Customer Reviews

The Drifting Classroom, Vol. 2

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

 

 

Manga-ka Kazou Umezu has been making Japanese comics for decades. One of his most famous properties is The Drifting Classroom, first published in Japan in 1976. In 2006, VIZ Media (American huckster of all manner of Japanese medium) began the publication of a newly adapted English translation of this title. The question remains: why did it take thirty years?

In brief, the story surrounds the horrific set of circumstances behind which an entire Japanese school building vanishes, leaving no sign but a crater in its passing. The reader (dare I say, audience?) watches through the eyes of two main characters - sixth-grader Sho Takamatsu, and his widowed mother - from either side of the disaster. As Sho and his classmates wonder what has happened to them, the school building being the only remaining structure to be seen in a desolate, sand-filled world reminiscent of Frank Herbert's Dune, Sho's mother grieves the loss of her only son in what appeared to be a tragic explosion which took the lives of all 862 occupants of Yamato Elementary.

This second volume of The Drifting Classroom, Vol. 2 unleashes a rapid-fire assault on the imagination. While the first book developed the characters of Sho, his mother, and a select few classmates - as well as introduced the major plot device - this volume begins what promises to be a fatalistic barrage on the senses of the characters, and thus the readers, in close succession. Whereas Volume 1 begets the promise of unimaginably horrible things to come, Volume 2 begins to deliver. As the gravity of their plight begins to set in, the adults of the book (the stranded teachers and school staff) begin to lose their touch with renowned-Japanese civility, sanity, and - for some - life itself. And as reality shifts, the terrified students begin to lose their lives, as well.

And this all occurs within mere hours of the fateful event! Fantagraphics' Comics Journal describes the series as "Lord of the Flies on amphetamines." Volume 2 brings truth and validation to this observation.

Mr. Umezu's artwork in this volume is solid, though somewhat dated (not that this is such a bad thing), and looks a little awkward during certain scenes of frantic movement (for example, when a student is running, the pose looks decidedly superimposed over a Manga-esque backdrop, rather than to create a flawless illusion of fluid motion). This phenomenon in The Drifting Classroom, Vol. 2 is, however, less obvious than it was in its predecessorand does nothing to detract from the horror of the book's tale.

So, why did it take thirty years for such a unique, cutting, powerful Manga to be released in North America? It is impossible to answer definitively, but there might be something to the suggestion that the subject matter was simply too disturbing in the past, somehow too real, even in its speculative fictional realm, for the North American audience. That is to say, the gentle reader knows and accepts that a building cannot simply vanish for no reason... however, if one could accept such a stretch in the reader's known reality, then The Drifting Classroom could easily become quite a traumatic study of human nature. And, backed by the devastating events of 9/11...

...Maybe the underlying concept wasn't so far-fetched, after all?

When I reviewed the first volume, I believe I noted that the pacing seemed somewhat 'off' at times and had a tendency to lag---no more! This second offering of this psychological gore rollercoaster picks up from the exact frame we were left with at the end of Vol. 1.

The children, now distraught and fearful for their lives, have come together (a bit too quickly I might add) and shielded themselves from the madness and death that captures most of the teachers.

A crazed lunch worker hunts Sho and the rest of the school while protecting the entire school's food supply; greedy and mad, he kills several students and injures more. When the children realize they can venture out into 'the sandbox', things get even stranger and this quickly becomes an action comic.

Fast reading, and not for the faint of heart. I recommend this to anyone of age. Kazz works his magic again, and while I don't think THE DRIFTING CLASSROOM is a particularly strong title yet, I can see where it might be heading--right into my favorites list for a long, long time. Mildly recommended.

this one was great. the kids are getting restless and more and more violent.... the adults are all dead except fop one. and he is a JERK.. keep on reading this series.

The 862 souls of Yamato Elementary are still trying to figure out what happened as it seems their school has been transported to the middle of a desolate desert in the middle of nowhere. But they don't even know if the school has moved. Maybe the city around it has been destroyed. When a little boy that Sho encountered on the way to school shows up with a sign from the front of the school that appears to have aged decades, answers begin to surface as to what exactly has happened. Since they're in the middle of a desert with no means of communicating to the outside world (if there is one), the school has to start worrying about food. There is some in the cafeteria, but one of the school workers, Sekiya, has decided he's going to hoard it all for himself, even if he has to kill men, women, and children to do it!

Drifting Classroom has a creepy Twilight Zone premise which immediately hooked me in the first volume. In volume 2, the writing, or more accurately, the characterization, reaches a stumbling block. Some of the characters, especially the adults, reach their breaking point too soon. It just seems like Umezu begins to kill off the teachers just to get them out of the way so he can focus on the kids. Being a teacher, I can say that if a similar situation happened at my school, I doubt the teachers would be as weak-willled and despairing as the ones in Drifting Classroom. They would recognize that the kids would need an example of strength and not to give up. At least that's what I'd like to think. Umezu does not give enough background on any of them to explain their suicidal or even homicidal behaviors. This manga does keep you reading, even it has some major flaws, and I am curious to see the truth of what happened to Yamato and if they're ever gonna get back home.