I picked up the first volume just because it was new at the bookstore, and now we're into Vol. 2. It's not a great series, but not a bad one, either.
Think Ouran High School Host Club, dipping an occasional toe into Bakuman territory.
Our heroine is the published and serialized manga artist Kanna Tezuka, who joins a new manga class at her school in order to improve her quality of work. (One of the big things in this story is that her bizarre Buddhist statuary-inspired romantic comedy manga always has one foot out the door of cancellation.)
Kanna is a standard professional, "only sane man" type of heroine, a la Haruhi Fujioka and such like. This provides nearly all of the story's comedy, as she is constantly faced with the ridiculous actions of the three boys in her class (who are also the only other students). None of them have ever even written a manga before, yet they continue to make wild, totally unrealistic claims of reaching the top in Jump.
It doesn't hurt that all three of them are marginally average-looking boys, but Kanna is not interested in a 3D romance.
The story is very slow to move anywhere and there's no real drama a la her previous works (I Am Here and Missions of Love), but the comedy works a little bit to make up for it. It's a gag manga, pure and simple. Some of the references are a little on the esoteric side (such as all the main characters being named after or having names similar to favorite manga artists of yesteryear), but that only adds to its niche appeal.
I can only hope that there is more serious talk about manga creation moving on, as it would really help sell things as being a bit more realistic, working to create a nice contrast between the out-and-out silliness that we see on nearly every page.
Long story short-looking for manga-themed comedy and brainless beauty boys, look here. Want an actual story that moves ahead, try one of Toyama's other works. This is good for killing 30 minutes or so, but I for one can't really see myself buying it at this point.
