Tag: Shonen Jump

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 7

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 7 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-4026-9
Rating: 4/5
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Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

Since I’ve already read a large chunk of the series before, I’m giving the volumes I’ve already read a slight bump in rating to show how much I liked it my first time through. I don’t want my familiarity with the series to hurt the score. There is less thrill when you already know what happens, so I’m accounting for that. The bump is only about a half star.

This volume advertises a mini-poster inside. This one is a fold out, like volume five, featuring Moka and inner Moka separated by a mirror. Again, I can’t imagine why anyone would tear this out.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Lingling Huang is Fangfang’s undead big sister.

Story & Thoughts

This volume focuses heavily on inner Moka. Now that she is out all the time, she’s socializing more than she ever has before, and her experiences are giving her more feelings than she is used to. She thinks this is a weakness forming, but she has the other Moka talking to her to help even things out and give her advice. It’s like seeing their relationship backwards, which is probably why the first chapter has the title Reverse.

The group is traveling to get Moka’s rosario repaired. The last two chapters are probably the most important. We get a look at a chunk of Moka’s childhood and see her family. The most important part of it seems to be the introduction of her third and final sister. We have not seen her, yet, so these flashbacks are covering a bit of what she is like.

Between those events and the usual shenanigans, there’s also plot building going on in the background. Fairy Tale is making moves and plans they have already put into motion are under investigation. There are some familiar faces returning, and not for anyone’s benefit.

I always enjoy the volumes that delve into character backstories. It’s also nice seeing inner Moka as more of a person. She deserves to be more than just the person who shows up when people need saving.

I can’t help feeling bad for Fangfang. He gets treated so poorly all the time. All he wants is to have friends and do right by his family.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 6

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 6 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3831-0
Rating: 4.5/5
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Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

Since I’ve already read a large chunk of the series before, I’m giving the volumes I’ve already read a slight bump in rating to show how much I liked it my first time through. I don’t want my familiarity with the series to hurt the score. There is less thrill when you already know what happens, so I’m accounting for that. The bump is only about a half star.

I can tell I’m getting close to the parts I have not read before, because my memory of some of this stuff is foggier. For example, I didn’t remember who Fangfang was. I am absolutely certain I still remember some events that have not yet to occur, so I still have some to go before I actually catch up to that point.

The cover advertises two free mini-posters inside. Honestly, these are no different than the standard color images we see in every volume. These ones aren’t even fold out like the last one. They are both Halloween in theme. One is Inner Moka reading a book, and the other is Yukari watering a plant. However, these “mini-posters” are not perforated for easy removal, nor are they actually two separate posters. They are back to back, so if you choose to tear them out, you can only display one side of it.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Koko Shuzen is Moka’s little sister. She thinks Tsukune’s only redeeming quality is the taste of his blood, but she doesn’t go around biting him like Moka does.

Ruby Tojo is a witch met in season one. She currently works for the school to help keep the students safe. This now also entails supervising Tsukune’s training.

Ginei Morioka, also known as Gin, is the Newspaper Club’s president. Normally we hardly ever see him.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Lingling Huang is Fangfang’s big sister.

Three of the girls’ parents show up for sports day: Fujiko Sendo, Ageha Kurono, and Tsurara Shirayuki.

Story & Thoughts

This volume is more chill and fun than most of the others. There are no super serious adventures, but a couple new monster types are casually introduced as the story progresses. The tone at the end of the volume, however, is more serious.

The first two chapters introduce the Huang family, primarily Fangfang. Tsukune has a well known reputation now, so a representative of a Chinese mafia wants to recruit him. Jokes and shenanigans ensue from there.

The third chapter focuses mostly on Yukari. She gets a real look at herself from a different perspective and must deal with feeling self-conscious for the first time ever. Fangfang is just along for the ride in this chapter.

We get to see more of inner Moka in the final chapter. It’s another rare opportunity to see her out for a whole day. This time, she attends school for a full day, and her rivals in love try to analyze her skills to find a weakness.

After the usual end of the volume four panel comics in the back, there are a few pages of extra ones. The additional comics address fan mail concerns about the series regarding moe. Things like if the series has enough of it, if the creator even knows what it is, and drawing the characters in that type of style.

