Category: Harem

Summary:

Season 1: By a bizzare coincidence, Tsukune Aono has accidentally gotten himself admitted to a youkai acadamy, a school attended by monsters (youkai). Just when he thinks he’ll run away from there, he meets the beautiful girl Moka and his mood turns ultra happy. However, she transforms into her true form when the rosary on her chest is taken off, she’s a super vampire!

Author: Ikeda Akihisa

Now to talk about what I consider to be one of the best cases of the manga being superior to the anime, Rosario + Vampire.

Story – 10/10
15 year old Tsukune Aono enrolls at the Youkai Academy, due to the fact that no other high school will accept him, and while walking from the bus to the school, a girl named Moka Akashiya crashes into him – who reveals herself to be a vampire by sucking Tsukune’s blood. After arriving at the school, he quickly realizes that the school is actually a school for monsters. And it turns out that Moka is in his class.

The story in the manga isn’t exactly ground breaking on it’s own, but it’s actually like it’s completely different from the anime – mainly because it feels like they take more time to flesh out the characters, as opposed to the anime, which felt like it was basically trying to rush to introduce all of the characters from the first season (I cannot comment on the second season, since I have not seen it, and to my understanding, the second season of the anime is not adapted from the manga). True, they do establish that this is a harem by introducing Kurumu in the second chapter, but after that, whenever a character is introduced, it feels like said character is actually being introduced to the story, instead of being forced into the story. Also, the fight scenes actually feel like fight scenes – they don’t have a lot of fanservice, so it’s easier to take them seriously. Also, the manga has a lot more content than the anime – however, I’m not going to list out all the things that the manga has that the anime doesn’t, since that would be spoiling the manga, and it would also take me a long time to do so.

Art – 9/10
The anime has ONE advantage over the manga in this area: it’s colored. Other than that, I would actually say that the art in the anime was a downgrade from the art in the manga (although I think that the studio responsible for making the anime adaptation is to blame for that).

Character – 10/10
While the personalities of the characters in the manga are similar to their anime counterparts, as mentioned previously, they have more time to develop, and as a result, they feel more fleshed out. Also, because there’s more content in the manga, we actually get to see aspects of the characters that the anime doesn’t show. For example, Mizore and Kurumu’s parents are actually introduced – and it’s apparent that the traits of those 2 are passed down.

Enjoyment: 10/10
This has easily earned itself a spot on my top 5 favorite manga, and I’m definitely going to read the second season. Stay tuned for when I eventually tackle the second season of the manga.

Season 2: Youkai Academy has reopened since the damages done to the school during the riot (Season 1). Aono Tsukune now returns to school, but unlike the last time he first walked into the academy, he now has the blood of a vampire flowing within him. Dealing with girls and school life has never been tougher, but now Tsukune must control his new inner vampire as he encounters many new types of enemies.

I love that Rosario+Vampire gets progressively darker as the series goes on. While the first couple of books were just a generic harem comedy (but with monsters!!! omg), by the end of season I it was clear there was far more potential here than probably even the author initially thought.

Story: 7/10
Season II opens with the usual R+V harem hijinks, then gradually introduces some fun and interesting new characters. Not long into the story, the new main villain(s) begins to move into the picture. Akihisa Ikeda is continually experimenting with all different subject matter this time around; everything from class struggles to abandoned children. None of these are discussed to any great extent, but they’re still there, and it’s better to not go all the way than go too far and seem like you’re talking down to your audience. The story was never really the selling point of Rosario+Vampire, anyway, so it does its job more than well enough.

Art: 8/10
I’ve always been a fan of Ikeda’s art style, with his excellent balance of detailed linework, inspired monster designs, and of course, cute girls. The characters are instantly recognizable, and you would remember them if he decided to cut them out of the story and bring them back years later. His one fatal flaw is the under-drawings: the base models that just get drawn over with hair, clothes, etc. If an artist skimps out on these, then the final product, no matter how well-rendered, will always appear slightly off to a wary eye. When he gets it right, however, everything clicks are the results are fantastic. At the time of this writing, 35 chapters have been released, and some of the battles thus far have been mind-blowing. Not Berserk-level mind-blowing, mind you, but still pretty darn impressive.

Characters: 7/10
As stated before, the artist certainly knows how to design visually appealing characters. Whether they can match that appeal with their level of depth is another matter. Tsukune continues to be an incessantly nice guy, which is nice, but not particularly interesting. Outer Moka is thankfully being given more personality, and slowly becoming a character that actually deserves to be the lead heroine. A common criticism of the series is Inner Moka is often eschewed in favor of Outer Moka, though this finally seems to be balancing out as the vampire culture is explored. Kurumu and Yukari roughly keep their same level of importance as they have in the past, and fans of Mizore might be a bit disappointed, as she is pushed to the background again, save for one major arc solely dedicated to her. Just like the first season, those given the most thought are the villains and the characters that are only present for one arc and then are never mentioned again. Though to be fair, this is often the case with every piece of writing, and not just Rosario+Vampire.

Enjoyment: 9
With a series like this, enjoyment is what it really comes down to, and R+V does not disappoint. This is one of the most consistently entertaining manga out right now, and the month-long wait between chapters can be quite painful at times. The fight scenes are well-thought out, and hot girls fighting monsters is always cool. Ikeda also seems to have taken some pointers from the anime, because the fanservice is also better (they even have nipples every once in a while \o/ ). It’s rarely distracting, though; unlike the anime, he knows better than to throw in a pantyshot at the scene’s most dramatic point. Did I mention how wonderful it is there are even legitimately dramatic parts in the first place? Because that’s a good thing. Certainly one that makes it more enjoyable.

Overall: 8
Despite its shortcomings, R+V Season II is still an incredibly fun manga, and a large improvement over Season I. Everything is better; the story, the art, the characters, the fanservice. It’s a stretch to call it great, but it’s definitely very good.