They say that behind every great man is a great woman. Or, if you're Tsukune from Rosario+Vampire by Akihisa Ikeda, there are five super-powered women behind one very ordinary kid. Enter Tsukune Aono, an average-as-you-can-get student with a harem of folklore's hottest femme fatales. And since every other supernatural creature around is out for his blood (some literally), it pays to have a team of not-quite-girlfriends who've got your back.

The Story

After Tsukune flunks the entrance exams for high school, his parents enlist him in the mysterious Yokai Academy. Sure, they'd never heard of it before and his father only found the application in the first place because a spooky old monk with glowing eyes had dropped it on a dark night, but desperate times call for desperate measures!

A quick multidimensional bus ride later and Tsukune arrives at Yokai Academy. Upon seeing the leafless trees, the bright red sea and the school buildings that almost scream "haunted," he's quite sure something's gone horribly wrong… until a gorgeous girl named Moka slams into him at top speed! She's got long pink hair, a dangerously short skirt and a rosario around her neck. It's love at first sight (him for her, she for his blood), and so smitten are they that Tsukune only remembers his troubles when his homeroom teacher fills in the blanks.

Despite being a school for monsters, Yokai Academy exists to prepare young monsters for their integration into human society, so everyone inside must stay in human form. (They have to pretend to actually BE human too, so horribly mangling each other is a big no-no.) However, the school is also top secret to humans, so any human caught on its grounds might be killed and/or eaten on sight. Since Tsukune doesn't want to be the cafeteria's new mystery meat, he decides to try and pass for a very weak, very well-disguised monster. At least Moka's still into him…but that also means the school's entire male student body wants to crush him and steal Moka themselves!

But there's good news! Tsukune's the one person who can remove Moka's rosario, unlocking her sealed Vampire powers and her more aggressive side! Unlike the sweet-and-innocent "Outer Moka," this 100% vampiric "Inner Moka" is always ready, willing and able to wreak unholy terror on anyone who threatens him!

Season One: Humorous Exchange of Humors

During the manga's first few chapters, things stay pretty simple: about every chapter, someone notices Tsukune and Moka's maybe-friendship-maybe-more relationship and decides to claim one or the other for themselves. Kurumu the succubus, witches Yukari and Ruby and snowgirl Mizore are all hostile in the beginning, but eventually decide that Tsukune's a man worth winning without resorting to magic, tricks or kidnapping.

Ikeda Sensei's monster designs shine right from the get-go. Since Tsukune's the only human, it goes without saying that every other character introduced is a monster in disguise. A lot of the fun is in figuring out what kind of monsters the characters are before they reveal themselves. Some are obvious from the moment we see their human forms, but all of them are really clever. I'm not normally a fan of episodic manga and the first few chapters are very episodic. Still, I got hooked on trying to figure out the villains' true forms by the time the plot really kicks in.

The story takes its first dark turn when Kuyo, a powerful fox demon and head of the school's Security Enforcement Committee, fatally wounds Tsukune. The good news is that Tsukune doesn't die. Inner Moka takes drastic measures to save his life and instead gives Tsukune some of her own blood.

The blood transfusion heals all his injuries and grants him Moka's overwhelming vampire power, which is more than enough to tear Kuyo a new foxhole. To Tsukune's relief, the transformation is only temporary... the first time around.

Tsukune comes to depend on Moka's vampire blood to fight, but he learns too late that repeated doses will change him into a powerful-but-mindless ghoul. Tsukune only survives thanks to the intervention of a mysterious exorcist who gives him a magical lock to suppress his transformation. Just in time too, because a rogue faction of Yokai's student body has just reared its ugly head. Tsukune finds himself charged with preventing the outbreak of chaos, but when a cursed mirror gets loose and turns the students against each other as well, Yokai Academy has to close down for repairs.

Season II: A Grimmer Story

School's back in session! But all is not well at Yokai Academy when the Newspaper Club resumes next semester. A sinister organization called Fairy Tale looms large, beginning with a covert operation that Tsukune, Moka and the rest stumble across when visiting Mizore's hidden village of frost people.

These guys mean business, what with forcing Mizore into an arranged marriage with one of their operatives by threatening to unleash one of their deadliest assassins should negotiations fail. Said assassin? The sweetest li'l berserker you'll ever meet: Kahlua Shuzen, Moka's sister!

Fairy Tale quickly proves to be much more well-connected than anyone had previously thought. Running a network of the nastiest monsters imaginable across Japan, Fairy Tale's operatives will kill without a thought.

Tsukune must prepare himself for the final battle against Fairy Tale. Though he may lack experience and control over his power, he's got his friends, allies, an iron will and the monster woman he loves. But is that enough?

I started reading Rosario+Vampire for the fights and the fanservice, but I kept reading for the fun characters and well-designed monsters. As premises for fanservice-heavy manga go, this one's not only pretty clever but the plot actually moves and the characters stay funny and relatable. I can't spoil too much now, but while Season II is a lot darker than Season I, it also gets pretty epic!

Rosario+Vampire Season I & Season II is available now!

by Chris Turner