I think this volume is a little funnier than usual, since nothing particularly serious happens. It’s all shenanigans and chaos. Gin shows up a few times. We hardly ever see him in general, so it’s nice when he’s involved in something, even if it’s silly.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 5

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 5 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3691-0
Rating: 4.5/5
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Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

Since I’ve already read a large chunk of the series before, I’m giving the volumes I’ve already read a slight bump in rating to show how much I liked it my first time through. I don’t want my familiarity with the series to hurt the score. There is less thrill when you already know what happens, so I’m accounting for that. The bump is only about a half star.

This volume includes a small fold out poster of Moka holding a watermelon carved like a jack-o’-lantern. Do people actually tear these out? It’s not even perforated. I feel like I’m ruining the book if I remove it.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Koko Shuzen is Moka’s little sister. She thinks Tsukune’s only redeeming quality is the taste of his blood, but she doesn’t go around biting him like Moka does.

Ruby Tojo is a witch met in season one. She currently works for the school to help keep the students safe. This now also entails supervising Tsukune’s training.

Ginei Morioka, also known as Gin, is the Newspaper Club’s president. Normally we hardly ever see him.

San Otonashi is an alumnus of Yokai Academy. She was the president of the Newspaper Club when Gin was a freshman.

Story & Thoughts

This entire volume encompasses one event. I think it’s the first volume in the entire series to do that. It’s summer vacation time again, and this whole volume is “the beach episode.” But don’t let that fool you, some cool stuff actually happens, so it’s not just fan service.

The Newspaper Club goes on another one of their vacation trips to the human world. This time, they go to the beach. Everything is all arranged so they will be staying with a former member of the Newspaper Club, San. San is also the main focus of the book. Using her as an example, we get to see what it’s like for a monster who has graduated from Yokai Academy and continued on to live in the human world.

Fairy Tale shows up, being the main villain for the season. And so does Gin! We hardly ever see Gin, so this is a pleasant surprise. He even sticks around for the whole book. Well, sort of. He’s off doing something else while the main group is dealing with their own problems.

I think this volume has more typos than usual. Aside from that, it has a great story. The insight into a monster living in the human world among humans is something the gang is curious about as they all wonder what their own futures will be like. Obviously this is only one example, so they can’t base expectations off it, but it gives them hope, and it’s good insight for the reader, too.

We also get to see a new monster type. Unlike the usual set ups, we get to see a good version and bad version of them. Normally we only see one, and the gang beats them up, end of story. There’s a little more to it this time.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 4

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 4 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3544-9
Rating: 4/5
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Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

Since I’ve already read a large chunk of the series before, I’m giving the volumes I’ve already read a slight bump in rating to show how much I liked it my first time through. I don’t want my familiarity with the series to hurt the score. There is less thrill when you already know what happens, so I’m accounting for that. The bump is only about a half star.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Koko Shuzen is Moka’s little sister. She thinks Tsukune’s only redeeming quality is the taste of his blood, but she doesn’t go around biting him like Moka does.

Ruby Tojo is a witch met in season one. She currently works for the school to help keep the students safe.

Kahlua Shuzen is Moka and Koko’s older sister. This volume spells her name “Kalua” but two and the internet spells it the other way. I don’t know why they are different. Someone must have made an editing mistake somewhere.

Story & Thoughts

This volume picks up where three left off in Mizore’s village. It takes two chapters to wrap up that event. We get some foreboding warnings as foreshadowing for things to look forward to.

The next two chapters are some I think are highly memorable. My first time reading this was years ago, and I still remember pieces of these chapters vividly. Inner Moka gets to come out to play more as Tsukune is beginning his training to control his power. It’s nice to see more of her outside of purely combat.

There’s a Castlevania reference in that section I never noticed before. I didn’t know much of anything about Castlevania back when I first read this, but I know enough now to recognize the name of the whip. It’s a pretty obvious reference, so you’ll know it when you see it.

The last chapter of the book focuses on Kurumu. She’s at her wit’s end regarding how to improve her chances with Tsukune. This chapter brings up her ability that we haven’t seen in a long time, her charm mind control. It mostly shows she can still do that, but the chapter is also a bit sad as we see Kurumu struggle with her emotions.

What do we learn from this volume? According to the combination of chapters and bonus comics, we learn which characters are masochists.

