Thanks to barnesandnoble.com for the above cover image.

Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”

After he failed to gain admission to any high school, all-around average student, 15-year-old Tsukune Aono, ends up at Yokai Academy.  Yokai Academy should be named “Monster High,” because every single student is a monster, which Tsukune learns after he arrives.  He thinks that he’s finally gotten a lucky break when meets the spunky and beautiful Moka Akashiya.  While she maybe the cutest girl in school, Moka is also a vampire, and she loves to sink her teeth into Tsukune’s neck once in awhile and sip his delicious blood.

Rosario+Vampire, Vol. 3 opens with a familiar scenario.  Tsukune is trying to hide the fact that he is human from the rest of Yokai because monsters kill humans on sight, especially humans who discover the existence of Yokai.  Now, Kuyo, leader of the Security Enforcement Committee, has gotten a hot tip that Tsukune is human.  Not only does that mean death for Tsukune, but his friends and allies – Moka and the rest of the newspaper club – may also have to die for harboring him.  Also, an old enemy returns, and new troubles (including a muscle head troll), arise.

THE LOWDOWN:  Like Pretty Face and Strawberry 100%, Rosario+Vampire is a raunchy high school romp with lots of cleavage and crotch shots – tailor made for junior high and high school males who want some shounen manga (boys’ comics) T&A.  Rosario+Vampire (“rosario” means rosary), however, has the quirky sense of humor and screwy, pulpy, inventiveness of old Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoons.  This is a monster-of-the-week or, in this case, -chapter; it’s Scooby-Doo meets Urusei Yatsura.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  The usual readership of “Shonen Jump Advanced” titles.

B+