Afterschool Charisma

Afterschool Charisma (放課後のカリスマ) is an ongoing Japanese seinen manga series written and illustrated by Kumiko Suekane, and serialized in Shogakukan's monthly seinen manga magazine Ikki. Shogakukan has released four volumes so far, between 29 July 2009 and 30 June 2010. The manga is licensed in North America by Viz Media, and is partially available online at their website.

The series is licensed by Taiwan Tohan Co., Ltd. in Taiwan.

In developing the manga, Suekane felt it would be interesting to have "many great personages" together, and so she conceived of the idea of cloning them and putting them into the same world.

Story
The story takes place in a very exclusive school, where to enroll, you have to be the clone of a famous historical figure. The main character of the story is the only non-clone in the entire school, enrolled because his father is one of the main scientists in the cloning project. At first it appears to be a drama involving these students coping with having the career paths and fates of their originals forced upon them, but it's soon revealed that there's a group bent on killing all the clones.

Characters
There have been a number of characters, almost all of them clones, introduced so far.

Main Cast The son of Dr. Kamiya, Shiro is good friends with much of the cast. He has a crush on Marie Curie in particular and tries to convince his father to help her when Maria expresses an interest in music as opposed to her usual studies. He is also the only non-clone attending St. Kleio, thought the latest translated chapters of the manga have begun casting doubt on Shiro's background.
 * Shiro Kamiya

As the clone of Maria Curie, she's expected to follow her original's path in physics and chemistry. Maria is more interested in music however and at one point begs sheet music off of Mozart to practice with. She leaves St. Kleio near the beginning of the story to attend a music school - or so the other students are told.
 * Marie Curie

While Napoleon is mostly a nice guy, he's also very determined, very stubborn and a bit of a braggart now and then. He doesn't believe in charms or superstitions, seeming to prefer things he can see. He seems to have a crush on Joan of Arc, mostly due to his original's admiration of the national French heroine as well as his wish to help her.
 * Napoleon Bonaparte

Ikkyu spends much of his time in the series kidding around with Napoleon and Shiro, sometimes dragging Freud into the antics. The original Ikkyu was known for his impish behavior and his clone seems to have inherited that trait too. He makes mention of "almost having caught that tiger in the painting", referencing when Shogun Yoshimitsu asked the original Ikkyu during a visit if he could catch a tiger painted on one of Yoshimitsu's screens.
 * Ikkyu

Sigmund is a snarky fellow with a lot of dry sarcasm. He loves to point out Shiro's daddy issues and keeps an admirably straight face in the presence of the girl's changing room. Out of all of the cast, Freud seems to be the only one who's really caught on to what is happening in the school.
 * Sigmund Freud

Elizabeth is good friends with Florence Nightingale and the two of them are often seen together. The teenager is a hopeless romantic and obsessed with marriage as well. When Florence Nightingale mentioned that she needs a lover first before she can get married, Elizabeth states that she doesn't want just a lover, her original had one of those already and she wanted a marriage instead. Elizabeth herself readily admits that her goal of marriage is little more than a dream since clones seem pre-destined to follow their original's path.
 * Elizabeth I

Florence is good friends with Elizabeth and is the nice, thoughtful one of the group. She's typically seen with Elizabeth or comforting another of the clones.
 * Florence Nightingale

Mozart comes off as a bit of a bastard right away. He teases Marie Curie when she comes to him seeking sheet music and later he fences with Shiro when the boy sticks up for her. Later Mozart attempts to hang himself and slowly the bigger plot surrounding the school begins to unwind.
 * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Secondary Characters
 * Albert Einstein
 * Adolf Hitler
 * Joan of Arc
 * Grigori Rasputin
 * Himiko
 * Empress Dowager Cixi

Reception
Deb Aoki enjoyed the "inventive premise" of the series, feeling that the use of historical figures added to the characterisation of the clones. Leroy Douresseaux's first impression was of a "a rather peculiar boarding school drama", but felt that the development of the story signalled the manga was about "more than teen angst", describing it as an "engrossing read". Katherine Dacey felt the story had potential that hadn't "gelled yet" at the conclusion of the first volume.