Customer Reviews

After School Nightmare Volume 1

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After School Nightmare is an interesting mix of typical teenage confusion with the unique twists of a Twilight Zone episode. The premise of the story is that Ichijou Mashiro's elite high school has one particular class that is required for students to graduate. A graduation that is possible even for a freshman, provided that they can pass this class. What is the class? Basically it is a foray into the human mind. This is accomplished by each student within a small group delving into a shared nightmare. Within this nightmare each student sees and will have seen their true self, the scars of their pasts, and their worst nightmares. This sounds simple in theory, but if one thinks on it for awhile it could truly be a horrible experience. There are always pieces of our pasts and fragments of ourselves that we would never wish others to see. For Mashiro-kun, unfortunately, this means that his fellows classmates find out that "he" is also a "she". No, this is not a simple case of cross-dressing. From the waist up Mashiro-kun is a male, from the waist down a female. Definately not your garden variety problem. At least, not on the surface. In all actuality, Mashiro-kun is facing the ever important question of "Who am I? What am I?" and in some ways more importantly "What do I want?" These are questions that invaribly other characters within the story will face. And these characters are definately interesting. As is the triangle forming between Mashiro-kun, Kureha-chan, and Sou-kun. In the end, this story may be dipping into familar waters but it is certainly being done with an enjoyable flair.

Until the last two volumes of this series, I had no idea why I was reading it. The characters and their relationships all seem so shallow. The school setting seems so strange and doesn't seem to fit into the world around it--like others have said it really does have a twilight zone feel! But I was having a slow few days and was still mildly interested in the "omg-who-ends-with-up-who?!?!111!" so I finished reading all ten volumes.

For anyone who's started reading and is uncertain about continuing, please finish reading the series! There is an incredibly interesting and unexpected revelation in the last volume, that makes it well worth finishing. I honestly loved it. I promise there is much more to After School Nightmare than sexual tension--it becomes much deeper in, I repeat, a VERY unexpected way (although the author states in the end that many subtle hints are splattered throughout the series). The Twilight Zone feel has much more to it than the after school class, and is explained in the end. I won't say much more, because I don't want to spoil the ending, but I'll also add not to worry about the incest another reader mentioned. It becomes much more than it appears.

For me, the concept of this story deserves five stars, but its execution pulls it down to four. I found the relationships in the series very shallow...not enough character development.

While there are reasons for these flaws which become clear later (in my opinion, they are still flaws), the author does little to hold attention until then. The foreshadowing in the series could have been not-so-subtle, to make it clear to the reader that there really is more coming.

Still, all-in-all a very interesting manga, set in an environment far beyond the typical shoujo high school setting. And the "after school" class is just the tip of the iceburg there! Definitely enjoyable and more than worth the read. I plan on rereading!

I picked up this book because the publisher is Go! Comi and I am a big fan of their other works. I didn't read it right away but when I did, I was astonished and surprised to find myself sucked into the book and the story. It is the story of Mashiro who is both a male and female but since his lower part is that of a female, then some might see him as a girl more than a guy.
The love triangle of Mashiro, Sou, and Kureha is the best part and I totally root for Mashiro and Sou.

I am so looking forward to get my hands on the third volume and hopefully there will be another kiss between Mashiro and Sou.

Good job, Go! Comi and congratulations for the nomination of the After School Nightmare for the 2007 Eisner Award!

I like the way this book handles gender identity as an emotional and mental problem for teenagers. I've only read the first one, so I don't know how well the author deals with it overall, but I think this first volume is very good.

When I saw the cover I immediately thought mushy high school yaoi-ish junk. Well, not quite. It does take place in a high school but this series is anyhting but mushy...definetly not junk either. I was reminded of another series I have read that deals with the darker side of humanity. It's called Petshop of Horrors. Both appear innocent on the cover but the plot is intruguing and deep. After School Nightmare took me off guard cos I wasn't expecting something so well done when I began reading it. I think this is a series to keep up with.

This story is really good. I don't think I've ever read one like it, like the last reviewer, it DOES have a Twilight Zone feel to it. It's about Ichijo Mashiro being half boy and half girl. He is forced into a "class" that is all a dream, taken on Thursdays after school. He can only raduate high school is he passes the class and finds the "key" which other students are trying to find too. In the struggle for finding the key, Mashiro must also find himself, whether he is a boy or girl. This manga is another great start to another great series from Go! Comi. I can't wait until the next installment!

