Sentai School: L'École des Héros; literally The Hero School.
"Bad is good!"
"Sentai School, no teacher's strike, no holydays, no vacations. Because in Sentai School Super Heroes are in training, real old school heroes. So if you wanna come, you'd better have one hell of a resume and an introduction letter, and beware if you're dead last."
Sentai School was one of the very first manfra [French animesque comics] edited by Semic Manga and then by Kami between 2003 and 2008.It was written by Philippe Cardona and Florence Torta, and drawn by Philippe Cardona. It debuted as a doujinshi before it was published in Coyote, a French anime magazine.It's about a Japanese Superhero School where the students/ heroes are sentai or shonen. At first a boys school, it becomes coeducational in volume 2, introducing magical girls or Action Girl. The story is an affectionate parody of manga, especially sentai and others well known in France. Nearly every character is a spoof of famous manga characters: For instance, Oscar sensei the costume teacher looks like the real Oscar, Rose of Versailles heroine. There are two poor and starved children, named Remi and Sarah, that spoof heroes from Sans Famille and A Little Princess animated series among others. Moreover, savvy readers will notice Shout Outs to monsters that look like Doraemon or Mike from Monsters, Inc., and bit players like Maetel from Galaxy Express 999 in an airport.Characters page is on its way.The main characters are a Five-Man Band:
Ken Eraclor: The Hero and coldest one. He hides the fact that he's an unfinished Artificial Human and lives alone with his Robot Dog, Nonos 2 ("Bony 2"), since his builder abandoned him. He's very dense, never smiles, and understands things verbatim.He's fascinated by mysteries and their solving, and explain solutions while wearing typical Detective Conan glasses.The problem is, Ken is always wrong.A good reason could be that he mistake fairy tales books with method ones.
Hongo Wing: The dark and badass guy. He loses his temper very quickly and wears his collars up.
Duke: ( Only One Name ) Spoof of Duke Fleed from UFO Robo Grendizer and resembles him physically. The cool guy, he plays the guitar and has a cute pet, Chibi Goldo ("Chibi Grendi", a spoof of Grendizer).
Toa Girara: The fat guy, Big eater and accomplished cook. He's insignificant to his schoolmates til he becomes rich in volume 4. His name is like "Yu" (pronounce You) in french ("toi"). So each time somebody says "you", he answers "Me?"
Keiji Jasper: The effeminate and cute guy. Very gentle,loves animals,real and stuffed, cartoons for children , can do Puppy-Dog Eyes and wears a pink jacket. That cute side hides a evil personality called dark Keiji, he is always in a bad mood and dresses in black.
Also includes :
Shinobi Jasper: Keiji's little sister, better known as Bibi. She's so shy that she doesn't speak loud enough to be heard, except on stage, when she's angry, or after the last volume when her trauma definitely ends. Ironically, she has a Berserk Button, and can show extraordinary strength This is mainly when a girl is too close to Hongo, whom Bibi secretly loves (he never notices until the last volume).
Tofu Leformidable ("Marvellous"). An extremely vain and wealthy ex-singer,actor and model. Loved by every girl in school but he only loves Bibi and she can't stand him. He returns to his boy band Jambon Ruban. ("Ham Ribbon")in the last volume.
Koji Alcor: Spoof of Kouji Kabuto from Anime/Mazinger saga, "Alcor" is his name in France. In that country where UFO Robo Grendizer was the only broadcast of the series (and very first anime) Alcor is not the Mazinger series hero, but the Grendizer Lancer. After French fandom discover the truth, this was parodied: Koji Alcor spend his time saying he can do everything better than everyone...except Duke. He also have a pet called Chibi Zinger. Raised on a farm and hates to be reminded of it.
Stratequerre: Spoof of King Vega UFO Robo GrendizerBig Bad, that is called "Strateguerre" ("strategy" and "guerre", war)in French version. Parodied with "Equerre" (set square). Headmaster of the Villain's School opposite the Sentai School, and Duke's uncle.
Viper Stratequerre: His daughter, arrived late (volume 4). A brat that pretends to be nice just to put her dad on edge. So she's in Sentai School instead of Villain School, and is Bibi's close friend.
Guy Le Cobra: Spoof of Space Adventure Cobra and Guy, High School Kimengumi rebel. He has a rebellious way of life and took Ken as his master.
Matt Ban: Spoof of Batman, speaks in a strange way (all sentences, even yells, begin with "Je de" ("I of").) Came from America, wanted to open a Hero School for comics guys but failed. Since, lives secretly on campus and appears as a frequent cameo.
