The Drifting Classroom

I like horror manga; I generally always do. So it should come as no surprise that I avidly read works by Itou Junji and Kazuo Umezu (the latter of which I will be focusing on), two well-known masters at the horror genre. Works such as Orochi (by Kazuo Umezu) may have an “out-there” kind of premise but the way it seems so natural and tangibly believable is what really scares us. I mean, if the characters act in a similar way we would in a situation (and things go horribly wrong) then we can’t help but feel vulnerable to that fact. The reality of thehorror genre is this: generally, the more realistic it can be, the scarier. The Drifting Classroom (aka. Hyouryuu Kyoushitsu) is often Well does this necessarily make it a “masterpiece”? That certainly depends. What is The Drifting Classroom? Other than being called the manga version of Lord Of The Flies (which I can wholeheartedly agree with) it’s an older manga created in 1972, was awarded the 20th General Shogakukan Award, and was serialized for two years before coming to a fairly unsatisfying end. It chronicles the life and adventures of an entire school that has been transported into the far, far future; a future where there is no vegetation, nor water...just sand. One student in particular, Sho Takamatsu, is who the manga focuses on, and the entire story is presented through his point of view. He is a sixth grade student and a fairly unreliable narrator (seeing as he rapidly changes personas; mature leader to a crying boy), and thus, this means this manga is presented through the eyes of a flawed child. Other characters in this manga include Saki, the “wife” of Sho (confusing, I understand, but I don’t know how to phrase this better; you will see what I mean later on in the manga) who is very conservative in her role, but is also a very strong girl, and Yuu, who is Sho’s adoptive “child” who has almost nothing to do with the main plot other than inconvenience Sho. There are several other minor characters (such as Otomo and Nishi), and there are many that opposes “Ralph’s” (Lord Of The Flies, again) or Sho’s authority, but events like that come and go for plot convince with different characters at different times. Overall, characterization was flimsy, for the most part (like most horror mangas), but I was surprisingly impressed with Saki’s character as a 6th grade mother figure in rough times. Setting, on the other hand, has an original premise with endless possibilities. What you don’t expect to happen in a barren world of sand DOES happen without much consequence because of the lack of things other than the school. It’s said that The Drifting Classroom is a collection of things that scared Kazuo Umezu as a child. Whether or not this is actually true, I can agree with the statement that, yes, (because it is a shounen) it is filled with things that make boys scared. Giant centipedes, bleak darkness, aliens and mummies. If I was a kid I know I’d be scared shitless. But I’m not a kid, which then brings me to my next point: the story doesn't necessarily work well as a horror. Bottom line: it’s not realistic. Rather, it’s quite absurd and has zero logic concerning the nature of the setting and such. I’m not even sure to classify this as a “horror” even though there is blood and gore. It’s simply not that scary (and I’m really easy to scare!). I think a better classification of this manga should be adventure, thriller, and gore maybe because, although the horror genre has those within them generally, this manga does not instill terror or fear in the reader. But that certainly doesn't mean it’s no good. In fact, I had so much fun reading this manga. Every so often when something different happened I turned my laptop screen around and showed my dad (who thought it was rather amusing I was reading something like this) the giant centipede or whatever new problem that arose. It takes a bit to get into, but sooner than you can even realize you’ll be on the last volume in no time. Yes it’s absurd, yes there is no logic in it, but it’s very creative and very unexpected. I mean, someone has to have a really special kind of thinking to make all of these plot twists interesting (keep in mind there’s only an elementary school and an unlimited amount of sand!). This is the 1970’s: it’s where all tropes and cliches are so raw and original because they haven’t been done before. Just turn off your brain for a bit because lots of things don’t make sense, but it’s OK because it’s fun either way. Despite whatever criticisms I had with the unreasonable nature, it is good. Because it is told through the eyes of a child, it has the right to be irrational and a bit over the top. The elements in this story is the fears of child, and because of this, Sho and the rest of the students are able to survive and cope with this situation because of their imagination. But the manga’s final fault lies in the initial premise: how did the school get transported into the future, and why? How far into the future are they? Well the subways still work so that could give us a rough estimate I suppose. But what happened to make the Earth so sandy without vegetation? And why are there no humans in the future; what disaster happened to make it that way? None of these questions will be answered in the manga (and to top it all off you’ll get the most unsatisfying conclusion) so if you’re solely interested in the answers to those questions then I don’t think you should even start. Would I recommend it? Sure, I guess, if you’re looking for something interesting that I just described in the last three paragraphs. But otherwise, I’d tuck the title in the back of your head for some other night because this definitely shouldn't be at the top of your ‘plan to read’ list. It’s good, yes, but that’s just it. There are plenty of other great titles out there for you to enjoy. The Drifting Classroom gets a 7/10 from me. (Oh yeah. And the art screams 70’s. That is all.) ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Drifting Classroom is an quite amazing science fiction manga. It explores human nature during apocalyptical situations. Like many of the similar stories (The Walking Dead, etc.), the biggest enemies are humans rather than monsters. The science fiction aspect is not perfect, the explanation of a dynamite causing a space time disruption is quite weak. The art is from the 1970s, a little bit different from what we see today but still quite good. What the manga does best is the feeling of desperation. The atrocities committed by some of the characters are very believable based on the situation. Another aspect I really likedis the mother-son relationship which is quite touching and strong. In the end, the only hope for the surviving kids is caused by motherly love. In summary, this is an above-average science fiction, with a strong story and characters.

