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The Drifting Classroom #9
The Drifting Classroom, Vol. 9
Pursued by grotesque mutants, Sho and his friends flee back to the school, where more horrors await! Barricaded against the nightmares outside, the students must perform an emergency medical operation under the most primitive of conditions. As the survivors' resources dwindle, the countdown draws closer and closer to the end...
192 pages, Paperback
First published December 18, 2007
3 people are currently reading
185 people want to read
About the author
Kazuo Umezu
131 books306 followersKazuo Umezu or Kazuo Umezz was a Japanese manga artist, musician and actor. Starting his career in the 1950s, he is among the most famous artists of horror manga and has been vital for its development, considered the "god of horror manga". In 1960s shōjo manga like Reptilia, he broke the industry's conventions by combining the aesthetics of the commercial manga industry with gruesome visual imagery inspired by Japanese folktales, which created a boom of horror manga and influenced manga artists of following generations. He created successful manga series such as The Drifting Classroom, Makoto-chan and My Name Is Shingo, until he retired from drawing manga in the mid 1990s. He was a public figure in Japan, known for wearing red-and-white-striped shirts and doing his signature "Gwash" hand gesture.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
July 25, 2023
This truly is mad.
Its packed with events as usual.
Its just tiring that they are all bad events.
The volume starts with the mutants going after the kids, they reach the school and attack them.
That scumbag sekiya takes his car and drives off with all the food, i have literally never seen a more degenerate character in all my readings, he is the original scumbag that everyone else just branch from.
Takamatsu screams at the mutants that they will die anyway without food and it seems they listen to him.
Otmo makes his move and parts from Takamatsu taking a part of the school and its war between the two teams with fatalities on both sides.
Then the operation Takamatsu has appendicitis and they perform on him, with absolutely no professional tools at all, and they succeed.
That phenomenon of takamatsu's mother being able to reach him when that girl is passed out is really weird but it kind of gives hope to the kids.
The ending a strange woman arrives to take the kids to a paradise, but honestly if she really knew where a place like that was she wouldn't look that bad but we will see.
Its packed with events as usual.
Its just tiring that they are all bad events.
The volume starts with the mutants going after the kids, they reach the school and attack them.
That scumbag sekiya takes his car and drives off with all the food, i have literally never seen a more degenerate character in all my readings, he is the original scumbag that everyone else just branch from.
Takamatsu screams at the mutants that they will die anyway without food and it seems they listen to him.
Otmo makes his move and parts from Takamatsu taking a part of the school and its war between the two teams with fatalities on both sides.
Then the operation Takamatsu has appendicitis and they perform on him, with absolutely no professional tools at all, and they succeed.
That phenomenon of takamatsu's mother being able to reach him when that girl is passed out is really weird but it kind of gives hope to the kids.
The ending a strange woman arrives to take the kids to a paradise, but honestly if she really knew where a place like that was she wouldn't look that bad but we will see.
March 20, 2021
The ninth of eleven volumes of an apocalyptic environmental horror manga series from the seventies positing an elementary school drifting in the near future, where the world has gone to hell with earthquakes and mutants caused by eating Frankenfood magic mushrooms. The adults have screwed the planet up; can kids save the day? Based on volume nine, we doubt it!
So! The kids have to make it back to the school from the future nightmare Tokyo subway, where more manic insanity faces them: A kind of Lord of the Flies scenario where two halves of the student body exist, our hero Sho on the one side and bad Otomo on the other side, with evil insane cafeteria work Sekiya still in the picture.
So you say that doesn't sound out of control enough for you? Umezu says, okay, let's have Sho get appendicitis and have some of the other kids operate on him with an exacto knife! What could go wrong, with their elementary science background and no anesthesia!?!
Or how about this? In the time/space dimension we are living in, Sho's mother begins communicating to them psychically through a disabled classmate. (??!) What Sho wishes his mother will help him with, well, a couple of things actually happen! (??!!) Is this a sign of hope, as supplies of food and water are basically running out?! Cray cray.
So! The kids have to make it back to the school from the future nightmare Tokyo subway, where more manic insanity faces them: A kind of Lord of the Flies scenario where two halves of the student body exist, our hero Sho on the one side and bad Otomo on the other side, with evil insane cafeteria work Sekiya still in the picture.
