Atashi wa Bambi

Infobox animanga/Header
name = I'm Bambi


caption = Cover of the first volume
ja_name = あたしはバンビ
ja_name_trans = Atashi wa Banbi
genre = RomanceInfobox animanga/Manga
title =
author = Yoko Maki
publisher = flagicon|Japan Shueisha
demographic = Shōjo
magazine = flagicon|Japan Ribon
first = April 2001
last = February 2002
volumes = 3 [Ann manga|id=6017. Accessed 2007-02-20.]

nihongo|"Atashi wa Banbi"|あたしはバンビ|I'm Bambi is a short romance manga series by Yoko Maki. It centres around the developing friendship between Mai, Sen, and Yaezou, Mai and Yaezou's romantic pursuit of Sen, and Mai and Yaezou's rivalry-turned-friendship.

Characters

Idealistic and easily excitable, Mai intends to get a boyfriend as quickly as possible. She initially finds Sen attractive and then repulsive, but quickly decides he is the man for her. During her pursuit of his affection, she proves both emotional and persistent. She was unattractive and unpopular when she was younger, and remains very sensitive about it.

Mai's classmate and romantic interest, Sen is cool in all senses of the word. He sometimes has trouble expressing himself. Mai is not the only girl interested in him, but due to past heartbreak he is less than eager to pursue a new relationship.

Mai's main competition for Sen's affection, Yaezou is Sen's childhood friend. His biggest fear is that his feelings for Sen will destroy their friendship. While he and Mai do not get along initially, they eventually resolve their differences and, interestingly, pursue Sen together.

Minami is Sen's ex-girlfriend. While she is a vibrant and energetic girl, she was unable to stand her peers' bullying and broke up with Sen as a result. After she rescues Mai from an opportunistic old man, she, Sen, and Yaezou meet again for the first time since their break-up. She and Sen eventually get back together.

Mai's best friend, Tomo provides emotional support when Mai is feeling down. She unintentionally hurts Mai when she refers to their junior high acquaintances as "friends".

First volume

:ISBN 4-08-856312-3, published in September 2001The main character, Mai Yoshimura just started high school. Upon entering and whilst she is chatting to her friend, she gets hit in the head by a bag held by Sen Ishigan, a fellow classmate as she later finds out. Annoyed by his comments on her opening speech, she decides she hates him as she walks out of the classroom, again she gets hit on the head, this time with a soccer ball. The person who kicked it, Yaezou Azuma, who turns out to be best friends with Sen, apologizes.

At the end of the day, Tomo (Mai's best friend) suggests they meet up with junior high friends, which results in Mai denying and snapping off at her. Mai, although she seems shallow, during junior high she was very unpopular. As she used to wear glasses and was heavier as indicated by her previous classmates, whom she ran into during the streets. While she is in a daze, she is hit again on the head by a bag, again carried by Sen. As her old classmates whispering about an attractive guy knowing Mai, she suddenly clings on his arm and claims he is her boyfriend. Sen, though shocked, plays along, until they leave the area, in which he questions her, and Mai leaves.

The next day, Mai makes up with Tomo, her best friend from primary after an initial disagreement the previous day, and at the same time develops a crush on Sen. Yaezou points it out, and Mai denies it, it is then that Yaezou claims that "Sen is mine".

Mai believes him, and the next day avoids Sen and Yaezou, going as far to hide behind a tree. Despite that, she still likes Sen. Finally in class, after Sen being extremely suspicious from Mai continuing glancing at him, making her want to ask him. Outside of class, she asks Yaezou if it is really true and he confirms it, telling her she should give up.

Deciding she shouldn't make too much of a fuss, she continues school normally, until Sen passes her a juice container telling her to throw it away. Upon hearing him say so, she flees the class in anger. Later in PE, she talks to her best friend who questions her. Before she could talk much, the PE teacher rounds on her for slacking off, telling her to pick up the balls. In her anger, she kicks the container holding the balls, and ends up kicking the metal bar, and hurting her foot. Again the PE teacher rounds on her, and this time, Sen defends her. The PE teacher is angry at Sen's remark but after whispering something to him, the PE teacher was persuaded and left.

Afterwards, Sen is about to leave but notices that Mai is still sitting on the ground. Questioning her, she reveals that her leg has a slight problem (a bruise from when she kicked the container), and he wraps the bruise with his handkerchief as she did not have one. Moments later she asks if he is with anyone and he says he doesn't have a girlfriend, triggering her to ask if he has a boyfriend. Sen looks rather blankly at her, and Mai realizes that Yaezou was lying. Upon realizing, she lets go of Sen (she grabbed his collar while she was questioning him) and hobbles/runs off.

She ends up in a classroom, where she slams Yaezou's table much to his surprise and declares that she is not giving up, and mentally decides that Yaesou is her rival.

