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after school nightmare

Random Musings: Wrapping Up the Horror Manga Monthly Review Project

August 12, 2016 by Ash Brown

MushishiLiveActionOver the last few years one of the features at Experiments in Manga has been a monthly manga review project. What makes these reviews any different from the rest found on the site? Not much, really, except that the readers of Experiments in Manga actually helped to choose the manga that would be featured. The subject of my third monthly manga review project was put up for a vote about a year and a half ago. I narrowed down the genre to horror–using a very broad definition of horror–and selected five options from which readers could pick: After School Nightmare by Setona Mizushiro, Dorohedoro by Q Hayashida, Mushishi by Yuki Urushibara, Nightmare Inspector by Shin Mashiba, and Tokyo Babylon/X by CLAMP.

Much to my surprise, there ended up being a tie between After School Nightmare and Mushishi. So, instead of trying to come up with some arbitrary way to choose one series over the other, I decided that I would simply review both of them. Between December 2014 and July 2016 I alternated between the two series until I had reviewed every volume of the manga. I also wrote a bonus Adaptation Adventures feature for Mushishi which provided a brief overview comparing and contrasting some of the series’ adaptations. One thing that I personally found interesting about this particular review project was that while I already knew that I loved Mushishi (I simply hadn’t previously written much about it at Experiments in Manga), After School Nightmare was a manga that I had started but never finished and so didn’t know what my overall impression of the series would be.

As was the case with my past two review projects (namely Blade of the Immortal and the Year of Yuri), I greatly enjoyed delving into After School Nightmare and Mushishi as part of the horror manga review project. Though both series share some similarities, such as strong psychological elements, a unsettling atmospheres, and an ominous sense of foreboding, they are still very different from each other. One particularly notable difference between the two is how each manga approaches and treats themes of life and death. Life in Mushishi is something that is held as sacred in which one person is part of a much greater whole; in After School Nightmare, life consists of trials and tribulations that must be personally overcome and is something that must be actively claimed as one’s own.

Found below are the links to the individual in-depth reviews and features associated with the horror manga monthly review project. Though not specific to the review project itself, tags for both After School Nightmare and Mushishi are also available for browsing.

After School Nightmare
After School Nightmare, Volume 1
After School Nightmare, Volume 2
After School Nightmare, Volume 3
After School Nightmare, Volume 4
After School Nightmare, Volume 5
After School Nightmare, Volume 6
After School Nightmare, Volume 7
After School Nightmare, Volume 8
After School Nightmare, Volume 9
After School Nightmare, Volume 10

Mushishi
Adaptation Adventures: Mushishi
Mushishi, Volume 1
Mushishi, Volume 2
Mushishi, Volume 3
Mushishi, Volume 4
Mushishi, Volume 5
Mushishi, Volume 6
Mushishi, Volume 7
Mushishi, Volumes 8, 9, and 10

Filed Under: UNSHELVED Tagged With: after school nightmare, manga, mushishi, Setona Mizushiro, Yuki Urushibara

After School Nightmare, Vol. 10

July 29, 2016 by Ash Brown

After School Nightmare, Volume 10Creator: Setona Mizushiro
U.S. publisher: Go! Comi
ISBN: 9781933617718
Released: February 2009
Original release: 2008

Many years after reading the first volume of Setona Mizushiro’s manga series After School Nightmare, I have now read the tenth and final volume. After School Nightmare is a dark and intense psychological fantasy with strong horror elements. Despite finding the first few volumes compelling, I also found them to be challenging since many of the themes explored hit fairly close to home for me. However, while After School Nightmare continued to be unsettling, I am glad that I finally made a point to read the entire series. After School Nightmare, Volume 10 was first published in Japan in 2008. A little over a year later the tenth volume was released in English by Go! Comi in 2009. Go! Comi no longer exists as a company and so After School Nightmarish has gone and currently remains out-of-print. Sadly, that also means that the series is becoming more difficult to find with each passing year.

Mashiro has slowly come to terms with his gender identity, but it has been a struggle. His body can’t be easily defined as either male or female and although he initially made the decision to live as a man, he has since realized that may not have been the correct choice to make. Although he was always uncomfortable with who he was, in large part Mashiro started to reevaluate his self-identity when he was placed in a special after school class required to graduate. Along with several other students, Mashiro was forced to confront and share his most personal fears, anxieties, and insecurities within a literal nightmare. Mashiro’s fellow classmates, each dealing with their own traumas, are also in the position to graduate, but to accomplish that will require active change and desire on their part. Every one of the students in the class must participate in the brutal, violent nightmares if they hope to leave the agony and anguish of their old lives behind.

After School Nightmare, Volume 10, page 44The final volume of After School Nightmare is almost impossible to discuss without spoiling the entire series—it contains a fair number of plot twists and major revelations which greatly impact the understanding and interpretation of the manga as a whole. The boundaries of birth, life, rebirth, and death are much thinner than one might expect and very closely intertwined. However, while Mizushiro leads readers down multiple dark and twisting paths over the course of the series, the true nature of the nightmares and of the school itself have been hinted at from the very beginning of the series. After School Nightmare, Volume 10 addresses many of the mysteries and answers many of the questions raised by the story and setting of the manga. In the end, there is a reason for the ominous and disquieting atmosphere and a purpose behind everything that the students have been through.

Honestly, After School Nightmare, Volume 10 leaves me feeling conflicted. In concept, I like what Mizushiro was attempting to do with the series, however I ultimately found the execution and much of the resolution to be unsatisfying. Although almost everything is explained by the end of the series, that explanation seems to effectively render meaningless all of the character development, their struggles and triumphs as they grow and overcome personal strife. I think in part After School Nightmare was intended to be uplifting or even empowering as the characters find the strength to survive. That’s certainly a legitimate interpretation, but to me it came across as exceptionally depressing as though the manga is needlessly or at least unnecessarily cruel. (And for the most part, I actually really liked the darkness of the series.) Still, I’m glad that I finally finished reading After School Nightmare. Even though I’m still working out my feelings regarding the conclusion of the series, over all I found it to be worthwhile.

