Rosario to Vampire
Rosario+Vampire

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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.

I keep asking myself why didn't I read this sooner?!?!Actually I know why : because of a stupid reason.While browsing the database of one of my favorite manga websites,I stumbled upon this manga.The title was good,the summary was good,everything was good except for the "ecchi" part included in the genre tags.So I just thought to myself : nah!I'm not in the mood for reading ecchi stuff.This is for boys,maybe some other time....So I kept on avoiding Rosario + Vampire ( actually those ecchi stuff are barely noticeable;they're not even worth being called ecchi,so I avoided this manga basically for nothing ... XD) .But after continuously hearing and reading about it almost everywhere I decided to finally give it a try.

STORY : I gues this might be the only weak point of this manga.However,even if the story is,well,more or less a cliche story (vampires + mosters school + hero with no power whatsoever/ hidden powers - basically elements that we encounter in many other manga as well),the author's style and the superb art transform this average story into an unforgettable experience!Moreover,I can't find even a single detail that I don't like about this story.The adventure is harmoniously combined with romance,comedy and a lot of supernatural , offering the reader the occasion of experimenting a wide range of emotions : delight,suspense,curiosity,impatience,happiness etc. Truthfully, a fascinatig and pleasant story.

ART :Just like I mentioned earlier,the art is absolutely irreproachable.The characters are superbly drawn in extremely varied situations : while fooling around,while being nervous,angered,worried,while fighting,while expressing their feelings and so on.There isn't a moment whatsoever when the characters aren't being expressive.On the contrary,they're emotions are so easy to read the reader himself will be immersed in the story without even realizing it.

CHARACTERS :This somehow reminds me of harem genre.An average boy,with no particular qualities -besides being kindhearted ad a loyal friend maybe - surrounded by plenty beautiful and talented women - and even a 13 years old girl.Of course,he is in love with the most beautiful and powerful of them all ("know you place!" I would say if I were Moka XD).But of course Moka,also likes him a lot so they go through all hardship together.What a perfect couple!The other girls are fun too.You'll definitely like them!And they all fight for his sake...What a like guy,isn't he ? XD

ENJOYMENT : I can't find enough words to describe how much I enjoyed this manga!If there were higher marks than 10 I would surely give the highest to Rosario to Vampire,but since 10 is the only mark possible,then I'll give this manga a 10 + for enjoyment ^_^

As a conclusion,whether you like shounen manga,or shoujo manga,or supernatural manga or whatever other genre,you should at least TRY to read Rosario to Vampire.I guarantee you will be so into it that you'll read it in no time.I think this is a manga that will suite anyones tastes.

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

Ah Rosario+Vampire, my first encounter with this series a sour one manly because I watched both seasons of the Anime version first. I was not really impressed since it was just your stereotypical harem Anime that it actually made me facepalm more than once. Afterwords I was interested to see if the source material was any better (i.e. the Manga) and I got to say this is what the Anime "SHOULD" of been. The story was good, the fights were well done and even characters are better portrayed here. So with out further a due, here's my review.


The Story:

The story ... begins with a regular ordinarily human boy named Tsukune Aono who accidentally attends to Youkai Academy, a private school for monsters. There he must keep his true identity a secret in order survive because if anyone finds out that he is in deed human, he'll be kill on the spot. Lucky for him he makes some new friends (who happen to be beautiful girls who all fall for him) that fight along side him and one of his new friends, Moka Akashiya, so happens to be the legendary monster, a Vampire. The whole setting for this story was really well made in my opinion and in fact had some really good monster facts that I didn't even know about. The relationships that Tsukune has with his friends is relatively strong, especially with Moka. Also each challenge that they faced was pretty tough but they manage find a way and pull through. If I had to give any flaws it would be that the first few chapters can take a while to get up to speed, some of the fights can end abruptly and Tsukune and Moka can misunderstand each other a lot under certain circumstances but the story has a whole is good so I can't complain.


The Art:

In the first few chapters of this series, I found the art to be good but nothing to spectacular. As I read more chapters though the art got better and better, especially with the characters and battle scenes. For instance the characters faces early on were nicely drawn but in later chapters each character had much more emotion in there faces and can tell what they are going throw, it was nice to see. Although the battle scenes I think were the most unique. They had such good angles and foreshortening on characters arms and legs that it was really nice to look at. I really give props to the Mangaka on that.


The Characters:

Here I would like to talk about each of the Main Characters of this series one at a time (this part may take a while, sorry)....

Tsukune Aono: At first he doesn't do much in beginning except shield his friends so he can protect them and removes Moka's rosary to awaken her Vampire powers. However by chapter 10 he really starts to man up and eventually because a bad-ass with powers of his own. I really grew to like his character throw out the series and additionally he really likes Moka and tries to spend every moment with her.

Moka Akashiya: Now there are two sides of Moka in Rosario+Vampire. The pink haired Moka is the one who first meets Tsukune and is very nice, smart and the considered to be the most beautiful girl at Youkai Academy. She quickly befriends Tsukune and tells him that she is a Vampire, however her Vampire powers are sealed away due to the rosary that she wears around her neck. She can't take it off herself but it turns out that Tsukune is the only one who can and when it does come off, the pink haired Moka transforms into her true Vampire form complete with red eyes and silver hair. The silver haired Moka can kick your ass very quickly and tends to be more violent. I liked both Moka's, pink haired Moka shows that not only does so truly care for Tsukune but her friends as well and silver haired Moka is such a bad-ass.

Kurumu Kurono: She's might be the most energetic of the group and is also a Succubus. She was OK when she was first introduced but soon I grew to like her too when she started to trust her friendship with Tsukune, Moka and the others and she can hold her own in a fight when needed. She really likes Tsukune and often tries the most to win over his affections throwout the series.

Yukari Sendou: The youngest of the group since she is a genius student who skip a few grades. She is also a Witch who can use magical attacks such as tarot cards and most common a washtub that she uses to drop on peoples heads (mostly for comic relief). Not only does she really like Tsukune but also really likes Moka too and claims she wants to be with both of them. She may be my least favorite in the series but she is likeable and plus she's really funny when she picks fights with Kurumu.