The next day while chatting to Tomo-chan, she actually blurts out that she is in love with Sen, and from then tries to hang around with Sen more. After hearing some girls ask him out, she miserably realizes that she isn't the only one that likes him. While walking outside, her papers blow away and she rushes to pick them up, and discovers Sen sitting against the wall, where he complains that he's sick of girls. A moment later, Mai asks if she can sit there and Sen agrees as long as she is quiet. Yaezou who is playing a sport, spots them and is surprised. Later in PE, with a teacher who is suddenly nice to her, to the point of annoyance, she storms off and spots girls asking Yaezou to give letters to Sen. Mai irritated, snatches the papers out of Yaezou hands and gives them back to the girls, telling them to not use Yaezou as a letter boy. Upon leaving them she turns upon Yaezou and demands why he let them order him around, which results him asking if it is him that she actually likes, which of course she denies. Annoyed by his other comments, she is about to storm off but he asks if she wants to walk home with him, letting her know that Sen also walks with him, resulting in her staying.

While they are waiting for Sen, Yaezou confesses that he is scared that if he takes one step further, he would lose his friendship with Sen. Mai attempts to cheer him up, saying that they both have to pursue Sen and not give up, in which Yaezou agrees. While this is happening Sen, amusingly, is on his way home.

The next day, after waking up with nightmares of the past, she walks outside and is promptly hit on the head by a ball, Yaezou rushes towards her, and crouches down to speak to her, asking if she remembered the promise from yesterday. Later in class, Mai asks Sen to help her with math in which he agrees, casually starting a conversation. As Sen and Yaezou walk the corridors, two girls go up and ask Sen out, in which he ignores them and walk past, telling Yaezou that they aren't his type, in which Yaezou asks about Mai but Sen did not hear him.

Later Yaezou confesses his problems to Mai, and finishes it off by telling her that she must play fair. At the end of the day, Mai walks into a classroom surprised Sen is still there, as he is waiting for Yaezou. As she leaves, she says that she finds school more enjoyable, because he is there. Sen and Mai then kiss in the classroom, much to Mai's surprise Yaezou who was waiting outside the classroom, walks away.

econd Volume

Chapter 5

Mai avoids Sen at and runs to the roof to think (her friend misunderstood, thinking that Mai was going jump). During class, Mai and Sen switch tests (Mai got a 0% as she was lost in her thoughts). Sen confronts Mai and tells her to act normal like nothing had happened and that he can't have a relationship with her right now. Yaezou finding her quiet in which she creeps him out by smiling brightly. Mai gives Sen a piece of gum but doesn't have any left for Yaezou. While Mai feeds some bird, Yaezou comes over and tells her that he'll listen to her problems. She tells him that she and Sen had kissed and it probably meant nothing to Sen. Yaezou tells her that he's been watching Sen and he's not a person without feelings. He leaves Mai later, to buy drinks. During that time, an old man sees Mai crying and tries to "comfort" her when a black haired girl in a uniform threatens to sue him. Yaezou comes back, recognizing the girl as Minami. Minami runs over and hugs Yaezou, exclaiming that she missed him.

Chapter 6

Minami introduces herself to Mai as Yaezou's close friend and asks if Yaezou and Mai are going out (Yaezou answers no before Mai could). Minami asks how Sen is doing and Yaezou answers that he's okay. Noticing the time, Minami leaves and Mai looks at Yaezou to see a bad atmosphere. Mai manages to get Yaezou to tell her what's wrong. Apparently Sen went out with Minami before. Yaezou tells her not to mind since it's in the past but Mai pushes him away saying see doesn't want to listen (ironically she was the one who forced him to tell). The next day, Sen sees Mai looking depressed and takes her out to a private area. He tells her he doesn't know how to express himself and that they (Mai and him) should understand each other more to see if they are suited for each other. Mai is surprised and starts laughing and the scene closes. Yaezou watches the happy Mai skip down the hallways and points out that things must have gone well. Mai thanks him ask why he helped her. He tells her not to mind his business. After school the three main characters walk home together and find Minami waiting at the school gate. She reaches out to pat Sen who icily tells her not to touch him. This scares Mai as she realizes she has no idea what happened before and that its a world she doesn't know about.

Chapter 7

Minami rants to Mai and Yaezou about Sen's overreaction when Yaezou tells her to stop. She realizes that Mai and Sen have a relationship and encourages Mai. Later Mai asks Yaezsou why Minami and Sen broke up. He says that its better if she doesn't know and asks why she likes Sen. Mai bursts out that she was closed off to others who always treated her like an idiot and that Sen notices things about her. Sen tells Mai not to follow him the next day and Yaezou confronts him saying that if Sen doesn't clear things up, Mai will get worried. Back in class, Sen tells Mai that he is going to clear things up with Minami and asks Mai to come. Mai tells Yaezou and the three go to Minami's school. Sen tells Minami that he can't talk like normal, demands that she doesn't come to his school anymore, and ends that he doesn't want to see her again. Minami leaves and Mai follows her, finding her on the ground, crying and crouches down as well, understanding Minami's emotions.

