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  • After School Nightmare


    Rating:
    5
    Image of After School Nightmare Volume 5
    Author / Artist: 
    Setona Mizushiro
    Publisher: 
    Go!Comi
    Volumes: 
    10, Complete

    Like most teenagers, Mashiro Ichijo has a secret. But Mashiro's secret is that he's neither fully male nor female! So far, Mashiro's been able to live his life as a boy, but all this changes when he's informed of a new class he must take in order to graduate from his elite prep school. To pass, he must find the "Key"...and the only way to find it is to enter into a nightmare world where his body and soul are put at the mercy of the worst kind of enemies: his classmates!

    After School Nightmare GN 1

    Reviewer's Rating: 
    5
    Pull Quote: 
    Ichijo Mashiro is your average high school boy. The girls think he's dreamy, he does kendo... and he gets cramps when he's on his period. Perhaps Ichijo isn't as average as he wants everyone to think. In order to graduate he is told that he has to enter a world where he gets to see his classmates in ways he never could've imagined. Once he wakes up from the nightmare the basement room is gone, leaving no trace of the horrifying experience until the following week where he must keep trying until he finds the key to “graduation.” On top of that, when he wakes up he has to deal with classmates who have stabbed him, scared him, and who have learned his secret: he is not really a boy or a girl.

    After School Nightmare v1

    Reviewer's Rating: 
    0
    Pull Quote: 
    It’s hard to find good horror shojo. Sure, there are plenty of stories that use horror trappings like vampires (here’s looking at you, ‘Vampire Knight’) but rarely are these titles actually scary. ‘After School Nightmare’ is a series that actually manages to succeed as both a horror and a shojo series. After School Nightmare has genuinely creepy scenes (and gore) but also interesting characters caught up in a gender-bending love triangle.

    After School Nightmare #2 by Setona Mizushiro Manga Review

    Reviewer's Rating: 
    4
    Pull Quote: 
    Mashiro continues to attend the after school class, where students share nightmares while seeking the key that will free them from their dreams. As Mashiro struggles to understand his feelings for Kureha and Sou, he begins to believe that discovering the identity of the violent knight holds the clue to unravel his confusion. When a new classmate reveals that he knows the names of all of participants of the after school class, will Mashiro agree to his terms in exchange for the answers to his questions?

    Review: After School Nightmare (Vol. 05)

    Reviewer's Rating: 
    0
    Pull Quote: 
    In this volume, Mashiro continues his internal struggle over his physical body, one both male and female. Tormented by his own indecisiveness, fuelled in part by the mysterious after school dream classes he attends, Mashiro decides it’s time for his relationship with Kureha to reach the next level, seeking self-acceptance for his decision to live as a man.

    After School Nightmare, Vol. 6

    Reviewer's Rating: 
    5
    Pull Quote: 
    The days of willingly suspending your disbelief are over; to fully appreciate just how brilliant Setona Mizushiro’s After School Nightmare is, you’d do better to smack your disbelief out of the ballpark and gleefully watch it sail away. From sex to psychology, the rules of Mizushiro’s sixth installment remain, once again, unnervingly pliable and all the more relevant as Mashiro’s gender struggle finally reaches a turning point.

    After School Nightmare Mini Review (manga)

    Reviewer's Rating: 
    0
    Pull Quote: 
    A young man with a vagina is, predictably, having gender issues. All his problems are compounded when he discovers that the only way to graduate from his school is to fight off the other students in a school-sanctioned dream world where everyone manifests as his or her inner identity (aka he shows up in a dress, somebody with identity issues shows up with no face, etc.).

    After School Nightmare, Volumes 1–9

    Reviewer's Rating: 
    0
    Pull Quote: 
    Our lead, Ichijou, is physically a boy and a girl, or as he thinks of it, a girl on bottom and a boy on top. Choosing the girl, fragile Kureha, means choosing to be the boy he was raised to be, with all the power, respect, and familiarity that implies, even if it means Ichijou must bury his blossoming feminine side. Choosing the boy, the fiery Sou, is far riskier and means a drastic change, a loss of status, and embracing a part of himself he barely understands.

    After School Nightmare Vol 10 by Setona Mizushiro Manga Review

    Reviewer's Rating: 
    4
    Pull Quote: 
    This was a great series, full of twists and turns, and a very unusual cast of characters. Everyone had enormous personal issues to deal with, whether they wanted to admit they had a problem or not. After a very rocky start, the three main characters meshed together, becoming stronger and more accepting of themselves because of their friendship. Weird and wonderful, this was an intriguing series from start to finish.

    After School Nightmare v10

    Reviewer's Rating: 
    0
    Pull Quote: 
    The tenth volume of After School Nightmare marks the end of the series and finally offers some answers regarding Ichijo's mysterious experiences in the dream class. Readers who've stuck with this fascinating series through all its earlier twists and turns will not be surprised to discover that Mizushiro has a final shocking revelation up her sleeve.