Please do not try the following at school.
Basic
Information
Korean title: 숨덕부!
English title: Clotaku Club!
Alternative title: Sumdeokbu
Author: Overjungwoogi (오버정우기)
Illustrator: Anmi
Genre: School Life, Comedy
Publisher: D&C Media
Publication date: February
1, 2012
Pages: 364pp
ISBN: 8-926-78117-8
In a nutshell: The inception
and refreshing story of an illegal high school club for closet otakus.
Introduction
Whether it is in the real world or works of fiction, otakus are
everywhere these days. It’s a common knowledge that being branded as one generally
brings about unjustified discrimination and severe ostracization from your family,
friends and colleagues. This is precisely why some choose to remain as closet
otakus, mixing in with the ‘normal’ people and practicing their dark, secret hobbies
in private. The story of our book revolves around such kinds, or more specifically,
our protagonist and heroine. Now then, let’s see how these two go about their lives
in the worst environment to be revealed as otakus.
Story
It’s our main character’s first year in a high school built for the future
elites of society, and so far he has been living a perfectly ordinary life of a
high school boy— studying hard and hanging out with his friends. He has kept his
hobby from being found out by following his self-made “Six Articles of a Closet
Otaku”, a set of self-governing rules a closet otaku should adhere to for a flawless
double-life. But, of course, the plot wouldn’t have any of this and let our protagonist
live a trouble-free life. Eventually,
one day…
“First
Year Class 7, Attendance No.1 Kang Injin— You’re an otaku.”
He gets exposed by our heroine Seo Yeonji, a schoolmate and fellow closet
otaku, who lured him out to a secluded place with a fake love letter. With that
event as the starting point, our main characters sets out to create an illegal
high school club for closet otakus, and boy do they run into all sorts of
trouble!
Characters
From top to bottom: protagonist, loli heroine, buxom ojou-sama, hot
nurse, domestic butler, battle maid.
The Otaku Cast
Kang Injin
No matter how you look at him, he’s your average high school student,
but on the inside he’s a closet otaku who suffered from a traumatic experience
in middle school. As a character playing the straight man, he’s quick on
criticizing and pointing out the absurdities of our heroine and other female
cast. He had the misfortune of being uncovered by our heroine, and is now a full-time
member of Clotaku Club. Out of all the cast,
he is easily the most, if not the only, earnest and kindhearted character in
this book. But make no mistake about it, our main character is as plain as
Kyon, which is pretty awesome in its own sense.
Seo Yeonji
A mini-devil with a high-performance V8 engine, she’s the heroine of this
novel. Contrary to her extremely cute
and petite outward appearance, her mind is always full of exploitative thoughts
and schemes, plotting to take advantage of other people’s weaknesses, like she
did with the protagonist.
Her personality is essentially that of a child— rambunctious, reckless,
delusional and egotistical. Thanks to that, she has a habit of thinking up ridiculous
ideas from time to time and then putting them into action. Despite her
character, she is still a maiden at heart. The main reason why she is insistent
on creating an illegal school club is so that she can spend time with the
protagonist alone. How romantic!
Eun Yelin
A beautiful, well-endowed ojou-sama with blonde hair and blue eyes,
like the ones you often see in anime. She’s the school chairman’s niece and the
granddaughter of Korea’s foremost electronics corporation’s
president. Wielding her family’s power and influence, she does her otaku activities
out in the open at school and boldly claims herself as the queen of otakus. In
the novel, her “Moe Research Club” that she has been running since middle
school clashes with our heroine’s newly created “Clotaku Club”. Although she
has a high-handed personality and regal way of speaking, there’s more to her than
meets the eye— it’s all an act, down to her hair and eye color, that she does
for a personal reason.
Yu Youngseon
A hot, glamorous school nurse...who plays eroge while on the job in the
adjacent room in the infirmary, which later becomes the operational center of
Clotaku Club. Despite her kempt and mature look, she is extremely lazy and
manipulative. Her way of playing eroge is twisted in a way that she plays eroge
as an invisible, third-party observer providing guidance to the main
character in his romantic relationship with the female cast. Since she is technically
the school nurse, her choice for the climaxing h-scenes is always to “do it
outside”. What makes her so dangerous is that she is laid-back and calm at all
times, regardless of what situation she is in. Also, she is exceptionally good at espionage
and pulling strings from the dark.
Sul Yujin
A feminine-looking butler with an unceasing smile. As you’d expect, he
excels at housework and pretty much everything else. He seems to be rather fond of our protagonist,
much to his dismay.
Sul Sukyoung
An impassive battle maid with the combat ability and strength to put a
certain robotic maid to shame. She is the polar opposite of her younger
brother. The two siblings have been serving Eun Yelin ever since they were
picked up by her father many years ago. Needless to say, they are also otakus.
Art
Behold! Amni's glorious illustrations!
Bearing a sullen expression, Yeonji sat on the bed with a thump.
You have been rendered immobile by drugs. GAME OVER.
Closet Otaku vs. Public Otaku.
Do not ever make a girl wait for you! No matter what!
And don't let a Korean girl search your PC for porn, too.
Hide yo keyboards, hide yo mouses!
Hide yo keyboards, hide yo mouses!
Oh those pure-white thighs!
Anmi is well-known for her illustration in a different Korean light novel, The Singlessness of Dark Desires. As you can see, the cuteness and the hint of ero in her art style is to die for. The first volume mainly focuses on our loli heroine Yeonji, so it caters pretty heavily to the DFC fans. No complaints here.
Conclusion
Hmm, what should I say? I didn’t expect the novel to be this
entertaining when I first picked it up solely based on its cover. I also had
doubts that its comedic element would remain intact until the end, and that it
would somewhat delve into the psychological and social aspects of being an
otaku in real-life. While my intuition wasn’t entirely off the mark, the novel
is a surprisingly pleasant mix of comedy and affectionate parody. Although it’s
rather lengthy at times, the dialogue between the characters flows naturally
and their interactions are genuinely hilarious, but some of the allusions they
make are quite obscure. And just as the author had intended, the story never takes
itself too serious and wanders into controversial matters. Honestly, I’m glad
that he didn’t, it would’ve been too early for that kind of gravity.
Overall, it’s a definite read for those who enjoy a decent, lighthearted
comedy with adorable characters.
Well, I'm sold.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be funny and not much complicated. I'm interested in the loli-clotaku (?) and the school nurse.
Also, since I've grown weak, the art seems pretty much of my tastes.
It seems extremely interesting ;)
ReplyDeleteI would certainly read this if it was translated
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling I'm the only one whose biggest incentive for buying this book was Overjungwoogi, and not Anmi's (super-fantastic-cute-fabulous-sexy) art in the cover. You gotta praise the man who dares to make a rule34 of his own book: http://www.seednovel.com/pb/view.php?didx=381236
ReplyDeleteI can't help but think the character setting are somewhat similar to the characters of bokutachi wa tomodachi ga sukunai to some extent...and I guess male MC that like to tsukkomi are popular nowadays. Let's just hope this title will later develop it's own uniqueness and appeal later into the story
ReplyDelete