Manga
The manga that were hits in Japan in the 1980s.
1980S HITS
About
High school life is hard enough, but it’s even harder for Seon Jin. A sickly disabled boy, Jin might as well be invisible. No one ever pays attention to him, except for the bullies who prey on him for being weak. Jin, however, keeps a very dark secret—there’s a serial killer in his house…and it’s his father!
Character analysis
Dark Schneider terrorized the world as a dark wizard before being sealed away inside the body of a teenage boy, and he can only be revived when that boy is kissed by the girl who loves him, usually at the least dignified moment possible. His genuinely terrifying power sits right next to a thoroughly perverted, comedic personality that the story never lets you fully forget.
Yoko is the only one who can revive Dark Schneider, and her complicated feelings about repeatedly unleashing someone so powerful and so uncontrollably perverted give the story's central relationship real, uneasy tension underneath the comedy.
Nei was trained by Dark Schneider in his original dark-wizard days, and her history with him, equal parts devotion and resentment, makes her one of the story's most personally invested antagonists.
Kai fights on the side opposing the dark forces Dark Schneider once commanded, her own combat skill and history with that old conflict adding another layer to the story's web of former allies and enemies.
Gara served under Dark Schneider during his original dark-wizard reign, and encountering his own former subordinate as an enemy forces Dark Schneider to confront just how much damage his past self actually caused.
Status evaluation
Detailed, heavy metal-inspired character and creature designs give the series a distinct, exaggerated fantasy look.
The sealed-dark-wizard premise gives the dark fantasy adventure a strong comedic hook, even as the plot stays fairly episodic.
Dark Schneider's perverted antics, constantly undercutting his own legendary menace, are the series' signature joke.
Dark Schneider's history with former disciples adds some weight, though the series prioritizes spectacle and comedy.
Dark Schneider's true power and some demonic enemies create real menace, undercut by the series' comedic tone.
Battles involve destructive, fairly graphic magical violence.
Dark Schneider's tangled past with former allies and enemies adds some tracking to follow.
This figure has not been verified against a current source and should be treated as approximate.
“A legendary, world-conquering dark wizard who can only be revived by a kiss, and is a huge pervert the second he wakes up, is such a specific joke to build an entire dark fantasy around.”