is an ongoing Japanese seinen manga series written and illustrated by Kumiko Suekane, and serialized in Shogakukan

Shogakukan

is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, manga, non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.Shogakukan founded Shueisha which founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hitotsubashi Group, one of the largest publishing groups in Japan...

's monthly seinen manga magazine Ikki

Ikki (magazine)

is a monthly seinen manga magazine published by Shogakukan. It tends to specialize in underground or alternative manga, but has had its share of major hits as well. Notably, both Bokurano and Ride Back have received anime adaptations....

. Shogakukan has released six volumes

Tankobon

, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...

 so far, between 29 July 2009 and 30 June 2011. The manga is licensed in North America by Viz Media

VIZ Media

VIZ Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, is an anime, manga, and Japanese entertainment company. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ Media LLC, which is jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, and...

, and is partially available online at their website. It is also licensed in Taiwan by Taiwan Tohan Co., Ltd.

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

St. Kleio Academy is a very exclusive high school which restricts its enrollment to the clones of famous historical figures. The only exception seems to be the new transfer student Shirou Kamiya, the son of one of the main scientists involved in the cloning project. Shirou does his best to fit in, however, many of his classmates envy him because of the privilege he has as a human being even though Shirou wants nothing more than to help his new friends. Unlike Shirou, whose destiny has not been predetermined by history, the clones must closely study the achievements of their originals so that they can finish what their originals started. 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.

Students

Shirou Kamiya is the son of Dr. Kamiya and the only human student attending St. Kleio Academy. Both of these factors have earned him the resentment of his fellow classmates even though he is good friends with several of them. The recent appearance of a man named Kai, who looks like him and claims to be a clone, in addition to comments by Rockswell, has led Shirou to question his true identity.

Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoléon Bonaparte)

Napoleon Bonaparte is the clone of the famous French emperor. Gregarious, he is one of Shirou's closest friends in the school. He has grown to a somewhat greater height already than his original is believed to have possessed. Though skeptical about the potency of the Almighty Dolly, he goes along with the rituals due to the influence of his friends, particularly Joan of Arc, whom he admires deeply. This goes to the point where he agrees to light the pyre in her mock burning at the stake, and is therefore deeply affected by her death when it goes awry.

Ikkyu is the clone of the famous Japanese Zen Buddhist priest. He is very friendly and admired among the clones, spreading good cheer, mischief, and Buddhist ideals. He wears glasses, which his original did not due to the time period.

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...

Sigmund Freud is the clone of the famous Austrian psychologist. He commonly views the actions of his fellow students through the lens of his original's theories about parental complexes and sexual drives, and always assumes the worst about anti-clone movements. Though he does have a rather stable place in the main characters' circle of friends due to his intelligence, they are often put off by his constant mockery.

Carl Jung

Carl Jung

Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...

The clone of the famous Swiss psychologist. Like his predecessor, he has a rivalry with the clone of Sigmund Freud.

Elizabeth Tudor

Elizabeth Tudor

Elizabeth Tudor was the second daughter and fourth child of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York.A marriage to the French prince Francis was being proposed when she died of atrophy, around six months before the birth of her sister Mary. Elizabeth was buried in Westminster Abbey in the...

(Elizabeth I)

Elizabeth Tudor is the clone of the famous English queen. Elizabeth is a hopeless romantic who yearns to be a wife and mother despite the fact that her original was well-known for her chastity and her dedication to England. At the same time, however, Elizabeth fears that she may well die alone because, as a clone, she must follow the path of her original even if it means that she must set aside her own dreams.

Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale OM, RRC was a celebrated English nurse, writer and statistician. She came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War, where she tended to wounded soldiers. She was dubbed "The Lady with the Lamp" after her habit of making rounds at night...

Florence Nightingale is the clone of the famous English nurse. Caring and maternal, she gets along well with her fellow clones, though they are often embarrassed by her excessive physical affection.

Marie Curie

Marie Curie

Marie Skłodowska-Curie was a physicist and chemist famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes—in physics and chemistry...

