Story Summary
School Nightmare is about a high school kid named Ichijo whose life is complicated due to the fact that he was born with female reproductive parts, but his upper half of his body is male. He has lived his life as a male until he begins menstruation and becomes more scared and disgusted with what he is. He is forced to join an after school class that meets once a week and involves facing your true self in a dream. In this dream state Ichijo meets and interacts with others enrolled in the course. The dream world is a frightening place because his classmate's true selves have issues just like him. One girl in the class, Kureha struggles in her dreams because she is terrified of men, after being kidnapped and traumatized when she was 5. Others include a boy named Sou who uses girls and truly desires one person who he can't attain, and a girl named Midori who is miserable because she lives to please everyone but herself. In the dreams, all the students are searching for a key, and have to attack each other in order to find it and graduate from the class. Ichijo becomes friends with Kureha and starts to date her, trying to convince himself that he enjoys kissing a girl; even though he's trying to push away his mixed feelings about his rude classmate Sou.

My Opinion
I think After School Nightmare is cool because of all the conflicted and messed up characters. Ichijo is kind, but in denial about what he is. Kureha hates all men, but strangely trusts and adores Ichijo. Sou is cold and distant, but madly in love with Ichijo. The forms each student takes up in their dreams is interesting too, since it pertains to the type of person they are. This series is creepy and twisted, making it an enthralling read.

General Information
Author: Setona Mizushiro
Volumes: 9
Genre: Fantasy/High School Drama
Age Rating: 16+
Years Run in Japan: 2005-present
Japanese Publisher: Akita Shoten
US Distributor: Go Comi!
US Release Year: 2006
Made into Anime?: no
More By the Author:
- X-Day (Tokyopop)