Rosario + Vampire

Rating T+ Genre manga Author Akihisa Ikeda Publisher Viz Media

In its simplest terms, Akihisa Ikeda’s Rosario + Vampire is a high school drama about the difficulties of young love.  Unfortunately for the characters, the supernatural nature of this particular high school makes this story far more complicated.

The setting is Yokai Academy, where the students are strictly monsters, and the lessons revolve around teaching these monsters how to maintain believable human form in a primarily human world.  Tsukune is a freshman and a true human who is forced to enter Yokai after his grades render him ineligible for enrollment anywhere else.  His acceptance is a mistake, and he doesn’t uncover the true nature of the school until he gets off the bus on the first day and is attacked by the young female vampire Moka.  During this first encounter, Tsukune and Moka develop a strong attraction to each other; Moka is easily the most beautiful and desired girl in the entire school, and Tsukune’s perfect blood proves to be enticing and addicting.  The conflicts throughout the rest of the comic are a result of this relationship.  The two fight off jealous peers and get tricked and seduced by ill-intentioned monsters as they join high school clubs, all the while learning about each other and evaluating their feelings.

The interesting thing about the story is the strong female, weak male role reversal that takes place throughout the extent of the comic.  Tsukune is a vulnerable wuss (I tried to think of a better word, but decided that there isn’t one), not only does he say nothing when Moka pounces to suck his blood every time she needs it, but he must hide his true identity from his human-hating classmates, or surely face a brutal death.  He is easily entranced by seductive female monsters, and therefore is constantly putting himself in compromising positions.  There are various times when he must rip the cross off of Moka’s necklace so that she will turn into her dominant alter ego, the deadliest of all monsters, and save him.  It is these sequences that prove to be the most entertaining, as werewolves, mermaids, and sorceresses have no chance against the raw power of the vampire.  These scenes are also some of the best drawn by Ikeda.  The wispy lines of the monsters contrasted with the dark, vivid detailing of Moka do an excellent job of showcasing her supremacy.  Though throughout the rest of the manga, while there are many intricately drawn sequences, there are a few segments drawn so simplistically that I wondered if she just got lazy.

Rosario + Vampire is certainly a shonen manga, due to the “boy meets hot girl” storyline that sets the stage for the story.  The love story avoids being too melodramatic because of the laughs that come primarily from hormonal high school “monsters” drooling over girls in micro minis and bikinis.  There is even a female monster who seduces boys by sticking their faces in her cleavage, which make it inappropriate for younger readers, hence the T+ rating.  

For her first manga, Ikeda provided a great idea and an easy to follow storyline.  The combination of the well known and relatable woes of high school with the unknown fantasy monster world allows the reader access to a new world while still conveying the common teenage values of friendship and loyalty.  And while the stories may get repetitive, the monsters do not.  Now knowing which student alter-ego will surface next makes turning the page a worthwhile treat.