I bought ウソツキ！ゴクオーくん (Gokuoh-kun the Liar!) by 吉もと 誠 (Yoshimoto Makoto) at Yodobashi (and sent it home with sea mail) partly because its tagline in English:
“A small lie is useful in some cases.”
It seemed like a smart shounen manga, a bit like I pictured the PCP (Perfect Crime Party) manga in Bakuman.
Last night I read the first chapter, page 1-40, while looking up all words I didn’t understand or was unsure about. It took a bit more than 2 hours.
The manga began with an introduction of the characters. The main protagonist is of course Gokuoh-kun, who is described as a constantly lying elementary schooler and transfer student. The other two characters are his classmates Tenko Ono, a cute and too honest girl, and Banzaki, the school bully.
登場人物（とうじょう じんぶつ）= character (in a story)
謎（なぞ・ナゾ）= mystery
転校生（てんこうせい）= transfer student
見破る（みやぶる）= to detect
正直・な（しょうじき・な）= honest
頑張り屋（がんばりや）= hard worker
側近（そっきん）= assistant
After the introduction, the chapter starts:
第１話：ウソツキ転校生現る！
Chapter 1: The lying transfer student shows up!
現す（あらわす）= to show
現る（あらわる）= to show up
Banzaki rages through the corridors until he finds Tenko in the classroom. He starts abusing her.
It turns out someone has posted a note on the blackboard saying: “Banzaki got 0 points on the test!” The message is written on a paper from Tenko’s notebook, and it’s a unique notebook since she won it in a lottery.
こっそり = secretly
覚悟（がくご）= resolution
懸賞（けんしょう）= lottery
非売品（ひばいひん）= not for sale
Banzaki’s case is strong, and all the classmates turn against Tenko, screaming “liar, liar” at her. Tenko say’s she lost her notebook the day before, but no one believes her.
暴れる（あばれる）= to rage
下らない（くだらない）= worthless
給食（きゅうしょく）= school lunch
Then Gokuoh asks Banzaki to show him his test. He refuses, saying “I’ll never show my points to anyone!” So how could Tenko know his scores, Gokuoh asks, if he hadn’t shown them to anyone? The mystery deepens.
ぼける = be blurred/play dumb/pretend not to remember
宝物（たからもの）= treasure
まるで = like (how use?)
答案 用紙（とうあん ようし）= answer sheet
捨てる（すてる）= to throw away
Gokuoh concludes that only one person could know Banzaki’s scores is the teacher, who denies Gokuoh’s accusations.
まさか = surely
好物（こうぶつ）= favourite food or thing
まみれる = be covered (in something)
仕業（しわざ）= work (“this is your work/workings”)
ふざけん・な！= The motherfucker! Give me a break!
Then Gokuoh summons the Lord of Hell, who grabs the teacher’s tongue and throws him around. At the same time Gokuoh’s pet, the Cat Crow, flies to the teacher’s desk to get – tadaa – Tenko’s notebook!
ネコカラス = cat crow
The principal enters the classroom and asks what is going on with all the sounds. Since the Lord of Hell has made the teacher’s tongue speak the truth, he frantically tells the whole story about how he stole Tenko’s notebook and posted the paper from it on the blackboard so that Banzaki would abuse her. This was the teacher’s way at getting back at Tenko for making a fool of him in front of class, when she corrected the teacher.
担任（たんにん）= homeroom teacher
指摘 する（してき する）= to point out
評判（ひょうばん）= reputation
分際（ぶんざい）= social standing
The chapter ends with the principal dragging the teacher in his ear through the corridor.
本人（ほんにん）= (school) principal
初代（しょだい）= founder
悪漢（あっかん）= villain
(Sample scans from コロコロ.)