Comics / Manga

Rosario+Vampire: Volume 8

By Leroy Douresseaux
August 19, 2009 - 14:31

Rosario + Vampire Volume 8 cover image is courtesy of barnesandnoble.com.

Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”

Not only was 15-year-old Tsukune Aono an average student, he also failed to gain admission into any high school.  He ended up at “Monster High,” Yokai Academy, where every single student is a monster – a fact Tsukune learns only after he arrives.  He makes a friend in Moka Akashiya, a teen vampire who loves to sink her teeth into Tsukune’s neck every now and then.  Now, Tsukune’s troubles with grades pale in comparison to being caught in the middle of student turf wars between vampires and werewolves.

Not only was Moka drinking Tsukune’s blood, she also infused him with some of her own vampire blood whenever he was injured in a physical altercation with a fellow (monster) student or needed to be stronger to fight a monster.  The result was that Tsukune eventually became a flesh-craving ghoul.  The school’s headmaster restored Tsukune’s humanity, but at a cost.

As Rosario+Vampire, Vol. 8 (entitled Shikigami) opens, Tsukune begins to pay his debt/extortion by infiltrating the School Festival Committee.  He must learn the identity of the conspirators working to ruin the festival.  Hokuto Kaneshiro, President of the Student Council, hopes to use the festival as the instrument of returning peace to Yokai Academy, which is beset by feuds and even pitch battles between students.  Tsukune buys into Hokuto’s noble goal, but is he really getting the whole story?

THE LOWDOWN:  This is a “Shonen Jump Advanced” title, but Rosario+Vampire has a gothic, shojo manga (comics for teen girls) feel; the series gives its readers both a fight comic and a teen romance.  For all the diversity of its cast of fantastic creatures and characters, Rosario+Vampire succeeds by delivering conflict, intrigue, and backstabbing.  Creator Akihisa Ikeda knows that it doesn’t matter what kind of student body a series might have, but it does matter that sometimes he has to let those bodies hit the floor.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Readers who want graphic narratives that offer as much blood and guts as it does T&A will like Rosario+Vampire.

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Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12