My Heavenly Hockey Club Vol. #04

By Matthew Alexander     June 16, 2008
Release Date: March 31, 2008



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Ai Morinaga
Translated by:Athena and Aletha Nibley
Adapted by:Athena and Aletha Nibley

What They Say
Hana doesn't really care that she's flunking out of school, but her friends in the hockey club do. If Hana can't improve her grades, she'll be barred from playing on the team. Luckily, the cute boys of the Grand Hockey Club will do anything to help a teammate in distress!

The Review
Oh Hana, you are so lazy, quite flat-chested, and your grades are bad. Nonetheless, all your antisocial quirks make for a funny read.

Hana studied really hard to get into her current school, all so she could sleep in as late as possible before walking the couple blocks to campus. However, now that she's in, she has completely neglected her studies. At the risk of being held back a year and being banned from the hockey club, the guys are going to push her to her mental limits to ensure she passes the upcoming exams. Of course, Hana would like nothing better than to quit the hockey club, but Izumi won't hear of it. All night study sessions and physical abuse for incorrectly answering questions awaits Hana. Can this lazy girl survive the torment?

The twins have fallen in love with twin girls from another school. Neither of them have any experience with women, so they turn to Hana for help. After insulting her less than feminine characteristics, of course. To help the twins, Hana must infiltrate an all girl's school and spy on the twin girls in an attempt to learn the type of guys they like. In the end, she convinces one twin he needs to act like an otaku and the other like a minstrel. Will the girls really like an obsessed otaku twin and a poetry spouting twin? Or will this only end in embarrassing hilarity?

There is no denying that this is a really funny manga, and a nice change of pace from the copious amounts of ecchi I read. However, I don't feel there has been any real (or at least very little) character growth over these four volumes. Although, Hana did show the smallest amount of growth when she agreed to help some of the guys from her club get girlfriends. At least there wasn't an immediate payoff for her services. However, I think Izumi has a lot of room for personal growth, and I would like to see him given more opportunities to become a better person.