Vampire Cheerleaders

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
(Redirected from Paranormal Mystery Squad)

Vampire Cheerleaders is an OEL Manga created by Adam Arnold with art by Shiei (Volumes 1&2), and Michael Shelfer (Volume 3) and licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment.

As the name implies, its about vampires who happen to be cheerleaders at their local school and mostly follows their exploits as they go about their existence while trying to avoid suspicion and trouble from human and supernatural alike.

A preview has been set up on gomanga.com, showcasing the first volume which is also on sale. The manga now has its own webcomic page as part of ZOOM comics. The print (and e-book) versions of Volumes 1 & 2 are sold as the second half of the Vampire Cheerleaders books. Volume 3 features a full scale crossover with VC, which will run on the Vampire Cheerleader page as a unified title, and volume 4 and onwards will have both series merged formally under the VC label.

Note that some events in spoilers refer to things that are revealed in the print edition, but that the online version has yet to get to.

Tropes used in Vampire Cheerleaders include:
  • Abusive Parents: Heather's mother was implied to be one
  • A Date with Rosie Palms: All but outright stated to be what Katie was doing here.
  • Adorkable: Leonard. Zoe goes so far as to call him "Hot Stuff."
    • Charlotte has her moments. Mostly when she's fumbling spells or referencing some old show.
  • All Guys Want Cheerleaders: Jullian, the star kicker on the football team, takes full notice of Heather when she gets to be a varsity cheerleader.
  • All Myths Are True: In addition to classics like vampires and werewolves, there are such things as Native American Deer Women, Phoenixes, Chupacabra and what appears to be Mothman.
    • At the same time, somewhat played with. Direct sunlight isn't fatal to vampires in most cases, though rolonged intense heat exposure is, and the VC cast have to take pains to shield themselves against it with sunblock. Garlic isn't immediately lethal, but it is toxic to some degree. The various other cryptids have some of their usual mythological origins played with to some lesser or greater degree as well.
  • All Women Are Lustful: The Vampire Cheerleaders
  • Alpha Bitches: The snooty cheerleading team the girls go up against. Not a few minutes into checking into the competition, they quickly start dissing the protagonists. The rivalry only worsens as the story arc goes on.
  • Annoying Younger Sibling: Steph sees her teen sister as this to a degree.
  • Badass Longcoat: Leonard. The girls lampshade how utterly ridiculous this actually looks in real life in an ordinary setting.
  • Barbie Doll Anatomy: When peekaboo can't cover everything.
    • Played straight in the online and e-book editions of Volume 2, but averted in the hard copy edition, at least above the waist.
  • Bare Your Midriff: Part of the standard cheerleader's uniform for the current year.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: Joked about In-Universe with Suki and Zoe

Heather: They're always like this, aren't they?
Lesley: Constantly. Like an old married couple.
Suki & Zoe: WE ARE NOT!!!
Lori: Dammit, will you two lovebirds just freaking scissor and get it over with? Gawd!

J.C.: I can't believe you said that.
Steph: He deserved it.
J.C.: Yeah, but he doubled our hours!

Katie: And I'm Yiffing Mad!

