is a Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series written and illustrated by Akihisa Ikeda. The story revolves around Tsukune Aono, a boy who inadvertently enrolls in a boarding school for monsters. He quickly befriends

Moka Akashiya is a fictional character in Akihisa Ikeda's manga and anime series ''Rosario + Vampire''. She serves as one of the love interests to Tsukune Aono, who is the only human enrolled in a school of monsters. She has a rosary that gives her a split pe ...

, a vampire who soon develops an obsession with his blood, and later meets other monster girls who soon take a romantic liking to him. The manga was serialized in

Shueisha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...

's manga magazine '' Monthly Shonen Jump'' from April 2004 to June 2007, when the magazine ceased its publication. An extra chapter was published in ''

Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump (magazine line), Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many Action (fiction), action scenes and a fair ...

'' in September 2007. The chapters were collected in ten volumes. A sequel, titled ''Rosario + Vampire: Season II'', was serialized in ''

Jump Square , also written as , is a Japanese monthly manga magazine. Published by Shueisha, the magazine premiered on November 2, 2007, as a replacement for ''Monthly Shōnen Jump'', another manga anthology that Shueisha discontinued in June of that year. ...

'' from November 2007 to February 2014. An epilogue chapter was published in ''Jump SQ.19'' in April 2014. The chapters were collected in 14 volumes. Both manga series were licensed in North America and in the United Kingdom by

Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...

, and in Australia and New Zealand by

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, stylized as MADMAN, is an Australian film and television production, distribution, entertainment, and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising ...

. The series also spanned three

CD drama The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

s, two

visual novel A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...

s, a novel adaptation, and two

internet radio Internet radio, also known as online radio, web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio and IP radio, is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not ...

shows. A 13-episode anime adaptation aired between January and March 2008. A second season of the series, ''Rosario + Vampire Capu2'', aired between October and December 2008. The anime is licensed in North America by

Funimation Funimation was an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service. Launched in 2016, the service was one of the leading distributors of anime ...

, which is now known as

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation. The service primarily distributes fi ...

, who released both seasons on December 20, 2011. The anime is also licensed in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment, who released both seasons in 2012.

Plot

Tsukune Aono is an average teenager who is unable to get into any local high schools due to his poor grades. As a last-ditch effort to secure his education, his parents enroll him in a private school called Yokai Academy, which he discovers is a boarding school for monsters. The school teaches monsters how to coexist with humans, including disguising them as them, but any real humans found on campus are to be killed. Although he fears for his life, Tsukune befriends a beautiful vampire girl named

, who enjoys his company and especially the taste of his blood. During a fight with a school bully, Tsukune accidentally removes the

rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city, located northwest of Buenos Aires on the west bank of the Paraná River, is the third-most populous city in the ...

around Moka's neck and discovers that she transforms into a powerful vampire with a completely different personality. Because of Moka, Tsukune decides to stay at Yokai. He befriends formerly antagonistic students, including succubus Kurumu Kurono and child prodigy witch Yukari Sendo. They join the school's Newspaper Club and wind up fighting a variety of students and teachers, who use their monstrous powers to bully or to control one or more of the members for their own selfish or destructive ends. On a club trip to the human world, they meet a witch, Ruby Tojo, who defends a field of sunflowers from being torn down by developers. They meet Mizore Shirayuki, a snow fairy student who becomes Tsukune's "stalker". A group of " Monstrels" harass the club. Ruby, having recovered from injuries, joins the school's staff as the Headmaster's assistant. An evil group called the Anti-Schoolers threaten to break down the barrier between the human and monster worlds. When Tsukune's cousin manages to sneak onto the school grounds, the club has a hard time keeping the monster school a secret. When the school is temporarily closed because of damage, Tsukune returns home to the human world only to have Moka, Kurumu, Yukari, and Mizore follow him and hide in his room. In ''Rosario+Vampire: Season II'', Moka's younger half-sister Koko Shuzen enrolls. She, Ruby, and Mizore join the Newspaper Club. On an excursion to Mizore's homeland, they learn of a dangerous organization called

Fairy Tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...

, which seeks to destroy the human world. The Newspaper Club visits the human world where they meet San Otonashi, a former club member, and run into trouble with adversaries from Fairy Tale's 7th Branch office. Chinese transfer student Fangfang Huang tries to recruit Tsukune to join his mafia family. When Moka spends a school day as her inner personality, she is unable to return to the seal, so the Newspaper Club heads to China to get her Rosario fixed. In Hong Kong, Tsukune and the gang learn the truth about Moka's identity: she was infused with First Ancestor blood by her mother Akasha Bloodriver, who sacrificed herself to protect them from Alucard, the original First Ancestor vampire. Moka's eldest half-sister Aqua infiltrates the Huang manor and captures Moka to bring to Fairy Tale, which suspects that Moka is the key to reviving Alucard. While his friends train their powers, Tsukune has his body altered by Tohofuhai to handle the upcoming challenges. Tsukune and the gang infiltrate the Hanging Garden: a sky fortress that serves as Fairy Tale's headquarters. They face opposition from their leader and matriarch of the Shuzen family Gyokuro Shuzen, who sends the leaders of the Fairy Tale Branches after them for a series of fights. The group eventually reaches Moka, but must face her half-sisters Aqua and Kalua. Gyokuro snatches Moka's rosario in order to control Alucard. A character called the Masked King reveals himself to be a clone of Alucard's original vampire form. He reveals that he has manipulated both Fairy Tale and its opposition to determine whether the rosario could control him, and then merges with his monster self, who goes on a rampage in Tokyo. Moka is mortally wounded, but Tsukune revives her by removing all his holy locks and transforming himself into a First Ancestor vampire. They beat down Alucard, but he revives and reveals that he has hatched eggs in Japan's major cities. Tsukune's friends and allies, along with the two other Dark Lords, band together to fight Alucard and his clones. Tsukune puts Moka's rosario on Alucard, which awakens Akasha inside his monster body. Akasha tells Alucard to give up the fight, and they cast a self-disintegration spell. Now that the existence of monsters is known in the human world, coexistence is now even harder to achieve; however, Tsukune is confident that he and his friends can do it.

Conception

Ikeda drew inspiration from the monster manga series '' Kaibutsu-kun'' and has incorporated some references later into the first serialization of the ''Rosario+Vampire'' manga. In an interview at Lucca Comics 2012, Ikeda said he is a big fan of

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and producer. Known for popularizing Goth subculture, Goth culture in the American film industry, Burton is famous for his Gothic film, gothic horror and dark fantasy films. ...

and was inspired by his works, including ''

The Nightmare Before Christmas ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (formerly known as ''Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas'') is a 1993 American stop motion Animation, animated Gothic film, gothic musical film, musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick in his f ...

'', and particularly ''

Edward Scissorhands ''Edward Scissorhands'' is a 1990 American gothic romantic fantasy film directed by Tim Burton. It was produced by Burton and Denise Di Novi, written by Caroline Thompson from a story by her and Burton, and starring Johnny Depp as the title ...

'' because the monster has a sensitive soul. His first character design was Moka, a beautiful girl vampire with a crucifix around her neck; he then created the school of monsters and Tsukune afterwards. He credits the beautiful girls for the series' popularity and added the fighting elements. After the series ended in ''

Monthly Shōnen Jump was a shōnen manga magazine which was published monthly in Japan by Shueisha from 1970 to 2007 under the '' Jump'' line of magazines. It was the sister magazine to ''Weekly Shōnen Jump''. History The ''Monthly Shōnen Jump'' magazine star ...

'' but was going to be featured in ''

'', he retitled the second series to give it a sense of renewal.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Akihisa Ikeda, ''Rosario + Vampire'' was first published with a one-shot in

's manga magazine ''

'' in its October 2003 issue; it debuted as a serialized manga in the same magazine on April 6, 2004. The magazine ceased its publication on June 6, 2007. An extra chapter was published in ''

'' on September 22, 2007. Shueisha collected its 40 individual chapters in ten volumes, released from October 4, 2004, to October 4, 2007. A sequel, titled , was serialized in ''

'', the successor to ''Monthly Shōnen Jump'', from November 2, 2007, to February 4, 2014. An epilogue chapter was published in '' Jump SQ.19'' on April 19, 2014. Shueisha collected its 66 individual chapters in 14 volumes, released from June 4, 2008, to May 2, 2014. Both manga series were licensed in North America and in the United Kingdom by

under its '' Shonen Jump Advanced'' imprint, and in Australia and New Zealand by

. Viz Media released the first series between June 8, 2008, and November 3, 2009, and the second between April 6, 2010, and May 5, 2015.

Anime

A 13-episode anime adaptation produced by

Gonzo Gonzo may refer to: People * Gonzo (nickname), a list of people with the nickname * Radislav Jovanov Gonzo (born 1964), Croatian music video director Radislav Jovanov, also known as Gonzo * Matthias Röhr (born 1962), German musician whose stage ...

and directed by Takayuki Inagaki aired from January 3 to March 27, 2008, on

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV (channel 9), branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent station, independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city and parts ...

Chiba TV , doing business as , is a Japanese commercial terrestrial television broadcasting company headquartered at 11-25 Miyako-chō 1-chōme, Chūō-ku, Chiba serving Chiba Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kan ...

, and TV Kanagawa, with later runs on

TV Saitama abbreviated TVS, doing business as is a Japanese fee-free terrestrial commercial television broadcasting company headquartered in Urawa-ku, Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located ...

TV Osaka JOBH-DTV (channel 7), branded as , is a Japanese television station serving as the affiliate of the TX Network for the Osaka prefecture. Owned-and-operated by , the station's headquarters and studios are in the Chūō-ku, Osaka, Chūō-ku ward of ...

TV Aichi Aichi Television Broadcasting Company, Ltd. (TVA; ), also referred to as , with the callsigns JOCI-DTV (channel 10) is a Japanese television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity ...

, Aomori Broadcasting Corporation, and Kids Station. Six DVD compilation volumes were released between April 25 and September 26, 2008, and a DVD/

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

box set was released on January 29, 2010. The anime quickly became notorious for its extensive use of fanservice in the form of panty shots, leading the series to be censored on certain channels during its TV broadcast. A second 13-episode season, , aired on

between October 2 and December 24, 2008, with subsequent runs on

, Mie TV,

, TV Kanagawa,

, Gifu Broadcasting System, Inc., Aomori Broadcasting Corporation, and Kids Station. Six DVD volumes were released between December 21, 2008, and May 22, 2009, and a DVD/Blu-ray box set was released on March 19, 2010. For the first season, the opening theme is "Cosmic Love" and the ending theme is called "Dancing in the Velvet Moon". For the second season, the opening theme is "DISCOTHEQUE" and the ending theme is "Trinity Cross"; all songs in the series are performed by

Nana Mizuki , better known by the stage name , is a Japanese voice actress, singer, and narrator. She is represented by the agency StarCrew. Mizuki was trained as an enka singer, releasing one single under her birth name in 1993 and made her debut as a voic ...

, the voice actress for Moka Akashiya in the series. The anime was licensed in North America by

, and released both seasons on December 20, 2011. Funimation initially encountered production issues from the Japanese licensors, causing a series of delays with their release date. Originally intended for release on March 19, 2011, the release date was pushed back to May 17, 2011, and later to July 19, 2011. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the series was moved to Crunchyroll. The anime is also licensed in Australia and New Zealand by

, who already holds licensing rights to the manga, and released both seasons in 2012. MVM holds the anime license in the United Kingdom and has released the first season of Rosario Vampire on 10 September 2012.

Music

A series of character singles from the first season of the anime was released by King Records. The first set of singles, featuring Moka Akashiya (

), Kurumu Kurono (

Misato Fukuen is a Japanese actress and voice actress affiliated with StarCrew. Her real name is . She has also performed activities as a singer under the name of MIRI. Filmography TV anime Original net animation Original video animation *'' To Love Ru ...

) and Yukari Sendo (Kimiko Koyama), was released on February 14, 2008. The second set of singles, featuring Mizore Shirayuki (

Rie Kugimiya is a Japanese voice actress and singer. She is best known for her voice performances in anime, which include Alphonse Elric in the '' Fullmetal Alchemist'' series, Kagura in '' Gintama'', and Happy in '' Fairy Tail'' and '' Edens Zero'', and ...

) and Ruby Tojo (

Saeko Chiba is a Japanese voice actress and singer. She grew up in Tokyo and married in 2007. She is contracted to the Space Craft Produce. Biography Chiba took up ballet at a young age with ambitions of becoming part of Takarazuka Revue. However, havi ...

), was released on March 26, 2008, along with a compilation album called . An original soundtrack was released on December 25, 2008. A set of character singles from the second season was also released by King Records. The first set of singles for Moka Akashiya, Kokoa Shuzen ( Chiwa Saito), Kurumu Kurono, and Yukari Sendo was released on October 29, 2008, while the second set of singles featuring Mizore Shirayuki and Ruby Tojo was released on November 26, 2008, along with another ''The Capucchu'' compilation album. A "Best Of" album entitled was released on February 18, 2009.

Other media

A drama CD of ''Rosario + Vampire'' was released by Shueisha on August 31, 2006. A second drama CD was later released by Shueisha on December 14, 2007, and a third

drama CD Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

based on the anime adaptation was released by Marine Entertainment on July 25, 2008. Most of the voice actors from the CDs were carried on to the anime series. An

show promoting the anime entitled aired on Onsen between December 27, 2007, and March 27, 2008. Another radio show promoting the second anime called also aired on Onsen between October 23, 2008, and April 23, 2009. The shows are hosted by

and Kimiko Koyama, the voices of Kurumu Kurono and Yukari Sendo, respectively. A CD based on the first radio show was released by

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

on August 6, 2008, and another CD based on the second radio show was released on June 24, 2009. A

novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book, or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent ...

of ''Rosario + Vampire'' written by Fumihiko Shimo was released by Shueisha on April 4, 2008, under their ''Jump J-Books'' imprint. A

entitled was developed by

Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...

and was released on March 20, 2008, for the

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

. Another visual novel entitled was developed by

Compile Heart is a Japanese video game developer founded on June 2, 2006 as a subsidiary of Idea Factory. The company was formerly managed by Compile (company), Compile's former executive Masamitsu "Moo" Niitani, most well known as the creator of the ''Madou ...

and was released for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

on July 23, 2009. The player assumes the role of Tsukune Aono in both games, and both games feature new characters.

Reception

Manga

Volumes of the series commonly rank in listings of top selling manga in Japan. In North America, the second volume of ''Rosario + Vampire'' was featured on

BookScan BookScan is a data provider for the book publishing industry that compiles point of sale data for book sales, owned by Circana in the United States and NIQ in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Italy, Spai ...

's Top 20 Graphic Novels, ranking sixth in August 2008 and sixteenth in September 2008, with the fifth volume ranking at #7 in February 2009. Season II Volume 8 reached number 5 on BookScan and was the top manga in April 2012 Season II Volume 11 ranked number 10, and Season II Volume 12 reached number 3. Carlo Santos of

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and ot ...

gave the first volume of ''Season II'' a C rating and the second volume a B− rating. When he gave volume 1 a C, he stated that "you could do a lot worse". He felt that ''Season II'' has all the things that made the series good, but the attempt to reboot the series for the new semester caused it to lack intense feeling, reintroducing all the characters and going against weak enemies once again. For the second volume, Santos was more pleased with the introduction of a major villain and the fanservice artwork in the lighter story, but lamented the lack of any visually threatening monster. Matthew Warner of Mania.com gave volumes 1 through 3 of ''Season II'' ratings between B+ and A−. In his review for volume 1, he felt the first part was a bit weak with "predictable and bland stories," but remarked positively on the volume's cover art and artwork in general, especially the character artwork. For the second volume, he said it was better focusing on two stories and while noting the second story with Koko was weaker, it still delivers "quite a few solid laughs" and helps develop her character. In his review for volume 3, he stated while it starts out slow, he really enjoyed the story with Mizore, specifically the character development and seeing the characters put aside their disagreements for a common goal: to save Mizore. Leroy Douresseaux of Comic Book Bin gave volumes of ''Season II'' an A− rating. He opined the emphases on sexual innuendo, comparing it to '' Strawberry 100%'', and that the series is like ''

The Addams Family The Addams Family is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 standalone single-panel comics, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' between 193 ...

'' mixed with ''

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the team first appeared in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 (September 1963). Although initial ...

'': "cool, creepy folks at a secret school where they can live and learn in a place free of the prejudice against them." In volume 11, he changed his overall view and deemed it solidly a battle manga. YALSA included ''Rosario + Vampire, Vol.1'' in its list of the 2013 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults under the subcategory Boarding Schools to Summer Camps: Leaving home to find yourself.

Notes

References

External links

''Rosario + Vampire''
at ''

''
''Rosario + Vampire: Season II''
at ''

'' *
''Rosario + Vampire Capu2'' PlayStation 2 video game website
at Compile Heart * {{Gonzo 2008 Japanese novels 2008 video games 2009 video games Anime series based on manga Bandai Namco franchises Crunchyroll anime Gonzo (company) Harem anime and manga Japan-exclusive video games Jump J-Books Mass media franchises Nintendo DS games Tokyo MX original programming Nintendo DS-only games Novels based on comics PlayStation 2 games PlayStation 2-only games Romantic comedy anime and manga Shōnen manga Shueisha manga Shueisha franchises Succubi in popular culture Vampires in anime and manga Video games based on anime and manga Video games developed in Japan Visual novels Viz Media manga