Ruby Toujo: Another Witch who at first was a enemy that hated all humans but thanks to Tsukune and company, she becomes their ally and friend. I don't have much to say about her without giving away that might spoil anything except that she does see Yukari as a very good Witch friend and she to really likes Tsukune. And unlike Yukari, I liked her a lot and found her to be a better Witch.

Mizore Shirayuki: Without a doubt, my favorite character in the Manga. She is a Yuki-onna (Snow Women) who can freeze water into ice and can use ice and snow as a weapon. She can also create ice clones of herself and others. She always seen with a lollipop and like every other main girl, she really likes Tsukune. So much so that she stalks Tsukune everywhere he goes from behind trees, bushes, etc. She often freezes any of the other girls who tend to get to close to him. Plus she seems to be the only one who can tell how Tsukune is feeling and would do anything for him see him happy, even if its not what she really wants in the end. Clearly that is enough to make her my favorite character.

Now there are some supporting characters that were good but the only one I'll mention here is the Bus Driver on account that he was very mysterious and really cool.


Enjoyment:

It took a couple of chapters for me to really start enjoying this Manga but I feel it succeed during chapter 10. There were moments that I found it to be funny at times. The main characters were likable throw out the series and I enjoyed how they overcome many obstacles. Plus the art was very nice to look at from time to time.


Overall:

I may not like the Anime but the Rosario+Vampire Manga is a very good read. It may start off kind of slow but give it time and it will reward you with a good story, good battle scenes and likeable characters. So if you enjoy your Mangas with Monsters, Werewolf's, Witches, Lizard Creatures and of course Vampires, than give this one a shot. It may be right up your alley.



Final Score Card:

Story: 7/10
Art: 8/10
Characters: 8/10
Enjoyment: 8/10

Overall: 8/10

Now to talk about what I consider to be one of the best cases of the manga being superior to the anime, Rosario + Vampire.

Story - 10/10
15 year old Tsukune Aono enrolls at the Youkai Academy, due to the fact that no other high school will accept him, and while walking from the bus to the school, a girl named Moka Akashiya crashes into him - who reveals herself to be a vampire by sucking Tsukune's blood. After arriving at the school, he quickly realizes that the school is actually a school for monsters. And it turns out that Moka is in his ... class.

The story in the manga isn't exactly ground breaking on it's own, but it's actually like it's completely different from the anime - mainly because it feels like they take more time to flesh out the characters, as opposed to the anime, which felt like it was basically trying to rush to introduce all of the characters from the first season (I cannot comment on the second season, since I have not seen it, and to my understanding, the second season of the anime is not adapted from the manga). True, they do establish that this is a harem by introducing Kurumu in the second chapter, but after that, whenever a character is introduced, it feels like said character is actually being introduced to the story, instead of being forced into the story. Also, the fight scenes actually feel like fight scenes - they don't have a lot of fanservice, so it's easier to take them seriously. Also, the manga has a lot more content than the anime - however, I'm not going to list out all the things that the manga has that the anime doesn't, since that would be spoiling the manga, and it would also take me a long time to do so.

Art - 9/10
The anime has ONE advantage over the manga in this area: it's colored. Other than that, I would actually say that the art in the anime was a downgrade from the art in the manga (although I think that the studio responsible for making the anime adaptation is to blame for that).

Character - 10/10
While the personalities of the characters in the manga are similar to their anime counterparts, as mentioned previously, they have more time to develop, and as a result, they feel more fleshed out. Also, because there's more content in the manga, we actually get to see aspects of the characters that the anime doesn't show. For example, Mizore and Kurumu's parents are actually introduced - and it's apparent that the traits of those 2 are passed down.

Enjoyment: 10/10
This has easily earned itself a spot on my top 5 favorite manga, and I'm definitely going to read the second season. Stay tuned for when I eventually tackle the second season of the manga.

RIYL: Sekirei, Claymore, Immortal Regis

So, a show that's been plagiarized by none other than our great ecchi lords Gonzo, yet everyone keeps praising the manga for not being the same battle harem. Well... too bad, because that's exactly what it is! Rosario to Vampire at its core is a school harem with battle shounen elements. It is Season II where the battle shounen elements take precedence and overshadow the harem so much that you will forget it's entire first season aside from ONE key event.

RECOMMENDATION: Read this as a school harem with supernatural elements and you'll have an okay time. The structure is largely episodic building up to a ... shounen style fight for the climax of the chapter along with a trademark friendship lecture that is expected of Shounen JUMP manga. You won't feel disappointed and you don't have to rush through either. You'll have fun with the likable cast and their quirks, but don't expect much of them as realistic characters, since a lot is covered up by the plot elements, but there is catharsis and tidbits of proper development to be found here. It may be worth your time, but don't expect much, this isn't THAT different from the Gonzo adaptation, it's better, but not by much.

And with that... The STORY:
An episodic school harem where almost every chapter we encounter a jerk villain in one sense or another building up the relevant conflict until the climax where the main character is hurt and enables the One-Shot fix-it plot device to march in and stomp over the problem. Rinse and repeat ad nauseum. Be sure to add some other girls in order to have harem catfights, you always hold off your most badass character. The villains are irredeemable one-time caricatures of school bullying, stalking, obsessions and the like... and you have yourself a "great" story.

Well... until the author gets a hang of how to build up an arc, add some intrigue, change the setting to the contemporary world, have villains with ulterior motives and themes to them. Including Light Yagami wannabe because why not. It's not handled extremely well either, but it was certainly a step forward from the episodic throwaways. Though I wish it had a more proper climax for an ending arc, but it was an awkward enough time for the publisher as well to close one of its serialization magazines.

The ARTWORK is serviceable. It can be attributed to the old scans I was reading, but it just looks plain. But the simple thing is that the mangaka had to appease his edit. No panty shots of the badass, despite her signature move being a kick while dressed in a short school uniform skirt. Comedy is relegated to being a chibi background on small panels.
But it also shows that there is a sense of style when it comes to the villains, they are all drawn as horrors, beasts, heck, even Eldritch abominations later on. Too bad on the heroic side the most stylish thing we have are ominous eyes and a goth girl. The focus on the eyes when important was extremely good, as it is important both aesthetically and thematically to establish the thought process of the characters and what they're feeling. The framing is excellent and adds to the mood of the climactic scenes.
Alas it isn't until Season II where the mangaka goes crazy with well composited, detailed two-page scenes. Here it's like flexing his creativity to get a feel for how they would look like and there are still present here.

