Rosario to VampireRosario+Vampire Edit What would you like to edit? SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links   1t51x

After years within the anime & manga community, I have come across a particular argument time & time again; "the manga/light novel/visual novel is better". This is usually in a bid to get people to check out the original source material, after witnessing a lacklustre anime/live action adaptation collapse in on itself.

Well Rosario + Vampire is a perfect example of such a case, whether you enjoy this kind of manga or not, the community has come to a unanimous agreement that this particular manga is worlds better than it’s unexpectedly popular anime adaptation. And it’s surprising how serious people get about it, given that ... it is merely a Shounen Supernatural Harem manga, with a bit of Comedy & Action thrown in for good measure.

Yet there’s no need to come into R+V expecting a fantastic story; as this simply is just your average high school Rom/Com, with some monsters thrown in. Well that’s how it is at first, as Tsukune Aono (a.k.a. Generic Male Protagonist No.91), through some odd circumstances, ends up as the only human in a Monster Academy. Now if he were a sensible human being he would GTFO, but sometimes going to school is more important than one’s well-being. Well it may also have something to do with the attractive girls throwing themselves at Tsukune, giving him less of a reason to leave. And there we have our story, with Tsukune tying to enjoy his Harem Haven, whilst dealing with life-threatening monster encounters, all while trying not to reveal his human nature to rest of the student body.

Sounds like one heck of a school-life fantasy, but the actual content does get somewhat stale and repetitive; with Tsukune getting into the usual mishaps & misunderstandings. Then closing things out with a monster spawn and having some contrived reason to force an altercation of sorts with Tsukune or the girls… rinse & repeat. So it’s good that the mangaka quickly realizes that this is a stale formula, rather quickly and focuses on developing the characters through more in-depth mini-arcs, which is a welcome change from the previous episodic storylines.

The characters are what help elevate R+V, but even with that said; there’s nothing unique about the character set-up to set it apart from your average harem. We have yet another “loser-kun” as our male protagonist, who somehow happens to attract cute girls like a magnet. The cute girls in question come in a variety of shapes & sizes but I like that there’s more to them than their initial personality traits. Each of them has some depth to their character, to ensure that they are more than just an otaku’s dakimakura (love pillow), which helps make them all appealing in some way. However we come back to Tsukune, who’s even less appealing and less developed than the generic villains, until about the point where the anime & manga storyline splits off. It is from that point on that Tsukune undergoes some surprising developments… for the better.

In my opinion the best as aspect of R+V is the artwork, which comes in 2 varieties. The most prominent being the usual day to day high school occurrences, with fairly simplistic yet serviceable artwork and then there’s the pockets of action, with bloody intense artwork. The characters & monster designs are somewhat imaginative but they tend to lack detail in their features. However when expressing a distinct mood or emotion, the mangaka makes fantastic use of shading. And I must add that the artwork undergoes some dramatic improvements, as the mangaka improves as an artist, along with the story.

Overall Rosario + Vampire is a mediocre harem manga that eventually grows into something that people, who crave more than the odd flash of pantsu-service, can enjoy. Unfortunately it is a manga that has an issue with inconsistencies in the story, creating some noticeable plot-holes, and inconsistencies in character behaviour, creating some questionable moments. Even with its issues and the incredibly repetitive “monster of the week” set-up in the earlier chapters; it is good when the story breaks free from its episodic shackles, to surprise the reader with a fairly in-depth set of stories & characters. Thus allowing me to recommend R+V, to anyone who is not initially turned off by the premise of reading such a manga.

Rosario + Vampire isn't anything special. Now I'll start by saying it isn't your typical harem manga, being set in a school full of different monsters, so I'll start with a good note and applaud them for abit of originality on that part.

But the praise dies there; the same recycled plot device and non-existant character development gets painfully old fast, the characters in general are so generic it's unbelieveable, like "here's typical loser harem protaganist"surrounded by lots of women who love him...*yawn* Now atleast with other harem mangas the setting changes abit, like there'll be a scene in school, then maybe at lunch or after ... school at someone's house or in town, this manga always has the same settings, and always the same suspicious character who ends up being the villian for that chapter, it's more predictable than scoopy doo. Alot of fan service is presence, I mean i'm not complaining i'm a guy afterall but it seems to me that the fan service is used to cover up for the flaws of the series, like they think people won't notice if they shove a chest into the readers face.

There's now a second series of the manga out but I couldn't care less, I haven't read it but I'm guessing that they've probably made the characters abit older and added a new fanservice girl.

