365 Days of Manga, Day 163: Rosario + Vampire

ROSARIO + VAMPIRE (Rosario to Vampire, “Rosario and Vampire”) (ロザリオとバンパイア) • Akihisa Ikeda • VIZ (2007-2010) • Shueisha (Monthly Shônen Jump/Weekly Shônen Jump, 2004-2007) • 10 volumes • 16+ (infrequent mild language, violence, sexual situations)
Tsukune Aono, a 15-year-old boy, has grades so bad he can only get into one high school: “Yokai (Monster) Academy,” a spooky school for monsters, where humans are forbidden on pain of death. Luckily, the first monster Tsukune meets is Moka, a sweet vampire girl who agrees to keep Tsukune’s humanity a secret, and takes a fancy to sucking his blood (”"Y-you were my first…the first person I really sucked blood from! And a girl never forgets her first time!”) The pair makes friends with an assortment of mostly female monsters (a panty-flashing succubus, an 11 year-old witch) who vie for Tsukune’s bland affections, but the romantic comedy elements are ultimately secondary to fight scenes, as every chapter introduces a new schoolyard bully (lizard men, medusas, spider women, etc.) who can only be defeated when Moka removes her magical “Rosario” (a sort of cross pendant) and transforms from a cheerful airhead to a butt-kicking full-powered, vampiress. (Later, Tsukune develops his own supernatural powers and joins the battles.) However, beneath the pretty-girl art on the covers, both the fight scenes and the T&A feel derivate and perfunctory. By trying to be simultaneously scary, naughty and exciting, the manga fails at all three, and the pandering art borrows designs from both romantic-comedy and action manga resulting in an awkward mix of clashing styles. Around volume 4 the various characters team up for a longer action plotline about human-monster prejudice (”Don’t toy with me! Humans, monsters, and witches could never get along!”), a predictable story but arguably an improvement on the repetitive early chapters. A sequel, Rosario + Vampire Capu2 (translated under the title “Rosario + Vampire Season 2″), began in 2007 in the magazine Jump Square.

We don’t have today’s winner yet due to a technical error with the forms (they’re still working for signups, though). However, in the meantime, feel free to check out this review of Zatch Bell by Erik Hollender, one of the winners from a few days ago.