Rosario+Vampire Review     Oct 10, 2008     reviewed by ChocoMilkTea    

Rosario + Vampire is your usual Shounen, Supernatural, Harem, Romantic, Comedy about an average, human, high school boy (Tsukune Aono) whose thrown into a den of monsters. Sure this doesn’t seem all that original; nonetheless it’s still an enjoyable manga. ^_^

Even though this is just your average high school Rom/Com, the monster element helps this manga to stand out from the rest. The beginning basically introduces the main characters, allowing us readers to get to know them, especially focusing on the growing relationship between Tsukune (human) and Moka (vampire). But the actual content does get somewhat repetitive, with a monster randomly appearing and forcing things into fight mode. Nevertheless it’s good when the story breaks free from the usual episodic stories to surprise us with a somewhat in-depth story. The characters are what help bring it all together, including a great amount of bloody battles.

There’s nothing unique about the character set-up, seeing how it does the same old thing; by having yet another “loser-kun” male protagonist with cute, attractive girls. Each of the girls has their own unique personality and trait that separates them from one another, allowing the readers to pick their own favourite. Moreover some of the characters do break free from their stereotypical archetypes, especially Tsukune who undergoes some surprising developments.

The artwork for this manga comes in 2 forms; the most prominent being the usual day to day high school occurrences, with incredibly simplistic artwork and then there’s the pockets of action, with bloody intensifying artwork. The characters designs are somewhat imaginative but they tend to lack detail in their features. I must add that the artwork undergoes some dramatic changes, for the better, as the story progresses.

Overall Rosario + Vampire is a manga that gives of the impression of being pretty average in the beginning but will surprise its readers, with an enjoyable story later on. It’s great that in this shounen manga, the fanservice played second fiddle to the actual story. Even though things get fairly repetitive and the bad guys pretty much have the “monster of the week” set-up; the diverse main characters make up for its shortcomings and even Tsukune develops into a guy worthy of a Harem. So if you’re someone who would enjoy this sort of manga, then check it out.

^_^

ChocoMilkTea also recommended:
Is this review helpful? Yes | No

Awe+Some     Sep 25, 2008     reviewed by Scorpian    

The whole vampire and monster story thing is really hard to pull off without being strange. However, Rosario+Vampire pulls it off really well. This is one of the funniest things I've read. It focuses a little too much on the whole friendship thing, though. Aside from that, it's really well worth it. A second season of this series is currently serializing over in Japan. That just goes to show how popular it is. It's a very easy story to get into, and not too hard to follow. The jokes are also blunt, simple, and, in most cases, just plain wrong. Strongly recommended.

Scorpian also recommended:
Is this review helpful? Yes | No