▪	RELEASED BY:		TOKYOPOP
		▪	AUTHOR / ART:		MAJIKO!
		▪	FORMAT:		JAPANESE / BW
		▪	PAGES:		184
		▪	RATING:		T
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		08/07/2007
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		09/06/2007
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		CHRISTOPHER SEAMAN

Those who work in education know students can be little demons.  Is it possible for little demons to be good students like ‘humans’, though?  According to the more than slightly mad director of St. Lunatic High School, the answer is a resounding ‘yes’.  Providing quality education to privileged students by day, St. Lunatic becomes a charter school for the underworld at night.  Atchan and Niko Kanzaki think they’re onto a good thing when Atchan is offered a lucrative teaching post and accommodations to book at this school.  Only when little sister shows up to sit in on the night classes he’s been teaching and sees the place they’re living in, she knows immediately this is definitely not what she expected.  But they need the money…and you know, dear reader, that they’ll do it, come Hell or…more Hell.

Thus is established the basic plot for ST. LUNATIC HIGH SCHOOL from Tokyopop.  This two volume manga is billed as a horror comedy, but take it from this reviewer that you’ve definitely seen scarier things in a Harry Potter movie than anything you’ll come across here.  More FRIGHTENSTEIN than frightening, this series of mis-adventures is heavy on howling laughter, and light on screaming terror.  Great fun from beginning to end, it still manages to fit in a simmering romance between Niko and Ren, a mysterious and darkly handsome boy on campus who manages to save her from everything from demon mushrooms and crazed pumpkins, to the school nurse and the director, who, as noted earlier, is more than a little mad.  Paying the bills and keeping food on the table seem to be small problems compared to the bigger trials facing them with the not so grateful un-dead who terrorize Atchan’s night classes generally and Niko in particular.

Yet, as nothing is at it seems in the school, (coveted campus accommodations for staff are mere hovels, and ponds contain maniac mermaids but no fish, just to start), it is reasonable to assume that the night class students are also not to be judged by their skin, bones, and horns (?!).  While the demons argue they are nothing like humans and are in fact vastly superior to them, Ren constantly challenges humans and demons alike to embrace the things they actually have in common.  Yes…there is a message in this manga, folks.  And it is a good one. 

The art is typical of young teen manga.  The chibi-like representations of many of the characters enforce the generally lighthearted tone of the manga.  Heavy outlines, exaggerated expressions, those cute little circle hands and cock-eyed ‘camera’ angles give the work a twisty over-the-top look to it that complements the insanity of the general plot, such as it is. 

As to the plot, there really is no continuous narrative here.  Each chapter reads like a little sit-com, with the set up, action and wrap up.  If you are looking for a light read and a few laughs that can be picked up and digested easily in short sessions, this manga will suit your needs very well.  Atchan and Niko are great fun and the predicaments that Niko finds herself in are always good for a laugh or two.    

EXTRA:
This manga is light on extras.  A postscript from the creator follows the main block of the story, and a blurb for the next and final volume is on the page after that.  Tokyopop previews also follow.

IN SUMMARY:
Trading lunches with demons.  Getting punk’d by pumpkins with eye patches.  Classes that really put the ‘hell’ into education.  Yup.  It’s all here, crazy page after crazy page in St. LUNATIC HIGH SCHOOL, by Majiko!, published by Tokyopop.  Night school will never be the same again!