Season II is focusing more on the characters themselves, rather than monster of the week like season one. I love season one, but I also love how connected to the characters this season feels.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 3

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 3 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3268-4
Rating: 4.5/5
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Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

Since I’ve already read a large chunk of the series before, I’m giving the volumes I’ve already read a slight bump in rating to show how much I liked it my first time through. I don’t want my familiarity with the series to hurt the score. There is less thrill when you already know what happens, so I’m accounting for that. The bump is only about a half star.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Koko Shuzen is Moka’s little sister. She thinks Tsukune’s only redeeming quality is the taste of his blood, but she doesn’t go around biting him like Moka does.

Ruby Tojo is a witch met in season one. She currently works for the school to help keep the students safe.

Tsurara, Mizore’s mother, appears in this volume. Her last appearance was in Rosario+Vampire volume nine during the school festival.

Story & Thoughts

This book starts off with a random chapter involving Gin. It’s been a good while seen we’ve seen him. He is rather useless as club leader, since he is basically never around. The chapter paints him as a villain yet again. Girls at Yokai Academy are targets for a prankster going around tearing up their clothes.

The rest of the chapters focus on Mizore. Big surprise considering she is on the cover, right? The gang goes to Mizore’s village for the weekend. There is some kind of ceremony she is going to attend, and her mother requests she bring guests.

This section covers some information on Mizore’s childhood, as well as her culture. At one point, I said Mizore’s parts of the story tend to be unsettling and sad. That comes out significantly in this volume. It always pulls at my heart strings.

There is a cliff hanger. As with most volumes, the events are cut off to be finished in the next volume. The cliff hanger is not huge. It’s the kind where someone unexpected shows up.

Kurumu really shines in this volume. Her passion and determination are important to the drama of the story and holding the group together. She always seems to be on an emotional rollercoaster, acting like she is furious and hates someone, and then expressing her compassion for them two minutes later. I think she significantly outshines Moka here. Moka and Yukari and the rest seemed to take a back seat to Mizore, Tsukune, and Kurumu.

The bonus comics at the end are silly, as usual. No questions, mostly a bunch of sillies about what happened in the last few pages.

The volumes that focus on Mizore always tend to be my personal favorites, but she is my favorite character, so it’s not surprising.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 2

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 2 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3137-3
Rating: 4.5/5
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Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

Since I’ve already read a large chunk of the series before, I’m giving the volumes I’ve already read a slight bump in rating to show how much I liked it my first time through. I don’t want my familiarity with the series to hurt the score. There is less thrill when you already know what happens, so I’m accounting for that. The bump is only about a half star.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Koko Shuzen is Moka’s little sister. She thinks Tsukune’s only redeeming quality is the taste of his blood, but she doesn’t go around biting him like Moka does.

Ruby Tojo is a witch met in season one. She currently works for the school to help keep the students safe.

Story & Thoughts

The story continues the mistaken phantom plot from volume one for the first two chapters. The combat is actually more amusing than usual. There’s comedy thrown into it, and this is the first time in Season II that we see Tsukune’s transformation.

I think the second half of the book is the best part. These two chapters focus heavily on Koko, which is fitting since she is on the cover of this volume. She befriends Yukari, which is not that surprising since they aren’t that far apart in age. They seem to have a lot in common.

It’s club recruitment time again, and Koko wants to get stronger She debates which club to join, which leads to various shenanigans. Koko is insistent on not joining the news club, even though she doesn’t have a good reason. These two chapters are adorable and funny. They revolve around Yukari and Koko wanting to grow up because they are tired of being considered young and small.

The four panel bonus comics in back of the book also focus on Koko. The first two highlight how blatantly tsundere she is, and the other two are about her pet Batty. He is unexpectedly heavy.

This is not relevant to the story, but I love how all the people in Moka’s family seem to be named after drinks. Moka. Koko. Kahlua. We don’t meet Kahlua in this volume, but her name comes up in a flashback.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 1

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 1 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3136-6
Rating: 3.5/5
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Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

This manga continues from Rosario + Vampire. It’s been almost six months since the school got wrecked, and repairs have been made. I don’t see many manga that start over at volume one for new “seasons,” so this is a little unusual.

Since I’ve already read a large chunk of the series before, I’m giving the volumes I’ve already read a slight bump in rating to show how much I liked it my first time through. I don’t want my familiarity with the series to hurt the score. There is less thrill when you already know what happens, so I’m accounting for that. The bump is only about a half star.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the main character. He is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch. She was eleven in season one.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Koko Shuzen is a new character this volume introduces. She is Moka’s little sister, and boy is she feisty.