Not my usual genre of manga reading but i stumbled upon this because i loved Setona Mizushiro's brillant The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese and sequal (which i hope they publish in Eng). Anyway I was hooked. She is very good with character creation and story telling. I didnt feel at any point I was bored with it. The whole story has a weird dream-like quality which is really something considering what happens. I also found her use of symbolism really brillant and well kind of amusing.
The whole gender issue is interesting, but I dont want to give anything away. Although i was slightly confused at first as to what exactly was going on down there :-)

This book absolutely amazing. I bought the first two volumes on a whim and once I started reading them I couldn't put it down. The story is very interesting and you really experience what feelings all the characters express. A must read!!!

- - THE ORIGINAL REVIEW - -

I was extremely bias going into 'After School Nightmare.'
Setona Mizushiro's first work, X-Day, stands as my second favorite manga. I love that manga. Psychologically naked, exploring the darker side of high school life, paired with a haunting pace & beautiful, raw character interaction & development.
I was excited to discover another Mizushiro title released in America, I thought After School Nightmare was to be a second coming. It had everything going for it.

But it wasn't.

The story concerns a cryptic boarding school & a hermaphrodite (the manga never actually refers to him as this, instead claiming that he is 'half male & half female', which makes me wonder whether the Japanese language lacks a word for this condition or if Mizushiro is just being poetic) named Mashiro, who is both ashamed & afraid of his female half. But soon he finds himself exposing his ugly secret to everyone, trapped inside a dreamworld where he must battle his peers' own ugly secrets--locked away in a classroom, where the only way to escape is to conquer that ugly secret.

Does that sound just a little corny? Well it is.
Are the characters very likeable? No, no they really aren't.

But I could stomach all these minor problems, because once again Mizushiro cast her lovely magic, gracefully dissecting these humans' fragile & flawed psyches. Honestly, the first 2 volumes of this series were a worthy 3.5 stars--not a 5 star X-Day, but decent.
But this rich, deeply psychological fabric slowly... slowly... unraveled into little more than fluffy sexual tension.
By the 5th volume I felt frustrated & cheated. Sex! 'Who's going to sleep with who?' It became all about sex, with all the depth evaporated.
If I wanted to read smut, I'd have bought smut.

& the characters, while tolerable before, became just plain annoying in the later volumes. Mashiro just whines & complains & complains & whines & never does anything about it. I understand that he is confused, & I can appreciate a flawed protagonist, but must that confusion shadow every waking moment of the series so heavy-handedly? It just got old. Obnoxiously old.

There's also incest.
I am aware that incest is a rather popular fetish in Japan, & it's expected that it'd show up in their works. Now I'm not necessarily against incest in these artforms, however I cannot stand when it's thrown in for the soul sake of 'that's hot', & that's just the vibe I'm plucking from ASN. These characters, they seem to have no understanding that their relationship is abnormal, they feel no guilt nor shame (at least in the case of one party).
In the hands of someone like Mizushiro this could have been a truly fascinating aspect. Instead it just feels like some cheap booty-call, playing to a crowd.

Lastly, the art. Once again Mizushiro lays out a beautiful, delicate pacing where soul-filled expressions tell the story. But the artwork itself... it's about average all right... but it pales in comparison to X-Day's. This confuses me. X-Day was Mizushiro's earlier work, so shouldn't she have gotten better? Instead, in ASN there is distinctly less detail & the eyes lack their unique tranquility, rage, & vulnerability. Clearly less time was spent on drawing.

If you are someone looking for a rich, heavy, character-driven shonen-ai-ish manga with a fantasy twist, I highly recommend 'Loveless' by Yun Kouga. Not only is it a beautiful piece of its genre, it's a beautiful piece of manga as a whole. & it certainly kicks ASN's *gluteus maximus*.

- - - - - - -

Having gotten around to reading every volume of ASN, I've decided to bump my rating up to 3 stars. Enough of my initial points are still quite valid: I failed to grow attached to any member of the cast, the art isn't as sharp as it could be, & there is a big dip in quality in the middle of the series. But said dip is sandwiched between moments of depth & beauty. Yes, there are a couple of glittering twists at the end. These twists do tear some plot-holes into the story, but like fireworks one can't help but be entranced.

Story has a PLOT, yea! That's very important for me. The artwork is great, and this deserves your attention. Pick it up!