So you say that doesn't sound out of control enough for you? Umezu says, okay, let's have Sho get appendicitis and have some of the other kids operate on him with an exacto knife! What could go wrong, with their elementary science background and no anesthesia!?!
Or how about this? In the time/space dimension we are living in, Sho's mother begins communicating to them psychically through a disabled classmate. (??!) What Sho wishes his mother will help him with, well, a couple of things actually happen! (??!!) Is this a sign of hope, as supplies of food and water are basically running out?! Cray cray.
June 27, 2020
This volume becomes even more like Lord of the Flies as the kids split into two groups. The main event is an emergency appendectomy that the kids have to perform. Things are slowly moving to a climax but I have no idea how this will end.
May 11, 2015
Grotesque mutant creatures are after the kids in this installment. Sekiya is still alive and well, unfortunately for everyone else, and most unbelievable of all, the kids preform an emergency appendectomy on one of their own!
June 10, 2018
Sho got an appendicitis and he had to get it removed without any anesthesia he’s braver than the marines
August 19, 2021
This is a review of the entire series!
For Sho Takamatsu, it seemed to be an ordinary day of school like any other. In the aftermath of a sudden earthquake, his entire elementary school vanishes into thin air along with all the students and teachers that were trapped inside. The earthquake seemed to be so powerful that it caused a ripple in time, projecting the school into a dark and bleak wasteland where nothing but death, mutants and mind-breaking anomalies await. Sho takes on the role of the leader, trying to keep the other children safe from harm while searching for a way back home.
The Drifting Classroom takes things at a very slow pace. The horror elements don't even begin to seep in until several volumes into the series. While it starts off slow and does drag a bit in places, I think every volume is better than the previous. It took me a while to get into it but I really started to feel invested once I saw the bigger picture of what it was trying to portray.
While the dialogue and reactions of the characters seems a bit clunky and unrealistic at times, it's important to remember that many of the characters are extremely young elementary school students. Most of them haven't even learned how to talk properly let alone think themselves out of life or death situations. Watching children so young and vulnerable get thrown into one nightmare after the other led to some very intense chapters that didn't shy away from showing little kids being brutally murdered, eaten and smashed to pieces. It might not start out scary, but each volume escalates the horror, the violence and the stakes. As hundreds of children are driven mad with fear, hunger and isolation with no adults to care for them, it's only a matter of time until they begin to turn on each other as well. These kids can give the children in Lord of the Flies a run for their money once their minds start to break.
Some smaller things such as the art quality and the sometimes stagnant way the characters and their reactions are drawn feel off-putting and even a bit silly at times, but it's important to remember that this is one of the pioneers of horror manga, written all the way back in 1971. Devilman is another great manga that has some of the same issues. They're both great series, but you can tell they were written during the experimental phase of manga when they were just beginning to find their way into mainstream entertainment. Though certain aspects of The Drifting Classroom haven't aged that well, it was surprisingly ahead of its time in other ways. As the story progresses, it begins to tackle the themes of overindulgent consumerism, industrial pollution, and the greed of one generation causing major issues for the next generation. It goes into dark detail about how every little action we take that harms the planet hurts future generations of children far more than it hurts any of us.
For Sho Takamatsu, it seemed to be an ordinary day of school like any other. In the aftermath of a sudden earthquake, his entire elementary school vanishes into thin air along with all the students and teachers that were trapped inside. The earthquake seemed to be so powerful that it caused a ripple in time, projecting the school into a dark and bleak wasteland where nothing but death, mutants and mind-breaking anomalies await. Sho takes on the role of the leader, trying to keep the other children safe from harm while searching for a way back home.
The Drifting Classroom takes things at a very slow pace. The horror elements don't even begin to seep in until several volumes into the series. While it starts off slow and does drag a bit in places, I think every volume is better than the previous. It took me a while to get into it but I really started to feel invested once I saw the bigger picture of what it was trying to portray.
While the dialogue and reactions of the characters seems a bit clunky and unrealistic at times, it's important to remember that many of the characters are extremely young elementary school students. Most of them haven't even learned how to talk properly let alone think themselves out of life or death situations. Watching children so young and vulnerable get thrown into one nightmare after the other led to some very intense chapters that didn't shy away from showing little kids being brutally murdered, eaten and smashed to pieces. It might not start out scary, but each volume escalates the horror, the violence and the stakes. As hundreds of children are driven mad with fear, hunger and isolation with no adults to care for them, it's only a matter of time until they begin to turn on each other as well. These kids can give the children in Lord of the Flies a run for their money once their minds start to break.
