Review: Afterschool Charisma Vol. 2 by Kumiko Suekane

Recap Summary

St. Kleio Academy is an exclusive boarding school that caters to a select group of students: the clones of famous historical figures. With the lockdown of the school and heightened security measures in the aftermath of clone Kennedy's assassination, tensions are at an all time high.

Click here for my initial review of Vol. 1

First Impressions

Volume 2 picks up as the residents of St. Kleio Academy are preparing for the annual expo; a perennial fundraiser hosted by the school in which the clones are shown off  to wealthy business interests and political leaders alike as proof of progress for their financial investment.

Although everyone is busy preparing their routines and perfecting the minutiae of their outfits, the shock of Mozart's drastic act has yet to wear off, and the clones are left on edge.

All of the familiar faces are back, and three otherwise minor characters (Rasputin, Himiko and Joan of Arc) are fleshed out significantly more than in the previous volume. Making his introduction to the series is eccentric board director Rockswell, a helicopter diving buffoon who totes along a small child with a candy obsession that he adopted on a whim and named Pandora (I told you that he was eccentric).

The concept of predestination is examined in this volume through Rasputin, who has devised a plan to twart what many feel is their inescapable destiny to repeat the history of their originals. Mock death rituals have been established in order to present a faithful reenactment of each clone's original cause of death, in hopes of breaking the chains of fate and allowing everyone to live beyond the years of their namesake.

What I found to be most appealing about this volume was the changing impressions of Dolly--the small figurine sheep that many of the clones carry around. Dolly has come to be seen in a number of different lights:

1. Dolly showers upon its followers its "divine mercy"
2. Dolly is a good luck charm meant to ward off physical or mental impairment
3. Dolly is a curse and those who worship it put themselves in serious danger
4. Dolly will help land the clone a spouse. Elizabeth I is particularly invested in not living up to her namesake

All the while the staff of the academy are divided about whether or not such trinkets should be allowed in the school, and what sort of message it might be sending to the students.

Ultimately this volume was a lot lighter in tone than the first for the majority of the text. The last ten pages or so, however, completely reverses this impression and sets the third volume up for what will likely be countless pages of heavy material.

The artwork remains competently drawn, and is sometimes outright beautiful.

Final Thoughts

If you're fine with being lulled into a false sense of security and are comfortable knowing that this series is likely to take a plunge into much darker material, read on. Enjoy the lighter days while they're still available to be enjoyed--after all, Afterschool Charisma excels in creating this foreboding sense of something dark and twisted being just around the corner. If there's anything that I've learned about the series so far, it's that there always is.

All subsequent volumes will be reviewed.

Review: Afterschool Charisma Vol. 1 by Kumiko Suekane

Publishers Weekly Summary

With a title right out of a romance manga and a premise that sounds like Clone High, at first glance Afterschool Charisma doesn't seem promising. But that first impression is most emphatically wrong. Suekane's story of a school full of cloned historical geniuses and a very ordinary boy who observes them is another success for Viz's experimental manga line.

Cloned for undisclosed and morally dubious reasons, the students include not only the great and the good (Mozart, Marie Curie, Elizabeth I) but also the world-shatteringly brilliant and driven of every stripe (Napoleon, the infamous Dowager Empress Cixi, Hitler). But locking would-be world leaders up in a boarding school and disappearing the more rebellious students to "another school" works about as well as you might expect. 

Unlikely alliances and conspiracies form--Napoleon will hardly go tamely to his fate, for example, and Sigmund Freud revels in using his cynical psychological insight to be the perfect power behind the throne. Suekane's art is all clean lines and expressive faces, even if the characters look disconcertingly little like their historical counterparts. Tensely plotted and sparkling with sharp dialogue, the story succeeds by not underestimating the intelligence of teenagers, in both its characters and its readers.

First Impressions

Shiro Kamiya, unlike all of his classmates, is not a famous historical clone. Although his admittance to St. Kleio Academy is left unexplained, the reader can safely presume that he was granted admission on account of being the son of Dr. Kamiya, the resident professor. This explanation, however, is immediately suspect and the reader is soon confronted with the reality that things are not always as they seem at the academy.

Shiro's new classmates are a diverse group of historical figures. In this first volume the main cast is made up of: Marie Curie, Napoleon Bonaparte, Ikkyu, Florence Nightingale, Mozart, Elizabeth I, and the always delightful Sigmund Freud. Secondary characters include: Einstein, Joan of Arc, Hitler and Rasputin, among others.

As one might expect, there are numerous existential questions for the clones to grapple with. One recurring fear that the clones share is the notion of destiny--namely, whether or not they'll end up identical to their namesake. This pressure is exacerbated by the teachers who try their best to ensure that the clones turn out exactly like the originals. Certain characters, like Marie Curie, find themselves conflicted over the subject of their passion. Historical Marie Curie was a noted chemist and physicist; clone Marie Curie envies Mozart and wishes that she too could study music. 

To add to the mix, clone Kennedy, a seemingly perfect copy of the original JFK is quickly assassinated after announcing his intention to run for president, further blurring the line between destiny and free will in the minds of each and every clone of the academy.

On a tangent, I must say that Hitler is by far one of the most interesting characters of Afterschool Charisma. Unlike his predeccessor, he is shy, reserved and always with a smile on his face. Like many of the clones, he carries around a small figurine of Dolly (the first sheep successfully cloned) which he cherishes and holds onto religiously. What makes Hitler so distinct in the manga is his bond with Shiro. Both Hitler and Shiro are regarded as rejects; Shiro is outcasted for being a non-clone, accountable to no destiny other than his own, while Hitler is hated purely for the crimes of his namesake. To add to the complexity, Hitler accepts his rejection as a sign of deserved punishment for the sins of his original model. Now there's a story with endless possibilities!

Hitler: Reserved Dolly carrying cutie and, oddly enough, a fan favourite.

Final Thoughts

Afterschool Charisma is a well developed seinen manga, drawn semi realistically and avoiding the garish style that befalls many of its contemporaries. It is distinguishable by its interesting premise, dark undertones, diverse cast and snappy dialogue.

Oh, and heaving bosoms. Lots of them. In fact, boobs are the catalyst for many of the more comical moments of this manga, including my all time favourite scene. After Freud is caught peeking in on the girls in the dressing room (who are comparing the size of their breasts--this is a manga after all), he protests:

"Ultimately, the sex drive is what powers our libido, man's instinctive energy. Essentially, what happened just now enabled me to reach the genital phase, averting sexual deviance! Isn't that wonderful? Now if we look at what happened from the reverse perspective, examining the female subjects' activities, their own progress towards the genital phase..."

Classic Freud.

Afterschool Charisma Vol. 2 is released January 2011. Don't be surprised if you see subsequent reviews of this manga.