The CHARACTERS on the other hand... ugh. The protagonist is your generic shounen harem lead - Tsukune who is always standing up against injustice and putting himself in unnecessary danger... Look you fucking idiot, just call in your overpowered friend and have her deal with it for you, she won't mind, it's not like she cares about irredeemable villains either, I doubt she would listen to your stupid shounen lectures about the importance of others.

Then we have the main love interest- Moka, who is sweet, altruistic, caring and harmonizing. She's likable and the shadow character complimenting her presence make for a good dichotomy from a reader standpoint. But romance wise she just feels disconnected in a sense, just being sweet doesn't cut it for me. A romantic relationship, establishing and going through one takes a lot of effort, compromise and one has to accept the faults of the other. It's just how it is even if we feel something indescribably wonderful and sorrowful at the same time. Yes, yes, the complimentary personality of hers, she's just the badass, but there's nothing more to her, she's cold and distant, but yet so cool and is shown to be compassionate at times, but that's not played up to any significance whatsoever here because the status quo of shipping every girl of the harem must be upheld!

This is where the main contender for the romantic relationship comes in- Kurumu. She's a succubus, she's a creature of deviance and yet she wants Tsukune to truly love her without any cheap tricks she would use in her nature to devour men's souls through intercourse.. ahem... sorry, but that's the essence of her monstrous nature really. Alas it's only an ecchi, there is nothing that resembles sensuality or sexual frustration here, it's all just a high school romance. Kurumu joins as a rival to Moka for Tsukune, she's energetic righteous, emotional, upbeat, her main quirk is loving to throw herself into Tsukune with her (supposed) G-cups suffocating his face. Her monstrous nature get sidelined and she's only able to fly... such a badass!

Yukari, the loli witch. She also likes Tsukune, but she also likes Moka, she ships them, or at least doesn't mind their romance. In the harem, she's just the quirky loli. There isn't much to her, she has her quirks to add to the group, along with being the "school genius" which gives her the power of exposition dumping the reader and the cast at what they're facing.
Mizore is the ice girl stalker... that's it. Her quirk is to always be stalking behind a bush, table, pillar... you get the point. What she adds to the harem catfights are the straight man comments which I personally love. Pointing out the stupidity of of Kurumu's outbursts, and her arguments with Yukari.
And lastly Rubi who is introduced later and just makes appearances here and there not really playing any role as a part of the harem. She's mostly a decoration because she has the most distinct character design out of everyone.

So with that I'm just not impressed. Aside from Rubi, no one is fleshed out significantly to understand where they're coming from. The rest are just social exiles for whatever reason accepted by Tsukune so they can obsess over him for arbitrary reasons in order to have comedy skits, yaaaay! There is catharsis to be found in some villain arcs, but they are so few and far between, and in some cases rushed so it lacks impact. But it is a good showcase of spectacle coupled with catharsis. Not great, but serviceable at least, if not for the shounen lectures. Alas I could care less about these archetypes, it's the presentation on the panel framing that makes them powerful, not my dedication or intimate understanding of the characters or their themes. I simply can't empathize with them outside those extreme scenarios whose purpose is spectacle first, not personal drama. And as I mentioned the villains are all irredeemable with a few exceptions, one of them which gets retconned for extra salt.

Thus hindering my ENJOYMENT of immersing myself in these characters' lives and struggles, which are sidelined immediately for the next episodic chapter. The world had potential, but it's just concepts thrown in to add an artificial layer of drama to make up for the lack of actual character drama in order for the reader to root for the good guys. I don't like harem jinks either, there is no focus on each character, all we see are binary relationships between a pair. Moka is the peacekeeper, Kurumu is the bashful, reckless tomboy, Yukari is the smart one, Mizore is the observant straight (wo)man, Tsukune is the self-insert blank slate until the shounen switch in his brain is activated for his death wish each time, but at least that still gives him a character trait.

So in the end it was a chore to read through most of the time and thinking about it, it has ignored quite a few elements, not to mention most of the episodic characters never had significance all throughout Season II, which is what most praise this series for.

When you think about vampires now a days, it's probably those piece of crap Twilight movies you think of. The vampires that shine in the sunlight, the vampires that don't get killed with a wooden stick to the heart, the vampires that now have fans fighting over Team Jacob and Team Edward. Well Japan likes the old vampires just the way they are. And Akihisa Ikeda likes to put a twist on a vampire, but keeps a lot of their classic species just the way it is. Rosario+Vampire is a great read. It is about a boy named Tsukune Aoto, he flunked the eigth grade ... and now no high school will take him. His parents however, find the perfect high school for him. At first, Tsukune is super excited. Then he realizes he has entered Yukai Academy, a high school exclusively for monsters. Tsukune is about to leave the academy, until he meets Moka Akasiya. She becomes Tsukune's friend and Tsukune feels kind of protected. Then the monster boys start getting jealous, and then we get a perfect adventure fighting all kinds of crazy things. Rosario+Vampire is awesome, while the story isn't superb and Moka doesn't have all the classic problems of a vampire, the art is amazing, the characters are funny and lovable, it is an enjoying monster manga. I recommend this manga to all you otaku's out there. It's an enjoyable funny manga that any otaku can enjoy.

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 admit 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.

To start off with, if you haven't read the manga, this review will contain spoilers, so read really, dont read it, you must have read the manga before you read this review, dont say I didnt warn you.

I will be diving into the basics of a review. The story, the artwork, and of course the characters.

Rosario Vampire is, to begin with, a typical shounen manga, not breaking the norm of any kind when it comes to supernatural beings and humans being thrown into the mix to make things interesting. Aono Tsukune, a 15 year old human, is put into an academy for monsters in ... a protective barrier from the human world. Upon arriving he meets Akashiya Moka, a vampire of the same age (but a vampire who can go out in the day, so a cool vampire...sorta). The two hit it off in a typical, love at first sight, kinda meeting as she sucks his blood before departing to the school after agreeing to be friends, only later to meet again, and the cycle beign from there for this harem style shounen manga. A small quirk in the story is that humans cannot attend this monster school, so any human there will be killed on discovery as all monsters must wear a human form (you see where I'm going with this?), so Tsukune must hide his true identity, whilst never failing to be surprised by other students true forms.