Story & Thoughts

The story in this volume is set up to both welcome back readers, and make things easy for new readers who are using this as a starting point. I don’t know why anyone would start with season two, though, that just seems weird. Go back and read part one. It’s pretty great.

The first chapter heavily readdresses character details and the premise of the story. We relearn everyone’s names, their monster types, and what powers they have. Inner Moka even takes a minute to rehash the fact the two Moka’s are basically split personalities. This isn’t a spoiler. We already know all this.

Tsukune is demoted back down to a weakling. He doesn’t do anything outstanding in this book. Aside from the visual representation of the lock on his wrist, there is no sign anything ever happened to him in the first season. Nobody so much as mentions it.

There’s a lot of bickering and arguing, more so than usual. The volume seems to be going a little over the top with all that to really drive the refresher/introduction home.

The big news in the volume is Moka has a sister! We meet Koko halfway through. I love her. She’s great. She has her issues, but unlike everyone else, she doesn’t fawn over Tsukune. I can’t remember if that changes or not later.

As usual, there are bonus comics in the back. These ones take place in the time between seasons one and two. They just cover a little of what everyone was up to over their break.

Rosario+Vampire, Vol. 10

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Rosario+Vampire, Vol. 10 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/ Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-2355-2
Rating: 4/5
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Description from the Book

All-around average teenager Tsukune can’t get accepted to any high school save one…but on his first day, he finds the rest of the student body doesn’t appear average in the least. Best of all, the cutest girl on campus can’t wait to fling her arms around his neck! Wait a sec’ – are those her teeth around his neck too…? Tsukune’s going to have one heck of a hickey when he gets home from Monster High! But does he have a chance in H-E-double-hockey-sticks of raising his grades at a school where the turf war isn’t between jocks and the nerds but the vampires and the werewolves?

Personal & Info

Since I’ve already read a large chunk of the series before, I’m giving the volumes I’ve already read a slight bump in rating to show how much I liked it my first time through. I don’t want my familiarity with the series to hurt the score. There is less thrill when you already know what happens, so I’m accounting for that. The bump is only about a half star.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is your every day incredibly average underachiever human with no special skills…But the human part might be changing permanently.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest.

Kurumu Kurono is beautiful love interest number two. She is the passionate big booby lady.

Yukari Sendo is an eleven year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is shy and a bit of a stalker, but she’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Ruby, the witch from volumes four and five, works for the school now.

Kyoko is Tsukune’s cousin. She’s like a big sister to him.

Story & thoughts

The first two chapters continue the events from the previous volume, and wrap up the festival. Things get chaotic as Hitomi Ishigami, the former art teacher, makes her first reappearance since the events of the protection committee. The school gets absolutely trashed.

Students are sent home, so we get a fun chapter where the girls visit Tsukune in the human world. Each of them thinks they are the only one to have the idea, so chaos ensues, again. It’s too much for Tsukune’s poor mother to handle. I love Mizore’s hiding spots in this chapter.

There’s a bonus chapter at the end. It looks like it’s from back before Mizore was part of the group, because it shows her in passing with her long hair. The plot touches on a traditional vampire law.

The bonus comics in this volume are great. They are more Q&A four panel shorts, but one of them always sticks with me. I remember the one about Mizore’s suckers as a factoid from my first read several years ago.

Volume ten completes season one of the this manga. The next one is the start of season two. It’s still called Rosario+Vampire, but it starts all over at one again like it’s its own series.

Notable Issues

There’s another translation oddity regarding Mizore. She refers to herself as a snow fairy. I’m not sure where that came from, because as far as I know, yuki-onna, the folklore creature she is supposed to be, is a spirit or demon.

Rosario+Vampire, Vol. 9

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Rosario+Vampire, Vol. 9 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-2354-5
Rating: 4.5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

All-around average teenager Tsukune can’t get accepted to any high school save one…but on his first day, he finds the rest of the student body doesn’t appear average in the least. Best of all, the cutest girl on campus can’t wait to fling her arms around his neck! Wait a sec’ – are those her teeth around his neck too…? Tsukune’s going to have one heck of a hickey when he gets home from Monster High! But does he have a chance in H-E-double-hockey-sticks of raising his grades at a school where the turf war isn’t between jocks and the nerds but the vampires and the werewolves?