Some smaller things such as the art quality and the sometimes stagnant way the characters and their reactions are drawn feel off-putting and even a bit silly at times, but it's important to remember that this is one of the pioneers of horror manga, written all the way back in 1971. Devilman is another great manga that has some of the same issues. They're both great series, but you can tell they were written during the experimental phase of manga when they were just beginning to find their way into mainstream entertainment. Though certain aspects of The Drifting Classroom haven't aged that well, it was surprisingly ahead of its time in other ways. As the story progresses, it begins to tackle the themes of overindulgent consumerism, industrial pollution, and the greed of one generation causing major issues for the next generation. It goes into dark detail about how every little action we take that harms the planet hurts future generations of children far more than it hurts any of us.
September 3, 2021
csmre media cagadita wn dbasjdkasdnas
mira, la vd, ya hay un punto en que las cosas son medias irracionales, pero no creo que sea el autor tratando de canalizar a niñxs e infantes que recién conocen al mundo y a través de todo el calvario y deterioro físico y mental que ha sido, creo que es más weás del autor siendo el autor.
y por lo mismo, esto de los monstruos ya dentro del mundo que armó, es lo que menos cobra sentido. menos aún lo de humanx-monstrux. esto de los recursos y animales que sacaron de la nada, ¿ahora se acordaron? ¿ahora son necesarios? i mean, me tinca que dps van a volver, van a pillar suministros y van a ir con ellxs. aunque considerando que quedan dos tomos creo, y eso abre a muchas posibilidades, meh, es un 50/50.
la operación, pa la cagá. y wn, POR FIN, LAS NIÑAS TAMBIÉN EXISTEEEEN (aunque las mataron a todas menos las mc, qué sorpresa).
btw la mamá de sho, besos pa ella.
mira, la vd, ya hay un punto en que las cosas son medias irracionales, pero no creo que sea el autor tratando de canalizar a niñxs e infantes que recién conocen al mundo y a través de todo el calvario y deterioro físico y mental que ha sido, creo que es más weás del autor siendo el autor.
y por lo mismo, esto de los monstruos ya dentro del mundo que armó, es lo que menos cobra sentido. menos aún lo de humanx-monstrux. esto de los recursos y animales que sacaron de la nada, ¿ahora se acordaron? ¿ahora son necesarios? i mean, me tinca que dps van a volver, van a pillar suministros y van a ir con ellxs. aunque considerando que quedan dos tomos creo, y eso abre a muchas posibilidades, meh, es un 50/50.
la operación, pa la cagá. y wn, POR FIN, LAS NIÑAS TAMBIÉN EXISTEEEEN (aunque las mataron a todas menos las mc, qué sorpresa).
btw la mamá de sho, besos pa ella.
June 17, 2023
I think I've suddenly realized why this series is so effective to me. It talks about the underestimated tension that will increase between our current generation and the previous ones who left us a world on the brink of environmental collapse.
This is confirmed by the references towards pollution and the injustice of being thrown into a dying world without clean water, good food or even a chance at life. And it takes that and it turns it into a horror story about adapting to radically different world than the one you grew up in.
And this was written in what, the 80s? The 70s? That is incredible. And it even has kids involved in knife fights, serial killers, time traveling communication... shit is a masterpiece! You have to accept some absurdities here and there, but I really don't mind them. And if the operation chapter doesn't do it for you, I don't know what to tell you.
This is confirmed by the references towards pollution and the injustice of being thrown into a dying world without clean water, good food or even a chance at life. And it takes that and it turns it into a horror story about adapting to radically different world than the one you grew up in.
And this was written in what, the 80s? The 70s? That is incredible. And it even has kids involved in knife fights, serial killers, time traveling communication... shit is a masterpiece! You have to accept some absurdities here and there, but I really don't mind them. And if the operation chapter doesn't do it for you, I don't know what to tell you.
June 18, 2023
Keadaan di sekolah semakin kacau, Sho dan Otomo jadi memiliki kubu sendiri-sendiri karena perbedaan pendapat yang mereka miliki. Grup Otomo pun yang dirasa paling barbar karena suka mencari masalah dan tak segan-segan mencelakai teman mereka. Selain itu, ada momen juga ketika Sho harus dioperasi oleh temannya--yang bercita-cita menjadi dokter--dengan peralatan seadanya.
