Tired of sweet, innocent manga heroines in sailor suits? GALS!
is the manga for you. Meet Kotobuki Ran and her fellow kogals: the
fashion-obsessed, cell phone-loving, boy-torturing high schoolers
who once ruled the streets of Tokyo's trendy Shibuya. Ran,
rebellious daughter of a family of cops, dispenses her own unique
brand of justice among Shibuya's warring cliques. She'll happily
scam a cute guy into buying her dinner one moment, then rescue a
friend from trading her body for cash the next.

While real-life kogals were notorious for dating older men in
return for shopping money, Ran's quirky code forbids treating
yourself like merchandise. She explodes onto Fujii Mihona's pages
like a superheroine in leopard-print, giving GALS! its kinetic
energy.

This is a hilariously entertaining manga with a heart of gold that
belongs on any teen bookshelf. While GALS! addresses the unsavory
aspects of kogal culture (Fujii Mihona has sprinkled made-up public
service announcements about prostitution and knives throughout the
manga), its message is one of self-respect. Even the occasional
swearing has been translated with Ran's scrappy innocence in mind
(jack-hole is my new favorite insult).

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