So I've been reading Grand Blue.
Actually, this is the second time I've tried reading it. The first time, I got to the first "NAKED GUYS LOL" part (censored with a big dot) and was like, "nah."
I've heard so much praise for it since then, though, so I decided to give it another shot and this time read further. However, I'm not really sure how much I actually like it.
Don't get me wrong, it can be very funny. The reactions of the characters are so over the top that they just make you chuckle at their stupidity.
The downside is that it's basically a manga version of something like American Pie or some other raunchy college party movie. Pretty much every chapter has the male club members drinking and striping naked. This seems to make up roughly 50% of the humor. It's a crutch that the manga leans on so heavily that it gets tiresome quickly. The female members of the club pretty much ignore these things. Oddly, even with pretty girls and lots of (male) nudity, the girls are rarely seen in anything more revealing than a swimsuit (it's almost kind of a diving manga, after all (but not really)). Well, one girl takes off her shirt a lot but her bra is no different than a swimsuit.
The other thing is that many of the characters are kind of jerks. Even the main character.
Like I said, though, it is pretty funny at times, so I've kept reading it, at least for now, and the girls are mostly interesting characters.
The manga is about a guy who moves in with his uncle in order to attend a college near the ocean. His two pretty cousins also go to the same college. He immediately gets roped into joining the diving club (that is really more like a drinking club).
