Review: A SCHOOL FROZEN IN TIME

Fittingly enough, we end this month on a distinctly spooky school, which has become the site of a very strange mystery. 

A SCHOOL FROZEN IN TIME (Tsumetai Kosha no Toki wa Tomeru), based on the novels by Mizuki Tsujimura with art by Naoshi Arakawa.  First published in 2007 and first published in North America in 2021.

PLOT:

It was seemingly just another snowy school day for Hiroshi, Mizuki, and their circle of friends.  It takes a while for them to realize that they are trapped in the school with no one else around, no cell phone service, and no way to get out of the building.  Stranger still, all their watches and clocks stop at the same time and mysterious messages start appearing on the chalkboards and coming through their phones.  It all seems to be tied to the suicide of a classmate three months prior, a classmate who has seemingly disappeared from their photos and memories.  In order to rediscover

Review: HIGH SCHOOL DXD

There was a time when you couldn't swing a stick without hitting a manga adaptation of a light novel series where some horny doofus and his harem of marketable waifus go to Magic School and have fanservice-laden adventures.

This is...certainly one example of those.

HIGH SCHOOL DXD (Haisukuru Di Di), based on the light novels by Ichiei Ishibumi and character designs by Zero Miyama with art by Hiroji Mishima.  First published in 2011 and first published in North America in 2014.

PLOT:

Issei was your typical horny high school student, hoping to score some girls and touch some boobs instead of hanging out with his even hornier, stupider friends.  It figures that the first girl to give him the time of day turned out to be a fallen angel who killed him.  Now he's been resurrected as a demon, the latest minion of the bombshell popular girl/demon queen Rias.  Issei is now a soldier in a never-ending war between demons and angels, but he's got a secret weapon up his sleeve.

Review: GAKUEN HEAVEN

 It's back-to-school time here at the Manga Test Drive, which in the manga world means attending anything but your ordinary Japanese high school.  That's certainly the case with our first review, a visual novel adaptation about a very special (and very gay) school.

GAKUEN HEAVEN, based on the visual novel by SPRAY with art by You Higuri.  First published in 2004 and first published in North America in 2006.

PLOT:

Keita Itou is a lucky boy.  While he seemingly has no outstanding qualities, he has been accepted to the prestigious boys' school Bell Liberty Academy where every boy has a special talent or quality.  Once he gets there, he is welcomed by the very tall, handsome student body (and in particular by the student council president Niwa).  Soon enough Keita is swept up in a school scavenger hunt where the winner is granted whatever they want.  The competition is fierce, especially once a group of boys use this opportunity to get to Niwa by attacking Keita.