The story changes well between the whole monster school apect and its customs, to the battles between monsters (protecting the weak human) which always ends in the memorable quote of "know your place" from the inner peronality of our vampire Moka. That's right, Moka has two personalities and forms due to the charmed rosario hung n her neck by a chocker, which can only be removed by our human Tsukune. Upon removing this item, Moka transforms into her full vampire self and kicks major ass, compared to her love struck counterpart.

As the story develops, more girls are thrown into the mix to begin with ( Kurumu a succubus ad Yukari a witch) to make this a complete harem, but not before some predictable occurnces happen which didn't surprise me in the slightest. The remaining few girls, par one which doesnt come for a while, all try to attack and or kill Tsukune to begin with, before coming to the light that he is such an amazing and handsome, and also kind person and then fall madly in love with him, fighting with the other girls over who will have his heart...asides from Yukari, who wants a threesome with Tsukune and Moka, but is much to young for these things and is only in high school due to her intelligence.

Later on, a plot twist occurs (but not really) when a previous enemy returns, informing the schools police that Tsukune is a human and that Moka has been protecting him (the other girls, Kurumu and Yukari, do not know before chapter 10) so both he and moka are taken captive, as Tsukune is beaten and tortured into confessing by the police leader Kuyou, who on upon the arrival of Kurumu, Yukari (who now know he is human, but still love him regardless) and also Gin (Tsukune's only male friend) he attempts to beat them up, but is momentarily subdued by Gin, but then goes super sayen on their asses and beats them all up as well as burning them due to being a fire monster.

Tsukune beocmes desperate in the fact he cannot remove Moka's charm rosario, so things look pretty bleaque. This is the "oh no!" moment of the manga, when you're supposed to think things are going to get really bad, but we all know how these things turn out, so the story isn't surprising still.

Much to my surprise though, when Kuyou wishes to kill all of the others before Tsukune to make him suffer and decides to start with Moka, Tsukune throws his body in the path of the fireball, before falling and catching the rosario by accident, releasing Moka by accident (a constant gag throughout the series, never seems to get old though). Now left thinking things may get bad, another plot twist occurs, when for the first time in their whole relationship, Inner Moka shows caring feelings for Tsukune as she injects him with her blood to save his life from the burns as her blood can heal him as Vampire's are immortal, so their blood has the same properties. When this informaiton was revealed, I almost died with joy at the wonderous plot twist which gives things a "OMG whats going to happen now" facto, especilly after she dmits the ampire blood may also kill him as he is human, and vampire blood is volatile due to its strength (another plot twist).

Other things then go down, Innor Moka tries to fight Kuyou, but for the first time is losing because due to giving up some of her blood, she is weaker than normal (another plot twist). then just before she is bout to be beaten, BAM, Tsukune stands up radiating with vmapire power, because due to the injections, he now has vampire blood in his body forever (plot twist again) but it only makes him a vampire for a short time (and in that time he kicks Kuyou's ass, which was a favourable plot twist form the screaming ans useless Tsukune) until the supernaturl power in the blood is fully used, then he returns to normal, just having cool blood in his body, but not how we all want it (this is where the what if factor comes into it).

As time goes by, Tsukune is injected with Vampire blood on a regular basis, to either give him power to fight, or to heal him when he is close to death, which leads to the first reason. Times like this include when he meets Ruby, who tries to kill him, before he beats her and she them becomes a harem member much lter after some other stuff goes down, and when we meet Mizore (my favourite) because he helps her from a bad guy.

After seeing so much Vampire blood injections, we begin to think there is no side effect right? Wrong. After the Mizore incident, Tsukune still has some vampire power left in the blood, so its not normal vampire blood, its dangerous vampire blood, because the power having not been used, starts to hurt Tsukune on a large scale, and the injection marks form Moka's fangs do not face, and are the main cause of his pain. this returns us to the "OMG whats gonna happen now" factor, because this little side effect means Tsukune can die. Taking advantage of his momentary weakness, a previous enemy form chapter 1, Saizo, comes to try and rape Moka again and beat Tsukune.

Saizo thinks Tsukune is relaly weak having beat him in chapter 1, only for Inner Moka to beat his ass bad. Tsukune also refferes to himself as a vampire to a threatening Saizo in chapter 1 to try and protect his human identity, to which Saizo thinks he is a lying, weaker monster, but not human.

When Tsukune is cut on his chest and left for dead by a gang member with Saizo, Moka is held back from going to the imoblie Tsukune, so she cannot inject him with blood (which they dont know about) and stop him from removing her rosario (which they do know about). So once again we have the what if factor thrown in as well as the OMG factor. When things begin to look bad, Tsukune gets up with vampire powers despite not having been injected (SUPER SAYEN PLOT TWIST) and kicks the other guys asses' before turning to Saizo who shouts in desibelief of Tsukune being a vampire. this is mainly out of fear of Tsukune's appearance, as when in "vampire mode" as it is sometimes reffered to, he takes the image of a vampire, in having lighter hair, and crimosn eyes with slitted pupils (a vampire's biggest trait), so Saizo feels stupid but wants to believe Tsukune is not a vampire (and he's right, but they dont know that) but is still beaten by Tsukune, who then returns to normal, having used the rest of the vampire power in his blood.

come the next few chapters, more emotional disputes between characters (which never seems to cease to surprise me, due to them being supposedly good friends) is all stopped when Moka is kidnapped, and Tsukune goes to save her (its his fault anyway because the bad guys dont like vampires, and they think he's a vampire after he beat Saizo, and he upset Moka, so she was left alone). When he is taken to the bad guy lair, head bad guy (or so you think) starts trying to beat Tsukune up, but When Moka admits she should be the one being beaten, the bad guy turns to her agreeing. In typical hero fashion, Tsukune says nice words to Moka about her ebing of large help to him, and how things aren't her fault, and runs towards Moka, stupidly, still in human form whilst Moka is chained up, so things look bad now.

When the bad guy swings to punch Tsukune (which will kill him in a weak human body) Tsukune suddenly gains Vampire eyes and uses vampire speed to dodge the punch much to everyones, even Moka's, surprise (he doesnt seem to care though). after doing this he releases Inner Moka who stops bad guy, and then tells Tsukune to leave the academy, because his body is breaking apart due to too much vampire blood (shown by the cracking marks across Tsukune's face coming from the bite marks on the right side of his neck).