Filed Under: REVIEWS Tagged With: after school nightmare, Go! Comi, manga, Setona Mizushiro

After School Nightmare, Vol. 9

April 30, 2016 by Ash Brown

After School Nightmare, Volume 9Creator: Setona Mizushiro
U.S. publisher: Go! Comi
ISBN: 9781933617701
Released: November 2008
Original release: 2007

After School Nightmare is a ten-volume manga series by Setona Mizushiro. Darkly psychological with elements of horror as well as social commentary, After School Nightmare can at times be a deeply troubling and challenging read while still being engrossing and oddly compelling. I first started reading the series several years ago, but have only recently been able to bring myself to read beyond the first few volumes of the manga, largely because I did find it so disconcerting and hard-hitting. Granted, the dark, anxiety-ridden atmosphere which makes the After School Nightmare so intimidating to approach is also what makes the story particularly effective and is an aspect to the manga that I can appreciate. After School Nightmare, Volume 9 was first published in Japan in 2007. The English-language edition of the volume was released in 2008 by Go! Comi. Sadly, the entire series has now gone out of print and is becoming more difficult to find.

One by one the students participating in the special after school class which forces them to share their literal nightmares with one another are graduating and disappearing, leaving only a vague memory of their existence behind. Though at times vicious and cruel, the dreams are intended to allow the students to work through their personal traumas, crises, and fears so that they can let go and move on from their troubled pasts. However, the violence and turmoil they experience within the dreams frequently spills over into their waking lives and graduating doesn’t necessarily guarantee a peaceful resolution. Koichiro in particular has reached his breaking point. He is ruthless in his determination to graduate and leave his overbearing and abusive father behind along with his carefully crafted public persona. Triggered by outside events, the nightmare Koichiro brings down upon the other students as he tries to free himself turns into a shockingly brutal and bloody rampage, signalling the beginning of the end for himself and for those who still remain.

After School Nightmare, Volume 9, page 29A few questions still remain, but for the most part Koichiro’s character arc is resolved in After School Nightmare, Volume 9. Like so many of the other characters’ stories, Koichiro’s is a tragic one and it is heartwrenching to see it play out. The culmination of his anger, pain, and suffering has a direct and devastating impact on the others, ending with a violent attack on Mashiro, the portrayal of which has blatant parallels to a sexual assault. Koichiro was at one point the most stable and seemingly well-adjusted character in the series, so to see such a drastic shift in his outward attitude and behavior is especially startling. He isn’t the only character to have significantly changed over the course of After School Nightmare, though. However, for some the process, while still being extraordinarily difficult, has ultimately been more positive. Just as the dreams have led Koichiro to abandon his self-restraint, they have also allowed Mashiro the freedom to begin to come to terms with his fluid gender identity and the fact that he may feel more comfortable as a girl. Compared to the beginning of the series, Mashiro has greatly matured.

After School Nightmare, Volume 9 has a fair number of major plot twists, surprising reveals, and crucial story developments, many of which call into question everything that has come before in the manga. Some of these things have been foreshadowed and are not entirely surprising but there is still some disorientation as they are revealed to be not quite what they initially seemed. Koichiro dominates the first few chapters of the ninth volume but from there the focus of the manga turns toward Sou as more of his backstory is explored. An explanation of a past that he has not entirely dealt with yet and that has been incredibly damaging both emotionally and psychologically is finally given. After School Nightmare was never a light series, but the ninth volume is a particularly heavy and dramatic one. Considering the very final scene which challenges many of the assumptions that I had made regarding the series, I am very curious to see where Mizushiro takes the story in the final volume. After School Nightmare has been a dark and twisting journey and I have no idea how it will end; I’m almost a little frightened to find out.

Filed Under: REVIEWS Tagged With: after school nightmare, Go! Comi, manga, Setona Mizushiro

After School Nightmare, Vol. 8

February 26, 2016 by Ash Brown

After School Nightmare, Volume 8Creator: Setona Mizushiro
U.S. publisher: Go! Comi
ISBN: 9781933617633
Released: August 2008
Original release: 2007

I first started reading Setona Mizushiro’s manga series After School Nightmare several years ago. I was specifically drawn to it due to the series’ exploration of gender and identity, but it was also those themes that caused me to hesitate to finish reading the work. After School Nightmare is fairly dark and heavy, in many ways hitting very close to home for me, and so I’ve only recently been able to bring myself to read beyond the first few volumes. After School Nightmare, Volume 8 was originally published in Japan in 2007. The English-language edition of the volume was released by Go! Comi in 2008. It, like the rest of the manga, is now out-of-print, but I had previously collected the series in its entirety based upon my impression of the early volumes alone. My initial feelings have so far carried through to the later volumes as well—I continue to find After School Nightmare to be oddly compelling, chilling, and disconcerting.

Mashiro has been living as a man for his entire life, but his gender identity has been something that he has always struggled with. Born with a body that was neither entirely male nor female, he’s constantly fighting the feelings of his own inadequacy and lingering self-doubt. Mashiro along with several other students have been participating in a special after school class which, through shared dreams, forces them to confront their most personal troubles and fears. Slowly things are changing. Mashiro has been able to begin to accept himself, realizing that the feminine side that he’s been trying to suppress is closer to his true self than the masculine persona he’s created. Along with his personal identity, Mashiro has also admitted to his romantic interest in Sou—another student dealing with a difficult past, traumatic secrets, and conflicted feelings—which only serves to complicate matters even further for the both of them.

After School Nightmare, Volume 8, page 50The events, revelations, and realizations that occur in After School Nightmare, Volume 8 are momentous, not only for Mashiro but for many of the other characters as well. Intense feelings and emotions that have been churning under the surface, largely hidden from the view of others, finally erupt as Mashiro and several others reach their breaking points in a dramatic and chilling fashion. After struggling for so long trying to live up to the expectations set for themselves either personally, by their families, or by society at large, they can no longer contain their apprehension, anger, and distress. The masks that they publicly wear are beginning to disintegrate, for better and for worse. The eighth volume is a turning point in the development of many of the characters as they claim or reclaim their identities along with all of the good and bad that comes with recognizing and admitting to themselves and to others who they really are as people.

The psychological drama of After School Nightmare is tremendous and the subject matter that Mizushiro explores can be hard-hitting as the characters deal with a wide range of traumas. As slow as some of their personal growth has been, and as unlikeable as some of the characters can be at times, I am glad to see them coming to terms with themselves, what they’ve been through, and what they continue to experience. Mizushiro effectively conveys the turmoil of young adulthood and through the characters’ nightmares brings it to the forefront to the series. The nightmares are heavily symbolic, the emotional and metal states of the characters directly impacting and influencing the dreamscapes. The consequences of their behaviours both within the dreams and outside of them can be devastating. While the eighth volume of After School Nightmare grants some relief from the mounting tension, it also reveals just how long-lasting and damaging the effects of one person’s actions on another can be.

