Change! (Manga)

Sean O'Hara

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Change! Search for Flowers in Places Unknown to Me
By Masahito Soda
Published by Gekkan Shonen Magazine (Kodansha)
4 volumes (on going)

Shiori is a total goody-goody. She attends one of those fancy schools where rich bastards send their daughters to learn how to be proper waifus for other rich bastards, and she's even a hall-monitor, patrolling the halls between classes to make sure they aren't breaking any rules. She's never questioned her existence before, but then one day she catches a girl named Miki listening to music between classes. When she tells her to stop, Miki gets up in her face and raps, "You know how I can tell you're a bitch? They've got you in a collar and you can't even see it."

Later that day, Shiori overhears some teachers talking about a report that a student from the school has been spotted in a Shibuya nightclub. Shiori figures it has to be Miki, so that night she goes up to Shibuya to warn her. Sure enough, she finds Miki working in a hip-hop club.

But when she goes to warn Miki, Miki assumes she's there to narc on her. But just then the club's host gets up on stage and announces that due to a cancelation, there's an open slot in that evening's MC battle. With a shout of "Represent, ojou-sama!" Miki shoves Shiori onto the stage.

So begins the legendary career of MC Shiorin.

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If you've ever read Beck, this is pretty much the same, except with girls for the main characters, and hip-hop instead of rock. The series hasn't gotten any attention in the West yet -- not even a scanlation for the first chapter -- so maybe Sam could ninja it before any of the big publishers take notice.