Far from Original, But Very Entertaining.

I found this series to be very enjoyable. I tend to read a lot of variety of manga, and even this series with its rather cliché main character and the over abundance of hot women throwing themselves at said character, still strikes a cord in its ability to remain interesting and progress the story along. If you have read “too much” manga and are looking for the next original blessing from the world of black and white pages, then this is probably not your best option.

I will say that if I took the first volumes as my only baseline for my review my title would probably read something like “Tenchi Fans Enjoy”; but I digress. I continued to read farther and found myself getting addicted to our overly ambitious antagonist and his Harem. I may not be in the majority among fans of this genre, but I love that fact that fan service was minimal. What I mean by this is that the series is not relying on its harem comedy roots to try and boost a mediocre story by sexing it up. Our main heroin, who systematically finishes off every opponent with gloriously kick to the face while wearing a mini skirt is able to keep her drawn dignity in tact with a well placed hand or shaded angle.

The series is far from devoid of such low angle depictions when involving other characters however. One character seems specifically set aside to receive all the fan service glory for herself. Again however, given the nature of the character this makes all the more sense given the context of personality and physiology. (You will understand when you read, and I recommend you do).

Our main characters progress in their knowledge about themselves and each other spawning moments of romantic intrigue, usually gloriously interrupted one way or another. The creator decides to lead you down a road of varying degrees of monotony as far as action goes, but only to the extent to where you enjoy the story that much more when the proverbial monkey wrench becomes thrown in.

If you are looking for hardcore action adventure and nothing more, don’t bother. If you are new to manga and like a little bit of everything this is for you. If you have read every harem comedy under the sun and are looking for something fresh your not going to find it…. but then again you have read every harem comedy under the sun and you will probably like this one just as well.

Geek Quote of the Month: "Look! It has a succubus. I have to read it."

... Last updated on April 7th, 2008, 5:49pm

I read this purely out of it’s own popularity and was sorely disappointed as a result. The premise is interesting, but that is as far as the entertainment value goes. The characters are all one-dimensional archetypes with no redeeming factors, and the 'plot' (if you could call it that) is just as generic and predictable.

Everything that takes place in this manga has done so a hundred times before in a hundred other manga of its type; I cannot understand why this is so popular for the life of me.

So, if you like seeing the same thing you saw before in the last shounen/ecchi fail-fest that Japan shits out every year or so for retards to mindlessly jack themselves off to, all the while trying to convince themselves that it is anything special, then go ahead and read Rosario+Vampire.

I am sure you will love it.

I read this manga due to it's overwhelming popularity and people's description of it. I was sadly disappointed. At a glance it is visually appealing, but a closer looks reveals that this applies to only character design. The art used in the fight scenes is very redundant and the fights themselves are quite boring, making me wonder if it is an action manga in name only. In addition, the female characters always appear to be in some ridiculous stance at least once per page.

In terms of storyline and character development, it is also weak. The story premise is ridiculous given the information provided in the recent arc (as of volume 8 chapter 32). It tries to address mature themes such humans and their effect on nature, but overall it fails as the antagonists never hold out on their perspective, having changes of heart in the end. The main character is a typical shounen goodhearted-loyal-to-friends kid with a harem. What makes him weak though is that he cannot back up his words on his own without depending on others (i.e. his harem) to do the job. The female protagonists would be standard cliche harem characters, who vie for the main character's attention, lacking any real individual personality that makes them unique. Where this manga really fails is with the antagonists, which IMO makes a manga, especially an action shounen manga such as this one, either good or bad. Every antagonist so far is unable to complete any objective they have, primarily because the protagonists are overwhelmingly powerful, relatively speaking. In addition, most of the antagonists have no conviction in their perspective, with some of them being sweet talked into a change of heart, thus leading Tsukune (main character) into thinking that he can sweet talk everyone into not being "evil." Thus far, no antagonist's actions have caused a direct change in any of the protagonists daily life whatsoever. Overall, a cliche shounen harem manga that tries and fails to incorporate mature themes into a weak storyline with weak characters.