(Maria Skłodowska-Curie)

Marie Curie is the clone of the famous Polish-French female scientist. As a clone, Marie is expected to follow the path of her original, however, she is far more passionate about music than physics and chemistry, especially inspired by the works of Mozart. At the start of the manga Shirou persuades his father to allow Marie to study music instead and she is supposedly transferred to a music school, but due to Rockswell's attempted killing of Pandora and his comments afterwards, it is implied that the Marie Curie that Shirou knew was killed.

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

Adolf Hitler is the clone of the infamous Nazi politician. Hitler, whose peers despise and even shun him because of his original, is a surprisingly benign boy who has vowed to atone for the sins of his original. Hitler was one of the first of the clones to befriend Shirou because he viewed Shirou as a fellow outcast. He is hopeful that the Almighty Dolly is merciful, and believes that she helped him and Shirou to save Mozart's life. When the false nature of the cult of Dolly is exposed by Rasputin's confession and Joan's death, he refuses to cease believing in the Almighty Dolly and shows signs of developing his original's misanthropy, to the point of shoving several charms down Rasputin's throat.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is the clone of the famous Austrian musician. He provided Marie Curie's clone with some of his original's work, but he is insensitive to her lack of desire to pursue her original's studies of radiation and views her as a failure for not following her destiny. He believes in the inherent superiority of clones to normal humans as they possess a higher purpose, to give a second life to great figures. For these reasons he clashes with Shirou, who challenges him to a duel to avenge his disregard for Marie Curie. Unable to live up to the pressure, he hangs himself

Failed suicide attempt

Failed suicide attempts comprise a large portion of suicide attempts. Some are regarded as not true attempts at all, but rather parasuicide. The usual attempt may be a wish to affect another person by the behaviour. Consequently, it occurs in a social context and may represent a request for help....

, though Shirou and Hitler find him in time to save his life.

Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc

Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...

(Jeanne d'Arc)

Joan of Arc is the clone of the famous French heroine who turned the tide of the Hundred Years War between France and England in favor of France. She is deeply devoted to the Almighty Dolly, as opposed to sharing her original's deep Catholic faith. It is arranged that her mock burning at the stake will take place at the expo, to demonstrate the malleability of clones' destinies; however, various events lead to her execution becoming genuine.

Grigori Efimovich Rasputin (Григорий Ефимович Распутин)

Grigori Efimovich Rasputin is the clone of the infamous Russian mystic who once wielded great influence over the Russian court. He orchestrates the cult of the Almighty Dolly at the direction of school officials, demonstrating the desperation of the clones and their gullibility. He believed that this would get him sent home

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...

Albert Einstein is the clone of the famous German physicist. He created the "Almighty Dolly" charms, believing in conjunction with Rasputin that this experiment would set them free from the school.

Himiko is the clone of the legendary queen of the Japanese kingdom of Yamataikoku. She was one of the foremost runners of the cult of the Almighty Dolly, just below Rasputin and Einstein; however, when it was unmasked at the expo, she newly perceives the futility of clone existence and joins the Strikers to kill all clones.

Dowager Empress Cixi (慈禧太后)

Cixi is the clone of the famous Chinese empress. She is confident in being able to fill the shoes of her original, as according to her the empress succeeded primarily through use of her beauty, which as her clone she already possesses.

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...

Charles Darwin is the clone of the famous English scientist who developed the theory of evolution

Evolution

Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...

. He claims that evolutionary theory applies to clones, and the Strikers' manifestation as terrorists instead of successors to their originals is merely a failure on which natural selection is doing its work.

John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

John F. Kennedy is the clone of the famous American president. His mysterious assassination during his first presidential campaign strikes fear into his former classmates and spreads the belief that all clones are destined to have the same fate as their originals.

Other

Pandora

Pandora is the clone of Marie Curie. Rockswell initially introduces her as his adopted daughter, however, he later reveals that she is yet another Marie Curie clone. Pandora was created because the first Marie Curie clone refused to follow the path of her original but Rockswell later attempts to strangle her after Shirou insists that Pandora cannot be Marie Curie due to the differing memories between the two clones. Shirou, however, still saves Pandora's life despite the revelation and the traumatized Pandora immediately abandons Rockswell to be with Shirou, who takes her under his wing.

Kai

Kai is a man who physically resembles Shirou in appearance, although he is much older.

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...

Leonardo da Vinci is the clone of the famous Italian polymath during the European renaissance. He served as a representative of the St. Kleio Academy.

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.