Rosario to Vampire: Season II

It was a breath of fresh air when the Shounen Jump title Rosario + Vampire came out, bringing with it an interesting take on the harem genre, within a Monster Academy setting. But alas it came to an abrupt end, along with the Monthly Shounen Jump magazine. Fortunately it was popular enough to warrant a continuation in the form of Rosario + Vampire II.

Rosario + Vampire II being a Shounen, Supernatural, Harem manga, with a bit of Comedy & Action thrown in for good measure. Although this is technically a sequel, R+V II feels more like a reboot, as it re-introduces the characters and setting from the ground up. Making it fairly accessible to those who have yet to read its prequel. Even if that means having to rehash various moments of character development or plot elements from R+V (especially regarding Tsukune). But now it is set during their 2nd year in the Monster Academy, a couple months after the madness during the school fair and begins with the male protagonist getting right into the usual comedic-mishaps with his harem. Nevertheless the mangaka has learnt some lessons from his previous outing, as the whole "monster of the week" angle has been scrapped completely for a more character-driven tale. With the tales ranging from the 2 chapter outings, to some fairly lengthy arcs that shape the rest of the story.

This means that the characters end up a whole lot more fleshed out, from being given their own chapters to shine; whether that is in combat, or just some character-building. Yes that includes even the likes of: Kurumu, Mizore, Yukari and Ruby; making them all worthy members of Team Tsukune. Of course Moka, being the "best girl" gets a whole volume of back-story to herself. As for Tsukune, he continues to progress from the badass he eventually became towards the end of the prequel, which is all fine and dandy. Yet there were some missed opportunities where the mangaka could have taken things further with Tsukune's relationships with the girls, if only he wasn't too afraid to stray from the status quo.

Now I remember reading R+V and witnessing a mangaka go from several panels of mediocre scribbles, to artwork that's beyond what you'd expect in a harem. Now I have to say the artwork in R+V II is superior to its predecessor, simply because the mangaka had already found his own style to settle on and so there was no need for him to improve that much upon it. So the pages contain characters with a superb level of detail put into their facial expressions, fully fleshed out vistas and some rather elaborate monster transformation designs. Though be warned, as towards the end things do get Gantz-level gory once the story intensifies.

In the end R+V II helped remind me that a harem manga can be very entertaining, by not even being much about the harem in question but by just being an enjoyable & rather compelling to read (even if that means turning it into a shounen battle manga). Although this manga has its fair share of flaws, like the usage of the "shounen power-up trope", there's just so much to like about it. I like how it feels when the mangaka takes a step back to assess the various relationships; whether in a jokey manner (like in Ch.23), or a more serious manner (like in Ch.17). I like the contrast in the artistic style and quality between the comedy and action. But most of all I like how this is a harem with a solid plot and a well-developed plot at that. I just wish it ended better, but that seems to be the wish I have with most manga & anime out there.

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This is the one of the view manga's I've actually been compelled to read and I can say Without a doubt that its a must-read manga, although the ending is a bit rushed which sucks and I'm sad that this is the end of it for now (i can Hope it comes back can't I).

The story is far more interesting then that of the first season with many new enemies and allies, its defiantly a good read if you're new to manga (like myself) if you like supernatural,harem and action this is the manga for you.

Art is great
Characters develop well and develop over the course of the manga, but they seem to have a fairly cliche personality about each one. It is still very enjoyable to watch the different interactions between them and how their relationships affect Tsukune
The Story was solid at the end, but felt weak in the beginning where the gang stumbles upon a bunch of individual events in what seems like complete randomness, but then its all pulled back together. That much does not seem very strong, but the plot definitely thickens in the remaining twenty chapters as it nears its climax.
I found this series extremely enjoyable. 10/10

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First things first. My "reviews" system is explained on a blog entry. Which can be found through my profile.
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A bit of a unique case. As I watched the Anime many, many years ago. But there was simply 1 scene which manga did so much awesome (or wasn't in the Anime, cannot remember) so I added first manga plan to read to continiue where it was left off, but decided to read from the scratch. So since it's aftermath reading, I tought I won't bother with review, but since I enjoyed it so much, I thought, "why not?"

✦Story

I found the story quite intriguing, eventually story depth was increased as the most serious characters showed up and more of history of vampire family surfaced. Aside that story was absolutely fun and simple. Basically main guy growth and change and as well his relationship between his "harem", but thankfully and quite obviously the choice or route was set by the end of the story.

Probably the only complaint I would have thus why not 10 to the story, would be that It felt as some things were rushed and closure on many characters weren't a thing or was very half-assed.

✦Art

First of all, absolutely amazing improvement in comparison of the first season. Girls were pretty, guys were cool, action was superb, fan-service was nice. Anyhow I absolutely loved the artstyle, very enjoyable.

✦Character

Nice characters, don't have much else to say. Liked pretty much everyone on a main cast. As well as liked many female characters. All did grow/power-up as well to some extent, drama inbetween them was nice and so on.

Main guy growth was probably the biggest enjoyment on a battle side.

Ruby and Mizore I loved the most.

✦Enjoyment/Overall

It had very minuscule aspects that I disliked, overall absolutely enjoyed this manga. Going into my favorites.

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