Filed Under: REVIEWS Tagged With: after school nightmare, Go! Comi, manga, Setona Mizushiro

After School Nightmare, Vol. 7

December 17, 2015 by Ash Brown

After School Nightmare, Volume 7Creator: Setona Mizushiro
U.S. publisher: Go! Comi
ISBN: 9781933617626
Released: April 2008
Original release: 2007

After School Nightmare, and more specifically the first few volumes of the series, was my introduction to the manga of Setona Mizushiro. The beginning of the series left a strong impression on me, so I sought out more of her work released in English, namely X-Day and more recently Black Rose Alice. But for a very long time, I didn’t ready any further in After School Nightmare. The manga is a dark psychological drama with elements of the fantastic, which is a type of story that I tend to enjoy, but some of the series’ themes could occasionally hit uncomfortably close to home. I have since found the courage to read the rest of After School Nightmare and so far have continued to find the series to be both engrossing and disconcerting. After School Nightmare, Volume 7 was first published in Japan in 2007. The English-language edition, now out-of-print, was released by Go! Comi in 2008.

After rejecting Sou and after his breakup with Kureha, Mashiro now finds himself more alone than ever. The distance between himself and others is made even more painfully clear when the relationship between Kureha and Sou, once rivals in love, begins to deepen. At first they merely commiserate with each other, having both been hurt by Mashiro, but eventually they become very close. Meanwhile, Mashiro is struggling to come to terms with the confusion and turmoil of his feelings, and his identity, on his own. Physically, his body has both male and female characteristics, but for his entire life Mashiro has striven to be seen and accepted as a man. More recently, however, his desire to express himself as a girl has grown. One of the reasons that Mashiro refused to recognize his developing feelings for Sou, seeking refuge in his relationship with Kureha, was that he was trying to deny this feminine part of himself. However, that avenue of escape may no longer be an option for him.

After School Nightmare, Volume 7, page 35While Mashiro is the lead character in After School Nightmare and much of the manga’s focus in on his personal struggles and growth, both Kureha and Sou have major roles to play as well. After School Nightmare, Volume 7 reveals more about them and their unfortunate family circumstances than ever before. Surprisingly, Kureha actually returns home to visit her parents for a time, though she still harbors ill-feelings towards them due to the trauma she suffered in the past. The exact nature of the unpleasant ordeals that Sou has lived through and has never quite recovered from are exposed in the volume as well. Mizushiro isn’t afraid to go in some very dark directions with After School Nightmare. Many if not most of the characters are dealing with the lasting repercussions of abuse, whether it be mental, physical, emotional, sexual, or some combination of the four. Perhaps even more tragically, at times this maltreatment is even self-inflicted.

In addition to Sou and Kureha, there is another character whose backstory is specifically explored in After School Nightmare, Volume 7—Koichiro Kurosaki, Mashiro and Sou’s upperclassman from the kendo club. Throughout the series, Koichiro has been something of a cipher. He comes across as well-adjusted and mature, but also distant and reserved. Frequently Mashiro comes to him seeking advice and Koichiro, calm and collected, provides guidance seemingly without judgement. However, in the seventh volume, it is revealed that he, too, is struggling with his own family problems and personal issues. Koichiro’s very careful in how he presents himself, but his vaguely unsettling cool exterior is a cover for a much more troubled and darker personality. Because he has earned the respect and trust of others, Koichiro is in a position to inflict some truly significant harm should he choose or allow himself to do so. This sort of intense, psychological drama in After School Nightmare is part of what makes the series so chilling.

Filed Under: REVIEWS Tagged With: after school nightmare, Go! Comi, manga, Setona Mizushiro

After School Nightmare, Vol. 6

October 16, 2015 by Ash Brown

After School Nightmare, Volume 6Creator: Setona Mizushiro
U.S. publisher: Go! Comi
ISBN: 9781933617480
Released: January 2008
Original release: 2006

The sixth volume of the manga series After School Nightmare, an intense and dark psychological drama by Setona Mizushiro, was originally published in Japan in 2006. The English-language edition of After School Nightmare, Volume 6 was released by Go! Comi in 2008. Go! Comi is no more, so the entire series has gone out-of-print, but the manga still seems to be relatively easy to find. After School Nightmare is a series that honestly disturbs me, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing since in part it’s a horror manga. But while I find After School Nightmare to be disconcerting, I also find it to be oddly compelling. Mizushiro deals with some heavy issues in the series, including emotional, psychological, and physical abuse, trauma, and violence. The search for personal identity and the roles that gender and sexuality play in defining who a person is are major themes as well. In fact, it was those themes that first drew After School Nightmare to my attention.

Despite some lingering doubts, Mashiro made the decision to give up on his feelings for Sou in favor of his feelings for Kureha. Sadly for him, things aren’t turning out how he would have liked at all. Tying his masculinity to her insecurities, Mashiro wanted to feel needed by Kureha, to become her white knight and protector. But now Kureha is beginning to feel more confident in herself and trying to rely less on Mashiro. Suddenly finding himself without an acceptable role to play in their relationship, and no longer being able to meet the established though self-imposed requirements of what it means to be a man, Mashiro is thrown into turmoil. In the past he presented himself as a prince who would rescue those who were weaker than him, but it’s help that is no longer wanted nor needed. Just when he thought that he had everything finally figured out, Mashiro finds his relationships falling apart because they were built on his own insecurities and fears. He is desperate to be seen as a man by others and at the same time is terrified by the fact that he also yearns to express his femininity.

After School Nightmare, Volume 6, page 184Most of After School Nightmare takes place in one of three settings: the school grounds, the dormitories associated with the school, and the shared nightmares of the students participating in the special after school class required for their graduation. Granted, it’s not graduation in the usual sense. The students who successfully complete the course completely disappear from the campus and from the memories of those left behind, almost as if they never existed at all. The mysteries surrounding what it really means to graduate combined with the story’s limited settings create a marvelously ominous and claustrophobic atmosphere. As a result, when the series breaks from that narrow focus, it can be especially unsettling. In the sixth volume, for what I believe is the first time in After School Nightmare, a truly significant scene occurs away from the school entirely, which serves to emphasize Mashiro’s reluctance to deal with his issues head on. But it’s a moment of false freedom; he won’t be able to run away from his problems indefinitely without there being negative consequences.

