It seems I'm getting back on my manga groove. Today, I present you
Rosario+Vampire Season II by Ikeda Akihisa
First of all, for those who've seen the anime and not read the manga, I assure you, there's a great difference. I haven't actually seen more than a couple of episodes from the anime, but I've heard horror stories about it. It's not a faithful adaptation, not even close.
Secondly, I probably should review the first manga series first, but it's been a year or two since I read it, it's not exactly in fresh memory anymore. One thing I do remember about it is how it evolved from a mediocre, ecchi harem comedy with some light battles into quite a decent shounen battle manga (without losing the harem elements, of course). In the end I rated it 3 stars. For many things, like character development, I'll be considering the two series a single story in this review.
The second series continues to escalate, though at first it kind of resets back to the status quo and to its roots as an ecchi harem romcom. However, this doesn't last long in the big picture, and soon we're back to serious stuff. Through multiple short arcs gradually gaining in seriousness and slowly revealing the organisation to which all the serious antagonists have belonged to and which as a whole kinda plays the role of the ultimate antagonist (though there is also a single character who in the end takes that role). It reminds me of Negima, which evolved from a comedy into one of my favourite long shounen battle manga, but R+V takes it a step further, completely changing the tone of the manga from light to dark, from funny to serious, from slice of life to epic. If someone read the beginning of the first series and then jumped to the last arc of Season II, he'd definitely wonder if he was reading the same manga or if it was some kind of a reboot with only some common characters.
The characters evolve with the story. Tsukune, the male protagonist, at first a classic useless harem lead, already becomes pretty badass in the first series, but in the second he becomes a full-fledged shounen battle manga lead, complete with training sessions, sudden power-ups and incredible determination. I, for one, like the change, especially as it's accompanied by growth in maturity and personality depth. Moka, the female lead, is at first a beautiful airheaded vampire with a super-powerful (and super-prideful) inner personality. The second series reveals her mysterious past, why she's at the centre of world-shaking events, and deepens her character, especially the inner personality, a lot. She remains a powerful character, but with other powerful characters entering the fray, she can no longer end her battles in a single kick. She even becomes a damsel in distress for a while, spurring Tsukune's growth a great deal.
The other characters also gain some depth. Some of them, a lot of depth. Quite a lot of attention is paid to Moka's sisters, all three of them, and even though they're new characters introduced in the second series, they all become major, well-rounded characters. As another example, Kurumu, I never really liked her until the last arc, where I gained some serious respect for her. Many characters who used to be pretty much defined by their relationship to Tsukune gradually gain independence and a variety of personality traits. I can hardly say that R+V is a manga defined by its deep and multi-dimensional characters, but comparing to its humble beginning, the character development is, in many cases, quite impressive.
The art has also developed a lot during the 9 years that this story has been published. It was never downright bad, but it was pretty amateurish at first. The mangaka has gradually improved his skills and become more professional over the years. Whether it be ecchi fanservice, grotesque monster designs, touching dramatic scenes or cool battles, the artist has retained his basic style while steadily improving every aspect of it. I'm no art critic, but I can say that I quite like his art now, and it seems to have no significant weaknesses left.
The comedy is mostly so-so. It makes me laugh often enough, but it's nothing amazing. There is one exception, chapter 23 of Season II, which I found particularly hilarious. Overall, I'd say that while the light parts of this manga are fairly enjoyable, it's a good thing that the manga got more serious as it advanced, because epicness and seriousness suit this author much better than light comedy.
The overall plot suffers from its humble beginning, because while the author does occasionally tie the current epic story into the beginning, the first series, it seems that he didn't really have a good idea of where he'd end up when he started writing the story. The conversion from comedy to serious isn't too sudden or anything, it's patient and well enough built, but it's still one of the most extreme genre and tone conversions I've ever seen in one story. There's nothing particularly twisty about the big plot or any of the short arcs, but there are enough mysteries and moderately surprising revelations to keep things interesting.
While harem is a very strong element thoughout this story, it's obvious that there is only one girl who ever had a chance with the male lead. Still, Tsukune is likeable enough, after some character development, to not make it utterly unrealistic for the other girls to stay around him even after they realise they'll never be the first in his heart. Like any decent harem lead, he treasures all his friends but never wavers in his love for the one girl his heart chose. That is not to say that the only good kind of a harem lead is one who never gives up on his first love, my point is that I never saw him as the indecisive kind of guy. In terms of touching scenes, this romance has yet to reach the level that'd bring tears to my eyes, but some scenes are truly well dramatised and have touched me in various ways. I have grown fairly attached to the characters, and if the ending is done right, it still has the potential to reach that level. The latest chapter already came very, very close.
The action, too, has much improved. At first it was quite light and comedic in nature, not to mention repetitive, always ending with Tsukune removing Moka's sealing rosary, and her inner personality ending the battle with one kick, shouting her catchphrase, "Know your place!" Already in the first series things began to change, with stronger enemies appearing and Tsukune gaining some battle power of his own. But it's nothing compared to the second series. Not only Tsukune, the harem members (and even some male side characters) gain more power and become actually useful. And of course, the battles themselves, both in writing and artistically, keep getting better. Now they are quite comparable to any shounen battle manga.
The last arc is... special. It kinda feels like everything before this has been one overly long prologue and the real story started with the last arc. This arc is significantly longer, darker and more epic than the ones before it. It reveals everything that the story before it has merely hinted at, diving into Moka's past, revealing the antagonist organisation, expanding the settings in many different ways, etc. It has its own training session, plenty of character development and new characters. It cranks the epic up to eleven.
And then there is the last battle. I can honestly say that I probably have never read another last battle quite like this. It just keeps going on, an epic rollercoaster of desperate situations and flares of hope. Usually they have a clear climax, or two at most, after which things calm down and the arc ends. This one has already had like half a dozen "climaxes", and every time I've been surprised when a few pages later there's another turnaround. Now it's heading towards what I believe to finally be the
final showdown, after which the manga wraps up and ends. Probably no third "season" coming. It's kinda hard to top this, and I don't see any plot threads extending beyond this arc, it'd have to start something completely new. But I might be wrong, long shounen manga do it all the time, extend beyound what should've been their ending point.
In conclusion, R+V has been quite an enjoyable run. It kept evolving, far surpassing my expectations when I started reading the first series many years ago. I'd say that the quality/enjoyment increase from the start of the first series to the current point (ch 66) is at least 2 stars, from 2.5 to 4.5/5. But since the whole is so unbalanced, I'll give Season II as a whole
4/5 stars.
Music:
Onlap - From Dust to Ashes By the time I'd finished, the repeat count was around 240... <_<
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