Well... that was a unique experience. It really feels like a horror version of "Lord of the Fireflies". One thing that I learned from this manga... Sakiko is too precious for this world. She's the Best Girl in this manga BY FAR. As well as the Best Character in extension. The story is quite good and bad at the same time. The story beats, the plot, was fine. But the execution and the pacing was kinda bad. It definitely didn't aged well. The premise was pretty unique (for the time) and the problems that was thrown at the main cast were good and kept the story interestingbecause of the mystery. But it really felt cheap because some of the plot threads were entirely dropped without really any explanations. I mean, it's a horror manga so some supernatural sh*t without explanation is something that we should expect. But my God, the amount of sh*t that happens "just because" kinda took me out of immersion. It really felt like things are happening for the shock value, and not because it's integral to the story. Like, some of the plot threads could be taken out and this would still go the same way as it ended without any problems. The characters are not bad. They aren't great by any means. But there's one character that took me by surprised because of how much I loved her. Yes, Sakiko. She's pretty much the only reason why I continued reading despite the not-so-good story of the manga. The other main characters were very flawed but I also enjoyed them. Though Shou was on the edge of being a Gary Stu ngl. That's the only aspect where I kinda feel iffy about the characters. The other kids and adults were kinda boring and was just there to serve as shock factor for the readers, so they ain't good characters. The art was solid. It serves its purpose of being scary and not being too overly gory. It certainly added to the experience because the art isn't gory for the sake of being gory. Well... most of the time lol. Though I really think that the art aged poorly, I respect how the panels conveyed the situation and the severity of the events was in this manga. Overall, it's a nice read if you turn off your brain. It's made in the 70's so this isn't suppose to be overly complicated and sh*t. It's made to question ourselves as the manga's message is pretty deep and there's a lot to dissect here that mirrors what is currently happening in our world. Though even if the message and themes are deep, it doesn't excuse the poor execution of the story. Hence my score. I still recommend it though. (5.75/10)

I heard some positive stuff about this manga, some calling it a classic, something I can only partially agree with. Given the time period that it came out in I think I can acknowledge why. This manga has some strong and weak points, of which I think the latter outweighs the former. Story: It started off decent enough, and of course this is sadly where most of the rational thoughts were found. I personally believe the author came up with only the beginning of the story and made things up as they went along. This is somewhat understandable considering how it was released but this contributedto it being very episodic. Hardly anything could transpire without the next "arc" closely following along sometimes a literal second after the last one ended. I rate this aspect poorly. Lots of things that happen are very convenient, too much so and others that plain are inconsistent or do not make any sense. A short list: remembering later on there is more food and water right next to them, getting hit and later hit again to lose and gain memory, time travel contradictions, ... A bit more specific....how do gradeschoolers, max 6th grade now how to construct a giant death trap out of wood and spikes and the like and where did the tools and equipment come from for it? Why would that "girl gang leader" leave in one volume and return volumes later to leave them a dying message that leads them to a place that isn't as advertised? (to mess with them? Why would she make the trip, risking her life for it?). Why is land around them so close and yet so far so that they never find stuff when convenient or early on? Why only introduce cannibalism at the end and have none of them think anything of it? Why would they suddenly adopt the MC's art project of his mother and agree to acknowledge it as their deity? Why give those creatures the backstory of having come from humans and have them being a powerful danger and then not do anything, have them go away immediately after they're established as a threat? etc. etc. etc. 3. Art: Taking into consideration the creatures and assorted threats, its not bad. In fact its really detailed. Characters portray emotions decently enough, although you get tired of seeing the same shocked and sad faces.....7 Character: The characters are this manga's last chance it seems but in the end fails to save it. The characters behave in a terribly stupid way. One of my greatest annoyances is when the MC's "best friend" would always throw around the idea of killing their threats and they would always fight..."We can't do that!!.... Friend response: >:(---> hm okay :/. Rinse, repeat. The failure for the children to get home because the MC's love interest wants to stay in their terrible present because if they manage to get home he won't pay her attention anymore...just behave like you normally would be in the better world..., that he likes some other girl instead of her. He shows no romantic interest however... and if he does it was only towards the beginning and it was very minimal and not indicative of anything major.. It was to you anyways, he clearly does not love that other girl, only for survival purposes....etc. etc. The majority of the characters fall flat, serve as meat shields or are simply not memorable enough. 3 Enjoyment: It was (I believe) 8 long volumes of wacky, nonsensical adventures. The annoyances I collected from my prior descriptions... only increased in number as I went on. I didn't have an agonizing time but I most certainly did not have a great one. 5. Overall 5