly a limo pulls out and out comes the filthy rich kid Shinobu whose parents somewhat are also bosses of this town. Lots of girls are clamouring over him and he’s got the arrogant and horrible attitude to match it. Hikaru is upset that there is somebody who shares the same surname with him and yet things are pretty much different between them.

Sayaka’s Opening Scene
Sayaka is a shy and timid girl with low self confidence. She accidentally bumps into Shinobu and his girls. The cocky bastard tells her to watch where she is going and this causes Sayaka to feel even humiliated. Hikaru then smacks Shinobu’s head with his slipper! He wants him to apologize to her as he has witnessed everything. Both guys trade insults with Hikaru calling Shinobu a daddy’s boy (because he threatens to tell papa) and Shinobu calling Hikaru a grandma’s boy (because late granny told him to always treat girls right). They start fighting and not even the teacher can stop them. It took Chihiro to smack them into order and make them apologize on their knees. Shinobu doesn’t take this embarrassment well. As Chihiro helps Sayaka up, Hikaru notices the books Sayaka is reading and realizes she is from the drama club. He recognizes one of the dramas but Sayaka snatches it and runs away in embarrassment.

Chihiro’s Emotional Scene
Because Hikaru and Chihiro are running late, Hikaru gives Chihiro a piggy back ride and makes a dash. It made Chihiro remember how things were reversed back then, she used to take care of him like a little brother. She enjoys the moment riding on his back.

Hikaru’s Emotional Scene
Sayaka laments she ran off just like that without thanking them and starts beating herself up that she’s such a slow person. She remembers a heroine in the drama she read who clearly conveyed her feelings and hoped to be like her. Hikaru comes to the rooftop to relax when he spots Sayaka reciting love lines from the drama. She is such a natural that she’s sparkling! Such beauty! Of course she gets embarrassed when she realizes he is watching. However he is impressed with her instead because she turned into a new person while acting out. He lifted her too high in the air that the wind blew up her skirt! Mmm… Nice pink ribbon pantsu… Oops. Chihiro is looking for Hikaru when she spots him and Sayaka very friendly on the rooftop. Shock? Shinobu is still upset that he was hit when he chances upon Chihiro. Her side expression made his heart skipped. Ah, here’s another crush in the making. Chihiro narrates and thus beings 2 small crushes. It is the beginning of a fated love of several years between Hikaru and Sayaka who eventually captivated the entire country.

Episode 2
Hikaru wakes up from a sexy dream of Sayaka. Was he glad or disappointed it turned out that way? He meets up with Sayaka before departing for the class trip and because he is somewhat ignoring her (due to that dream), she thinks he hates her and became distant ever since their first kiss. Maybe it’s because of the drool? Think not. Sayaka explains to Chihiro at a souvenir shop that sells souvenirs on shinsengumi items. Thanks to her recent drama on shinsengumi, Sayaka has taken an interest in one of the characters, the swordsman Souji Okita. She spots a group of guys trying to shoplift but Chihiro was quick to warn them to put it back or else she’ll report it to the police. The shoplifters then leave without causing a scene. Hikaru was worried Chihiro acted rashly and should have called him at times like this. However she brushes him off that she is a better fighter than him. Later as Sayaka sits alone, she reflects how Hikaru and Chihiro interact well together. Maybe he does hate her. To get her mind of it, she starts getting into the role of Souji Okita. Hikaru sees her serious expression and steely gaze. Like falling in love once more, eh? When he realizes she noticed him, he became a bit clumsy and knocked over a statue. Sayaka wanted to touch his head to see if he is injured but he avoids her. This causes Sayaka to think he really hates her so much that he doesn’t want her to touch him. She runs away in tears. Sayaka seeks solace in Chihiro as the latter explains it is Hikaru being a moron, trying to make it hard for others to understand him. But Sayaka still envies her because she has a more trusting relationship with him than she does. That’s because they’re not in love, right? Or so Chihiro laments. Sayaka notices the bruise on Chihiro’s wrist caused by that incident with the shoplifter and bandages it. Chihiro gets a call from Hikaru looking for Sayaka. She passes the line to Sayaka so they can speak and clear things up. However Hikaru hears the girls’ scream before being cut off. Shinobu sees Hikaru’s stiff face and gets one himself after learning Hikaru lost contact with Chihiro. Have a bad feeling about this.

The shoplifters have kidnapped the girls and plan to humiliate them by taking photos of them in the nude as blackmail. Chihiro wants them to leave Sayaka alone and will do her share of the ‘punishment’. Sayaka become so afraid of what is about to happen to Chihiro that she picks up a wooden stick and turns into that Souji Okita character. Wow. She’s really good. Like as though she isn’t acting. But the real person himself! The bullies thought she’s just playing around but the swing of the stick proves she is no pushover. Chihiro notes how cool she is and realizes the reason why Hikaru fell in love with her. Chihiro joins her as they are surrounded by the bullies. Sayaka notes how they should adapt to the situation and not stick to just one technique. Meaning? Chihiro lifts up her skirt to reveal her polka dots pantsu to distract the guys before smacking them with the stick! Hey, it works. She notices Sayaka’s movements are more refined and gorgeous. Since she’s a beauty too, it’s like she’s a beautiful Bakumatsu swordsman standing before her. In the end, the bullies get beaten up by the girls. How shameful. Sayaka trembles in fear upon realizing how scared she was now that everything has calmed down. Well, better than being scared and paralyzed during the important fight. The girls praise each other but I think they were doing it for too long for the bullies to call reinforcements. So they can’t beat a pair of girls and they stoop this low and dirty for revenge. But this time the girls don’t have to lift a finger because here comes the calvary! ‘Monsters’ in the name of Hikaru and Shinobu! See how pissed they are! It’s time to show them how cool they are. Shinobu is mad because they got to see Chihiro’s panties before he does! Hikaru realizes he likes Shinobu but won’t give her to him because she’s like his sister. They start arguing among each other, ignoring the bullies. Even so, they’re in sync while beating them up while arguing! Just like two sides of a coin, eh? One of the bullies tries to take the girls as hostage and get rough with them. Shinobu and Hikaru block his strike with their body. Gosh. They’re bleeding. They decide to put aside their difference in this temporary truce and beat up this trash. See, when they cooperate, they’re invincible. They’re looking cool even spouting cool lines (“I’ll sacrifice my body several times for the woman I love”) and perhaps score some points in the books of the ladies until they suddenly drop unconscious. Too cool, eh? If their head bleeding is not enough, now they have nose bleeding to deal with since they now get a very close glimpse of the girls in their bras.

Love To The Rescue?
How can a couple of episodes do justice to this? As I read, many fans that have read the manga and watched this were disappointed over this pathetic OVA that simply wasn’t much ado about anything. How would you like it if you were introduced to the characters falling in love with each other in the first episode and then fast forward a little bit in the next episode (aren’t we disappointed that we couldn’t see Hikaru and Sayaka’s first kiss?) and then it suddenly ends. Aren’t you just mad and frustrated? Despite being released in 2010, so far there is no word that there will be any more episodes whatsoever. It would have been great if this was made into a TV series instead of a couple of episodes that were simply based off from a few chapters in the manga (the first episode was of course the first few chapters while the second episode was the 15^th and 16^th chapters – besides, the animated scenes are taken directly from the pages of the manga). I mean, despite the storyline may be cliché and quite some predictable elements, it still provides a good watch if you like shoujo and romance stuffs.

As seen from the OVAs, there is the love and one-sided crushes between the characters, some comedic bits, a little action and well yeah, a little fanservice. So what’s not to not like?  Even the art and drawing of the characters borders between good looking at cute. There are times the characters are in their chibi mode in certain scenes, otherwise they are those typical gorgeous sparkling wide eyed characters that make shoujo genres oh so cute and pretty. Therefore, I thought that the OVA served as somewhat a promotional material to introduce the series and perhaps get those who are not familiar with the manga title to take a look at it. Besides, as I have found out, the manga recently concluded in September 2012. And no, I didn’t read the manga. But I did read briefly the synopsis of the second half that focuses on these characters when they’re in high school. They supposedly have broken off all relationships but reunited in high school and find it tough to go back to way things were since everything has changed. Another set of challenges to overcome, no?

So bottom line of this story, just like in another other love genres, love may be a wonderful thing but most of the time it doesn’t quite work out the way we want. You love somebody but that somebody has his/her heart on somebody else. Somebody else likes you but you don’t really have feelings for him/her. You want to confess but can’t help feel the fear of being rejected because your world will suddenly come crashing down to a rude halt. Somebody else confesses first and your world suddenly comes crashing down too. Sometimes when you’re honest with your feelings, it doesn’t pay you back. You know, this kind of things. Hah. I’m talking like I’m a love expert despite not having falling in love or having a girlfriend of my own. Maybe it’s thanks to all the shoujo genres that I’ve been watching and learning from. Certainly not!