After School Nightmare

is a shōjo manga by Setona Mizushiro

Setona Mizushiro

Mizushiro Setona is a popular manga-ka who started out in the dōjinshi circles. Her first real dabble in the world of creating manga was in 1985 when she participated in the publication of a dōjinshi...

, published in the United States by Go! Comi

Go! Comi

Go! Comi is an imprint of the American manga publishing company, Go! Media Entertainment, LLC. They publish such series as After School Nightmare, Cantarella, Her Majesty's Dog, Tenshi Ja Nai!! and Crossroad...

.

Mashiro Ichijo is a girls' idol, handsome and kind, but he has been hiding a secret all his life: he's neither a true male, nor a true 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.

is a shōjo manga by Setona Mizushiro

Setona Mizushiro

Mizushiro Setona is a popular manga-ka who started out in the dōjinshi circles. Her first real dabble in the world of creating manga was in 1985 when she participated in the publication of a dōjinshi...

, published in the United States by Go! Comi

Go! Comi

Go! Comi is an imprint of the American manga publishing company, Go! Media Entertainment, LLC. They publish such series as After School Nightmare, Cantarella, Her Majesty's Dog, Tenshi Ja Nai!! and Crossroad...

.

Story

Mashiro Ichijo is a girls' idol, handsome and kind, but he has been hiding a secret all his life: he's neither a true male, nor a true 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. Struggling with his orientation issue he starts having mixed feelings regarding whether he wants to live as a male and go out with one of the prettiest girls in school, or if he wants to live life 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 figurative mode of representation conveying a meaning other than the literal. An allegory is a device that can be presented in literary form, such as a poem or novel, or in visual form, such as in painting or sculpture...

 to an outer story that was hinted at in 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 given birth to in the real world. We briefly see the analogs to Fujishima, Mizuhashi and Ebizawa, and we are left to speculate about what really happened to each of the other characters in the outer story. In the last few pages of volume 10, the reincarnated Mashiro and Mizuhashi meet by coincidence when catching the same train.

Characters

While he is the apple of every young girl's eye, Mashiro hides a tremendous secret. He is neither a man nor a woman, with the upper half of a male and lower of a female . Mashiro claims to identify himself as a man, however he is constantly doubting himself. He frequently does things that he thinks "men" would commonly do. When Kureha professes her love for him after learning of his secret, Mashiro begins to date her.

Dream Self: In the dream world Mashiro appears as himself in either a male or female school uniform, depending on his emotions. At one point in the series Mashiro creates two blades to protect himself, each blade representing that side of himself. Both blades are feather shaped, but the male side is a long sword and the female side a short sword. The two swords are connected, 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 he shows signs of abilities similar to Ai Mizuhashi's.

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 cloak and dripping with rain, her face and eyes concealed by the cloak's hood because of shame and rage. She is very vengeful and quick to attack. Later in the seventh or eighth book she becomes a knight after overcoming her difficulties.

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. It is revealed he lost his virginity to his sister, Ai.

Dream Self: In the third book it is suggested that Sou is the hand, that was keen to help Mashiro in the dreams. By the fifth book, however, it is discovered through Sou's sister, Ai, that Sou is indeed the Black Knight that has been constantly tormenting Mashiro. In the ninth book, he tells Mashiro that he was merely hiding behind the knight armour, thus implicitly corroborating the fact that Kurosaki was indeed the Black Knight. He also tells Mashiro that he thought it would be better for Mashiro if he believed Sou was the knight.

Sou's dreamself is revealed in the ninth book: his dreamself is Ai Mizuhashi. In the tenth book Sou's dreamself is a dog.

Sou's older sister, she is dark and a tad sadistic. She has a serious 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 discovered that Ai and Sou have sexual relations with each other and that Ai doesn't go to school with Sou and only sneaked into the dream class to keep him from graduating. She also claims to know what happens after a student graduates in the secound voulume.

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 Sou and the teddy bear represents Sou. In the ninth book, she is revealed to be a ghost of sorts, a creation of Sou's mind upon his betrayal by his (real) sister when he was young. Although he wishes to get rid of her, it seems Sou lacks the willpower to do so.

Minor characters

Nurse (Mariko)

A mysterious nurse 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". In volume 1 Mashiro checks at the regular high school infirmary; all the staff is present and accounted for and this nurse is not one of them. The entrance to the basement infirmary is not findable except to class members, on Thursdays. Little is known about this nurse. The manga-ka did not even publish her name. She looks much like the "Queen of Death" in Mashiro's dream in the 5th Volume,but she really looks like the pregnant woman except the pregnant one looks like it has brown hair,in Volume 10.You can see they look alike by their mole in the lower part of their left eye.

Midori Okui

Midori takes part in the dream class. She was on the Beautification Committee and a straight-A student. Midori graduates in the second volume.

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 is able to know 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 current dreamer. She has 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 failed to 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 Student

A boy in Kendo club. He is Sou's friend.

Dream Self: He takes any form he wants, he impersonates other dreamers form. Being though very weak himself and his dream form.

Reception

The English edition of After School Nightmare was named by the Young Adult Library Services Association

Young Adult Library Services Association

The 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 novels for teens for 2008.

External links

• After School Nightmare on Go! Comi's web site