Afterschool Charisma



Afterschool Charisma is a manga.

St. Kleio is, in every sense of the word, a special school. It doesn't just have great facilities and a high standard education - it's far more special than that. It's a school for clones. A group of scientists have decided to clone history's most brilliant characters (and not just the good guys, they've also cloned people who were morally ambiguous to say the least) to see if they would live up to their originals' standards - complete, of course, with Historical Beauty Update.

Enter Shiro Kamiya, The Everyman, Nice Guy protagonist, who is the son of the school's director and the only non-clone in a school full of clones. (.) He immediately forms a friendship of sorts consisting of the clones of Sigmund Freud, Napoleon Bonaparte, Ikyuu, Elizabeth I, Florence Nightingale and Marie Curie.

All's fine and good, of course, until Marie Curie decides she wants to Screw Destiny and transfers out of the school to study music, the clone of John F. Kennedy is assassinated, Freud investigates a bunch of anti-clone groups, and there's a secret Cult devoted to the Almighty Dolly and is dedicated to screwing destiny over...

In the United States, Viz is releasing the manga online, and as each volume goes to print, corresponding online chapters are taken down. Similar in concept to Clone High (only with less humor and more angst).

"Rockswell: I was just wondering because I figured you'd be bummed if I was the first person you ever kissed... I mean, you probably wanted it to be a girl the first time, right? I think kissing boys is just as fun, to be totally honest..."
 * Almost Kiss: Here.
 * Alpha Bitch: Empress Cixi.
 * Anyone Can Die: Especially evident during a certain arc.
 * The Atoner: Hitler feels obligated to accept punishment for the sins of his original. He's oddly cheerful about it.
 * Big No: Shiro.
 * Bi the Way:


 * Blood-Splattered Innocents:
 * Break the Cutie: is starting to lean towards this after Rasputin and Einstein  Poor guy.
 * Not to mention all the crap Shiro goes through.
 * Character Development: Particularly evident with Perhaps to the point of Taking a Level In Badass, considering that despite his earlier desire to die,
 * Cheerful Child: Hitler. No, really!
 * Clones Are People, Too: Shiro and Kuroe take this view.
 * Cloning Blues
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Rockswell, Director of St. Kleio, is introduced as a ditzy, easily-bored man who seems to have little interest in actually running the school.
 * Dark-Skinned Blond: Director Rockswell looks like one, but it's hard to tell without color.
 * Driven to Suicide: can't take the pressure of living up to  original.
 * The Everyman: Shiro.
 * Erotic Dream: Shiro has one of Marie Curie at the start of chapter 4, he gets rudely and amusingly awakened by Ikyuu.
 * Expendable Clone: Rockwell takes this view against clones. To the point that he Hell, he even states that watching clones suffer is something he finds arousing.
 * Evil Knockoff We find out that almost every clone has one in volume 3 and 4. Except for Joan of Arc,
 * The truth is a little more complicated than this, for as we see in volume 5,
 * Fan Service: Shower scenes, anyone?
 * Also, (young, prettier versions of) Elizabeth I and Florence Nightingale shirtless. And Florence and Elizabeth bathing together. And generally more Ho Yay than you can shake a stick at.
 * Hell, Einstein grabbing Shiro's crotch has got to count for something.
 * In one chapter Freud and Shiro are shoved into the girl's changing room. Fanservice and Hilarity Ensues.
 * Fantastic Racism: Shiro seems to be the only non-clone who considers the clones to be fundamentally the same as other people. Likewise, some of the clones, particularly Mozart, consider non-clones inferior to themselves because they don't have the DNA of a proven genius.
 * Fish Out of Water: Shiro.
 * Five-Man Band: Shiro and his friends.
 * The Hero: Shiro.
 * The Lancer: Freud (doubles as The Smart Guy)
 * The Big Guy: Napoleon.
 * The Smart Guy: Ikkyu
 * The Chick: Florence Nightingale and Elizabeth.
 * Full-Name Basis / Last-Name Basis: A lot of the clones are referred to by what they are commonly called today - eg. Marie Cure, Mozart.
 * Hates Being Touched: Mozart, at least by non-clones. As the only non-clone around, Shiro's the one most likely to be hit.
 * Hime Cut: Himiko, being a clone of the Queen Himiko (who was a Japanese shaman queen) would of course wear her hair like this.
 * Historical Beauty Update: Explained/lampshaded at the end of volume 3.
 * Historical Domain Character: Sort of.
 * History Repeats: Something a lot of the clones -- particularly Adolf -- really, really want to avoid..
 * Hospital Hottie: Florence Nightingale.
 * Innocent Fanservice Girl: Oh, Florence Nightingale.
 * Insufferable Genius: Mozart, although.
 * Irony: Bucketloads.
 * Laughing Mad: Mozart, several times.
 * Locked in a Room: Shiro and Mozart (plus Pandora), before the expo. It's more to keep them safe than to force them to get along, though.
 * Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Mozart.
 * Mad Artist: Mozart.
 * Marshmallow Hell: Innocent Fanservice Girl that she is, Florence Nightingale probably didn't get that she was subjecting Shiro to this.
 * Meaningful Name: Shiro's name is written with the characters for "history" and "good". It's not yet certain exactly what it means, but in a series with a lot of characters trying to either force history to repeat itself or prevent it from doing so, it can't be an accident.
 * Megane: Ikyuu and Einstein.
 * Mirror Match:
 * Miko: Himiko.
 * The Napoleon: Actually inverted with Napoleon Bonaparte's clone - he's a cheerful, easygoing guy. Shiro also comments that he gets taller every physical exam.
 * Odango Hair: Marie Curie.
 * Pimped-Out Dress: Elizabeth during the expo.
 * Proper Lady: Elizabeth may be a little too forceful to be a textbook example, but all she really wants is to be a housewife and settle down with a husband and family the way the original Virgin Queen never got to.
 * Replacement Goldfish: The clones, arguably, for their originals..
 * Say My Name: JOAAAAAAAAAN!
 * Scholarship Student: Shiro fills this role in a lot of ways: he's allowed to attend the school only because his father is headmaster, he's a bit of an outcast amongst the students, and he provides an everyman for readers to identify with. However, obviously, this isn't because of money but because he's not a clone.
 * School Festival: a festival is planned to showcase the talents of the clones, and to raise funds.
 * Apparently the festival's purpose is to
 * School for Scheming: There's definitely something fishy going going on at St. Kleio Academy, especially after Marie Curie "transfers out".
 * Screw Destiny: The attitude of those of the clones who reject the idea of being bound to the fate of their originals.
 * Stranger in a Strange School: Shiro's the only non-clone in a school for clones.
 * Sugar and Ice Personality: Joan of Arc, hinted. She even gets a When She Smiles moment!
 * There Are No Therapists: Flat-out stated by Dr. Kamiya. Shiro is basically the closest thing they've got.
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?:
 * You Can't Fight Fate: Some of the clones believe that they are destined to live lives analogous to those of their originals, even down to the lifespan.
 * You Cloned Hitler: A shy student is revealed to be a clone of Hitler.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: " That means you're not needed anymore."
 * Young Future Famous People: All clones are high schoolers. One of the first "successful" clones, though, was seen in the first chapter: Kennedy.
 * Yaoi Fangirl: Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shonagon in the Afterschool Charichuma omake.