When things get emotional and sad, the bad guy comes back with a dirty tactic of subdueing Moka using the sprinklers to spray water ( a vampire's biggest weakness) and so the OMG factor comes back as Moka bagins to lose again, and is about to be beaten by a big punch, which Tsukune bloks using the somehow lingering vampire power in his body, but pushes himself to near death in the process. Despite being dangerous as it can kill him, Moka gives Tsukune more blood to save his life, which has the biggest andbest plot twist ever. Tsukune is then no longer human but is instead a ghoul, which is like a vampire and just as strong, sorta, but is mindless, and so just kills everything.

This then leads to a very emotional scene where Tuskune starts going insane and laughing in an evil fashion as he beats a large amount of gang members close to death, even attack his harem as he is no longer himself. This is where another OMG factor comes in. Moka must kill Tsukune as there is no saving him, and she nearly does, before a robed man with Ruby (the person from before who tried to kill him) appears and saves him (who would have thought).

Tsukune is now left with vampire powers and vampire healing, but is back to normal and is "human" again, due to the help of a charmed braclet he has. Downside, when he uses his powers a link breaks, and when all links are broken, he dies (turns back into a ghoul).

If you see where I'm going from here then good. More bad guys appear and the story actually starts to continue on the climb upward, as we encounter the rela leader of the gang, who wants to destroy the barrier surorunding the school, and mke humans and monsters fight in a war against each other. He also sends lead sof bad guys to fight Tsukune, which causes him to brek more links.

Eventually when the others find out who the gang leader is, a whole bunch of stuff kicks off, and everyone is pushed to their limits to fight this guy, as Moka has been kidnapped again. Whe everyone thinks they have won, the bad guy attacksthe headmaster and starts working on his plan, but Tsukune steps into the fight and uses his powers to fight the guy, but this guy is different from the others, he can dodge Tsukune's attacks, so Tsukune get's his ass handed to him, right before he starts losing control despite all the links not breaking (apparently it can happen, I dunno). that's when the OMG factor returns when Inner Moka turns up, despitre not having removed the rosario.

More stuff goes down and the bad guys gets defeated, right before we think he might win in the typical fashion. He even helps to fix his own plan and saves the academy and barrier, before ultimately losing, which is generalaly the onlyinteresting things in the manga, other things happen like Tsukune's school festival, and the harem visiting his home, but if you want to know more, read the manga.

Now to the artwork. To begin with, the artwork is not bad, but its not winning any award either. Its very amaturish, which shows the beginning of the manga, which I thnk holds an almost endearing quality to it, as it progresses and becomes better as does the manga itself. Come chapter 10, the artwork slowly increases on a one way train to awesome street, but misses its stop, and gets off at orgasmic quality junction. the character disigns become more refined and the faces beocme much more expressive, as well as not looking so round in shape. To this day I still look at the artwork in admiraiton of how wonderful it is. By the end of the manga, the artwork had won my heart over compeltely, and it had gone from good enough, to the level that should earn itself an award without even trying.

The characters are a little annoying to begin with, as they are all rinse and repeat chracters, all follwong the same predictable line. Later as they are given perosnalities and such, they are further explored, and although they still retian the usual rinse and repeat actions, for some reason, you just love them for it. Allthe little quirks the have and what they do you smile at or laugh at when you se eit, because its so predictable that hey would do it. ike how a prent would laugh seeing their child eat something because it was predictable they would eat it.

To conclude, I htink this is a wonderful manga, and it is certainlyby far my most favourite, I have read season 1 a dozen times over, and I am still waiting for season 2 to be updated. Despite all the flaws I have pointed out, for some reason they are portrayed so well in this manga. The predictbilities and such are shown in such a way, you almost didnt predict it. The plot twists left me keen to know more, and pleasantly surprised by all of it as I was taken down a street I didn't know, but I liked it.

If you are new to shounen manga, or even if you are a die hard veteran, this is certainly a manga you can read and enjoy with no worries. The story, as well as everything else, sorts itself out as it progresses, and before long this manga is so deep in your heart you cannot bear to part with it, and even if you can, you will still think of it and it leads you straight back to the manga which is so loveable, I myself am always captivated by it, now matter how much time passes.

Squint. Squint hard, darn it.

The story... starts off pretty generic. But it grows. It is classic formula, reminiscent of Love Hina with it's "vacation" arcs. There's a repetition, a monster-of-the-week drama, where Tsukune or someone else makes a mistake and has to do some character-development and apologizing before the villain is defeated.

However, unlike many repetitive formulas, these small, incremental moments of growth pay off. The story and overarching plot sneaks up on you, bit by bit...

Squint hard at the characters: Especially Moka and her inner-self. The subtlety in how she grows to accept Tsukune and the rest of the cast as her friends is... ... well, subtle. Not even fans of the manga recognize it, but there are moments where she breaks down in tears, or grins in admiration, and readers completely miss it. Please, do your best not to miss it!

Moka isn't the only character, though. Even then, the rest of the cast is pretty fantastic... Tsukune, the "typical protagonist", is surprisingly atypical, as the only human resident of Youkai academy. He strikes a balance between the "luckless wimp" and the "destined hokage", not being a pushover who relies on his friends, but not being the "second coming", either. Kurumu is more than just a rival, Mizore is more than just a sweet face. Even Yukari tries to break her mold of being a lil' girl.

The art improves! And then it improves so much it begins to develop an uncanny valley. But even then, the increased definition and quality of the art adds to the subtle maturation of the characters, as they live out their first year in school and begin to grow up... A wonderful mixture of story and art being cohesive and communicating a sense of maturation and the journey into adulthood.

And it fits with the tone. The seriousness of monsterkind, the comedy and restless moments of innocent youth - they seem to contradict one another and make the story seem inconsistent, but it's only through the use of these two opposite ends of the spectrum that you can achieve balance and moderation, and communicate a realisitic story of characters growing up and taking on daunting responsibilities, pursuing reckless, dangerous, but precious love.

...Definitely enjoyable. Hits all of the marks of a good coming-of-age romance story. To see Tsukune grow, to see Moka (especially her sealed side) open up to him, both wonderful storylines and a gratifying romance.