The nightmares in After School Nightmare are intended to be an environment in which the students can work through their personal traumas and fears, but the participants are simultaneously stripped of many of their defenses and left incredibly vulnerable within the dreams as well. In theory, what happens in the dreams is meant to remain private and not to carry over into the waking world, but in practice that is rarely ever the case. Even so, most of Mashiro’s growth and maturation is thanks to those nightmares. It’s not until After School Nightmare, Volume 6 that he’s forced to really begin to recognize outside of them how selfish and self-centered his relationships with other people have been, how he’s using them to make himself feel better about himself, and how his actions affect others. In many ways, Mashiro’s waking life is just as much of a fantasy as the dreams he is made to share with his classmates, and both reality and nightmares can be troubling and traumatic. However, it’s the nightmares that are the more truthful and honest even though they can also be highly symbolic and strange. In the end, as horrifying as the dreams are, the denial and insidious falsehoods of reality may ultimately be the more damaging.

Filed Under: REVIEWS Tagged With: after school nightmare, Go! Comi, manga, Setona Mizushiro

After School Nightmare, Vol. 5

August 14, 2015 by Ash Brown

After School Nightmare, Volume 5Creator: Setona Mizushiro
U.S. publisher: Go! Comi
ISBN: 9781933617473
Released: October 2007
Original release: 2006

After School Nightmare by Setona Mizushiro is a manga series that I honestly find disconcerting, so much so that even though I also find it compelling, I could never bring myself to read past the first few volumes until recently. The manga is a dark and intense psychological drama dealing with issues of abuse, gender, and personal identity. Despite being a series that is quite obviously fantasy-horror, some of the themes actually hit fairly close to home for me. Mizushiro has skillfully crafted a chilling setting and ominous atmosphere for After School Nightmare in which to explore both nightmares and reality. The ten-volume series was published in English by the now defunct Go! Comi and so is sadly out-of-print, but it seems to still be fairly easy to find. After School Nightmare, Volume 5 was first published in Japan in 2006 while the English translation was released in 2007. The series reaches its halfway point with this volume, but the intensity of the drama and psychological horror shows no sign of letting up anytime soon.

After having let his feelings be pulled one way and then another, Mashiro has made his decision: In order to live as a man he has rejected Sou and his aggressive advances in favor of his girlfriend Kureha. Mashiro tells himself that it’s because Kureha is the one who needs him the most, never considering that Sou might need him, too. Ultimately though, Mashiro’s decision is a selfish one and not nearly as gallant as he would like to believe or portray. Although he has been living as a boy for most of his life, he is still incredibly insecure in his gender identity, mostly due to the fact that his body has both male and female characteristics. By dating Kureha and by becoming her self-proclaimed guardian and protector, Mashiro hopes to unequivocally establish his masculinity for himself and for others, something he doesn’t believe would be possible if he recognized having feelings for another guy. But even though Mashiro has made his decision, he still has lingering doubts.

After School Nightmare, Volume 5, page 52Many of the characters in After School Nightmare are broken, damaged, or incomplete individuals who are attempting to put the pieces of their lives together to form, or reform, some sort of whole. That is part of the purpose of the titular after school nightmare—a special class that, through shared dreams, forces them to confront their greatest fears and in the process reveal them to the other students as they all try to determine who they really are as people. It can actually be quite painful and heart-wrenching to witness the events unfold both within the nightmares and outside of them; truly terrible and horrifying things occur that strongly influence the characters’ physical, mental, and emotional well-being. At this point in the series Mashiro’s personal struggles and torments are the ones about which the most is known, but After School Nightmare, Volume 5 begins to reveal more about Sou’s tragedies which previously had largely only been hinted at.

From the beginning of After School Nightmare, Sou has been shown to be one of the strongest and most assertive characters in the series which is why seeing him in such a vulnerable state in the fifth volume is especially distressing. Sou is an unlikeable person in many ways—among other things showing a shocking lack of respect for Mashiro, the person he supposedly loves—but I can’t help but feel some empathy for him as he is caught up in multiple extremely unhealthy and manipulative relationships. And he’s not always the one doing the manipulating; his relationship with his sister and the control she seem to have over him is particularly troubling. Mashiro’s rejection hits Sou hard, too, certainly much harder than either of them really expected. At first Sou reacts in anger, but ultimately he tries to lives in forced denial of his feelings. Considering how the rest of After School Nightmare has progressed so far, I don’t anticipate that this method of coping will turn out well for any of the people involved.

Filed Under: REVIEWS Tagged With: after school nightmare, Go! Comi, manga, Setona Mizushiro

After School Nightmare, Vol. 4

June 17, 2015 by Ash Brown

After School Nightmare, Volume 4Creator: Setona Mizushiro
U.S. publisher: Go! Comi
ISBN: 9781933617336
Released: July 2007
Original release: 2006

Setona Mizushiro’s After School Nightmare is a ten-volume manga series, an intense psychological drama that explores issues of gender identity and sexuality in a fantastical sort of way. The manga incorporates elements of horror and is an effectively disconcerting work. Up until now, I had only ever read the first three volumes of After School Nightmare. Those volumes, initially borrowed from the library, left a significant impression on me and I immediately sought out a complete set of the entire series for my own. (Fortunately, though out-of-print in English, After School Nightmare is still relatively easy to find.) But while I found the start of the series to be compelling, years passed before I was able to gather the courage to read more of the manga. After School Nightmare, Volume 4 was first published in Japan in 2006 while Go! Comi released the English-language edition in 2007.

Mashiro is conflicted and confused, no longer certain of who he is as a person and struggling to determine just that. The special class that he must complete in order to graduate isn’t doing anything to ease his personal turmoil. In fact, it’s forcing him to confront his insecurities and fears. But the class is also making him stronger, encouraging him to face his feelings head on both inside the shared dreams of the class and outside of them. This also means facing Sou and his relentless advances without running away. While Mashiro is becoming more confident, he is also opening himself up to Sou’s aggressiveness and influence. Matters become even more complicated when their classmate Shinbashi witnesses them sharing a kiss. Shinbashi is in love with Mashiro’s girlfriend Kureha and cares for her more deeply than her boyfriend seems to. After seeing Sou and Mashiro together, Shinbashi mistakenly assumes Mashiro’s indecisiveness in his relationship with Kureha is due to his sexual orientation, never guessing that Mashiro’s true struggle is with his gender identity.

