#IReadsYou Review: THE DRIFTING CLASSROOM: Perfect Edition Volume 2

THE DRIFTING CLASSROOM: PERFECT EDITION, VOL. 2
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

MANGAKA: Kazuo Umezz
TRANSLATION: Sheldon Drzka
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Molly Danzer
LETTERING: Evan Waldinger
EDITOR: Joel Enos
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0938-0; hardcover (February 2020); Rated “M” for “Mature”
760pp, B&W, $34.99 U.S., $46.99 CAN, £28.00 UK

The Drifting Classroom is a legendary shonen manga from creator, Kazuo Umezz.  Many manga creators, fans, and critics consider Umezz to be the most influential horror manga artist ever.  Starting in October 2019, VIZ began publishing a new English language edition of The Drifting Classroom in its “perfect edition” format.  According to VIZ, The Drifting Classroom: Perfect Edition features an all-new translation and new content and revised story elements gathered in a deluxe hardcover format.  If I understand correctly, the original eleven graphic novels in The Drifting Classroom series will be collected in three hardcover omnibus books with a trim size of 5 3/4  x 8 1/4.

The Drifting Classroom focuses on sixth-grader Sho Takamatsu.  One morning, Sho's school, Yamato Elementary School, is apparently struck by the tremors of an earthquake.  People near Yamato discover that the school has disappeared after the earthquake; at first, they think the school was destroyed in an explosion.  However, Sho, the teachers, the students of Yamato Elementary, and a visiting pre-school child (Yuichi “Yu” Onodo) emerge from the school to discover that Yamato Elementary is now surrounded by what seems like an endless wasteland of sand.  They come to believe that in the aftermath of the massive earthquake, the school has been transported to the future.

As The Drifting Classroom: Perfect Edition, Vol. 2 (Chapters 16 to 29) opens, the surviving students have accepted that they have been somehow transported into the distant future – at least some of them.  Now, they are confronted by strange plants and strange bugs, suddenly appearing in a world they believed to be barren.  But is any of it real?  That is what Sho and the other students have to figure out when a giant bug-monster attacks the school.

Then, what seems like a moving black mass is eating the students alive.  Plus, the students fight what may be an epidemic of the “Black Plague.”  Sho's mother, Emiko Takamatsu, finds a way to bridge “separated time” in order to help Sho.  Some of the students go on a rampage, and others create a crazy new religion.  And finally, an old adversary returns.

I previously called The Drifting Classroom manga a mixture of horror and science fiction.  The series is a seamless blend of horror and science fiction, and I really can't tell where one genre begins and the other ends.  The science fiction side of the narrative follows the adventures of a group of elementary school students trapped in what resembles a post-apocalyptic world.  The horror element focuses on the students in constant brutal conflict that gradually, inevitably shrinks the population that was originally 862 humans.

The Drifting Classroom: Perfect Edition Volume 2 focuses on the endless conflicts in which the children face – man versus man; man versus nature; and man versus himself.  Several times while reading Vol. 2, I thought of Lord of the Flies, and other times the characters seemed like nothing more than hapless castaways lost on another world.

Sheldon Drzka (translation) and Molly Danzer (English adaptation) present dialogue that perfectly captures the breakneck pace of The Drifting Classroom and also the desperation and the mania of the students.  Umezz brilliantly fashioned a series of terrifying situations in which to place his characters, and as much as they thrill me, I also find poignant moments in the English-language version .

I highly recommend this second volume of The Drifting Classroom: Perfect Edition to fans of horror manga and to fans of classic manga series.  It is a must-read, and, for the “special edition” collectors, a must-have.

8.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.


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Review: THE DRIFTING CLASSROOM

THE DRIFTING CLASSROOM: PERFECT EDITION, VOL. 1
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

MANGAKA: Kazuo Umezz
TRANSLATION: Sheldon Drzka
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Molly Danzer
LETTERING: Evan Waldinger
EDITOR: Joel Enos
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0937-3; hardcover (October 2019); Rated “M” for “Mature”
752pp, B&W, $34.99 U.S., $46.99 CAN, £28.00 UK

The Drifting Classroom is a shonen manga from acclaimed manga creator, Kazuo Umezz, who is considered the most influential horror manga artist ever.  The Drifting Classroom was originally serialized in the venerable Japanese manga magazine, Weekly Shōnen Sunday, from 1972 to 1974.  VIZ Media published the 11-graphic novel series in English from 2006 to 2008.

VIZ recently began publishing a new English language edition of The Drifting Classroom in its “perfect edition” format.  According to VIZ, The Drifting Classroom: Perfect Edition features an all-new translation and new content and revised story elements gathered in a deluxe hardcover format.  If I understand correctly, the original eleven graphic novels will be collected in three hardcover omnibus books with a trim size of 5 3/4  x 8 1/8.

The Drifting Classroom: Perfect Edition, Vol. 1 (Chapters 1 to 15) introduces sixth-grader Sho Takamatsu.  The story opens with a prologue, of sorts, in which Sho speaks to his mother, Emiko Takamatsu, as if he were writing her a letter or telling her a story about his life since he last saw her.  The day and evening that led up to the fateful morning when everything changed finds mother and child squabbling over petty disagreements, seeming to deliberately vex one another.

Then, one morning, Sho's school, Yamato Elementary School, is apparently struck by the tremors of an earthquake.  People near the school discover that the school has disappeared after the earthquake; at first, they think the school was destroyed in an explosion.  However, Sho, the teachers, and students of Yamato Elementary emerge from the school to discover that Yamato Elementary is now surrounded by what seems like an endless wasteland of sand.  They come to believe that in the aftermath of the massive earthquake, the school was transported to a hostile world.

But the truth is more terrifying than that.  Wherever they are, the students and teachers find themselves besieged by terrifying creatures and short on food and water.  Worst of all, madness takes over both the adults and the children, turning them towards tyranny and even murder.

The Drifting Classroom manga is a mixture of horror and science fiction.  The science fiction side of the narrative follows the adventures of a group of elementary school students trapped in what resembles a post-apocalyptic world.  The horror element focuses, at least early in the narrative, on the breakdown of order in the school as well as on the murderous turn that some of the teachers and students take.

The Drifting Classroom: Perfect Edition Volume 1 is both a terrifying and a terrifically breezy read.  I once described the pace of the story being as if Umezz put his readers on a horse that just races at breakneck speeds through a barren landscape of non-stop action and adventure... and, of course, terror.  In addition to the depiction of terror, I think that what impresses me in these first 740+ pages of the story is the imaginative and inventive ways in which Umezz depicts the breakdown of Yamato Elementary's society in the shifting factions of hoarders, tyrants, and murderers.

Sheldon Drzka on the translation and Molly Danzer on the English adaptation capture The Drifting Classroom manic ebb and flow of the children investigating, planning, escaping, and fighting for their lives.  Drzka and Danzer's work is so good that there were times that I felt that I simply could not stop reading.  Believe me when I say that reading this does not feel like an experience of trudging through 740+ pages.  Honestly, by the end of it, I wanted more.

I highly recommend the first volume of The Drifting Classroom: Perfect Edition to fans of horror manga.  It is a must-read, and, for the collector, a must-have.

8.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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