Thanks to barnesandnoble.com for the image.

ST. LUNATIC HIGH SCHOOL, VOL. 1 (OF 2)

TOKYOPOP
CARTOONIST: Majiko!
TRANSLATION: Alethea & Athena Nibley
ISBN: 978-1-59816-944-7; paperback; Horror/Comedy; Rated “T” for “Teen-Age 13+”
184 pp., B&W, $9.99

There’s something strange about the high school named St. Lunatic, and the new student is about to find out in the horror/comedy, St. Lunatic High School, Vol. 1 by manga-ka (creator) Majiko!

Niko Kanzaki and her brother, Atchan, are constantly in dire financial straits.  Atchan can’t keep a job more than a few days, and Niko, a high school student, works part time to support the two of them.  When Atchan gets a teaching job at the prestigious St. Lunatic High School, it seems like a godsend, but Niko and Atchan discover that not everything is as it seems and as they were told.  By day, the classes at St. Lunatic are filled with normal humans, but when night falls, the evening classes are populated by something entirely different – demons.  When Niko ends up attending night school, she learns the school’s secrets, and has a difficult time fitting in, to say the least.  When she meets the brooding teen vampire, Ren, things start to look up.

THE LOWDOWN:  St. Lunatics High School is a manga horror comedy that stands out as different simply because it isn’t goth – at all.  It’s cutesy, and the comedy is mostly physical and built around the “fish out of water” scenario.  Also, “demons” is used in this manga as a generic term to describe any supernatural creature, including vampires, mermaids, werewolves, etc.  Visually, the narrative doesn’t move well, although the concept has some good ideas.  Truthfully, the entire time I read this, I kept thinking what a good anime series it would make.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  With its comic violence and absence of innuendo, this is the perfect manga for young readers – readers perhaps as young as nine.

C+

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