After School Nightmare, Volume 4, page 47Shinbashi has been an increasingly important character in After School Nightmare ever since he was introduced in the second volume, but the role he plays in the fourth volume is absolutely crucial. At this point in the series it doesn’t seem as though any of the characters will get a happy ending, and Shinbashi is no exception. While he may not be dealing with the repercussions of extreme physical, emotional, and mental abuse like those experienced by his fellow classmates, his story is still a tragic one. Shinbashi has become a friend and confidante of sorts to both Mashiro, who ought to be something more like a rival, and Kureha, despite her fear and hatred of men. It’s heartbreaking to see that because Kureha’s aversion is so severe, she and Shinbashi can only communicate through their cell phones; she can’t even stand to be in the same room with him. And while by nature Shinbashi is passive, he loves Kureha completely and would do anything for her, even to the point of self-destruction.

A large part of After School Nightmare is focused on Mashiro’s search for self identity and how that identity is effected by the people around him and influenced by their relationships with him. Mashiro’s friendship with Shinbashi is a rather peculiar one that, oddly enough, somehow works. Where Shinbashi is self-sacrificing to a fault, Mashiro is incredibly self-centered, so concerned with and tangled up in his own problems that he often forgets to take into consideration how his actions may hurt others. An interesting thing about After School Nightmare is that while very few of the characters are easily likeable, I still find that I can empathize with them and can even identify with some of their plights. After School Nightmare continues to be an unsettling work with an intense and ominous atmosphere—I wouldn’t hesitate at all to describe it as a type of quiet, psychological horror—but there are occasional glimmers of hope that at least some of the characters will be able to overcome their troubles and fears.

Filed Under: REVIEWS Tagged With: after school nightmare, Go! Comi, manga, Setona Mizushiro

After School Nightmare, Vol. 3

April 15, 2015 by Ash Brown

After School Nightmare, Volume 3Creator: Setona Mizushiro
U.S. publisher: Go! Comi
ISBN: 9781933617244
Released: April 2007
Original release: 2005

After School Nightmare is a ten-volume manga series created by Setona Mizushiro which has prominent psychological elements and an unsettling atmosphere. The series is currently out-of-print in English, but fortunately most of the volumes are still relatively easy to find. I initially read the first few volumes of After School Nightmare after borrowing them from my local library and made a point to collect the entire series based on the impression left on me by the early part of the manga alone. However, I never actually read any further than the third volume, in part because I found the series to be so effectively disconcerting (which I don’t necessarily consider to be a bad thing, especially for what could be considered a horror manga) and because some of the themes in the series are pretty hard-hitting and true-to-life, even if they are explored in a fantastic way. After School Nightmare, Volume 3 was originally published in Japan in 2005. The sadly now defunct Go! Comi released the English-language edition of the volume in 2007.

Every Thursday, Mashiro and a small group of other students attend a special class after school required for their graduation. In it they enter one another’s dreams, taking on forms representative of their true selves and forced to face the darkness that resides in their hearts. Many of these forms are so unlike the students’ appearances in their waking lives that it’s often impossible to know for certain who is who. At least that was true before Itsuki Shinonome joined the class. The youngest student at the school and a genius with an incredible intellect, he is prepared to leverage that privileged information in any way that he can in order to leave high school behind as quickly as possible. Knowing that Mashiro is desperate to uncover the identity of the student who takes on the form of the Black Knight in the dreams, Itsuki makes him a deal. In return for Mashiro helping and protecting him, as well as closely following his orders, Itsuki will reveal the name of the student who is the Black Knight, but only after he is able to complete the class.

After School Nightmare, Volume 3, page 130Over the last few volumes of After School Nightmare Mashiro has become increasingly obsessed with the identity of the Black Knight, and with good reason. He was assaulted by the Black Knight within the dreams and suspects that the knight may be the same person as Sou, another student who has been very forceful about his feelings for Mashiro. Mashiro wants to confirm whether or not his suspicion is correct, but he hasn’t really completely thought through what he will do with that information once he knows the truth or fully considered exactly how having that knowledge will change him. Already Mashiro finds himself thinking more and more about Sou—the thin line between hate and love becoming blurred to an even greater extent—and this has had major impacts on Mashiro’s other relationships, particularly on the one with his girlfriend Kureha. Something that Mizushiro has done especially well in After School Nightmare is capture the complexities and turmoil of interpersonal relationships and how they affect one another.

Through the genre of dark, psychological fantasy, After School Nightmare touches upon issues related to identity, gender, and sexuality. Although all three can be closely intertwined, gender specifically is frequently at the forefront of Mashiro’s mind since his body has both male and female characteristics. He is so concerned about being seen as a man by others that he immediately rejects anything feminine about himself, blaming that side of him for all of his weaknesses instead of taking full responsibility for his actions and feelings. But as Itsuki points out, girls have to deal with plenty of challenges and unfair situations every day of their lives; simply existing within society requires and demands incredible strength from them. Mashiro’s attitude towards gender roles in the first two volumes of After School Nightmare was very traditional, so I’m glad to see his rigid assumptions and beliefs being shaken up a bit. Of course, this will force him to completely reevaluate who he is as a person, which will be a difficult and perhaps even traumatic process, especially as he was already struggling with establishing and accepting his own identity.

Filed Under: REVIEWS Tagged With: after school nightmare, Go! Comi, manga, Setona Mizushiro

After School Nightmare, Vol. 2

February 13, 2015 by Ash Brown

After School Nightmare, Volume 2Creator: Setona Mizushiro
U.S. publisher: Go! Comi
ISBN: 9781933617176
Released: December 2006
Original release: 2005

The second volume of Setona Mizushiro’s After School Nightmare, a disconcerting shoujo manga series with dark psychological elements, was originally released in Japan in 2005. The English-language translation was published by Go! Comi in 2007. The entire ten-volume series is now out-of-print in English, but happily the individual manga can still be found relatively easily. I had initially read the first few volumes of After School Nightmare by borrowing them from a library before deciding to track down a set of my own. However, I never got around to reading the entire manga until now because, although the beginning of the series immediately captured my attention, the manga was honestly discomforting. The first volume introduces a surreal setting in which dreams can be just as terrifying and damaging as the realities from which the characters would like to escape. After School Nightmare is a manga that is both fantastically strange and oddly compelling.