In a sense, Rosario Vampire is a better manga than its sequel, because it actually "concludes" on a conclusive, satisfying note. It doesn't promise so much, leaving the reader satisfied with a nice 40-chapter story that never overstayed it's welcome.

Of course, it deserved and necessitated a continuation with how it ended... but it didn't have to end with more stories on the horizon. Not everything has to be dramatic, not everything has to be emotionally pulverizing. Rosario + Vampire's conclusion is balanced and nuanced, harmonious and easy to read.

Generic is an easy term to use. But let me remind you...squint. With an appreciation to detail, and appreciating the entire context of the story, and the worth of this manga is clear as day.

May contain slight spoilers. So be warned.

Story: 4

Well, there is hardly any plot at all. It basically follows a generic formula(of the most generic kind i've ever read) of meet some new bad guys every chapter or two, give some basic generic cliche background, and then fight. It would not matter that much, however, the fights are just as generic and boring as the story, and so are their powers. Even the fights formula is generic, and they always start and end the same way(you'll know when you read it). Rinse and repeat. There is no suspense whatsoever, except for perhaps one arc which concerns ... Tsukune, but even that goes nowhere. Hopefully the second season picks up where that left off, and the whole series starts to explain some things and there is a story happening, and is not just filler after filler. However, i'm not going to hold my breath.

Art: 8

This is the best thing about the series. It has a pretty good clean style, and plenty of fan service. The monsters are pretty nice to look at, and what fighting there is is clean and easy to understand what's going on. But that doesn't say much, because the main characters always do the same move, so you're basically just left looking at the new bad guy of the week.

Character: 5

There is hardly any character development. They all have their basic background stories, and that's about it. And that is only given so that there is an excuse to set up the fights, and to give some panty shots or to pull Tsukunes head into their chest etc. The main character is the most boring and useless guy you will ever have the displeasure of meeting. All his harem girls are also one dimensional caricatures, and serve no purpose except fanservice, and each chapter they all act the same way and this gets repetitive fast. If it was enjoyable, and they were like cameo's, it wouldn't have been so bad. However, they are main characters, and there isn't even one character who i actually really liked(which isn't normally the case, because even if i hate the main characters, there's usually one support character i really like, but that's not the case here). No redeeming features at all.

Enjoyment: 5

I was not really excited about any chapters at all, it's mostly just from looking at fanservice/art that garners the most 'enjoyment'.

Overall: 6

I was very disappointed by the reviews that this series got, and was totally surprised with the relative high ratings.. i picked this up because it was a recommendation from Mx0(which i hold in high regard, even though it's an unfinished series), but in my opinion, Mx0 totally blows this out of the water in terms of plot, characters, and enjoyment(and even art, so in every way heh). While it may share similar settings, the quality and enjoyment could not be further apart. Do not be tricked like i was(both had 8+ ratings). Do not expect anything close to Mx0. If Mx0 was an 8, this is more like a 5-6, and that's only because the artwork was decent. Story and characters/enjoyment really sucks hard in this. There's no suspense or awkward situations at all, like how in Mx0 he had no magic power, and in this one he's meant to be human and no magic either, it does not explore those themes at all, so i feel kind of tricked by the recommendation.

I did finish this however, so i guess it's not THAT bad(well, to be fair, the first volume or two was kind of interesting, but after that, you will just get disappointed as you realize that it's not going to go anywhere, and that's too bad because i think the setting had potential, but the mangaka did not take it down that road at all, ie could of made it darker/more serious and less 'kiddy'). However, it's also not good at all(and with just slightly above average art, but for an ecchi series, it's just average since it's to be expected), and i would not recommend it to anyone except the most bored manga readers with very low standards when it comes to characters, plot, and enjoyment, and who is a hardcore ecchi vampire fanboi, and who have not read very many manga series, because that way you can read this with a low standard and move onto better stuff, since if you've already read other better stuff and then read this(as i have), you will be utterly disappointed and bored, and even slightly offended with how cliche and generic the story is. It's like the mangaka treats it's readers with disdain and even knows his story is crap/nonexistant, yet he still doesn't care and knows it's readers will keep buying the manga regardless.. kind of reminds me of Haruhi and the endless 8 arc.. lol

Yes, i'm going to check out the second season/series, so i guess it's readable and will pass the time, but it's the most generic harem/ecchi/vampire/monster story you'll ever read, so don't expect anything except the most averageharem/ecchi/vampire/monster 'story'(or rather, decent artwork with some filler story thrown in as an excuse to show said artwork), but with above average artwork(which is to be expected from a ecchi title). I would recommend Mx0 a hundred times over, and then recommending another 100 harem/ecchi/supernatural titles before even mentioning this.

Ok, i dont usually say this about many mangas but...... ROSARIO VAMPIRE ROX!!!
it has a perfect amount of adult humour, immature humour, comedy, action and storyline!!

the only downside to this manga is that the battles between moka and the monsters all end the same.
it's all she has her rosario pulled off, tsukune is almost dead, moka bites him and infuses her blood, tsukune turns into a rampaging human x vampire, he punches the monster, blood comes out of their mouths and it just goes over and over!!!
But other than that, the art, story and characters are totally awesome.

If you enjoy Ikki Tousen or ... any teenage type manga or anime, i recomend Rosario Vampire

I must admit that I've seen Rosario+Vampire anime even before starting reading manga, so I had some sort of expectations. Generally, Rosario+Vampire is story about human guy Aono Tsukune, who couldn't find any other high schools that would accept him except for the Youkai (monster) academy, which is actually protected by grand barrier preventing humans to enter. What is the real reason that he's able to enter the academy remains a secret.

Alright, let's move on. In the very beginning of story, he bumps into beautiful vampire Akashiya Moka and they start to get along very well. She's not that ordinary kind of bloody murderous vampire, ... so stay calm. Moka's inner powers are rated as S-class, but it's sealed by silver cross on her neck, which provides complete makeover of her appearance and personality. So as the result we have very nice, charismatic and overally perfect girl you could only dream about.

Storyline (8) itself is filled with lot of action featuring supernatural powers of all kinds of monsters usually containing funny aspects. I couldn't possibly give it better score, but I guess you can expect that from most of slice of life genre. Note that I don't look down on a story at all, it's actually really catching, still it's more about amazing characters than story I guess. As a time passes by, he meets several more girls, who initially appear as either enemy or absolute stranger, but resulting in falling in love with Tsukune.

