He quickly befriends Moka Akashiya, a vampire who soon develops an obsession with his blood, and later meets other monster girls who soon take a romantic liking to him.

Both manga series were licensed in North America and in the United Kingdom by Viz Media, and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment.

Although he fears for his life, Tsukune befriends a beautiful vampire girl named Moka Akashiya, who enjoys his company and especially the taste of his blood.

During a fight with a school bully, Tsukune accidentally removes the rosario around Moka's neck and discovers that she transforms into a powerful vampire with a completely different personality.

They join the school's Newspaper Club and wind up fighting a variety of students and teachers, who use their monstrous powers to bully or to control one or more of the members for their own selfish or destructive ends.

On a club trip to the human world, they meet a witch, Ruby Tojo, who defends a field of sunflowers from being torn down by developers.

When the school is temporarily closed because of damage, Tsukune returns home to the human world only to have Moka, Kurumu, Yukari, and Mizore follow him and hide in his room.

On an excursion to Mizore's homeland, they learn of a dangerous organization called Fairy Tale, which seeks to destroy the human world.

When Moka spends a school day as her inner personality, she is unable to return to the seal, so the Newspaper Club heads to China to get her Rosario fixed.

He reveals that he has manipulated both Fairy Tale and its opposition to determine whether the rosario could control him, and then merges with his monster self, who goes on a rampage in Tokyo.

In an interview at Lucca Comics 2012, Ikeda said he is a big fan of Tim Burton and was inspired by his works, including The Nightmare Before Christmas, and particularly Edward Scissorhands because the monster has a sensitive soul.

His first character design was Moka, a beautiful girl vampire with a crucifix around her neck; he then created the school of monsters and Tsukune afterwards.

[23] Both manga series were licensed in North America and in the United Kingdom by Viz Media under its Shonen Jump Advanced imprint, and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment.

[26] The anime quickly became notorious for its extensive use of fanservice in the form of panty shots, leading the series to be censored on certain channels during its TV broadcast.

[31][32][33][34] Funimation initially encountered production issues from the Japanese licensors, causing a series of delays with their release date.

The first set of singles, featuring Moka Akashiya (Nana Mizuki), Kurumu Kurono (Misato Fukuen) and Yukari Sendo (Kimiko Koyama), was released on February 14, 2008.

[39][40][41] The second set of singles, featuring Mizore Shirayuki (Rie Kugimiya) and Ruby Tojo (Saeko Chiba), was released on March 26, 2008,[42][43] along with a compilation album called The Capucchu (ザ・かぷっちゅ, Za Kapucchu).

[52] A "Best Of" album entitled Rosario + Vampire: Idol Cover BEST (ロザリオとバンパイア アイドルカバーBEST, Rozario to Banpaia: Aidoru Kabā BEST) was released on February 18, 2009.

[58] A novelization of Rosario + Vampire written by Fumihiko Shimo was released by Shueisha on April 4, 2008, under their Jump J-Books imprint.

[60] Another visual novel entitled Rosario + Vampire Capu2: The Rhapsody of Love and Dreams (ロザリオとバンパイア CAPU2 恋と夢の狂想曲(ラプソディア), Rozario to Banpaia CAPU2: Koi to Yume no Rapusodia) was developed by Compile Heart and was released for the PlayStation 2 on July 23, 2009.

[115] For the second volume, Santos was more pleased with the introduction of a major villain and the fanservice artwork in the lighter story, but lamented the lack of any visually threatening monster.

He opined the emphases on sexual innuendo, comparing it to Strawberry 100%,[120][121] and that the series is like The Addams Family mixed with X-Men: "cool, creepy folks at a secret school where they can live and learn in a place free of the prejudice against them."

[122] YALSA included Rosario + Vampire, Vol.1 in its list of the 2013 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults under the subcategory Boarding Schools to Summer Camps: Leaving home to find yourself.