The Freezer Gang: Band of 19th-century pupils heroes, in a school that was before under Sentai School. Brought back to life after being frozen. Spoof of Older Than Radio heroes such as Zorro, Davy Crockett, The Phantom, Sinbad, Robin Hood and Prince Valiant.
This book provides examples of:
Academy of Adventure: According to Hongo, "This school would make anyone go crazy."
A Day In The Lime Light: on the Breakfeast Club principle, six secondary characters (Koji, Guy, Viper, Tofu, Jayx and Lydia) use detention time to spy on a teacher, and hope to be soon as popular as the official Five-Man Band for it.
Affectionate Parody: The whole plot. Also, some fictions in particular in some chapters. For instance, a journey to Toa's uncle place. His name is Charles Ringalls.
Almost Kiss: Bibi and Hongo, on a stage in gender-bended Snow White ending. What a pity G.I. Joes land up at the wrong moment. Again in the last volume, with a under influence Hongo. He wakes up right before the act and is "kidnapped" by his brother and father, while Bibi is still waiting with eyes closed.
Anthology Comic:The last book.It was the same story all along but only first and last chapters were drawn by the original artist, Phillipe Cardona.All others were by differents artists (including co-scenarist Florence Torta)
Arch-Enemy: Stratequerre and Ultra-sama are, since nursery days. Doctor Poulpy (Spoof of Doctor Octopus, of course) is also one for Peter Naraignee.
Badass Cape: There's a class for it. Actually, there's even Badassness classes.
Bad Job, Worse Uniform: After realised that Bibi just found a job, Viper imagine what it can be and the uniforms that goes with are worse and worse: a crab mascot for a restaurant, a Meido uniform for a bar, a sexy cosplay or a bunny outfit for a nightclub.
Matt Ban - "Je de" ("I of") , who learned foreign languages badly.
Guy L'Cobra - "I'm rebel"
Koji Alcor
"I'm better at X-ing!"/"I can do X better than you!" : When his competitive side is roused. As in, every time.
"I'M NOT A FARM BOY!!!!!!!!" : Usually following a (more or less apropriate) Phrase Catcher.
Character Development : Most of main characters: Toa after he found fortune, Duke when his cousin regularly put him on edge after her arrival, Viper who do nothing but bother people starts helps her best friend in exhange of nothing, Hongo when he realize Bibi feel something for him and the most: Bibi, after she's able to speak out loud and loose shyness.
Clingy Jealous Girl: Debbie Breakfoot. She say every other girls that tried to take Angus away from her are in graves by now. Bibi towards Hongo as well.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Subverted. Ken is The Hero, but wears blue, while red is for Big Guy Toa. And Pink is for effeminate guy (Keiji), not for a regular chick. The girls, Bibi and Viper, have green and white jackets. Though he's in the Five-Man Band, Hongo wear silver, the Sixth Ranger color.
Estrogen Brigade: An in-Universe exemple. Apart from Bibi (caring only for Hongo), Lydia (caring for Jayx) and Viper (caring for herself), all school girls chase after Tofu, or Duke, or the 'Villain Psychology' teacher, all the freaking time. Turned Up to Eleven in the final book with Tofu's Boys Band.
Billy Boy ("Willy Boy", Koya No Shonen Isamu's French name) the modest farmboy is Koji's Good Twin.
Takoyaki, shares his cousin Tofu's good looks and taste for dramatic entrances but is polite, generous with his money, and an all-around Nice Guy.
Angus Winch, the FBI american agent whose design is litteraly a blond Hongo with a sunny personality, with a constant smile to contrast with Hongo's Perpetual Frowner.
Face Palm: Mostly from Hongo, Viper and the teachers, when confronted with the antics of the group and/or the insane logic behind it.
Forceful Kiss: Viper decide to kiss the very first good guy in front of her father to bother him - and it's Hongo. She escape a death-by-Bibi because she quickly explains to have chosen the first one in sight - she does not even know his name.
Haunted House: The Vacation chapter "Resident Sentai". They decide to recycle it on an amusement ride with true zombies inside at the end. And Koji met a quite friendly version of the Predator. With cookies.
Handsplay in Theater: Hongo under Viper's influence takes Bibi to a theater. She mumbles her wish for a horror film, but he picks a romantic one.Viper makes him put his arm around Bibi, but in a subversion, she faints from excessive bliss.
When a bunch of fangirls suddently appears behind a hot teacher or student:
There were so many girls in that class? Where are they from?
Student Peter Naraignée start to tell his life in the 1960's :
But, how old are you?"