  • Kick the Dog: A good portion of the fanbase agrees that Heather's treatment of Leonard after she becomes one of the Vampire Cheerleaders and the fact that's she's doing little to nothing to stick up for Leonard after Lori turned him into a thrall counts.
    • Cressida Harrow killing Bianca's servant in the cruelest way possible is a much worst kick the dog moment.
  • Kick the Son of a Bitch: Mackynzie moving Bakertown's presentation to 8 A.M to purposely mess up the Baker Town girls could be seen as this if one sees it as the Vampire Cheerleaders finally getting a comeuppance of sorts, but still counts as a Kick the Dog moment towards the B squad.
  • Lesbian Vampire: Lori on this strip Or at least Bi the Way, given that she seemed to have no problem with exhausting Leonard.
  • Mercy Kill: How Steph views slaying monsters that were born human. She initially plans to do this with her sister, but is talked down by JC and Charlotte.
  • Mismatched Eyes: Charlotte has a less noticeable version with one blue and one green. There are hints that this is a hallmark of her magical affinity.
  • Monster Wrongs Group: Steph finds herself butting heads with PETM (People for the Ethical Treatment of Monsters), who demand that ‘cryptids’ be captured alive and unharmed.
    • A notable subversion (especially when compared to PETA) is that PETM are well aware cryptids are dangerous and even have standard issue tasers. As Summerfield put it, they're naive, not stupid.
    • O'Keefe takes the entire thing to ridiculous extremes, such as refusing to let the army bomb an "innocent cryptid" who mind-controlled half the county (there are good reasons not to drop a bomb on a bunch of people, but that isn't one of them) and later gets the president to declare a Kaiju that's about to destroy the city and possibly the world an endangered species, forbidding the military from attacking. Well, the Squad is forbidden too, but they ignore it.
    • Specifically, rank-and-file stooges are naive, but not stupid. O'Keefe isn't as naive as she pretends to be.
  • More Than Mind Control: Plan BC! And mind control.
  • Near-Rape Experience: The reason Mr. Campbell summoned the team to his farm not to investigate, but to be breeding stock for his son. The climax of volume one begins when the son kidnaps Katie in order to try again.
    • It later becomes a plot point as the now werewolf Katie ends up being in heat as a result.
  • Neck Snap: How Lori kills Bianca this way. Anti-climatic perhaps, but satisfying.
  • Noodle Incident: Word of God has no intention of explaining what Suki is talking about here.
  • No Periods, Period: Averted. Katie seems to delight and using her teenaged PMS as an excuse to ignore diplomacy (and propriety).
  • Off with His Head: Steph is quite effective with that sword.
  • Oh Crap: Everyone's reaction to Mr. Campbell going openly hostile, but especially Katie when Theo changes.
  • Older Than They Look: Only Lori believe it or not as the other girls were apparently only changed after meeting her in their own high school years. Lori herself is 138 years old assuming she was 18 when she was bitten. The evidence being that her collection of high school graduation tassels has two '92s in them. One of them is obviously from 1992, but by having two means the second one must be from 1892. Don't let the page's status as a guest comic fool you. Shouri was given a list of specific elements that needed to be in the page.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: They can get by with just two pints of blood a day meaning they don't have to fully drain their victim. They can also move around in the daylight though they admit its not good for their undead skin. And have to tan normally to keep up appearances. Hypnotizing someone is also called "Glamoring".
  • Parental Abandonment: Stephanie and Katie’s parents were killed about a year before the story starts (and after Steph’s appearance in Aoi House).
  • Paranormal Investigation
  • Rape as Drama: How Bianca raped Lori
  • Rapunzel Hair: Lori. It appears to be down to her ankles.
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old: A given in vampire fiction. Lori has been posing as her own daughter to return to high school every twenty years since at least 1892.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: While it is black and white, close enough.
  • Required Spinoff Cameo: While they are not quite spinoffs of each other, the girls of Paranormal Mystery Squad make a few cameos at different points, and the cast of VC shows up in the other book from time to time. We're getting a full crossover next chapter when Steph and crew jump over to the pages of VC.
    • Elle from Aoi House appears in Volume 2 as a celebrity judge at the cheerleading competition.
    • Ther series formally merge in Volume 3.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: The general put in charge the incident in Volume 2 comes off sympathetic to the PMS crew, and most definitely does not like O'Keefe's presence and interference.
    • When they kill the Kaiju rampaging around Vegas (which O'Keefe got named an endangered species), he gets them issued a full pardon, and the 4,000 hours of community service fully commuted.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Connections: The rival teams does this to the Bats squad in retaliation for conning them out of their training area.
  • Serious Business: See Compulsory School Age, above.
  • Shared Universe: With Paranormal Mystery Squad and Aoi House, merged formally starting in Volume 3, with numerous shoutouts and cameos earlier on. And one-way with Eerie Cuties 'Verse.
  • She Who Fights Monsters: Steph’s hatred of cryptids has some unfortunate levels.
  • Stages of Monster Grief: Heather does this, but in the reverse order.
  • Theme Naming: Adam loves using DC (especially Batman) and other pop culture based names.
  • Time for Plan B: Or should I say, 'Plan BC': Booty Call.
    • PMS winds up using their own version to undo Plan BC
  • Theme Naming: Many Batman (and the wider DCU) references are made in the names for the various characters.
  • The Unfair Sex: Steph as per most of her jerkass tendencies, for example she blames the whole Katie turning into a werewolf on J.C. when really Katie had wandered off on her own. J.C, despite being a nice guy, thankfully isn't a doormat and more then willing to call her out on this.
  • Title Drop: Heather does it.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Leonard was pretty clearly your factory standard geek, starting out. However the minute he realizes his best friend/prospective love interest has been turned into a vampire (which he actually realized was happening before she was Turned), he immediately levels up to Crazy Prepared Badass Longcoat Vampire Hunter.
    • Badass Decay: Unfortunately when the girls turn their feminine wiles on him, he turns to putty in an instant. Come next arc, he following along like a puppy and doing their chores for them. Granted the girls are treating him nicely and all albeit in a Butt Monkey sort of way. Least Heather isn't too hard on him.
  • Transhuman Treachery: What happens to Heather who is described as very sweet when she was a human. Then again, her parents do reveal some hidden issues.
  • Unfit for Greatness: It's right in the name: "Vampire Cheerleaders". They are teens, and not picked for brains or perfectly calibrated moral compass. Lori managed to keep them from making more mess than can be still at least somewhat under control most of the time, because she made sure her coven at least have team spirit. And it's their only saving grace. Suki is airheaded, and Candice was so stupid even Suki have seen her as brainless (and she did turn out to be Too Stupid to Live). Heather was completely unprepared for any serious responsibility, much less in life-and-death matters, due to being raised by control freaks. Heather eventually grew up enough to handle it, however.
  • Unsound Effect: RUSH
  • Unusual Euphemism: You were "double-clicking your mouse," weren't you?
  • Vampires are Sex Goddesses: Leonard probably thinks so at this point.
  • Vanity Licence Plate: "BITEME" on Lori's car.
  • Van Helsing Hate Crime: Steph who believes all cryptids are evil roughly stemming what happened to her parents. Things gets complicated when her sister is turned into a werewolf and the newest member of their team is revealed to be a Dhampyr.
  • Villain Protagonist: The eponymous vampire cheerleaders. Considerably less evil than others of their kind... but still Chaotic Neutral at best. Apart from anything else they're far too comfortable with brainwashing innocents for any other label.
    • Hero Antagonist: Leonard shows signs of this. Or at least he tried. Right up until the girls pulled out Plan BC and screwed him silly. He's cool with keeping their secret now. Reversed when the VC/PMS merge happened.
  • Viva Las Vegas: The setting of the second arc.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: "Cryptoslaughter" has only recently been made illegal, and appears to remain a civil offense.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Lori's reaction to Heather draining the entire football team the night before the homecoming game is this trope on steroids.
  • What Could Have Been: Word of God says one of the earliest concepts for Vampire Cheerleaders was more in line with your typical harem series, but with vampires.
  • Whole Costume Reference: After being defeated by Lita in Volume 2, Char finds herself dressed up as Zatanna, Steph as Alice from the Resident Evil: Extinction and Katie as Claire from Resident Evil: Afterlife.
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