Haridama: Magic Cram School

By Atsushi Suzumi
Del Rey, 198 pp.
Rating: Teen (13+)

Just as a college-bound junior might take an SAT prep class, the young wizards in Haridama attend special schools to study for their sorcery exams. Kokuyo and Harika, the only students at the rundown Seikiei Magic Cram School, need all the help they can get, as neither has mastered an essential skill: channeling the complimentary forces of yin and yang to create “pressure” (a.k.a. power, juice, magic, force) so that they can cast spells. Put the two students together, however, and they prove formidable, handily besting monsters of all shapes and sizes. Of course, there’s just one drawback to teamwork: they may not be allowed to work together on their big test. Will their limited skill set prevent them from enrolling at Harvard becoming full-fledged wizards, or will heretofore undiscovered powers enable them to pass the exam and give their second-rate school a good name?

If the Harry Potter plot, plucky teen characters, and pep talks of the “just believe in yourself” variety are standard-issue, the artwork is not. Manga-ka Atsushi Suzumi has a cinematographer’s knack for staging action scenes, using a variety of dramatic angles to immerse us in the fighting. Suzumi’s characters are crisply drawn, wearing smart-looking costumes that harken back to Taisho-era Japan. Though her monsters aren’t terribly ferocious-looking, Suzumi does conjure an ethereally beautiful creature for her third story that redeems the other chapters’ woeful assortment of lizard-, crab-, and octopus-like demons. The story moves briskly—aside from the opening, which reads a bit like a textbook—reaching a satisfying conclusion before the premise wears thin.

Haridama: Magic Cram School will be available on May 21st.

The Reformed

Story by Christopher Hart, Art by Anzu
Del Rey, 172 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

Vampires—they rock the coolest rides, own the coolest crash pads, and wear the sharpest threads and Giancarlo, the handsome hero of The Reformed, is no exception. Alas, his material trappings prove more interesting than he is; at bottom, he’s a sensitive, brooding type who’s sworn off killing, even if it proves his undoing. As proof of his sensitive nature, he rescues a virginal prostitute from a violent john, inviting her to live with him, Pretty Woman-style. Though Jenny is smitten with her mysterious savior, she begins to suspect Giancarlo of being a serial killer—or worse—after evidence implicates him in a string of sordid murders. (You’ll never guess: each victim sports two puncture wounds on her neck.)

Such a played-out premise can only succeed if the storytelling is first-rate, but neither the illustrations nor the script rise above the level of mediocrity. As Johanna Draper Carlson observed in her review, Anzu draws lovely pin-ups but lousy scenes. The characters move stiffly and look flat, despite the generous application of speed lines and screen tone. (Too generous, in fact–many of the images have a murky, smudged quality that makes them hard to read.) The script, too, has a slapdash quality, relying excessively on cliché and type to propel the story to its all-too-predictable denouement. None of the characters are fleshed out beyond their plot function, nor are they provided with enough backstory for us to understand their motivations.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of The Reformed is that author Christopher Hart seems blissfully unaware of the sheer number of movies, manga, and young adult novels exploring the very same vampire-with-a-conscience theme… and doing it better. (Or the fact that he recycles a scene from Pretty Woman, leaving its icky gender dynamics intact.) About the best I can say for The Reformed is that the story is coherent, giving it a slight leg up on undead competitors such as The Record of a Fallen Vampire.

The Reformed will be available on May 27th.