Conflicted and confused over his gender due to having a body that is neither entirely male nor female, Mashiro has tried to keep his physical condition hidden from others by living his life as a boy, but now that closely kept secret is out. Every Thursday after school, he and a handful of other students participate in a special class required for their graduation. During the class they literally share a dream, or rather a nightmare, together. In the process their true selves are revealed to the other students, and so a few of Mashiro’s classmates have found out about his body. Within the dreams, Mashiro has fallen victim to the cruel Black Knight, another student whose identity he is unsure of but who he suspects may be Sou. In waking reality, Sou has forcibly kissed Mashiro, insisting that he is a girl and even going so far as to declare his love for him. It is not a situation that Mashiro is comfortable with and if he can get up the courage he intends to confront Sou, whether it be in the nightmare or outside of it.

After School Nightmare, Volume 2, page 56Frankly, Sou is a jerk. He may be earnest in his feelings for Mashiro, and he’s at least started to try to reign in his aggressiveness, but he has yet to show Mashiro any sort of respect. I can’t like the guy because of the way he treats Mashiro, however I do still have some sympathy for him. Sou, like all of the other students in the special class, suffers greatly from emotional abuse and trauma. Still, that does not excuse his behavior towards Mashiro. Even so, he is positioned as one of Mashiro’s two potential romantic interests in After School Nightmare, the other being Kureha. Although she has made an exception and is currently dating Mashiro, she hates and despises men. Mashiro and Kureha generally get along, but their relationship isn’t as healthy as it could be, mostly but not entirely due to Mashiro’s continued insecurities over his gender. He seems to believe that his identity is defined and determined by the person he is intimate with. Because he’s desperate to be seen as a man, this calls into question whether or not he’s actually in love with Kureha, or if he’s simply dating her as a way to prove his masculinity.

The shared dreams in After School Nightmare are a way of forcing the students to face and work through the darkness that exists within their hearts and psyches. In theory, those nightmares are supposedly intended to be kept separate from reality, but the two worlds do have an effect on each other. The distorted forms the students take within the dreams can be terrifying, but what really makes them so disturbing are the troubling truths and dark pasts that they reveal. The pain, suffering, and hatred that is readily visible in the nightmares still exists and is present in their waking lives. Usually hidden, suppressed, or otherwise concealed, the prejudices that the students carry within them occasionally erupt violently. The skills and maturity needed to deal with these emotional, psychological, and physical disturbances are at least in part being developed within the dreams. In After School Nightmare, Volume 2, Mashiro begins to learn the importance and power of mental strength and fortitude, but both he and his classmates all still have room to learn and grow.

Filed Under: REVIEWS Tagged With: after school nightmare, Go! Comi, manga, Setona Mizushiro

After School Nightmare, Vol. 1

December 17, 2014 by Ash Brown

After School Nightmare, Volume 1Creator: Setona Mizushiro
U.S. publisher: Go! Comi
ISBN: 9781933617169
Released: September 2006
Original release: 2004

After School Nightmare is a ten-volume manga series by Setona Mizushiro. I first came across the series while working my way through one of my local library’s manga collection which, at the time, was largely shelved alphabetically by title. So, it didn’t take me too long to encounter After School Nightmare. I borrowed and read the first few volumes and on the strength of those alone decided to track down and purchase the entire series which had sadly gone out of print. The manga’s dark, horror-tinged psychological drama and its themes exploring gender and sexuality immediately appealed to me; the series had the potential to be both disconcerting and compelling. After School Nightmare, Volume 1 was originally published in Japan in 2004. The English-language edition of the volume was released in 2006 by the now defunct Go! Comi. After School Nightmare has generally been critically well-received in English, even earning an Eisner Award nomination for Best U.S. Edition of International Material among other honors.

Mashiro Ichijo is an androgynously attractive and well-liked you man, but he’s hiding a secret from his classmates–his body is neither entirely male nor entirely female. This has brought Mashiro some challenges in his life and as a result of his physical condition he struggles with his personal identity and gender. Just how much he struggles is made abundantly clear when Mashiro is requested to join a special after-school class which must be completed in order for him to graduate. In it the students must literally live out their nightmares where they are forced to face their darkest fears and bear witness to one another’s deepest secrets. What’s more is that they aren’t there to offer comfort or support. Instead, circumstances encourage them to strike out against their fellow classmates. And even though what happens in the nightmares isn’t to carry over into the real world, sharing such an intimate experience can’t help but change the young people and how they see one another.

The circumstances surrounding the after-school classes are peculiar. Only the students invited to attend seem to be aware of it. The stairs leading down to the infirmary where the class is held in a basement that shouldn’t exist disappears and reappears depending on the day. The teacher in charge isn’t known by the school’s other faculty. Students who “graduate” quietly go missing and are forgotten. All of these things and more add to the foreboding atmosphere of After School Nightmare and the feeling that something just isn’t quite right about what is going on. The shared nightmares themselves are also ominously disconcerting. The imagery is frightening–a girl whose face and heart are gaping holes, disembodied hands and arms, a cruel knight in black armor–but in the end the students’ psychological torment and distress may be even more troubling and gut-wrenching. The nightmares simply reveal the darkness and confusion that they already carry within themselves.

In the dreams, the students take on their true forms, representative of the issues, abuse, and trauma that they are dealing with. Many of them appear so distorted in the nightmares that its difficult to know their identities in the waking world. That’s not the case for Mashiro who looks exactly the same except that, to his horror, he sometimes is wearing the girls’ skirted school uniform in the dreams. This makes him easily identifiable and a target in the real world. He catches the attention of Kureha Fujishima, a young woman who is afraid of men but feels comfortable around Mashiro after learning his secret. And then there’s Sou Mizuhashi who has a reputation for being a playboy and womanizer but who also seems to have taken an intense interest in Mashiro. Though somewhat conflicted over these developments in his relationships with his classmates, Mashiro largely welcomes the attention from Kureha and is understandably uncomfortable with Sou’s aggressive advances towards him. As the first volume of After School Nightmare shows, reality can be just as terrifying if not more so than any nightmare.

