What do you think?
Rate this book
The Drifting Classroom #5
The Drifting Classroom, Vol. 5
The students flee from man-eating insects, but they can't run from a deadly plague. As the situation becomes more desperate, the children arm themselves, and the school erupts into an orgy of violence. Can Sho end the savagery, or is it all he can do just to survive? Meanwhile, out in the wasteland, the shifting sands uncover a buried secret from the past...
192 pages, Paperback
First published April 17, 2007
2 people are currently reading
206 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
July 23, 2023
Wow man insane.
As if everything that happened so far wasn't enough.
Now there's a plague among them.
There is some really evil kids too who don't give a fuck about the well-being of others.
Sho seems like the only reasonable kid around who can lead.
Now they have to escape a burning building then deal with the plague and the evil kid.
As if everything that happened so far wasn't enough.
Now there's a plague among them.
There is some really evil kids too who don't give a fuck about the well-being of others.
Sho seems like the only reasonable kid around who can lead.
Now they have to escape a burning building then deal with the plague and the evil kid.
April 23, 2022
It's both bizarre and amusing at times. Children's imaginations >
July 1, 2024
I sure hope all will be explained in the end because so far nothing makes sense lol
June 27, 2020
Now I see as things move along that the story is becoming more about the interactions between the students rather than the new world they inhabit. Definitely getting a Lord of the Flies influence here. I'm still shocked at the violence involving children, but I suppose that's part of the shock value. I still find it hard to believe this was published in the early 70s as this is pretty controversial material, or at least I would think it would have been. Regardless, it's a very compelling and gripping story.
May 25, 2016
Volume 5 has me a little less engaged, as the tension, a la Alien, is unrelenting, 24/7, but it feels like it is hard to sustain a passion for the story as it seems like more of the same. The bugs are still a problem, and now one boy drinks the water in the swimming pool (and what did your mother tell you about THAT?!), and. . . as a result, kazaam, The Bubonic Plague is added to the mix. I know, out of control, which is sort of funny. Like, SO improbable and horrifying it has to be a joke. And on top of that, they all miss their mommies so much and adopt a "there's no place like home" mantra (yes, ala Wizard of Oz) within their Lord of the Flies scenario.
As has happened before, faced with the Plague and the bugs, the kids succumb to all the pressure, turn on each other, and decide to choose a blood sacrifice to "solve their problems." Why do they also think that might work? And what about the "government" they set up? How's that working out? Hint: not so good.
As has happened before, faced with the Plague and the bugs, the kids succumb to all the pressure, turn on each other, and decide to choose a blood sacrifice to "solve their problems." Why do they also think that might work? And what about the "government" they set up? How's that working out? Hint: not so good.
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 2, 2021
aw. it made me really sad to read that. i really cant relate, my home has always been a mess so i never got to say or even feel "i'm home". but its something i have always longed for, i dream of a place, friends, family to call im home to. mutual aid is very important in this.
and im sorry, but the way the artist draws people just falling into the ground will always be funny to me.
i hate that the default is boys and two, three girls (even for background characters, which, the girls are threated already like background characters), and they are the main bc? dont get me wrong, i love women-girls and others outside the binary to be main in stories, but it feels like the author needs a reason to include them, not just because they are people who also exist and are going thru the same thing.
also, its not that i dont like it. its just lacking from a lot of things.
(copypasting from update bc)
and im sorry, but the way the artist draws people just falling into the ground will always be funny to me.
i hate that the default is boys and two, three girls (even for background characters, which, the girls are threated already like background characters), and they are the main bc? dont get me wrong, i love women-girls and others outside the binary to be main in stories, but it feels like the author needs a reason to include them, not just because they are people who also exist and are going thru the same thing.
also, its not that i dont like it. its just lacking from a lot of things.
(copypasting from update bc)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 13, 2023
Salah satu peristiwa menengangkan di volume ini adalah ketika Sho dkk. mencurigai bahwa ada wabah yang menyerang di sekitar mereka. Sho, sebagai perdana menteri, memerintahkan kepada siswa-siswa lain untuk tidak mendekatinya terlebih dulu, takut mereka tertular dan wabahnya semakin menyebar. Namun karena ada yang panik, Sho dkk. malah ingin dibunuh dan dibakar oleh para siswa radikal.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 2, 2024
Things have gotten even weirder. Some scenes annoy me because I get reminded of the dark side of human nature and it discourages me to read. Some of the kids have succumbed to the madness, but Sho is still level-headed and is keeping the whole school from descending into chaos.
abandoned
May 8, 2017Five volumes in and I'm still not engaged, gonna give this a pass and read the wiki synopsis instead (the journey was definitely not worth the destination)
June 28, 2020
THIS VOLUME IS SO CRAZY. IT WAS A ROLLERCOASTER RIDE.
April 24, 2021
Not too enjoyable, I found myself pushing myself fo a finish. Putting my hope for the next volume.
February 10, 2022
The author be like let’s throw every worse situation possible to these kids.
June 27, 2022
4.5/5
June 13, 2023
Wow, it just got real! This plague arc is really good, the chapter with the "I'm home" moment was incredibly moving and the pacing is great! The best volume so far.
February 20, 2021
The plot got thicker, bloodier, and more gruesome, I literally gasped multiple times at certain panels.
