Manga Review: Shishunki Renaissance! David-kun

Shishunki Renaissance! David-kun

MANGA Plus

Mangaka: Yuushin Kuroki

Ah, the days of youth. Weekdays filled with school, seasonal holidays with friends, and of course… romance! The teenage years of adolescence are typically known represented as a time of making memories and shaping oneself through important life experiences. Because of this, it’s no surprise that the shounen and YA genres are incredibly popular. The time between childhood and adulthood is a prime setting for creating both enjoyable and dramatic moments, and characters growing and changing over the course of the story is expected as your cast is typically growing up as the story progresses.

Stories, particularly slice-of-life, about coming-of-age are all too common both in Japan and America. So for these types of tales to succeed, you’d need either an incredible story or unique characters to stand out amongst the horde of youth stories. Enter David, a perfectly normal high school freshman who just so happens to also be the masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created by Michelangelo. David, like any other high school student, wishes to enjoy his high school years to the fullest attending Louvre High School with his best friend Manneken Pis as well as win the love of his crush Venus.

And that is Shishunki Renaissance! David-kun (Teenage Renaissance! David) in a nutshell. The story isn’t anything special; just a simple slice-of-life school story filled with friendship and romantic pining. But what sets Shishunki Renaissance! apart from your typical school manga is the colorful cast of characters all themed after classic and renowned art. Along with David, there’s Mona Lisa as a shy character who makes the famous “Mona Lisa” smile whenever she’s embarrassed, David’s eternal rival Goliath (get it?), and David’s homeroom teacher Mr. Bocca della Verità to name a few. Not only do you have the artwork references in characters, but throughout the series, a number of sight gags are based on famous paintings or sculptures.

Shishunki Renaissance! started serialization back in September of 2018, and while it only had a brief 35-chapter run before ending it was one of the ongoing manga series I most looked forward to each week. The visual gags were ridiculous enough on their own to get laughs out of me, but the wacky-yet-lovable cast was what kept me sticking around. Each character was more than just their reference; whether it was the Jotaro-esque Manneken Pis who always had sage advice for his buddy David, the food-obsessed Venus who has specific foods she binges based on the days of the week, or the freedom-loving English teacher Miss Marianne (who’s based on the Statue of Liberty), each character brought more to the series than just a simple gag. They were each fun and likable individuals that over the course of the series you couldn’t help but find yourself becoming invested in.

Beyond David’s story of earning the love of Venus, the other side characters have plots of their own that keep the story interesting; Mona has a romantic subplot throughout the series that at times I found myself more invested in than David’s and Manneken Pis has his own backstory that shows just how important his bond with David is.

No matter the focus of the plot in each chapter, I found myself laughing out loud reading weekly. From David literally killing the devil and angel on his shoulders to David’s father Michelangelo teaching him to play shogi through imagining the pieces as waifus, the humor throughout the series does a great job of endearing the reader to the characters while also providing plenty of entertainment along the way.

Simply put, if you’re someone who enjoys school/shounen stories with some comedy thrown in for good measure, this is another solid addition to the genre. Even though the story was cut short earlier than I would have liked, there’s still a solid conclusion to the story that will leave you satisfied if not saddened that we won’t get more. Shishunki Renaissance! David-kun was one of my favorite new series from last year, and I wish more people would check it out.