Manga Review: Afterschool Nightmare (volumes 1 & 2)

I mentioned in my review of Afterschool Charisma that I picked it up thinking it was a volume in the series of Afterschool Nightmare, that would be these books actually. It's another series that was published by CMX so I didn't find out about it until after the company folded. I found the first two (out of I believe ten) books up here at the local library (because apparently libraries love CMX and Go Comi manga, all the better for me!) and checked them out after I made off with half of the libraries selection of +Anima and it looks like they don't have the rest, boo.

Afterschool Nightmare by Setona Mizushiro

Summary: Mashio Ichijo has a secret, he identifies as a guy but was born with the lower half of his body female and the story starts with his first period. Later in the day, after discussing with his classmates why they can't remember any of their classmates who recently left, he is called by the school nurse to the secret basement of the school to face his nightmares and the nightmares of his fellow classmates.

The Good: I really like the set-up/setting of this story, fighting in dreams is nothing new and having a bunch of incredibly messed up characters is nothing new either but the story hints that there is something even more sinister going on behind the scenes. Also, there don't appear to be any real good guys in the story yet, everyone seems to have their own agenda or is simply fending for themselves and, with a cast of characters that are this messed up, that should prove to be pretty interesting.

The Bad: But unfortunately the story isn't that interesting yet. It's moving right along, the characters seem to be developing a tiny bit and the story has revealed/dropped clues about a few things, but it just hasn't done anything big yet. I suspect that once Ichijo really starts to develop as a character he'll be a major catalyst in the story and that's when stuff will get answered but nothing so far. Also, some of the romance in here worries me* but crossing my fingers that it's not going to cross that line.

The Art: Nothing really special about the art here. It's shojo (at least I think so) and tells the story but I don't remember being especially impressed by it.

So, I want to track down the rest of this series but I don't know yet if I like it enough to own (ie, reread) it. Hoping to come across the rest of it in libraries but that probably won't happen but I should probably get a move on it, now that the series is OOP I don't want to wait and then find out that the prices skyrocketed since I don't see this one getting a license rescue either.


*As in, please don't play "forced kissing/sexual interaction/rape as love" and the stuff about that I've seen on tvtropes isn't encouraging.....