... Last updated on May 7th, 2008, 8:27am

it was alright but not worth your time reading every word in there.

art does get better very quickly and tried to stylised every pose at every second panel which does get annoying after a while. over using any technique is bad.

anywho, the story would be done better in a seinen manga IMO. The setting allows for a very painful, brutal, and perhaps heart-breaking drama but instead the author opts for a more generic progression. Too bad

The setting has a lot of promise, but there are so many aspects of it that just piss me off. It's completely predictable. It even foreshadows when it's completely unnecessary. It has so many shounen cliches that it's annoying. The main character himself is one - goodhearted and strong, but weak-looking and STUPID. This guy is the very definition of a high school goody-two-shoes dumbass. Oh, and the fact that it's a harem manga doesn't help matters at all, because it's only the wildest teenage boy dreams that such a guy would get all the chicks.

...with that said, the art is pretty good. As I mentioned, the setting is cool. The supernatural powers involved are all interesting. I just wish the manga wasn't targeted at idiots and losers.

EDIT: I dunno why I keep reading it...as if I keep expecting it to get better. But the chapters up to now only reinforce my opinion that the characters are stupid.

... Last updated on February 20th, 2008, 6:37pm

Far better than I expected -- the art matures significantly as the story progresses, and the seemingly slapstick premise turns into an enjoyable fighting/ecchi manga like Air Gear except with more unique villains and more interesting questions about race/humanness.

When I first started reading this I was quite excited. Even now I'm still anxious of what will happen next. Overall this manga has caught my attention to the max. Even though at times it has some downsides to it. But I am still curious on what roll the other three girls will play, and also though newly formed powers of Tsukune.

Overall I give it two thumbs up, for the artwork and plot. I guess its just appealing to me.

Well I have so far read to chapter 28 and I find that the plot is progressing a little too slowly for my taste. The relationship between Tsukune and Moka has yet to develop into something interesting to read about. The potential relationship between the two is what keeps me reading this manga. Also, the nice twist added with Tsukune turning into a ghoul because of Moka's blood has made the manga a little more interesting as well. My only worries are concerning the rest of the characters in the manga. I mean the witch, the succubus and the "ice woman" have yet to play a major role in the plot other then each getting about a chapter or two regarding them and thats it. I wish that the mangaka would involve them more in the plot instead of them being a "harem" bunch. From the comments I have read seems that the rest of the manga up to volume 10 goes back to being a light hearted read and the story picks up in R+V 2. Anyways all I can say is that it has great art, potential interesting relationship and a plot twist that might prove interesting in the futur.

It's a predictable plot, but who cares? It's plenty fun and the art is great. That's what these mangas are about. If you want a serious character development and/or great story, there are other works like Monster for you. Rosario is a fun read and that's all that counts

... Last updated on February 4th, 2008, 5:17am

As of Vol. 7 Chap. 25:

This has a monster-of-the-week feel to it at times, and the harem aspect uses too many of the same cliches that show up in other manga (and anime) with harems, but overall I'm enjoying this series.

For me, the thread that ties everything together and keeps the story interesting is the developing relationship between Moka and Tsukune. Watching their progress as they become friends, learn to depend on each other, and eventually start to become much more than just friends makes this series a pleasure to read.

The stock situations caused by romantic rivalries get annoying sometimes, but that's more than made up for by the way the group members manage to be friends and stick up for each other despite their differences and occasional squabling.

Edit: I don't see Tsukune as a weak person. He may not have been born with super-powers like most of the people around him, but he is loyal to his friends, stands up for what's right, and willingly risks himself to protect his friends.

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Edit 2: Finally had a chance to read the series all the way to the end of season one.

I enjoyed it all the way to the end, but wound up feeling let down: the series just didn't seem to live up to its potential. The relationship between the two main characters constantly seemed to be about to develop, but never actually went anywhere, and no real storyline or plot ever surfaced even though there were repeated hints that there was more going on than just random groups of monsters targetting the main character and his friends.

For me, season one left me with the feeling a lot of manga (and anime) leave me with: the feeling that the mangaka was working harder at dreaming up excuses to not tell the story than he was at telling the story.

... Last updated on July 14th, 2008, 7:01pm