jimance

Published by The Yurei 20/12/20

Hey y’all, Jim here with a brief overview of one of my favourite horror/survival manga “Hyouryuu Kyoushitsu” aka The Drifting Classroom. Released all the way back in 1972 by Weekly Shonen Sunday, this piece of art is written and illustrated by Kazou Umezu who is also known for his other works such as Orochi: blood and “Kami no Hidarite, Akuma no Migite” aka God’s Left Hand, Devil’s Right Hand.

Drifting classroom centre’s around a sixth-grade boy named Sho, who, after a heated argument with his mother, heads to school like any other day. After what seems like an earthquake hits the facility, the school and all staff and students are transported to a barren, post-apocalyptic wasteland. As panic sets in, the staff lose their sanity and start hoarding food and killing anyone that gets in their way. It is up to the students to protect themselves and take back control of their supplies and their school. As the dust settles, the students have regained control but at the price of being the only ones left alive. It is now that the real struggle of survival begins with outside attacks from megafauna and mysterious illnesses to internal struggles of descension and munity, all whilst trying to make sense of how/if they are able to make it back home safe. This manga is not for the faint of heart and shows very graphic scenes of young children fighting for their lives and not always being on the winning side.

It also brings up the philosophical elements of society and the creation of a quasi-government made up of children being able to tackle overwhelming problems with limited supplies and knowledge is very reminiscent of Mustafa Sherif’s highly unethical Robbers cave experiment of the 1950’s.

Being released as a weekly serial worked well for the pacing of the story. The suspense is very intense and the action is nonstop so it really feels like the children do not a moment to rest and are always on guard for any new threat that could come their way, but the manga is still able to tell its story without slowing the flow of action and horror.

This manga is available fully translated in the West, being published under VIZ Media since 2009. I would defiantly recommend this to anyone that enjoys horror/survival manga with supernatural elements.