Personal & Info

Since I’ve already read a large chunk of the series before, I’m giving the volumes I’ve already read a slight bump in rating to show how much I liked it my first time through. I don’t want my familiarity with the series to hurt the score. There is less thrill when you already know what happens, so I’m accounting for that. The bump is only about a half star.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is your every day incredibly average underachiever human with no special skills…But the human part might be changing permanently.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest.

Kurumu Kurono is beautiful love interest number two. She is the passionate big booby lady.

Yukari Sendo is an eleven year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is shy and a bit of a stalker, but she’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Ruby, the witch from volumes four and five, works for the school now.

Tsukune’s older close cousin, Kyoko, visits the school.

Mizore’s mother, Tsurara, and Kurumu’s mother also visit the school. I don’t think Kurumu’s mother’s name was stated.

Story & thoughts

This volume picks up where eight left off with the climax of the monstrel problem and Hokuto. Two of the four chapters wrap up that crisis. We also get a brief look at Hokuto’s past to see what his life was like before the academy, and what his time at school was like.

Once that’s over, it’s time for the school festival to begin. Alumni and parents visit the school, and various shenanigans ensue. We get to see some of the girls’ mothers, and both of Yukari’s parents in maybe two panels. Mizore’s mother and Kurumu’s mother hog most of the event.

We also get to meet Tsukune’s cousin, Kyoko. She should be nowhere near the school, but I think we’ve all learned by now how incompetent they seem to be at enforcing their own rules and regulations. Tsukune does his best to try to convince her the school is completely normal.

The volume leaves off on a small cliff hanger. I think the series does this on purpose. Most events that encompass more than one chapter get divided into two volumes. It’s a good way to keep people buying the books, but frustrating for people who can’t get them right away.

I love how this volume shows yet again how Mizore is considerate of Tsukune. Yes, she asks him for a favor that makes him uncomfortable, but she also releases him from an obligation because she knows it’s not what he wants. She doesn’t pressure him to do anything he doesn’t want to. None of the other girls seem that considerate.

Rosario+Vampire, Vol. 8

fantasticfictionsblog

Rosario+Vampire, Vol. 8 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-1910-4
Rating: 4.5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

All-around average teenager Tsukune can’t get accepted to any high school save one…but on his first day, he finds the rest of the student body doesn’t appear average in the least. Best of all, the cutest girl on campus can’t wait to fling her arms around his neck! Wait a sec’ – are those her teeth around his neck too…? Tsukune’s going to have one heck of a hickey when he gets home from Monster High! But does he have a chance in H-E-double-hockey-sticks of raising his grades at a school where the turf war isn’t between jocks and the nerds but the vampires and the werewolves?

Personal & Info

Since I’ve already read a large chunk of the series before, I’m giving the volumes I’ve already read a slight bump in rating to show how much I liked it my first time through. I don’t want my familiarity with the series to hurt the score. There is less thrill when you already know what happens, so I’m accounting for that. The bump is only about a half star.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is your every day incredibly average underachiever human with no special skills…But the human part might be changing permanently.

Moka Akashiya is a beautiful vampire love interest.

Kurumu Kurono is beautiful love interest number two. She is the passionate big booby lady.

Yukari Sendo is an eleven year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is shy and a bit of a stalker.

Ruby, the witch from volumes four and five, works for the school now.

Story & Thoughts

The school festival is fast approaching. Tsukune is obligated to assist the student council during one of the newspaper club’s busiest times. People suspect there is a mole in the festival committee, and it’s up to Tsukune to ferret them out.

There’s a lot of action and intrigue in this volume. We’re reaching the climax of the events with the monstrels, and things are getting intense. The monstrel leader reveals their identity, and explains their grand scheme.

Moka has a huge moment at the end. The events will continue in the next volume. For now, we have to wonder what this will do to Moka, and if our group will make it through everything alive.

I am getting a little tired of the Moka getting kidnapped scenarios. At this point, they happen way too often. Stop being so easy to kidnap, Moka.

I feel like this volume did well with the villain faces. There are some pretty dang good villain facial expressions.

Also, I’m surprised the headmaster is so squishy. Shouldn’t they have someone super powerful and unbeatable running the school?