After School Nightmare
Encyclopedia
is a shōjo fantasy
manga
by Setona Mizushiro
. It was serialized from 2004 to 2007 in the manga magazine Princess
and collected in ten tankōbon
volumes. It is licensed in North America by Go! Comi
, with all volumes adapted by Mallory Reaves
and edited by Brynne Chandler
. The story is about Mashiro Ichijo, an intersexed high-school student who is made by a teacher to work out his gender identity
in a collective dream
, and Mashiro's romantic relationships with two classmates, one female and one male.
, he tries to decide whether he wants to live as a male and go out with one of the prettiest girls in school or as a female and be with the cute male slacker, both of which are madly in love with Ichijo.
The final chapter reveals that the whole story is an allegory
for an outer story that was hinted at on the first page and then hinted at repeatedly during the course of the story: The school is connected to a ward of pregnant women and when a student graduates, they are born in the real world. Mashiro is reborn as a girl, whose twin brother died right before birth. In the epilogue, the real-world analogs for Fujishima, Mizuhashi, and Ebizawa are shown, with the real-world Mashiro and Mizuhashi meeting by coincidence when catching the same train to school.
Midori Okui
Itsuki Shinonome
Shinbashi
Asuka Suo
Momoka Ohara
Koichiro Kurosaki
Ebizawa
Unnamed Boy
, set on board a space-ship. When she began to develop it as a shōjo manga, she moved the setting to a high school, changing the sleeping pods the characters used for shared dreaming into canopied beds. The characters Itsuki Shinonome and Asuka Suo were supposed to be part of the initial class of dreamers with Mashiro, but after serialization was announced in Princess
as a horror story, Mizushiro put off introducing them because she thought their dream forms of a giraffe
and mermaid
were too gentle for an atmosphere of horror.
. It was serialized from 2004 to 2007 in the monthly shōjo manga magazine Princess
. The 39 untitled chapters were collected in ten tankōbon
volumes by Akita Shoten
under the Princess Comics imprint. It was licensed to be adapted English in North America by Go! Comi
, with all volumes published. It is also licensed in France by Asuka
, in Italy by Star Comics
, and in Germany by Carlsen Verlag
.
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
by Setona Mizushiro
Setona Mizushiro
is a Japanese comic artist. In 1985 she participated in the publication of a dōjinshi. She remained active in that world until her debut in 1993 with the short story Fuyu ga Owarou Toshiteita that ran in Shogakukan's magazine, Puchi Comic.While she is highly regarded in Japan and among the Chinese...
. It was serialized from 2004 to 2007 in the manga magazine Princess
Princess (magazine)
is a shōjo manga magazine published monthly on the 6th in Japan by Akita Shoten. It is aimed at teenage girls, and its main competitors are Lala, Bessatsu Margaret, and Betsucomi. Its sister publication is , which branched out from the Princess magazine in 1979...
and collected in ten tankōbon
Tankobon
, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...
volumes. It is licensed in North America by Go! Comi
Go! Comi
Go! Comi was an imprint of the American manga publishing company, Go! Media Entertainment, LLC. They published such series as After School Nightmare, Cantarella, Her Majesty's Dog, Tenshi Ja Nai!! and Crossroad...
, with all volumes adapted by Mallory Reaves
Mallory Reaves
Mallory Reaves , is a writer from Southern California. She is best known for her adaptations of the popular manga series After School Nightmare , Black Sun, Silver Moon, Her Majesty's Dog and 07 Ghost...
and edited by Brynne Chandler
Brynne Chandler
Brynne Chandler is a writer best known for her work on animated television series such as Gargoyles, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Batman: The Animated Series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, amongst many others. She was nominated for an Emmy award for...
. The story is about Mashiro Ichijo, an intersexed high-school student who is made by a teacher to work out his gender identity
Gender identity
A gender identity is the way in which an individual self-identifies with a gender category, for example, as being either a man or a woman, or in some cases being neither, which can be distinct from biological sex. Basic gender identity is usually formed by age three and is extremely difficult to...
in a collective dream
Dream
Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, philosophical intrigue and religious...
, and Mashiro's romantic relationships with two classmates, one female and one male.