Meskipun begitu, bencana di sana belum berhenti. Sebab, ada awan aneh yang menghampiri mereka sehingga mereka semua langsung pergi ke teman yang aman.
Meskipun begitu, bencana di sana belum berhenti. Sebab, ada awan aneh yang menghampiri mereka sehingga mereka semua langsung pergi ke teman yang aman.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 9, 2019
ok, I shocked! one of my favorite characters is dead and the other is a bully :\
June 28, 2020
This volume is so crazy! The whole thing about the surgery was intense and the bravery of Saki was breathless.
Sho’s mother was so whack!!!!
Sho’s mother was so whack!!!!
September 15, 2020
This is more like it. Otomo sux.
November 8, 2020
What a strange book indeed
February 13, 2021
Never have I ever thought a manga about elementary school children can be this intense.
February 14, 2022
Poor kids are forced to perform surgery in a dire situation which sounds preposterous as it is but nothing in this series makes sense so of course the surgery was successful.
July 30, 2022
Well the surgery part was absurd bet then what's a good survival story with something like this
December 28, 2022
absolutely brutal but what else would you expect for this series
January 24, 2025
Best volume so far. Many events are far-fetched, but the underlying theme serves to make people think about how we treat the world, nature, and the consequences.
September 27, 2016
This book made me cringe for a while. +1 star
December 7, 2011
So what is the highlight of Vol 9?
A grown man slugging a ten-year-old girl in the face? No, that happens in just about every volume.
A revolt among one faction of the school that leads to dividing the buildings into enemy territories. No, that's been coming a long time.
The attack of the giant, flesh-eating starfish. Sorry, Umezo-san, you will have to try harder than that.
Sho's sudden attack of appendicitis? Really, after the bubonic plague outbreak some issues back, it just doesn't seem like that big of a deal.
The decision to operate on Sho using only an exacto knife and a pair of scissors? Now we're getting somewhere. Combine that with Sho's mother's mystic communication through the voice of the crippled girl who for some reason is suddenly near death, and you have one hell of an issue.
I can't believe there is only one volume more to go.
A grown man slugging a ten-year-old girl in the face? No, that happens in just about every volume.
A revolt among one faction of the school that leads to dividing the buildings into enemy territories. No, that's been coming a long time.
The attack of the giant, flesh-eating starfish. Sorry, Umezo-san, you will have to try harder than that.
Sho's sudden attack of appendicitis? Really, after the bubonic plague outbreak some issues back, it just doesn't seem like that big of a deal.
The decision to operate on Sho using only an exacto knife and a pair of scissors? Now we're getting somewhere. Combine that with Sho's mother's mystic communication through the voice of the crippled girl who for some reason is suddenly near death, and you have one hell of an issue.
I can't believe there is only one volume more to go.
May 12, 2014
Things have gone from bad to worse. The students have split again, one side following Sho and the other side with Otomo. And while Otomo threatens war to get control of the school building Sho's body seems to be failing him.
Still trying to figure out how her son is able to contact her and how to help him Emiko continues writing letters and keeping any line of communication open no matter who believes her.
It's hard to imagine what the students could face next. It seems like every bad thing that could possibly happen has happened at this point!
Still trying to figure out how her son is able to contact her and how to help him Emiko continues writing letters and keeping any line of communication open no matter who believes her.
It's hard to imagine what the students could face next. It seems like every bad thing that could possibly happen has happened at this point!
July 26, 2016
Alright, I can believe that Sho is channeling his mother through time and space. I can accept bugs were evolved from humans due to strange mushrooms, but for them to perform the perfect appendix removal surgery without a single problem aside from the screaming coming from Sho? I can’t accept that at all. I know I accepted a lot of other things but they were a part of fiction where this surgery is just too close to realism to accept.
November 12, 2014
Occasional weird creature aside, this one is mostly about the internal conflicts as one of the worst characters continues to be a shit and manages to have one of the most squirmy sequences in the series without a monster in sight.
August 24, 2016
Poor Sho. He's survived everything the future wasteland world has thrown at him and then ends up being struck down by appendicitis of all things and being crudely operated on by his classmates minus anaesthetic. I haven't felt squeamish reading this series but this would be the volume to do it!
July 26, 2011
The series get more and more into Lord of the Flies territory as it gets near the end, but we also get some more mutant monsters, which is nice.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews