Crazy and colourful

Crazy and colourful

ST LUNATIC HIGH SCHOOL Vol.1

Story and art: Majiko!

Publisher: Tokyopop; 184 pages

(ISBN: 978-1598169447)

For ages 13+

FIFTEEN-year-old Niko Kanzaki and her older brother Atchan live in poverty. The girl believes that her luck is finally changing when Atchan lands a teaching job at the prestigious St Lunatic High School and she is allowed to enrol in the academy, albeit only for night classes.

What she doesn’t know is that the night classes are (quite literally) devilish in nature; it’s not a stretch to say that some of her classmates are rather inhuman.?

Majiko! draws her characters in super-deformed style, with their heads appearing much larger than their bodies. The cute chibi (characters that are drawn to look cute and child-like) approach is used to complement the wackiness that ensues in the manga. However, there are also several scenes which seem too rushed, resulting in a series of confusing panels. One may even need to backtrack to understand what’s actually happening.

St Lunatic High School features a large cast of colourful characters. Besides Niko and her brother, there’s the cool, human-looking demon Ren-kun – the crazy cosplaying chairman of the school – and the school nurse who happens to have a crush on Ren-kun. And I’ve not even mentioned Niko’s classmates!

To spice things up, Vol.2 promises to introduce even more characters to the already saturated pool.

I found St Lunatic High School to be quite an interesting read, despite the sometimes-awkward artwork. If anything, it’s a nice, relaxing manga to read on a laid-back Sunday, and it should pretty much appeal to everyone out there.