Story
Mashiro Ichijo is a girls' idol, handsome and kind, but he has been hiding a secret all his life: he's not truly male, nor entirely female. He has the upper body of a male but the lower body of a female. When a mysterious school nurse introduces him to a new class, he finds that in order to graduate he has to go to a world of dreams to find a mysterious key, competing with other classmates to find it. Once this key is found, the student graduates and all other members of the school forget their existence. As he struggles with his gender identityGender identity
A gender identity is the way in which an individual self-identifies with a gender category, for example, as being either a man or a woman, or in some cases being neither, which can be distinct from biological sex. Basic gender identity is usually formed by age three and is extremely difficult to...
, he tries to decide whether he wants to live as a male and go out with one of the prettiest girls in school or as a female and be with the cute male slacker, both of which are madly in love with Ichijo.
The final chapter reveals that the whole story is an allegory
Allegory
Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...
for an outer story that was hinted at on the first page and then hinted at repeatedly during the course of the story: The school is connected to a ward of pregnant women and when a student graduates, they are born in the real world. Mashiro is reborn as a girl, whose twin brother died right before birth. In the epilogue, the real-world analogs for Fujishima, Mizuhashi, and Ebizawa are shown, with the real-world Mashiro and Mizuhashi meeting by coincidence when catching the same train to school.
Characters
All of the main and secondary characters take part in the dream class at some point during the story.Main characters
- A high school student who is popular among his female classmates, even though he stays aloof to protect a tremendous secret: he is neither fully a man nor a woman, as the upper half of his body is physically and genetically male while his lower half is female. Mashiro claims to identify himself as a man, however he is constantly doubting himself. He tries to act as he believes "men" commonly would. He is sometimes a member of the kendoKendo, meaning "Way of The Sword", is a modern Japanese martial art of sword-fighting based on traditional Japanese swordsmanship, or kenjutsu.Kendo is a physically and mentally challenging activity that combines strong martial arts values with sport-like physical elements.-Practitioners:Practitioners...
club, quitting and rejoining a couple times over the series, in part in frustration at his inability to defeat Sou in a bout. When Kureha professes her love for him after learning of his secret, Mashiro begins to date her, even while remaining obsessed with Sou. - Dream Self: In the dream world Mashiro appears as himself in either a male or female school uniform, depending on his self-image at the moment. Occasionally, Mashiro creates two feather-shaped swords, a longer one representing his male side and a shorter one his female side. The two swords are connected, preventing him from discarding the short sword symbolizing that he cannot get rid of the female aspects of himself, much like he can't get rid of the short sword. The strength of the blades is determined by Mashiro's ability to essentially will them into sharpness. Later, when his two selves meet and fight, each holds one sword. Twice when Mashiro's belly is cut open while dreaming, a flock of black birds flies out, overwhelming his attacker.
- She is cheery and bright, but has a strong dislike of men. Since Mashiro is very protective of her (and is not entirely male), Kureha soon falls for him. Kureha is very distrustful of Sou, and will take any opportunity to separate Mashiro and Sou. It is revealed in Chapter 2 (Mashiro's second dream in the class) that her distrust of men stems from a brutal rape done to her during a walk home from kindergarten, plus the harsh words she overheard her father say to her mother afterwards. However, as the story progresses, she and Sou team up and become friends, which is part of her plan to get revenge on Mashiro for their break-up.
- Dream Self: In the dream world, Kureha appears dressed as she was after she was attacked, wearing a ragged raincoat and dripping with rain, her face and eyes concealed by the coat's hood because of shame and rage. She is very vengeful and quick to attack. Later in the sixth book she becomes a withered version of the tree that she and Mashiro sat under together, and later in volume eight, a knight after overcoming her difficulties. In that same volume she obtains the key to graduate, but chooses to not graduate. After she wakes the nurse asks her "Why?"
- He is mysterious and very protective. Ever since he found out that Mashiro Ichijo was a woman, he has been trying anything to get Ichijo to love him, even going so far as to admit his love to him in the second volume. He has serious issues with his older sister, Ai. It is revealed he lost his virginity to her.
- Dream Self: Sou's sister, Ai, tells Mashiro that Sou is the Black Knight that torments Mashiro, and later, Sou tells Mashiro that he was hiding behind the knight armour. Volume nine sees Sou resolve his sister issues, and shows that up to that point Sou's dream self was partly the dream Ai, and partly her teddy bear, which supposedly represented "him" to her. After this, Sou's dream form becomes a dog friendly to Mashiro.
