Haridama Magic Cram School
Manga by Atsushi Suzumi
Published by Del Rey, May 20, 2008 

Sometimes among the repetitious clichés of stories you find a decent gem hiding about. I picked up Haridama Magic Cram School and with one look of the cover thought to myself, “Yay, a kid with a sword! THIS NEVER HAPPENS.” To my surprise I was greeted with a fun and enjoyable story.

We follow lazy laid back student Kokuyo and his female (girl)friend Harika through their troubled lives of being Obsidian’s; those who are born with the unfortunate inability to do normal sorcery with the manipulation of Yin and Yang. While normal sorcerers can simply move their hands to use this power, Kokuyo and Harika must combine the power of the obsidian stones they wear and their swords to use this power. Neither Kokuyo nor Harika understand the hidden potential of the power they carry within them. Kokuyo’s Sensei, Sekiei, highly believes in his abilities, but managing to keep Kokuyo in class seems to be a challenge in itself.

Nekome, a higher class student from another school (and whose name reflects his looks) does the ‘I’m better than you’ act but at heart means well. He taunts Kokuyo any chance he gets, and somehow in the midst of fighting manages to say his choice words of love to Harika. A true lady’s man / boy / neko.

The story evolves into a quest for the students to prove their knowledge and power so they can advance to their next sorcery level. If Kokuyo ever wants to prove to the other students that he can be a true sorcerer he’ll have to study hard and get some real experience. That experience may be a bit more real than he bargained for. The sorcery test was meant to be tricky, but it holds some surprises that will stun more than just the student.

Overall, I really enjoyed Haridama Magic Cram School. The only complaint I have is how short it is. Once I got to the end I wondered how many more there were in the series, only to realize that it was just a short series in one manga. Short as it may be I’d recommend picking it up if you like fantasy and adventure. In my opinion this would be a fun adaptation to animation as well.

Also, PRESSURE!