School for Survival: The Drifting Classroom
If you went to an English high school, there’s a big chance that Lord of the Flies was part of the curriculum.
Written by William Golding in 1954, it’s a nerve-wracking story about young boys stranded on a deserted island and left to fend for themselves. As traumatizing as the scenario already is, one manga takes this situation up a few notches. Worthy to be called one of the best horror mangas, The Drifting Classroom reaches unmet levels of dreadfulness.
The manga was originally released in 1972, but a rerelease by Viz Media was seen in 2019, with minor panel fixes and an improved English translation. Although a classic, it put it back in mainstream consumption. Written and illustrated by the legendary Kazuo Umezu, The Drifting Classroom amassed fans of horror and post-apocalyptic fiction manga worldwide.
Sho is a sixth-grader, and one day, on his way to school, has a petty argument with his mother, pushing him to quickly get out of the house without a heartfelt apology. However, he will never see his mother again: an explosion shook the school and time leaped it into a dystopian future. The elementary school students and teachers are stuck between monsters, diseases, and a shortage of food, water, and shelter. As the adults descend into madness, the kids have to navigate the time leap using everything they have.
The horror part escalates as the reader continues the series of 11 volumes. At first, the hopelessness inspires survival and fear, but as the teachers get increasingly murderous and trust goes awry, and attacks from alien species and gangs worsen.
Many agree that this manga had some sort of inspirational impact on Junji Ito, and, being written during the 70s, this bizarre and unsettling series plunge into a different world of manga. It inspired movies and TV shows and was initially published in Weekly Shonen Sunday. For nail-biting panels and nightmare-worthy stories, The Drifting Classroom is the one to look for.
About the Author:
Mizuki Khoury
Born in Montreal, based in Tokyo. Sabukaru’s senior writer and works as an artist under Exit Number Five.