- Sou's older sister, first seen in the dream world. She is dark and a tad sadistic. She has a strong brother complex, claiming she can only graduate once Sou has found the right girl to take care of him while trying to keep him dependent on her. It is later shown that Ai and Sou's parents had separated, with Ai going to live with her father and Sou with his mother. It is shown that they have sexual relations with each other and that Ai attends a different school, several blocks away, and only sneaked into the dream class to keep him from graduating. She also claims in volume two to know what happens after a student graduates.
- Dream Self: Ai takes the form of a young girl in Gothic Lolita style clothing and is almost always carrying a teddy bear. Wandering the dream world in lace and sometimes blood, she has considered her as the most important to the dream class. She has proclaimed herself as the strongest dreamer in the class and displays a great deal of power in the dream world. Ai takes this form because during her childhood is when she lost and regained Sou, and the teddy bear represents Sou. In the volume nine, she is revealed to be a ghost of sorts, a creation of Sou's mind to compensate for thinking that his real sister had betrayed him when he was young. Although he wishes to get rid of her, it seems Sou lacks the willpower to do so.
Secondary characters
Nurse- A mysterious nurse, whose name is never stated, who takes the students to the basement infirmary so they can take part in a special class on Thursdays. She knows all the new and old students' names and their "issues", like Ichijo's gender. The nurse also takes part in the memory loss when a student "graduates". Though not explicitly stated, the nurse is different for each student and takes the form of the students' mothers. This is hinted as the nurse for Kureha looks different than Ichijo's nurse as well as the fact that Ichijo's nurse looks exactly like Ichijo's mother except with lighter hair. The entrance to the basement infirmary is not accessible except to class members on Thursdays.
Midori Okui
- Midori takes part in the dream class. She was on the Beautification Committee and a straight-A student. As a model student, Midori strived to for R University. However, she believes that her actions and even her personality is simply an act. She gets rejected by the school and forced to apply to a different university, Midori felt that she had finally lost her true self. In the second volume Midori graduates when she hears her own breathing and realizes those are the proof of her being there.
- Dream Self : Midori takes the form of herself but has an empty hole where her face is and a similar hole in her chest, showing how empty she feels on the inside.
Itsuki Shinonome
- Itsuki is a child prodigy, at age thirteen, who joins the dream class in the second volume. Itsuki takes Midori's place in the dream realm and graduates in the third volume.
- Dream Self: In the dream world Itsuki takes the form of a paper giraffe, showing that he looks down on every one, even though he is weaker than them. He says he knows the real life identities of those he meets in the dream world.
Shinbashi
- Shinbashi has a crush on Kureha and has watched her from afar, but accepts that he could never be with her. After a mistake in the library has been cleared up, he and Mashiro become good friends. Mashiro tries to help Shinbashi and Kureha become friends, but it backfires and Kureha only gets angry. However, Kureha later asks Shinbashi for his phone number and calls him to talk about Mashiro. Shinbashi sets aside his own feelings to give both Kureha and Mashiro (separately) advice on their relationship.
- Dream Self: He takes Itsuki's place in the dream realm in the fourth volume and graduates. He takes on the place of Mashiro's mobile phone. He also has the ability to feel the status of Kureha's dream self.
Asuka Suo
- Asuka was a model earlier in life, but an accident scarred her face and injured her legs. She's now bound to a wheelchair and is both introduced and graduates in the 6th volume.
- Dream Self: She takes on the form of a mermaid with a mask covering her eyes and the top half of her face. She appears weak when she first enters the dream without water around her, and is sitting in her wheelchair. She has a tiara and can apparently cut someone with her breath.
Momoka Ohara
- Ohara is a dreamer at the start of the series. She was the lurking hand with the continuous arm that stalk the shadows and fought with Kureha. Ohara never did graduate the class, she simply disappeared when she didn't attend class three times in a row.
- Dream Self: She takes form of a hand and a continuously long arm. She has the ability to multiply into many little hands and arms or a giant one to crush her enemies away.
Koichiro Kurosaki
- Mashiro and Sou's senpai in the Kendo club, he is portrayed as a very kind and understanding person. He serves as an 'agony aunt' to Mashiro. However, he is revealed to be the son of the president of an important company, and his outside personality is nothing more than what his father and mother wanted him to be.
- Dream Self: It is later revealed that he, and not Sou, is the Black Knight. The Black Knight seems to symbolise his real, darker personality along with his feelings towards his parents. He graduates in the 9th volume.
