When you hear “a manga set in a young ladies' academy,” you might picture elegant tea parties or a glamorous school life. However, “Tai-Ari deshita. Ojousama wa Kakutou Game nante Shinai” by Ejima Eri depicts a youth that is quite different from such an image. The setting is Kuromi Girls Academy, an elite school for young ladies. Mitsuki Aya, a commoner who enrolled there, feels a strong admiration for Yorue Mio, who is called “Shirayuri-sama” by those around her and stands out as a center of attention on campus. For Aya, who wishes to “acquire such a refined lady-like demeanor,” Mio is the very definition of ideal. However, that seemingly perfect image gets turned upside down in an unexpected direction in a certain classroom.

What Aya witnessed in an empty classroom was, surprisingly, Mio absorbed in playing a fighting game. The gap alone of “that Shirayuri-sama playing fighting games?” is interesting enough, but this is where the work truly comes into its own. Moreover, because games themselves are prohibited at the academy, having her hobby discovered is a huge problem for Mio. Aya is strongly urged not to reveal the secret, but Mio later figures out that Aya herself is a fighting gamer. The young lady she admired, and her own hidden hobby. Since those two suddenly become connected through fighting games, there is no way it could end up as an ordinary school life.

What is interesting is that Aya does not hit it off with Mio right away. Aya has her reasons for stepping away from gaming, and she feels resentment toward Mio, who shows no sign of understanding that and simply tries to enjoy playing against her. Even so, in the end, the place where the two face each other is in front of the match screen. Feelings that cannot be conveyed through words alone gradually become visible by controlling characters, pulling off moves, and competing for victory and defeat. In the moment of realizing “this person really loves fighting games too,” there is a unique way of closing the distance that only people with the same hobby share. The process of understanding each other as rare female fighting gamers is also a youth drama unique to this work.

What sets the individuality of this work apart is the intense combination of the setting of a young ladies' academy and the heat of fighting games. While leading a school life where grace is normally required, once a game starts, it becomes a serious battle seeking victory. It grandly betrays the preconception that “since they are young ladies, they wouldn't play fighting games” starting right from the title. If you like fighting games, there must be many parts you can relate to, such as the excitement when finding an opponent or the feeling that you can't end it while losing. On the other hand, even for readers who aren't familiar with games, it can be enjoyed as a story depicting girls facing what they love with all their might. An elegant world-view and an obsession with victory. This difference in temperature is the driving force that makes you want to keep reading the work.

Another point is that the story does not end with just Aya and Mio. Surrounding the two, seniors Ichinose Tamaki and Inui Yuu, who were actually enjoying games in secret, also join in. Since games are banned by school rules, if discovered, it won't just end peacefully, and they even carry the risk of expulsion. Even so, they cannot suppress their passion to “play matches.” As the number of friends sharing the secret increases, relationships that transcend the framework of mere gaming buddies are also born. They don't quit just because it's forbidden; they love it so much that they get absorbed in it anyway. That dangerous quality gives a unique sense of tension to their daily lives centered around fighting games.

The appeal of “Tai-Ari deshita. Ojousama wa Kakutou Game nante Shinai.” is not just its eccentric setting. Centered on Mitsuki Aya and Yorue Mio, encounters with people who can share what they love, rivalries born precisely because it's a match, and passion for gaming are depicted head-on. The world of behaving like a refined lady and the world of fighting games alternating between joy and sorrow over victory and defeat. By mixing these two seemingly opposite worlds, a youth story unlike any other is completed. It is a work that lets you feel even that fun where you don't know when to stop, where “just one more match” somehow becomes many matches. Not only experienced fighting gamers, but anyone who has ever been passionate about something will find themselves wanting to watch their hot battles to the very end.