Chapter 8

Mai asks why Minami and Sen ended up like this and Minami replies that it was her fault because she was weak. She flashes back to middle school when she was good friends with Sen and Yaezou. Minami had confessed to Sen and he answered, "Me too." Minami is very happy and passes a note to Yaezou, telling him that she succeeded. But then, Minami gets bullied by other girls who like Sen. In one incident, her friends abandon her while she was getting hit. Sen sees her face and tries to comfort her but she yells, "Don't touch me!" Minami tells him that she's had enough and that she really doesn't like Sen. Back to the present, Mai tells Minami that she should tell Sen her feelings. So Minami shouts out to Sen that she likes him, that she's sorry, and that she's never forgotten about them. Mai realizes that Sen hates airheads like her but he listened to her problems because her past was similar to Minami's and that he considered their relationship out of pity. She tells Sen to go. Sen walks to Minami. Mai starts to cry and Yaezou says that he thinks Mai and him are very similar as they both like Sen but someone's pulling them back from expressing their feelings. Tears fall from his eyes and he holds hands with Mai.

Third Volume

Chapter 9

Mai and Yaezou both come to school but they skip their classes. They talk about their situation and Mai tells Yaezou to confess. He says he doesn't want to and tries to run away. Mai notices that he has been crying yesterday but he tells her not to associate her crush with his. Mai throws her shoe at him and tells him it's the same and that Sen wouldn't hate the two of them. Yaezou leaves a note for Sen, asking him to go to the courtyard. Yaezou and Mai both confess to Sen their feelings. Sen replies that he knows that he has always like the two too, pulling Yaezou and Mai into a hug. After school after Sen leaves to walk with Minami, Yaezou visits Mai. He comments that Mai is very strong and that its nice to have her by his side. Mai then leaves with her friend and Yaezou watches them walk away. Mai looks back to see an empty hallway.

Chapter 10

Mai is stressed out about exams and Sen tells her that Yaezou knows math but Yaezou refuses to teach Mai (he gets hit by her). Tomo notes that Mai is smiling more these days. Minami calls Yaezou to meet her (Mai thought it was because he wanted to avoid teaching her math). She asks Yaezou how Mai's doing as she feels her relationship with Sen is causing Mai pain. Yaezou tell her he likes Sen and that the best way for everyone is for Sen to be with her. He leaves the stunned Minami. Mai asks Yaezou to teach her math again and he agrees. He also tells her that Minami wants to see her. Mai says she wants to see Minami as well when a girl that had passed by Yaezou and Minami yesterday interrupts by asking Yaezou if he really likes Sen. Mai panics and shouts that she is going out with Yaezou and shakes the girl asking that if rumors get spread what is she supposed to do. Yaezou grabs Mai and they walk away. Mai apologizes for saying something weird and starts crying that this isn't fair. Yaezou says he's okay and pleads her to not cry while hugging her.

Chapter 11

Mai tells Yaezou that she doesn't want to manipulate people like dolls. Yaezou tells her that's enough and that this is his problem. He walks off and Mai tries to stop him when he jerks his arm away and tells her to shut up. In a calmer manner, he tells her that he can't relate this feeling to the other peson even with words and that Mai doesn't understand his feelings either. During class, Mai spaces out and oversharpens her pencil. Sen asks her what happened, noticing her strange behavior. Mai tells him that she had a fight with Yaezou. Sen meets up with Yaezou to eat bread. Yaezou admits that he doesn't even know what he's doing right now. Sen comments that he had always thought that he would be by Yaezou no matter what because their friends and that he won't go anywhere so Yaezou should just relax. On Mai's side, Tomo convinces her to just right a letter to Yaezou. Yaezou finds the make-up note from Mai in his shoes and writes one back saying that he's sorry and asking to be friends again. Mai thinks to herself that she is the only one who understands Yaezou. Yaezou comes to her, saying that he'll teach her math today. Mai tells him that she will definitely find someone else to like and be happy. She tells Yaezou that he has to be happy too. Yaezou smiles and kisses her. When they break apart he ponders and turns around to walk home. Mai breaks out of her trance and asks him what that was. Yaezou tells her he knows she knows. The chapter ends with them holding hands.

References

* [http://mangabucket.com/index.php/Atashi%20Wa%20Bambi Manga Archive, Atashi wa Bambi]