The Drifting Classroom Volume 4 by Kazuo Umezu
Aug 6, 2007
Viz Signature Line -- $9.99-- Rated "Mature"
When Volume 3 of Drifting Classroom ended, Sho had returned from the wastelands to find a juvenile delinquent girl gang leader, dubbing herself "The Princess", in control of the school. Volume 4 picks up right where it left off as Sho tries to convince his schoolmates of the weird forest he and the others saw in the desert....and of the fearsome centipede/scorpion creature that lived in it. He's afraid that the monster will come to the school next! He has a more immediate problem in front of him though: Trying to organize the student body into a semblance of government to keep things from becoming more chaotic than they already are. A lot of kids, especially the younger ones, are beginning to come apart at the seams, and exhibiting weird, even psychotic, behaviors. Sho knows that if they continue down the road they're on, none of them will survive. It is decided that he and The Princess will be candidates in an election to choose the leader of Yamato. Meanwhile, the terrible nightmare out in the desert wastes could be creeping closer...
Even though this series was first printed in the early 1970's, its terror is timeless. There's just something incredibly moving and horrible about an entire school of young elementary and middle school students being cast into a world where everything they knew and cared about has been destroyed. Umezu does a unsettling job of creating a setting where it would be easier to deal with things if you went insane. In fact, by this point, all the adults at the school have been gotten rid of and the series can focus on the true heroes and villains: the kids! Just like the great writers of literature, Umezu shows just how hard it is to be good when it comes down to the matter of one's very existence. Even Sho is beginning to hit the limits of what his rational mind can take. It's especially poignant to see these kids trying to organize themselves into a governable body. What it tells me is that the school hasn't given up hope. This is powerful stuff and is becoming more intriguing with each volume.
My Rating: A