August 25, 2011
Is it a known tendency among Japanese pre-adolescents to opt for blood sacrifice whenever they are faced with a really serious threat? As the tiny but deadly bugs that have hatched from the eggs of the big deadly bug attack them, one group decides it is all one little boy's fault and he must die. Our hero Sho itervenes, but the intended victim bashes his owns brains out. The bugs disappear, so maybe he was to blame after all.
Next on the agenda is bubonic plague, and the controversy rages as to whom is infected and what to do with them -- chase them away, stab them with spears, or burn them with gasoline.
This tragedy is not bringing out anyone's best qualities. I thought volume 5 dragged a bit, but there were lots of great drawings of one or more child screaming "PLAGUE!"
Next on the agenda is bubonic plague, and the controversy rages as to whom is infected and what to do with them -- chase them away, stab them with spears, or burn them with gasoline.
This tragedy is not bringing out anyone's best qualities. I thought volume 5 dragged a bit, but there were lots of great drawings of one or more child screaming "PLAGUE!"
April 30, 2012
I think I have a problem maintaining attention to long episodic plotlines. Even one so full of weird menace as this. In this volume, the children find a possibly-still-moving body in a buried hospital and then turn on eachother violently when an infection of what may be plague starts spreading through the school, but even so, it feels a bit like we're treading water while the real plot gets into gear, especially since much of the plot conflict of the last book seems already forgotten or irrelevant. I do want to see where this is all going, and they're super-quick reading, but my driving interest is waning somewhat. It's not just reader ADD, it's that serially composed works like this are actually less tightly cohesive, and with more risk of filler content, I think.
July 25, 2011
It is interesting to see how The Drifting Classroom manages to mitigate the annoyance usually caused by characters making really crazily bad or selfish decisions in post-apocalyptic/disaster/survival horror fiction by making the situations the characters are in almost literally outside of normal sense, and also by making all the characters elementary school children.
Anyway, this volume isn't as good as the fourth volume, but it seems like things might be coming to some sort of head soon that will drastically change the status quo that has more-or-less remained for a couple of volumes now. We'll see.
Anyway, this volume isn't as good as the fourth volume, but it seems like things might be coming to some sort of head soon that will drastically change the status quo that has more-or-less remained for a couple of volumes now. We'll see.
June 27, 2011
The story just keeps getting more intense. I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of these books. I believe that the idea behind the enemies becoming smaller and smaller is to emphasize that the greatest enemy these kids face is themselves. It gets hard to read at times because nobody wants to watch kids suffer through this kind of pure survival situation alone, but I actually find it inspiring in a way (true to my twisted sense of humor). It's neat to watch Sho's character develop as he grows up almost overnight to try to lead his friends through all the trials they face.
May 12, 2014
It's unbelievable! One thing after the other. I'm not sure that these kids have even slept or how many days have gone by! The death toll has risen over 50 students and adults and food and water are becoming scarce with no relief in sight.
Umezu knows how to keep the ball rolling and as the reader you are constantly on your toes just like the kids are. There is little time for contemplation, it's just all about survival.
Umezu knows how to keep the ball rolling and as the reader you are constantly on your toes just like the kids are. There is little time for contemplation, it's just all about survival.
September 13, 2014
The balance of this book seems to be horror caused by external factors (that weird bug) and internal factors (scared out of their mind people in the school).
This volume shifts to the internal and an infectious disease causes panic and suspicion in the school and everything gets murdery.
Enjoying this series so far, the characters are drawn a little simplistically but I think that was a stylistic choice which helps the horror-against-school-children premises.
This volume shifts to the internal and an infectious disease causes panic and suspicion in the school and everything gets murdery.
Enjoying this series so far, the characters are drawn a little simplistically but I think that was a stylistic choice which helps the horror-against-school-children premises.
August 14, 2016
I can just imagine Kazuo Umezu's storyboarding for this increasingly sadistic story: disappearance; death by desert; collective teacher breakdown; murderous cafeteria man; death by desert (redux); scorpion-spider-centipede creature; flesh-eating babies of scorpion-spider-centipede creature; impaling and goring by school chums. And if all that isn't enough, now these kids are spreading the Plague amongst themselves. I don't know how much further this story can go!
March 11, 2009
Maybe I've over done it. It's taken me much longer to get through this last book. The coincidences now are too coincidental. The story is starting to drag though I like how the monsters have gotten smaller and harder and harder to beat. But calling into the past for help? I don't know. I'm struggling to buy into the world established in the first books.
April 25, 2015
Violence continues to erupt amongst the children as they turn on each other in the face of man-eating insects and the plague. It's a kill or be killed world now, and compassion is a word of the past.
January 18, 2015
2.5 stars -- the plot is getting sort of boring even though something new and terrible is introduced in each volume.
May 14, 2015
A little bubonic plague. Murder. Arson. And apparently mummified flesh may taste like beef jerky. These kids are having a tough time.
September 23, 2016
This competes with bollywood movies
April 10, 2017
In this, the fifth installment of The Drifting Classroom, the elementary school and it's students have been transferred to an unknown time and place. The school has elected rulers but is prone to mob rule in this episode. They face new issues in their efforts to survive.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews