Gokujou (ゴクジョッ。～極楽院女子高寮物語～) is exactly the kind of manga that I find it maddening to see included on Yuri lists because 1) it has no redeeming qualities at all and 2) it has no Yuri. What it does have is a lot of utterly pointless and emotionally stunted nudity, and “wacky” cluelessness about sexuality that forces situations that are vaguely sexual in nature. Because it takes place at a girls’ school, these vaguely sexual situations are fake-lesbian-ish, or Yuri if you are a spectacularly unaware fanboy.
What Gokujou *is* is a more nudity-filled, more pervtastic, even MORE stupid version of almost the same exact set of gags one finds in High School Girls…if Kouda was the lead character.
In the first chapter we meet Aya, a completely delusional sexual innocent who likes to show off her assets without the vaguest clue what she’s actually doing. Aya is plagued by hysterical situations like losing her underwear, so she steals the underwear from her friend Konatsu, and later the two of them tumble ass over teakettle, showing the whole school their nekkidness. This was the hilarious first chapter.
The rest of the book just goes downhill from there, in chapters where we discuss the wrinkles in pudenda, of course the inevitable breast-size chapter, and insane bathing suit at the pool – a chapter that also includes many close-up shots of strangely drawn female crotches. Guys – I know this may comes a shock to you, but we females do *not* have bulging crotches. It seems kind of obvious to me, but then – I’ve actually seen a woman naked and you probably haven’t. (I am seriously confused as to why, with ALL those pictures of naked women available for free on the Internet, mangaka can’t draw crotches that are anatomically correct.)
In any case, chapter after chapter involves Aya being curious, confused, bewildered and amazed at one exciting pubescent topic after another. The lack of anything like sweet innocent charm in this manga is really hammered home by the gaping mouths, bulging eyes, snot-running noses and sweaty faces of Aya in her various phases of non-thought.
To my mind, this series was created as a subtle punishment to those readers who like wacky sexual hijinks without any actual sex or sexuality involved. In fact, the whole thing makes women and their secondary sexual characteristics (and high school girls in particular) *so* physically and emotionally unappealing, I think every 12 year old boy should be forced to read it, so they’ll stay scared of women just a little longer.
Ratings:
Art – 8, it’s so good everyone looks awful
Story – 1, there is none
Characters – 1
Yuri – 5, if you equate a (clueless) sexual act between women as lesbian
Service – 841
Overall- 2
The artist, Miyazaki Maya, is known for “ecchi” comedy and has done some stories for Ichijinsha. Speaking only for myself, I have yet to find an “ecchi comedy” that is either marginally arousing or slightly amusing, much less both. Bulging eyes and running noses really don’t do it for me.
