[3] 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.

The students become ever more fearful of their futures, however, when the clone of John F. Kennedy is assassinated during his first presidential campaign in a manner similar to his original and they begin to seek out ways to alter their allegedly inevitable fates.

Written and illustrated by Kumiko Suekane, Afterschool Charisma was serialized in Shogakukan's Monthly Ikki from April 25, 2008,[5] to September 25, 2014.

[9] Deb Aoki, writing for About.com, enjoyed the "inventive premise" of the series, feeling that the use of historical figures added to the characterisation of the clones.

[32] Comic Book Bin's Leroy Douresseaux's first impression was of "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".