Retrieve The Drifting Classroom, Vol. 1 Conceived By Kazuo Umezz Document

female isn't fit to lead, Women are made to give birth and rear children, so they can't think longterm, Their emotions cloud their logic, " This was just said casually, Greaaaaaaaat.

Not gonna lie

I thought this would be wayyy more interesting,
I've seen a lot of people compare it to Junji Ito's work, but how did anyone see that when reading this
It came off more scifi than horror, which it is classified as that, but it felt like it was being marketed as horror a lot more.
I just expected something else and I probably wasn't the audience that the author was making it for.


He also apparently wasn't marketing for women either,
There's this whole mean girl arc where the author strokes his ego by making women out to be these evil bad guys to prove his point that women are just crazy bastards who can't lead.
Now, I get this was written a long time ago, but it still ruined my little enjoyment of this anyways.
The quote said at the beginning was from the "smart guy" who knows everything and is always right.
His opinion is just taken as fact and no one even bats an eye, Disgusting.

I'm still gonna read the other two because the covers are aesthetic and will look good on my bookshelf and also because it might be like Evangelion where the first episode is literal dumpster fire and then become way better in the next ones.
So far, though, the plot is rather boring, The only interesting thing is that they'reyear old children who got their entire school transported to the future, but after a while I need more than that.
I heard so much hype about this book and was completely let down, It was boring and I wasnt personally a fan of the vintage art style but thats just preference none of the horror aspects were very shocking or scary it all just fell flat for me.
There were also some weird sexist parts in this but i guess thats just a product of its time.
Its scary, disturbing, and I read it all in one sitting, A scifi horror filled with twists and turns, its proof of Umezus belief that horror is spawned when youre trapped in a place.
Its graphic and definitely a gekiga manga with serious themes directed at a mature audience, but Umezus background as a shōjo artist really takes the believability of the characters psychology to another level.
Excellent art and a cool horror premise, The firstpages is really strong but the quality did dip a little after that point for me henceinstead of.
I'm looking forward to reading the other two volumes,
To think that this guy who dresses like Where is Waldo could conjure such a disturbing manga is actually wild.
Looking forward to reading volume!


Really hoping this one is better than the last horror manga I just read

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sitelinkYoutube sitelinkInstagram sitelinkTwitter sitelinkTumblr sitelinkWebsite sitelinkThe Storygraph This manga is pretty messed up lol which is great in this context lol.
Ive never read something horror where the main characters are all such young kids oldest beingth graders But that doesnt mean anything will be held back.
Reading this was stressful as fuck lol and I couldnt put it down because I had to know what would happen next.
I also didnt know that this manga was originally released in thes, despite being so old school it lives up well.
The art is great. Cant wait to read the next volume ! The Drifting Classroom by Kazuo Umezu is a definite classic but special manga.

It was serialised in the Weekly Shonen Sunday fromto, and you can see it in the art style of this manga, which I really liked here.
The way Umezu draws faces really stuns me, Blown away by his art,
A tremor shakes an elementary school of more thanpupils and teachers and the school is being transported to a strange dystopian wasteland.

The story discusses themes like corruption, survival, wickedness and the nature of humans, Some parts are quite dark and gruesome, And don't forget that it mostly deals with first to sixth graders, children that are left alone.
How can they all survive What about the dynamic between teachers and pupils How did they end up there What about the parents of the children that find out that all of them are now gone.

If I would have had more time yesterday I would have finished it in one sitting, without a doubt.

Funny how I rarely like horror books or films, But always love horror manga,
Pick this up! ''I have a feeling that if I hide it here, somehow Sho will be able to get it.
''

A masterpiece,

I expected a fun, silly horror story about kids fighting monsters and getting killed off in ridiculously violent ways.
What I got instead was a scifi Lord of the Flies riff with great characterisation, interesting worldbuilding, and a really cool scifi conceit.


It's easy to see why Junji Ito cites Kazuo Umezu as his hero and inspiration.
This feels, in many ways, like a tamer, more gothic version of Ito's longform nightmares, Gyo and Uzumaki.


Also the art is gorgeous,

Manga doesn't get better than this! An entire school suddenly disappears someday for no reason including the hundreds of students and faculty inside and winds up in an eerily isolated, rocky landscape.
Wha happen So begins the strange mystery of The Drifting Classroom

I cant say as much as I want to about this book without mentioning details, and, because so much of the books appeal hinges on the possibly too many left turns the story takes and its overall mystery, Ill just say that this first volume is worth a look if youre into horror manga but not to expect too much as it does get quite silly at times.
I can see why Kazuo Umezzsseries inspired creators like Junji Ito though and, if you enjoy Itos work, youll probably enjoy this too.
It definitely doesnt feelyears old so its aged well,

And with that SPOILERS for the rest of the review!