Filed Under: REVIEWS Tagged With: after school nightmare, Go! Comi, manga, Setona Mizushiro

3 Things Thursday: Monstrous

November 1, 2012 by Melinda Beasi 4 Comments

I’m not a huge fan of horror manga as a genre, nor am I particularly easy to scare. But I do find that when a manga can scare me, it sticks with me forever. While a good ghost story is generally the ticket for me (and indeed I picked out three ghost hunters for my last Halloween column), there are other types of monsters that can get to me as well—often in complicated ways. So, without further ado…

3 Favorite Manga Monsters


1. After School Nightmare | Setona Mizushiro | Go!Comi – As I realized in the midst of a Let’s Get Visual column last year, sometimes the scariest monsters are the ones we see in ourselves. In After School Nightmare, Setona Mizushiro explores the terror of a group of high school students who are forced to endure a series of shared nightmares in which they appear as the physical manifestations of their own worst fears… about themselves. As you can see from the scans included in that column, the results are twisted, eerie, sometimes grotesque, and may hit just a bit too close to home for many readers (including this one). *Shiver*

2. March Story | Hyung Min Kim & Kyung Il Yang | Viz Media – Monsters aren’t always evil—at least not unambiguously so—and it’s a monster like this who played a big part in winning me over to March Story, an exquisitely drawn comic by a pair of Korean creators working in Japan. Though the series’ first volume was wildly uneven, one of the characters who immediately caught my eye was Jake, the (literally) bigger-than-life mentor of the story’s heroine, March. Though Jake first appears smiling and offering March a ride, she is immediately, utterly creepy, and remains so throughout, despite her frequent role as comic relief.

3. Wild Adapter | By Kazua Minekura | TOKYOPOP – Sometimes, our monsters don’t look like monsters, and may even be people we love. Hello, Wild Adapter. While both of the series’ main characters are frequently referred to as “monsters” (and one of them even has a sort of animal paw for one hand), the one who has done many, many monstrous things is Kubota, a former up-and-coming yakuza whose apathy about nearly all other people has made him a fairly brutal killing machine. One of the images that sticks in my mind always is the one below (discussed in-depth in our Wild Adapter roundtable), in which Kubota has helped out a young woman by savagely beating her abusive ex-boyfriend. Though he’s done this to protect her, even he knows that his actions make him a monster. It’s a poignant and chilling moment, especially as we’ve already grown to love him as a character (and continue to love him even afterwards). Well done, Minekura, well done.


Readers, who are some of your favorite manga monsters? As you can see, my criteria is pretty broad, so feel free to push the envelope!

Filed Under: 3 Things Thursday Tagged With: after school nightmare, march story, wild adapter

3 Things Thursday: Out of my dreams

July 14, 2011 by Melinda Beasi 8 Comments

Though my commute to work is too short to allow the consumption of podcasts in a timely manner, over the past few days, I’ve been slowly working my way through the latest installment of Ed Sizemore’s Manga Out Loud, featuring Takako Shimura’s Wandering Son. I still have a ways to go, but one of the topics that has engaged me deeply so far has been discussion of Shuichi’s nightmares in the book, and what they reveal about his fears and his state of mind as he works through his discomfort and disconnection with his biologically assigned gender.

I rambled on a lot about this in comments to the entry, mainly because the harshness of his later nightmare in the volume resonated so strongly with me personally and the nature of my own worst nightmares.

The truth is, I’m pretty obsessed with dreams and dream worlds (pleasant or otherwise) and always have been, and while many works of fiction use dreams as a narrative device, it’s not all that often that they use them in a way that really rings true to me. Obviously, what “rings true” to me in a dream sequence is going to be largely informed by my own dream experiences and may not reflect the experiences of others, but this is an area in which Shimura’s vision of her character’s dreams really shines. I’ll probably have more to say about this as I discuss the series further, but in the meantime, let’s have ourselves a 3 Things Thursday!

3 manga series that heavily (and effectively) make use of dreams

1. After School Nightmare | Setona Mizushiro | Go! Comi – One of my greatest regrets will always be that I could not find the time to participate in the Manga Moveable Feast for this title, because I have a lot to say about it, not the least of which would be regarding its use of shared nightmares as its primary plot device. In these students’ nightmares, they each appear as manifestations of their darkest secrets, and while, as Erica Friedman points out in the Wandering Son podcast, these secrets tend to come from a place of self-loathing, the line between what we fear about ourselves and what we fear other people think of us is often a pretty difficult one to draw. It took me a long time to realize that the horrible things people say about me in my nightmares are less often what I fear they think of me and more what I secretly fear about myself. It’s me writing the script, after all. This is a distinction that After School Nightmare completely gets, and that has a lot to do with why I found it so effective as a dream-based manga. Furthermore, it uses its nightmare setting as a metaphor for the state of being a teenager, when emotional vulnerability to one’s peers is more terrifying than anything else the subconscious mind could possibly dream up.

2. Please Save My Earth | Saki Hiwatari | Viz Media – Probably I’ve already talked this one to death in my recent discussion with Michelle at The Hooded Utilitarian, but moving to the happier side of dream fantasy, nothing can possibly beat Saki Hiwatari’s Please Save My Earth, in which a group of teenagers discover through a series of shared dreams (is there a theme here?) that they are the collective reincarnation of a group of alien scientists sent to study Earth from the Moon. Unlike After School Nightmare, this series resonates more strongly with the best dreams of my youth and the sense that our dream worlds might be just as real as our waking lives. This was a recurring theme in my childhood, and Please Save My Earth is in many ways a perfect representation of my own deepest pre-teen fantasies. Interestingly, like After School Nightmare, this series also touches on questions of gender identity, though it fails to dig as deeply, and of course neither approach the subject with the same kind of maturity as Wandering Son.

3. xxxHolic | CLAMP | Del Rey Manga – Though this is a manga that hooked me long before its use of dreams as a major narrative device, there are few examples that I love more. From Watanuki’s frequent dream-based encounters with Doumeki’s grandfather to his complete inability to maintain his waking consciousness throughout some of the later volumes, CLAMP’s use of dreams in this series is emotionally and narratively spectacular. This series goes further than either of the others in questioning the concept of reality vs. dreams, as it plunges Watanuki from waking to dreaming and back again, leaving both he and us disoriented as to which is which much of the time. It’s revealing and immersive, which is what makes it so effective for me. Also? Kinda gorgeous.


Readers, do you have favorite dream-based manga?

Filed Under: 3 Things Thursday Tagged With: after school nightmare, dreams, please save my earth, Wandering Son, xxxholic

MMF takes on After School Nightmare

September 25, 2010 by Melinda Beasi 1 Comment

The Manga Moveable Feast, in a fairly last-minute vote this month, has taken on Setona Mizushiro’s After School Nightmare as its subject for September. The series, published in ten volumes by the now-defunct Go!Comi, was nominated for an Eisner award in 2007.

