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Looks Are All You Need #2
Looks Are All You Need, Vol. 2
Let my sister's genius be known! The next challenge is hip-hop?! The Ikebukuro siblings make a formidable team, but will they be able to win a dance battle? To overcome Shiika's awful dance skills, they seek help from Tatsuki Ootsuka, one of their most talented classmates.
200 pages, Paperback
Published January 30, 2024
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6 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 1, 2025
It's best to preface this writing by stating the fact that I'm not someone who's knowledgeable on hip-hop in Japanese culture which was the main topic of this book. I have to say I wasn't a particular fan of how the subculture was portrayed. It talked a lot about separating the culture of clubs and Japanese hip-hop from the "seedy image" associated with them to make sure the culture lives on and adapt to the times.
The characters argue that the Japanese hip-hop and club scene is getting smaller and smaller every year. While I don't know much about it, that just doesn't feel true. Of course this is a piece of fiction and it's not necessarily saying the issues presented in the story is something that's happening to the Japanese hip-hop scene in real life but that just makes the conflict and main motivation of the main heroine(Tatsuki Ootsuka) of this volume which is to change the Japanese hip-hop scene feel a bit nonsensical.
I suppose it is an admirable goal to want to build a safe place to hang out that's free from drugs. It was a brief mention but a part of her efforts to "fix" the image of hip-hop was doing collaboration events with the metropolitan police really bothered me especially alongside another sentence that was a few paragraph below that about kids wanting to fight the establishment "to protect what they think is cool" that was said in a negative tone.
A lot to be said about that line but the line that bothered me the most was "But people are now in comfortable positions and don't need to do bad stuff to get by". It was saying how people don't need to do bad stuff anymore to express themselves. With or without context this line is so not true and just sound so dumb. For the last time I want to say I don't know much about Japanese hip-hop and club culture but surely people currently and perhaps for a long time coming will always need a form of counter-culture as a way to express themselves.
In terms of plot besides that whole part I liked it even though the solution for the issue they were faced with felt a bit contrived. The main character constantly going about how he's a lazy shut-in but he's also a hyperfit self-trained martial artist who constantly worked out in his house felt quite contradictory but it didn't bother me too much.
I like the concept of a guy surrounded by a bunch of variously talented girls in a kinda wish fulfillment way. Not even as a harem concept but even just as a spectator to the journey of those girls around him that are way more talented than he'll ever be. I also love these manga/light novels about special talent schools that would never exist in real life and the conflicts that stem from the special school system the author came up with. I also really like the cover of the second volume. It's what got me into the series in the first place.
Some of the reasons why I like this series is probably a bit shallow but at the end of the day I do like it would have liked to read more. Genuinely feel sad that this series was cancelled just after 2 volumes. It wasn't the best book I've read but it's far from the worst light novel I've read.
The characters argue that the Japanese hip-hop and club scene is getting smaller and smaller every year. While I don't know much about it, that just doesn't feel true. Of course this is a piece of fiction and it's not necessarily saying the issues presented in the story is something that's happening to the Japanese hip-hop scene in real life but that just makes the conflict and main motivation of the main heroine(Tatsuki Ootsuka) of this volume which is to change the Japanese hip-hop scene feel a bit nonsensical.
I suppose it is an admirable goal to want to build a safe place to hang out that's free from drugs. It was a brief mention but a part of her efforts to "fix" the image of hip-hop was doing collaboration events with the metropolitan police really bothered me especially alongside another sentence that was a few paragraph below that about kids wanting to fight the establishment "to protect what they think is cool" that was said in a negative tone.
A lot to be said about that line but the line that bothered me the most was "But people are now in comfortable positions and don't need to do bad stuff to get by". It was saying how people don't need to do bad stuff anymore to express themselves. With or without context this line is so not true and just sound so dumb. For the last time I want to say I don't know much about Japanese hip-hop and club culture but surely people currently and perhaps for a long time coming will always need a form of counter-culture as a way to express themselves.
In terms of plot besides that whole part I liked it even though the solution for the issue they were faced with felt a bit contrived. The main character constantly going about how he's a lazy shut-in but he's also a hyperfit self-trained martial artist who constantly worked out in his house felt quite contradictory but it didn't bother me too much.
I like the concept of a guy surrounded by a bunch of variously talented girls in a kinda wish fulfillment way. Not even as a harem concept but even just as a spectator to the journey of those girls around him that are way more talented than he'll ever be. I also love these manga/light novels about special talent schools that would never exist in real life and the conflicts that stem from the special school system the author came up with. I also really like the cover of the second volume. It's what got me into the series in the first place.
Some of the reasons why I like this series is probably a bit shallow but at the end of the day I do like it would have liked to read more. Genuinely feel sad that this series was cancelled just after 2 volumes. It wasn't the best book I've read but it's far from the worst light novel I've read.
Displaying 1 of 1 review