In Yu Watase’s tense, elegant Alice 19th, the heroine’s main difficulty is her inability to express her true feelings. The protagonist of Watase’s antic, charming Imadoki! doesn’t have any such problem. Tanpopo says precisely what’s on her mind, and she can’t understand people who don’t.
The manga opens with a great visual. Having barely won admission to the elite Meio Academy, Tanpopo is eager to get a look at her new school before the session starts. Since the school gates are locked, she just launches herself over the fence, crashing into golden boy Koki in the process.
The act is a nice summary Tanpopo’s outlook. She takes the direct approach to life, which causes no end of disruption at her regimented new school. Her fellow students are keenly aware of the social structures that govern their environment. Tanpopo, coming from a friendly, small-town school, doesn’t have the faintest notion of how things work at a place like Meio. When her classmates and teachers try and explain it to her, she never even considers conforming.
It quickly earns her the nickname “Weed,” which is perfect on a couple of levels. Tanpopo means dandelion; she may be a “weed,” but, like her namesake, she’s sunny, pretty, and can bloom just about anywhere. That isn’t to say the Meio environment doesn’t do its level best to stop her; even the plants at the school are plastic.
Learning that, Tanpopo takes it upon herself to start a gardening committee. She wants to bring a little life into her stiff new school, and she sees it as an opportunity to reach out to Koki, who has his own issues. Koki may be the top student at Meio, and filthy rich to boot, but he doesn’t have any friends. He’s too aware of his privileged position and too suspicious of his fellow students’ motives in trying to befriend him.
The first two volumes track Tanpopo’s efforts to launch the committee, doggedly enlisting Koki’s aid and gradually expanding her circle at the school. One of those new friends is scheming, ruthless Tsukiko, who’s exactly the kind of climber Koki expects to find. Tsukiko is so blatant about her motives, though, that it makes her almost adorable. And Tanpopo doesn’t hold the fact that Tsukiko is a witch against her. She’s too much of an optimist to think that Tsukiko is defined only by her greed.
Tanpopo takes a similarly long view of Aoi, a seriously unbalanced computer geek. Aoi thinks even less of Meio’s caste system than Tanpopo does, but he takes decidedly more destructive steps to upset the status quo. He can’t help but be charmed by Tanpopo’s enthusiasm and impressed by Koki’s integrity, though. Aoi’s still crazy, but at least he’s using his powers for good. Mostly.
It’s harder to start a gardening club than you might expect, even with Koki’s full support. But it provides for some charming plots and engaging character interaction. Surprising almost no one, Tanpopo realizes her feelings for Koki go beyond friendship. Surprising even fewer, there are complications keeping them apart. On the bright side, those complications are based in the characters’ decency and kindness. All in all, the blend of comedy and romance and the underlying will-they-won’t-they subplot make a very solid foundation for the manga.
Watase’s art is predictably lovely. I thought I’d miss the supernatural sequences that are the highlights of Alice, but her work with more mundane material is just as inventive. Imadoki! also gives Watase’s flair for visual comedy a freer reign. Exaggerated expressions and pratfalls can seem a little out of place in Alice, but they’re right at home here. And the comedy is tailored to the characters.
You probably know perfectly well whether you like shojo or not. I mean, a teen rom-com about a garden club, no matter how polished, won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. But it’s really, really charming. Tanpopo’s kindness and can-do optimism are hard to resist, much like the manga itself.