Rockin' Heaven, Vol. 08

ロッキン★ヘブン [Rockin' Heaven] #8

by Mayu Sakai

Sawa applies to Heaven’s Wing Academy, thinking she would look cute in the uniform. But she never expected the academy to be a previously all-boys’ school! And the head honcho of the school, the class president himself—Ran—doesn’t seem to like her one bit and takes no pains to hide it. At first, adjusting to life at the academy is tough. Sawa is bullied and teased, and the boys in the class even throw her new shoes in the water. While attempting to retrieve her shoes, she falls into the water and is unexpectedly saved by Ran, who up until this point has made her life hell. The newfound gentleness in Ran intrigues her—and she finds herself falling for him. What will her days be like for the rest of her school life?

Genres: Manga, Romance, Shojo, High School, Comics, Graphic Novels, Japan

172 pages, Paperback

First published November 14, 2008

About the author

• Name in native language: 酒井まゆ
• Birthday: January 7
• Blood Type: A

Reviews

[Kadie D♥]

I really liked the ending! Everybody kept in touch through the years that's amazing! Ran and Sawa being together and having a very cute child X) <3! (Ran being a teacher Kyaah...!)
I like the ending quite much, also the extra story about the cute sister of sawa and their cool stylisting classmate ^^) c:

I sure liked the series!

[Bibliothecat]

Review for complete series

I believe Rockin' Heaven is the series where Sakai makes a big leap in her manga career and matures a lot in terms of writing and art. The first volume still shows several traces of her older style and somewhat disproportionate face, especially for male faces, but it solidifies so much over the course of the series and by the 8th and final volume shows a very confident and nice art style which has lasted through to her most recent works.

Also the plot is much stronger than her previous works - on the surface, this seems a very basic shoujo manga filled with clichés and a shallow lead character. And perhaps that impression isn't entirely wrong, but Sakai handles it really well. Our main character Sawa is about to attend her new school which she purely chose for the sake school uniform. It's only after she enrols that she realises that this was a formerly all boys school now open for the first time to girls as well and she is only one of two girls in her new class which also happens to be a rather infamous one for slack rowdies. On the surface, the second girl Akira's only purpose is only to play second fiddle to Sawa who takes centre stage in this boy-filled class room stage and of course the ring leader Ran is the most handsome and also happens to be the director's son - clichés are unavoidable, especially in the first volume. But I believe that Sakai has smoothly carried these characters through this eight volume series with some surprisingly mature themes all the while avoiding some of the common downsides of these tropes.

First and foremost, I was glad to see that neither does Akira purely play a secondary figure, nor do all the boys gather around Sawa. Of course, there will be certain jealousies and dramas, but that's to be expected in a scenario where there are only two girls in a class that otherwise only consists of boys. But I appreciate that there was a good focus on friendships among the classmates both amongst each other but also between Sawa and Akira and between them and the other classmates. There were a plenty of moments where it seemed a potential romantic rival could have been introduced, but I felt that this was kept to a relatively low level when I compare it to other works of this genre.

There was a healthy and realistic focus on how Ran and Sawa's relationship developed. I was surprised by some of the decisions they made along the way but in a positive way. Were they the best decisions? Perhaps not, but I could relate to where the characters were coming from. It also dealt with heavier subjects such as loss of family members, attempted suicide and pressure from parental expectations.

I enjoyed Sawa as a character and, although she sometimes seemed a little too selfless, I thought it was well explained in the later half of the series and how it ties in to her own family background and how even in her selfless way she develops selfish thoughts and feelings. It is by no means the deepest manga series out there, but I do believe it has some thoughtful scenes and is all in all one of the superior series of its kind. You definitely can't go wrong with it if - like me - you simply enjoy shoujo high school romances, clichés and all.

[Yoyomaus Die Büchereule]

Sawa kann und möchte die angespannte Situation zwischen Ran und seinem Vater nicht akzeptieren und sucht diesen nach Schulschluss auf, um ihn zur Rede zu stellen, warum er so kalt zu seinem Sohn ist und ihm Vorwürfe wegen dem Tod seiner Frau macht. Doch als es endlich zu dem Gespräch kommt, stellt Sawa schnell fest, dass die beiden sich nur missverstanden haben. In diesem Moment taucht auch Ran auf und die Sache kann geklärt werden. Nun steht nur noch eine Frage offen im Raum. Ran möchte um Sawa kämpfen, doch ist sie bereit sich noch einmal auf ihn einzulassen? Und dann stehen auch noch die Abschlussprüfungen an. Die Wege der Freunde werden sich teilen...

Mit diesem abschließenden Band hat Mayu Sakai noch einmal ganz tief in die Gefühlskiste gegriffen und macht den Leser noch einmal mit einer Menge Drama das Herz schwer. Die Zeichnungen sind wieder sehr gut gelungen und projizieren die Gefühle der Charaktere ganz phänomenal. Auch der Abschluss der Geschichte ist ganz herzig, auch wenn ich mir gewünscht hätte, dass man abschließend sieht, was aus jedem Einzelnen geworden ist. Trotzdem hat mir Reihe im gesamten sehr gut gefallen und ich kann sie wirklich nur weiter empfehlen! Wunderbar!