So to summarize:
- The setting is pretty original; applause
- The art is also good so thumbs up to the artist
- Same recycled plot device; very predictable
- Generic and uninteresting characters; non-existant development
- Lack of settings makes the story get boring fast
- Over reliant on fan service; used to cover flaws
- Typical whinny protagonist

A good friend first told me about this manga months ago and it various traits; the vampires and monsters, the school setting and the fact it was meant to have a action sub genre instantly reminded me of the American hit Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was a really cool show that worked really well and I had expectations back then that R+V would be the same. Sadly though I later had a bad experience on how to ruin the same concepts listed above. And of course I don’t think you even need half a brain cell to know what I’m referring to is the ... Twilight series. God I hate it, with its emo, disco ball vampires, to its laughable werewolves, and just plain god damm awful characters and themes.

So when I made the decision to start reading the manga I was extremely cautious. And by the time I had finished reading it I honestly had mixed feelings about it.

Let's get the sticky question that I had hovering over me when I began reading: is the main character, Moka, actually a vampire? The answer, thankfully, is yes... well kind of. She's definitely no Edward Cullen but she isn't on the same level as Alucard from Hellsing, who I feel is the embodiment of a good classic vampire of the night.

I' m gonna have to go into spoiler territory as to why this is the case so if you don’t won't to be spoiled stop reading right now!

When the two leads, Tsukune and Moka, meet, the writer does this really good gag with how Moka's vampire nature burst through and she bites Tskunene's neck , but rather than doing it in the bloodthirsty traditional way, but it’s done with comic effect making it first appear as though she gonna embrace him. This scene is used again and again throughout the series and forms one of the best running gags I've seen. It not only funny, but it serves as a really good twist of the traits of a vampire.

So the comic relief concerning the vampire lead is good, because it actually funny but also stopped me worrying about the issue I mentioned earlier. Oh but we aren’t nearly done yet, because the best is yet to come. You see, Moka' true vampire form is actually sealed away in the form of a rosary. Vampires are weakened by crosses in their mythology, even more points scored for her and the writer in my book. Though not many as I will now sink my teeth into the other issues of this manga

The other main characters, is Tsukune who is the only human in a school full of monsters , and said monsters often try to kill him or his other classmates . Interestingly despite being human, he seems to think he would make an adequate hero or even human shield when trying to save or protect others. If I didn’t know better I would have thought he had some kind of death wish. I mean, here he is, the only human in a school of monsters, and on a daily basis seem to try and kill him. And he just shrugs off any attack. If I was in his shoes, I would run home crying to mummy. But no, simply having a gorgeous vampire potential love interest who likes to feast on your blood will make it all better. In writing it appears funny, but really it’s just stupid.

But of course Tsukune’s idiotic behaviour has a rather unwelcome effect on other female characters, which make up a harem. Yes, a monster harem! Now this could have worked, if the other girls had been even likeable. We have to contend with Kurumu, who’s a succubus or the term slut would be more accurate. She forms the vast majority of the ecchi genre; by often getting her tits out whenever she sees or even thinks Moka and Tsukune are have a cosy moment. Then, there is Yukari, who’s a witch, but sadly also, the loli of the harem. And last there’s Mizore a yukki- onna, which is a being with ice powers. But again she would be better described as a stalker. Though to be fair to her, this attribute of her is actually rather funny, as she would often appear in the most random of places, so she always made me chuckle.

The odd thing is that even though they oppose each other at first, they do come together as friends. But this doesn’t change the fact they all want Tsukune , the human shield, and will just bitch at each other. Never mind the bonding we share throughout the series. Let’s just bitch about a man rather than do the honourable thing and just get over their feelings for him. It seems clear as day that Moka and Tsukune will get together, so much that the other characters do is just hindrances to these two least annoying people getting together. I could try to see that the writer was trying to be funny with the concept of harem, but I barely laughed at any of these scenes.

And now finally there’s the plot, or the lack of it be precise when you do read the first chapter, expect almost the exact same thing to happen almost endlessly. It’s so formulaic and repetive down to the scenarios, to the generic school bully villains, the really frustrating combat, that just so dull. Inner Moka just seems to get an instant knockout with a single kick, in fact sometimes I would feel she just wants the reader to see up her short skirt rather than fight generic henchmen.

Now that I got the bad stuff out of the way, I will it that the design for many of the monsters is very good, many of them ranging from many different mythologies all over the globe. This I quite liked, making it only one of the few things I liked about this series. I mean even when this series does slightly improve along the way it only really very average, and just very predictable. Moka was the only one I actually liked, both her true vampire form and her general personality. It a real shame it’s not enough to compensate for a manga series which at its best is average and at its worst is terrible and frankly rather annoying.