Characters (10) are generally really funny, so I got to like them very fast. I guess it can be called a "guy and a harem" as he always has girls around. Main character is caring guy with strong will and great potential. Althrough he's human in school of monsters, he's never acted like scared wreck.

If you have watched anime before, do not expect that much love atmosfere. Even though I'm huge fan of ecchi, I must admit that I actually liked manga better. Story is much more understandable in manga and has main events in better order. My overall score is (9).

I'll try my best to net let Season 2 influence my ratings on the first season, but I can't promise anything.

Story:
The basis of this manga is the harem genre. If you don't like harems, fear not, for there is more to it than just that. First of all, we have an interesting setting, a human at a monste school with monster girls all over him. And while the romance is always there, the main focus soon turns to the fights. Rosario + Vampire is a unique mix between Action and Romance that should offer something for everybody. And if you're not sure if you wanna ... read something labeled Ecchi, don't worry, there is very few nudity (I only remember one time breasts are actually shown). Due to Tsukunes development caused by Mokas blood, the story stays interesting, even though the basic formula stays the same. The bad guys could have used a bigger variety of motivation for starting fights than just "I want to beat Tsukune cause he's like really strong" or "Damn that Moka is so hot, gotta kill her boyfriend", as it can feel a little repetitive.
7/10

Art:
The artwork is really, really awesome. The backgrounds look pretty good, especially the graveyard in front of the dormitories. The fight scenes all look good as well, you always have a clue what's going on. But the most outstanding feature are the characters. Everybody in Rosario + Vampire is incredibly pretty, the girls AND the boys. Even Tsukune, who looks rather plain compared to all the other handsome dudes, is not too shabby. Even though I'm a Mizore guy, I gotta say that Moka (both of them) is one of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen in an Anime or Manga. The more serious a scene, the more detailed the characters are drawn and it never feels out of place. Seriously, there is nothing bad I can say about the artwork.
10/10

Characters:
Being a Harem Manga at heart, you wouldn't expect very deep characters. But some of them have more meat on their bones (insert dirty joke here) than similar ones from other works. Tsukune for example, while he is our boring friendly everydude in the beginning, he evolves quite a bit, thanks to the vampire blood injected into him. As far as male harem leads go, he's pretty interesting. The female lead is a split personality, one being the "boring" nice girl, the other being a ruthless and seemingly heartless ass-kicking machine (that legs, DAYUM!). As Inner Moka only develops feelings for Tsukune very late in season one, we don't get much drama out of it (yet). The rest of the cast didn't have much time to shine (again, yet), but Kurumu is pretty interesting as far as beta females go. Despite being a succubus and throwing herself at Tsukune every chance she gets, she is actually not a pervert at all, even being ashamed of somebody seeing her panties. That's a weird combination, but she makes it work. She has a kind heart and would never force Tsukune to sex her (even though that's exactly what a succubus is supposed to do). All I can say is, the characters are interesting, but they could be a little deeper (Season II ahoy).
8/10

Enjoyment:
Comedy, Romance, Action, Drama and some mild fansevice, Rosario + Vampire offers something for everybody. Likeable characters and a story that, even if it's not necessarily a great one, keeps moving forward, on top of that and you have one of the most entertaining Manga of the past decade. People who want Romance without Action or Action without Romance will have a hard time getting into R+V, but if you don't mind some genre mixing, you will be entertained a lot. You should definately give it a try.
9/10

Overall:
8.5/10

I first tryed out Rosario + Vampire at a sleepover with a friend who happened to own the first volume. I was drawn in by the good art and a plot summary on the back whit sounded interesting. I started reading it and soon learned that it was an ecchi.
However, I was gladdened to learn that, although being an ecchi, it doesn't shoot for bras and panty shots every five panels like some series in this genre tend to. Instead, it often seems to shoot more for action, romance and sometimes even drama.

Story: 6/10
Although being enjoyable in its own right, the plot is very ... episodic for most of the series with very little underlying plot. Near the end, it seems to start to have an actual plot aside from just "A monster's trying to kill Tukune/rape Moka so Tsukune must pull off Moka's rosary so she can turn into a vampire and kick it's ass". These supposed plots however are resolved very quickly and are practically forgotten about afterwards. This is a shame since I think the series could have gone a lot farther with the Anti-Thesis plot but that's resolved before even the last volume where we instead get a fanservicey school festival plot. The series just doesn't seem to know where it's going.

Art: 9/10
As I stated in my intro, the art is one of the main things this series has going for it. It does turn chibi a fair bit, but this is mainly just in the more comedic scenes and is used to great affect. This is an ecchi series of course, but it definetely has some dignity. The main fighter in this series, Moka mainly uses her legs to fight and, since her school uniform includes a skirt, that would usually result in a lot of panty shots in any other ecchi series. This is not so in Rosario. Though there is a panty shot this way once in a while, most of the time it's shadowed so that you can't see anything. Although some people may be upset about this (you know who you are) I don't think it's really a bad thing since it keep the fanservicey shots more... special? The only character who you can always rely on a panty shot from is the sucubus Kurumu, who seems to get a panty shot everytime she appears, accomanied by her shoving Tsukune's head into her supposedly G cup breasts.

Character: 6/10
I have to say, the characters for this are not very good. There all plenty of fun, yes, but like with a lot of ecchi series, they're underdevloped and predictable steryotypes meant to suit a certain fetish. The lolita, the big breasted girl, the quiet one, etc.

Enjoyment: 8/10
Despite it's flaws, Rosario + Vampire does hold its reader's attention fairly well and manages to remain interesting. It's a lot of fun and I at least enjoyed it. As well, it's really interesting to see all the kinds of monsters the author came up with.

I'd say that if you're looking for a light hearted little fighting series with maybe some fanservice, you'll probably enjoy this. And ladies, I think you may enjoy this too since there really isn't an ungodly amount of panty and bra shots and there's even some manservice!

Oh! And there's a sequel! Let's hope that has more plot!

Overall, I give this monsterous escapade a 7 out of 10.