I reviewed volume one back in July of last year, and though I enjoyed the first volume very much, I was fairly stunned by how the series developed over the course of its full run. The story focuses heavily on gender identity and self-esteem, using horror devices in ways I’ve rarely found so interesting.

Here are some quotes from my review of the first volume:

Everybody has some kind of secret, though Ichijo Mashiro’s is bigger than most: he was born with a male upper body and a female lower body, something he has successfully kept from his peers for his entire life. Unfortunately, this secrecy can’t last once his school enrolls him in a special after-hours “class” in which he is placed into a shared nightmare with other students. In the nightmare, the students are reduced to their “true forms,” revealing their worst fears and deepest wounds to each other …

The issues of gender identification and sexuality addressed in the series are really compelling overall, though it’s hard to tell at this point just what the author is trying to say about them. It is clear that Ichijo associates being male with strength and being female with weakness which is a significant part of why he is so determined to live as male, but his ideas are being challenged from all sides which is terrifying for him but quite thrilling for the reader.

… The emotional intimacy forced upon them during the dreams really is every teen’s nightmare and though the full implications of that have yet to be explored, it’s something I’m anticipating eagerly as a reader. There is so much rich material here to work with, I can only hope the series follows through.

My response after having read the entire series? In short: It does.

I hope to have something new to offer for the Feast before the month is out, but whether I do or not, readers should head over to host Sean Gaffney’s blog, A Case Suitable For Treatment for both an introduction to the series and links to participants’ contributions!

Filed Under: DAILY CHATTER Tagged With: after school nightmare, Manga Moveable Feast, MMF

After School Nightmare, Volume 1

July 25, 2009 by Melinda Beasi Leave a Comment

asnJust now I’ve posted a review for the first volume of Setona Mizushiro’s After School Nightmare over at Comics Should Be Good! This is a series I keep hearing good things about, and my experience with the first volume certainly backs that up. I’ve always been fascinated by dreams, so just the premise was enough to get me hooked, but the story’s rich characters and fantastic art make it even more compelling. This review gets special mention over here, because I’m keen to add this volume to my “Recently Recommended” sidebar widget, that’s how much I enjoyed it. Please head on over and check out my review! (Reprinted here after the demise of CSBG)

On a somewhat related note, congratulations, also, to everyone over at CSBG’s parent site, Comic Book Resources for its Eisner win last night!


After School Nightmare, Volume 1 By Setona Mizushiro Published by Go!Comi

Everybody has some kind of secret, though Ichijo Mashiro’s is bigger than most: he was born with a male upper body and a female lower body, something he has successfully kept from his peers for his entire life. Unfortunately, this secrecy can’t last once his school enrolls him in a special after-hours “class” in which he is placed into a shared nightmare with other students. In the nightmare, the students are reduced to their “true forms,” revealing their worst fears and deepest wounds to each other. One student, for instance, appears in the dreams with gaping holes in place of her face and chest, while another appears in a full suit of armor. Yet another appears as a pair of endless, disembodied arms. Unlike the others, Ichijo’s true form looks exactly like himself, only dressed in a girl’s school uniform.

In order to graduate from the class, the students must obtain a mysterious “key” which any of them might carry, and in order to do so, the students consistently try to destroy each other within the dream. The students’ individual class sessions are limited by a cord with three beads on it that appears around their necks. When a student’s heart sustains damage (such as through extreme shock or pain) the beads break one by one. Three broken beads indicate failure, at which point the student wakes from the dream and is dismissed until the next class. It is clear that in order to graduate from the class, there is something each student must overcome, but no direction is given to them regarding how to do that or even exactly what it is.

Ichijo’s gender conflict is obviously the center of his own fear and it is fascinating to watch that explored in this volume. As the story begins, he experiences his first menstruation cycle which shakes his long-time identification as male and seems to be the catalyst for his initiation into the after school class. His loathing of his own body is paramount. “You’re not distorted at all, Mashiro-kun,” another student says to him after his first class, “even from the bottom of your heart.” “She’s wrong,” Ichijo says to himself. “This body I walk around in is the most distorted thing of all. That’s why I didn’t turn into anything else in that dream. Because this body is uglier than anything I know.” His personal struggle is complicated further by romantic attention from two of his fellow students–Kureha, a girl who was sexually molested as a child and now fears men (except for Ichijo, whom she now sees as “safe,” thanks to his female sexual organs) and Sou, a boy with a reputation as a womanizer in his class who has secretly harbored feelings for Ichijo all along, believing him to be male.

The issues of gender identification and sexuality addressed in the series are really compelling overall, though it’s hard to tell at this point just what the author is trying to say about them. It is clear that Ichijo associates being male with strength and being female with weakness which is a significant part of why he is so determined to live as male, but his ideas are being challenged from all sides which is terrifying for him but quite thrilling for the reader. These issues are not the entire focus of the story, however. For instance, one of the most interesting things about Ichijo, is that he is apparently the only student (in his current class, at least) to have ever tried to save another student during the nightmare–something which most of the other students see as extremely foolish.

The story’s supporting characters are at least as fascinating as Ichijo, though still somewhat mysterious at this point. Their personal scars are deep and their positions with each other terrifyingly vulnerable, both inside and outside of the nightmare, now that those scars are being openly displayed to each other day after day. Some of the students appear in such distorted forms during the dreams, it’s impossible to tell who they are in real life, but a few of their identities are revealed in this volume and that will probably continue as the series goes on. The emotional intimacy forced upon them during the dreams really is every teen’s nightmare and though the full implications of that have yet to be explored, it’s something I’m anticipating eagerly as a reader. There is so much rich material here to work with, I can only hope the series follows through.

Mizushiro’s art is a true highlight, especially during the nightmare sections which are genuinely creepy. This volume has a somewhat sparse look overall, with a restrained use of tone and a nicely crisp feel which adds to the tension of the story. The volume begins with a short section of genuinely beautiful color pages, the last of which is a poignant illustration of Ichijo standing in the shower, horrified by blood that has trickled to his feet, lending the series strong emotional resonance from the start.

After School Nightmare‘s tenth and final volume was released by Go!Comi in February of this year, making the full series available to English-speaking readers. Its strong art and compelling characters help to create a genuinely stunning first volume and this is a series I’ll definitely be continuing as quickly as I can.

Filed Under: MANGA REVIEWS Tagged With: after school nightmare, manga, tokiday

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