Manga Review: Rosario+Vampire Volume 1

Vampire manga month continues, with the recent release of Rosario + Vampire by Akihisa Ikeda, a slightly new take on the classic shonen manga romantic comedy formula: the magical/powerful ditz who falls for an all-too human doofus. In this case, the ditzy yet powerful girl is a cutie-pie vampire, and the doofus is a hopelessly mediocre student who flunked all his high school entrance exams and ends up at a school for monsters.

In a twist that's pure teen boy fantasy fulfillment, Tsukune goes from so-so student to becoming an unlikely chick magnet at Yokai Academy, with a harem of cute demon, vampire and witch chicks falling all over each other to get his attention. These supernatural sweeties find him inexplicably irresistible, most likely because as the sole human student at Yokai, Tsukune smells good enough to eat.

Take a bite into my review of Rosario + Vampire Volume 1 by Akihisa Ikeda, from Shonen Jump Advanced / VIZ Media and see if this fanservice-filled shonen manga comedy is just cheesecake with a vampire topping, or if it's got something more substantial to offer to its teen readers.

Image credit: © 2004 by Akihisa Ikeda/SHUEISHA Inc.