Plot. Substance. Two words you can say that this manga, without a doubt, has none of. In fact, this manga has nothing to be proud of except for its babes. Character development has gone AWOL for this poor guy. RV revolves around an indecisive loser who seems to have accumulated a flock of bombshells, yet, being the loser he is, manages to score cero. And although it may seem like there is a plot and substance, they are mere mirages of suspense.

If you ever find yourself bored with only manga to accompany you, and you are male and interested in PWP without the first P, ... then this manga is perfect for you.

I read RV and began reading the second one: it took me one whole series to realize that nothing is going to happen, and nothing will ever happen. The same thing seems to happen ever chapter, which I found more that a little repetitive. "Know your place..."

I love this story I wished I got to it much sooner I came acrossed it before it seemed alright but I just ignored it. While I read other manga's but once I read most other manga's of anime's I've watch and stuff and was bored. I decided to check it finally and once I read the first chapter I just fall in love with this story. I tought it was great that a normal human (Tsukune) pretty much fell in love with Moka the vampire at first glance or in Moka's case first bite hehe. And then he starts collecting other girls on the ... way Kurumu the succubus. Yukari the little witch genius who technically like both Tsukune and Moka. Mizore the snow woman who is Tsukune own personal stucker and then Ruby who comes to Yokai Academy only to be near Tsukune. Man this story is just awesome and so is part two of it.

Before doing anything this will be my first review. Also don't kill me for bad grammar English is not my first language or even my second it's my third.


Story - 8
I gave the story an eight because it started out boring and typical (opinion) as a harem, romance, comedy manga which was what I expected at first, but eventually the manga turned into something deep and dark and was great, but it isn't something you expected right? So it was great but not expected which is why it was an 8.

Art - 8
Alright don't kill me here, but I really don't have anything to say ... about art. Okay next.

Character's - 8
The characters are all basic harem characters. Wimpy guy check, daring girl check, shy and reserved check, flat chested check, Stalker check. Although with all of those basic characters the author presented them in way that you won't forget making them memorable.

Enjoyment - 10
Enjoyment is the biggest part of a manga or anything entertaining. Even if everything is great if the author doesn't present in way that leave a mark on your heart. Then to be perfectly honest the manga would suck. Now with this manga although the characters are generic the story took a long while to become good the entertainment value was always there and kept you wanting to read more.

Overall-9
For me personally I love this manga and is one of my all time favorites even with that. I have to review in a un-biased way making me give it a 9 instead of a 10.

I'm a reader that's fairly new to manga, so these reviews of mine should be read with that in mind.

On the surface, Rosario+Vampire is a lot of why I never got into Japanese manga & anime before; it's chock-full of clichés. The school setting, the unwanted harem, the monster-of-the-week common plot, etc etc. I was pointed to it by friends who told me "It's better than it sounds", and indeed it is. For one thing, it gets better with time. The art improves, the stories improve, and the characters improve.

The story does get darker from about half-way through this first run, ... and in my opinion it's a turn for the better. Tsukune undergoes significant character development because of it, as does "outer-Moka"; "inner-Moka" not so much in this first series (more so in Rosario+Vampire II)

There is a fairly large degree of fanservice in the manga, though I hear the anime has more. Most of the time, it's not enough to harm the story. It's noticeable that Moka tends to be treated with a little more respect by the artist than the other girls (perhaps because she's the main girl)

So, to start my review off, let's just put out that I watched the anime first. And found that lacking. However, after a several month break, I took it upon my self to start reading the manga, which many people had found better. I was both pleasantly, and unpleasantly surprised.


Story (7/10): This is the area I feel the most conflicted over. It started out pretty mediocre, like the anime, but over time became more complex and interesting. Eventually, I started very much enjoying it. The story arcs were always interesting, and I enjoyed the fact that the main character was not stagnant, like so many ... other MCs. In the broad range of overarching story, I'd probably have put it at a 8 or 9.

Now, here's why it didn't reach that high: After about the 3/4s point of the manga, I felt like the story structure started to become repetitive. To be blunt, almost every chapter began follow the same script. Without spoilers: MC and Moka have a fight. They decide they aren't going to see each other any more. Bad guy of the day picks a fight with one of the two. The other comes to the rescue. They make up. Done. Every. Single. Time.

The first few times, it was interesting, because it was supposed to convey character development. But... WHERE'D THE DEVELOPMENT GO? You'd think after the 9th time the MC and Moka fight over a misunderstanding, they'd learn some communication skills and try to find what really happened. Especially given that the exact same kind of thing happened last episode and they promised not to leave each other. But nope. No such luck.

Overall, good story arcs, repetitive individual chapter plots.


Art (9/10): The art was mediocre at first, to the point where I didn't really like it. Characters' level of detail fluctuated, shading seemed weird, etc, to the point where it just made me uneasy. But over time, the art style stabilized, and more detail was added to individual shots. Shading was more advanced and consistent, characters had more range of expression, and above all, the backgrounds of each shot became much more interesting, all the while not distracting from the foreground. By the end, I very much liked the art style.


Character (9/10): If I were to rate the individual characters, most of them would be in the range of 6-7, but where the characters shine is in their interactions with each other. On their own, the characters are a fairly classic assortment of harem archetypes, but when they interact, they become interesting and somewhat unique characters.

While I did not love the main character at first (being the wimpy kid he is), he did improve throughout the story (and I mean, he actually did change, not just that I like him better). The girls' interactions with the main character are fairly stereotypical, and not that interesting (why do they like him again?), unfortunately; however, their interactions with each other are usually either emotional or funny, and the humor is well balanced.

Overall, stereotypical characters who become funny and unique through their interactions.


Enjoyment (7/10): Let me start this off by saying: If the chapters had had more unique stories, this would be 2 points higher. It just kept repeating itself for so long, that I got bored and wasn't enjoying myself anymore, to the point where I had to force myself to finish it.

However, earlier on, it was very fun to read and I always enjoyed in when a new part of the plot advanced or a new character was introduced. It was good for a few laughs here and there as well. It was especially fun to watch the main character change and grow throughout the story (unlike half a million other anime/manga MCs). I only wish the other characters grew as well. If it lost half the filler fights, I'd find it nicer to read.


Overall (8/10): Decent manga, with fun characters and good art (at least towards the latter parts), which had a good story, but dragged on too long. I would recommend this for a read, but I would avoid marathoning it due to its repetition.