Ebizawa
- A girl in Mashiro and Kureha's class. She's the source of many of the rumours circulating in the school.
- Dream Self: She takes the form of a parasitic face that attaches itself to the body of other dreamers. When the parasite is cut off from the host's body, Ebizawa returns to her real appearance, but stays in the dream world.
Unnamed Boy
- A boy in Kendo club who admires several people over the course of the series. He is Sou's friend.
- Dream Self: He form changes every dream to impersonate the forms of other dreamers. He is very weak in his dream form. In volume ten the impersonating dream student is identified as Sumida.
Development
According to Mizushiro, the story was originally conceived as science fictionScience fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
, set on board a space-ship. When she began to develop it as a shōjo manga, she moved the setting to a high school, changing the sleeping pods the characters used for shared dreaming into canopied beds. The characters Itsuki Shinonome and Asuka Suo were supposed to be part of the initial class of dreamers with Mashiro, but after serialization was announced in Princess
Princess (magazine)
is a shōjo manga magazine published monthly on the 6th in Japan by Akita Shoten. It is aimed at teenage girls, and its main competitors are Lala, Bessatsu Margaret, and Betsucomi. Its sister publication is , which branched out from the Princess magazine in 1979...
as a horror story, Mizushiro put off introducing them because she thought their dream forms of a giraffe
Giraffe
The giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all extant land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant...
and mermaid
Mermaid
A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head, arms, and torso and the tail of a fish. A male version of a mermaid is known as a "merman" and in general both males and females are known as "merfolk"...
were too gentle for an atmosphere of horror.
Manga
After School Nightmare was written and illustrated by Setona MizushiroSetona Mizushiro
is a Japanese comic artist. In 1985 she participated in the publication of a dōjinshi. She remained active in that world until her debut in 1993 with the short story Fuyu ga Owarou Toshiteita that ran in Shogakukan's magazine, Puchi Comic.While she is highly regarded in Japan and among the Chinese...
. It was serialized from 2004 to 2007 in the monthly shōjo manga magazine Princess
Princess (magazine)
is a shōjo manga magazine published monthly on the 6th in Japan by Akita Shoten. It is aimed at teenage girls, and its main competitors are Lala, Bessatsu Margaret, and Betsucomi. Its sister publication is , which branched out from the Princess magazine in 1979...
. The 39 untitled chapters were collected in ten tankōbon
Tankobon
, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...
volumes by Akita Shoten
Akita Shoten
is a Japanese publishing company established on August 10, 1948 in Chiyoda, Tokyo. Its main editorial target has always been teenagers , and it currently publishes mostly manga...
under the Princess Comics imprint. It was licensed to be adapted English in North America by Go! Comi
Go! Comi
Go! Comi was an imprint of the American manga publishing company, Go! Media Entertainment, LLC. They published such series as After School Nightmare, Cantarella, Her Majesty's Dog, Tenshi Ja Nai!! and Crossroad...
, with all volumes published. It is also licensed in France by Asuka
Asuka (publisher)
Asuka is a French publisher of Japanese manga in translation. In 2009 its parent company, Kaze S.A.S., was purchased by the Japanese manga publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha. Prior to the purchase, the company's manga was published under the Asuka imprint...
, in Italy by Star Comics
Star Comics
Star Comics was an imprint of Marvel Comics that began in 1984 and continued to publish comic books until early 1988. Titles published by the imprint were aimed at child readers and were often adaptations of children's television series, animated series or toys...
, and in Germany by Carlsen Verlag
Carlsen Verlag
Carlsen Verlag is a subsidiary of the homonymous Danish publishing house which in turn belongs to the Swedish media company Bonnier. The branch was founded on 25 April 1953 in Hamburg. The publisher's program focuses on books for children Carlsen Verlag is a subsidiary of the homonymous Danish...
.
Reception
- The English edition of After School Nightmare was named by the Young Adult Library Services AssociationYoung Adult Library Services AssociationThe Young Adult Library Services Association , established in 1957, is a division of the American Library Association. The mission of YALSA is to advocate, promote and strengthen service to young adults as part of the continuum of total library service, and to support those who provide service to...
as among the 10 best graphic novelGraphic novelA graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
s for teens for 2008. - In 2007, After School Nightmare was nominated for an Eisner AwardEisner AwardThe Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...
in the category "Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Japan".