A ring appears for a Ultra Sama and Stratequerre fight:
How did that get here???
Luke, I Am Your Father: Parodied obviously when Major Anaconda, the American Trial Arc Big Bad, tells Angus he is his father. He expects a Big "NO!" that don't come. Plays it totally straight (and Crosses the Line Twice) when he tells Debbie Breakfoot he also slept with her mom, so she's her love interest'shalf sister. He then proceeds to one-up himself by picking random members of the court audience and listing his relation to them.
Mundane Ghost Story: Toa tells one around the campfire in "Resident Sentai", with a flashlight aimed up under his face, and it sounds like a sum-up of Junji Ito 's works.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Kinda: Hongo seems unable, in volumes 2 and 3, to remember Tofu and Bibi's real names. He keeps call them "Truc" and "Machin" ("Doodad" and "Gizmo").
Our Founder: Space Sherif Gardan Iskor and his statue.
Parental Abandonment: Ken, by his creator, following a winning lottery ticket. Duke, whose parents live abroad and don't even come back for holidays, just like Viper's Missing Mom.
People Puppets: Viper used a magical ring and a literal puppet to Mind Control her cousin during a while when they were children, in order to do chores and make mischief. Then, after finding it again, she uses it on Hongo, in order to hook him up with Bibi.
Poke the Poodle: Most of what Vilain School's students learn, apparently.
Running Gag: The school keeps on exploding, due mostly to the five heroes. Also, Toa's name is mistaken for a pronoun, or when nobody notices that he was missing.
School Play : Yes, it was Romeo and Juliet. Yes, Bibi plays Juliet. And... Tofu was Romeo, but Bibi plays a hundred differents tricks to make the scenario derail and end alone on scene with Hongo, who was playing Mercutio. Oh, and Koji was the tree.
School Uniforms are the New Black: Sentai School and Villain's school ones have Color-Coded for Your Convenience. Bottom is clear for the villains, and black for heroes. And if in Villain's School all jackets are black, in Sentai School they're in a different color for everyone (fit with personality or Shout Out to the original character clothes).
Split Personality: Keiji/Dark Keiji, and "Villain Psychology" teacher Amamechu ("Anhairlocked") spoof of Kazuhiko Amamiya. His evil side is Stratequerre's spy.
The Unintelligible: Being a Pokemon spoof, Chibi-Goldo speaks in non-words. Like all chibis anyway (Chibi-Zinger and Stratéquerre's pet, that looks like the very first monster seen in UFO Robo Grendizer). Bibi, because only a few words are big (loud) enough to be read (heard).And Kenshiro often replace some words in his sentences by "Grunt!"
The Smurfette Principle: Bibi,at first. Soon after, both schools opened to girls students and Viper joined both the school and the group.
Theme Naming: Some Heroes names are based upon Space Sherif's actors names, and names of series for surnames: Girara for Giraya, Jasper for Jaspion. Shinobi is self-descriptive. Food names for Tofu and Co (his bandmates are Curry, Soja and Wasabi, while his cousin is Takoyaki).
Unnamed Parent: Every single parent, save Hongo's dad Ichiro.
Villains Out Shopping: It's pure coincidence if , in the Beach Episode, Ultra sama ran into Stratequerre,Anaconda and his clique.They were in vacation at Jean-Yves's place, a villain buddy.
Writing Lines: While doing it on a black board, Hongo say he find that ridiculous. Cue agreement from Bart Simpson next to him.
Artistic License - Geography: In book 3, pupils go to California from (apparently) Japan. So they would just have the Pacific to cross. The problem is, they first land in New York and then cross the whole country, just as if they came from Europe.
between 2003 and 2008.It was written by Philippe Cardona and Florence Torta, and drawn by Philippe Cardona. It debuted as a doujinshi before it was published in Coyote, a French anime magazine.It's about a Japanese Superhero School where the students/ heroes are sentai or shonen. At first a boys school, it becomes coeducational in volume 2, introducing magical girls or Action Girl. The story is an affectionate parody of manga, especially sentai and others well known in France. Nearly every character is a spoof of famous manga characters: For instance, Oscar sensei the costume teacher looks like the real Oscar, Rose of Versailles heroine. There are two poor and starved children, named Remi and Sarah, that spoof heroes from Sans Famille and A Little Princess animated series among others. Moreover, savvy readers will notice Shout Outs to monsters that look like Doraemon or Mike from Monsters, Inc., and bit players like Maetel from Galaxy Express 999 in an airport.Characters page is on its way.The main characters are a Five-Man Band:
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