ISBN:9783867196475
Sprache:Deutsch
Ausgabe:Taschenbuch
Verlag:Tokyopop
Erscheinungsdatum:18.06.2009

[inas]

This is so wholesoooome 🥺💖 Ikut lega sama semua penyelesaian masalah di sini 🫂❤️‍🩹💕

Also interpretasiku bener lagiiii, wkwkwk. It might not be huge for other readers, dan nggak ditulis gamblang juga but Junichi is canonically bisexual 🥺❤️💜💙 Bisa diterjemahkan sama MnC di tahun 2012-2013 itu udah kemajuan bangeeet. We used to be a proper country 🫠 Imagine what we could've gotten kalo gak banyak censorship 🥲🫂

Anyway, aku memulai series ini dengan ekspektasi biasa aja, dan sukses dibikin attached selama dua hari belakangan ini. We need to read more shoujo manga like this and feel the warmth through each of the pages 🥺💕

[Ris Sasaki]

This is PERFECTION.
How is it possible that after 10 years I still feel so many things when it comes to this story and its characters?
All the scenes that this volume contains are so deeply established and embroidered in my heart that it is almost impossible to describe what reading those pages and those words feels like to me.
Definitely the best re-read 💖
Rockin' Heaven forever

[Em Cordeiro]

It has been my favourite manga since I was thirteen or so, I still reread it sometimes and it’s just as nice and warm as the first time! I think everyone with a soft spot for romance and comedy should read it! It’s always magic!

[Veronica Pappolla]

Finalmente! Un epilogo breve ma intenso. Sono contenta di essere arrivata alla fine del volume e come al solito Mayu Sakai si riconferma mitica con le storie extra!

[Inky Tales Trails]

Read this in my teen and really enjoy the series, its simple and fast paced, the intrigue and romance are very cute. Also it is a clean story but its is raw and real.

[Ahlam Mohamed]

The ending was super cutee

I really like how everyone reconciled and ended up staying together in the future.
Esp, Ran becoming a teacher like it was a full circle moment almost

[Younny]

masih oke lah meskipun ada beberapa scene yg cringe

[Katie (Katie's Corner Blog)]

see full review @ Katie's Corner

Mini manga review is again with you as today is second Saturday. And I have a sweet romance story for you. Okay it’s not all that sweet, but it’s a romantic comedy.

To say the truth, just now as I’m writing this review I came upon one terrific thought. Even though I enjoy a lot of mangas with fights and that kind of stuff majority, okay, 99.9% of mangas I cover either in full or mini section are romance. Something is totally wrong with my brain.

But let’s forget about that now! Why should you read this story? It’s fun and it’s interesting. It may be your average, but the feelings that it brings out are real! You may perceive Sawa as an idiot. Okay, she is an idiot. Who in their right mind chooses the school based on the uniform? Only idiots, but nevertheless she is a cute idiot.

Are you ready for fun, romance and some action? Did you have a sucky day? Then this is your manga. Enjoy it to its fullest and don’t forget to share your thoughts below! Stay tuned for more! Happy reading!

XOXO

Katie

[August A.P.]

Well, akhirnya terkatakan (dijelaskan) juga bahwa Ran memiliki sikap egois dan self-center seperti itu di awal-awal buku pada akhir-akhir volume. Yah, cukup menjelaskan sih. So cute he is.
Dan aku merasa kalau Sawa cukup berbeda karakternya dari awal buku ke ketika konflik mulai memuncak; tapi sekali lagi, setelah dijelaskan, itu menjadi wajar. Ada alasan dibalik sikapnya itu.
Well, you'll know if you read this manga.
Oh! Oh! And I really like couple of Sawa's parents, how sweet and cute Mama's Sawa and Papa's Sawa!

[Julie J.]

Hier ist er nun - der letzte Band von "Rockin' Heaven"
Und natürlich erfüllt dieser Band alle Hoffnungen und Erwartungen.
Schlag auf Schlag klärt ich alles auf, gibt es Momente zum Lachen und zum Weinen.
Ein wunderschöner Abschluss, den man einfach lesen muss.
Mehr gibt es dazu nicht mehr zu sagen ;)

[Hannah]

Series Review: Rockin' Heaven is a cute and short manga that was fun to pass the time with. The characters were good though I sometimes questioned their reactions to certain events. The plot wasn't that in depth but still enjoyable.

[Felisha Faradila]

hei

[Jenny (LobsterGal)]

Stop too many feels!

[Bella]

interesting

[Jasmine]

please make a drama or an anime for this!

[Whiskersxxx]

loved it!! absolutely loved it!!!!!!!

[Insyirah Qalbi]

this comic amazing

[◼Zaky◼]

An enjoyable series!