Umezz sets up the premise really well so you understand exactly whats happened: introducing us to the main character, then showing the perspective of the outsiders initially before taking us into the school and giving us that perspective great storytelling choices.
The voices of the kids and the actions of everyone once they realise whats happened is convincing and compelling to see.


And then we get the first of Umezzs unexpectedly melodramatic plot twists that become increasingly bizarre as the story develops: to calm the kids down, a teacher breaks his glasses, grabs a kid and stabs the kid in the arm! These are high school teachers have they not had training in how to control upset kids prior to this I get that theyre stressed by the situation but stabbing students as a first course of action is insane.


It gets stupider, Sekiya, the “lunchroom man” who delivers food to the school kitchen for the kids lunches every day, has also been transported and has decided to become a kind of tyrant of the school, torturing the kids and hoarding the food.
Theres a handgun in the school for some reason if this were an American school I wouldnt be surprised, but in Japan Hmm.


Then one of the teachers turns out to be a secret serial killer who decides nows the perfect time to start offing as many people, adults and kids alike, as he can! Just as the kids deal with Sekiya, an older girl tries to take control of the school and then a giant lobster attacks!

I can forgive some of this nonsense because Im sure the way manga was madeyears ago is the same as it is today: that is, the creator/s dont know if their series will be a hit so they rarely plan too far ahead.
Once they get the green light that their pilot will become a regular series, its all systems go but often they dont have that many detailed plotlines and only a vague idea of where theyre headed.


Assuming thats the case here, thats probably why Umezz was throwing in so many disparate storylines like that attack on the principal subplot that goes nowhere: because hes making it up as he goes along.
Except that the mystery of where they are, how theyll survive, how they got there, etc.
is so much more compelling than all the absurd tangents of serial killer teachers, powercrazed lunchroom men and bossy girls I wish Umezz had focused more on the former than the latter.
In the same breath, some of the nonsense is also undeniably entertaining, so its bonkers but fun too.


The second half of the book though is really dumb I get that readers are meant to suspend disbelief with fiction but I feel that Umezz asks too much here.
Our main character, Sho Takamatsu, is being attacked by his serial killer teacher in an abandoned hotel and calls out to his mother who didnt get transported who, somehow, through time and space, is able to hear him, go to the hotel, secrete a knife in the very location where hes being held down and strangled, so he can in the future, which it turns out is where they are reach out, get the now heavily rusted knife, and stab his wouldbe murderer! I mean

They also happen to have a “genius” kid Umezz very imaginatively goes for the most cartoonish character design of a nerd who can conveniently explain information to the reader and the characters mostly notably how to survive the giant lobster attack just before the giant lobster attacks the kids are able to put together, conduct and complete a schoolwide election in seemingly no time at all which isnt nearly as crazy as these kids the oldest are! putting together an elaborate stakes/drawbridge trap for the lobster monster whos

attacking the school for no reason, along with a GIANT CROSSBOW! Because thats easy to do, guys, particularly in an arid treeless environment.
And Im sure that kinda stuff was on the curriculum back then, right

Its weird how the teachers disappear after a certain point too.
Some of them die but youd expect them to be more of a presence rather than not be there at all.
Its also odd how segregated the kids remain so that they all stay in their respective classes/age groups rather than mingle together.


Umezzs art is excellent the environment the school ends up in is genuinely creepy with the perpetual darkness and martian landscape.
I was really impressed with how realistically he draws flames in black and white and the lobster monster looked cool.


Not all the storylines worked for me I wasnt that taken with the hungry kid, the bossy girl, the Christian sacrifice Umezzs Lord of the Fliesesque episodes come off as more comedic than terrifying, and he overplayed the Sekiya stuff.
But theres also a lot here that is fascinating, like seeing the kids and teachers reacting to their situation, how they deal with having limited food, water and supplies, and tentatively exploring their alien surroundings.
The stream of brutal deaths also keep you guessing as to which characters make it or not and I enjoyed slowly figuring out the mystery along with the characters.


The Drifting Classroom, Volumedefinitely has its flaws but its also got enough here a strong premise, bold storytelling choices, great art to make it understandable why its considered a classic manga.
I wouldnt say its a particularly great read theres a lotta goofy crap here and chunks of it were plain boring though I enjoyed some of it.
Its worth a look if you can find a copy but if you cant, youre not missing that much.
.