Still, the EduManga comics remain amusing. As with Statistics, the creators derive some small character comedy from the heroine's observations about their instructor's boyish geekiness. "He has so many toys," Megumi notes after Ryota pulls out a slingshot to demonstrate the principle of potential energy. At least in this book, the schoolgirl's kiddish tutor is the same age as her.
Takatsu's art is well-suited to the story segments. Solidly cartoonish, with plenty of broadly and physically expressed emotions, it comically fits the book's considerations of energy, momentum and impact. To add to Ryota's explanations, the manga regularly features a muscular figure with a head that changes to match whatever object in motion they're supposed to be symbolizing. When Ryota describes a 500 and 100 yen coin ricocheting off each other, for instance, the panels feature two spandexed figures chest bumping. At times, reading these cartoony demonstrations, I found myself thinking of the old Ludwig Von Drake educational 'toons that used to run on Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. Stellar company to keep.
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