PhD (manga)
Encyclopedia : P : PH : PHD : PhD (manga)
|} PhD Phantasy Degree is a manga series that is published in English by TOKYOPOP.
Story
A fearless young girl named Sang is searching for the legendary Demon School, "Hades". After days of exhausting travel, she finally arrives -- only to be captured by a group of misfit monsters, who just happen to be skipping class at the very school Sang was looking for! She convinces them to take her to enroll . . . but there's just one little problem. Only monsters are allowed.With the help of one of her dangerous new allies, a vampire, Sang "monsterizes" herself in order to enter. But why has she come to Hades in the first place? Why is she so willing to become a vampire just to get in? And what exactly lurks in the halls of the Demon Academy?
Cast of Main Characters
Sang - A brazen human girl in search of the Demon School, Hades. Quick-witted and willful to a fault, Sang tends to put on an act of ditzy cuteness; but she often manages to anger just the wrong people with her sharp tongue. She has journeyed to Hades in order to claim Satan's Ring, a talisman of incredible power. Though a magnet for trouble, Sang is excellent at talking her way out of a sticky situation. She is also skilled in the art of magical flight.
Sang wears five rings that supposedly grant amazing power to their user; but the true extent of her abilities have not yet been revealed. when Sang removes a ring from her fingers, she changes in form and in size. Her attitude and her demeanor changes. She has three current transformations: A taller, much more mature woman, whom we see first fighting with Dev when he transforms into a hellion; A brazen man who is in love with Chun-Lang's female form. This man is violent and loud mouthed, but casts magic well; A mature older man who seems wiser and quiter than the other man form. This man is exceptionally skilled with magic as well. Sang's rings seem to act as limiters, since the more rings she has on, the less magic she uses. Her usual childlike form should be the strongest, but she doesn't use any of the magic she can during that time.
Dev - A teenage demon and younger brother of Master Fatalis. Dev is the unofficial leader of the "slackers", a clique of failing underclassmen at the Demon School Hades that includes Mordicus, Lukan and Pannus Tyrannus. Given his natural determination and athletic talent, he has more than enough potential to succeed, but seems unable or unwilling to apply himself to his classes. While rarely forced to fight, Dev shows a preference for hand-to-hand combat; his horns are much smaller than those of most demons his age, limiting his ability to cast magic.
Dev is apparently an unpopular demon throughout most of Hades, and is constantly being compared to his overachieving brother. Katana and his gang in particular have taken a cruel interest in him. But unlike his three friends, Dev has never been attacked or even threatened by the stronger demon, due to Notra's affection for him.
Dev's first display of unusual power is when he is able to open sealed doors in Hades -- doors that only the highest-ranking members of the faculty should be able to unlock. His next is when Katana finally challenges him to a duel. While at first he is easily subdued by Katana's power and skill, he quickly begins to display tremendous strength once placed under real duress. The nature of these powers, along with his temporary transformation, are currently unexplained. Unlike the other slackers', Dev's transformation seems unrelated to Sang.
Pannus Tyrannus - A teenage mummy and one of Hades's worst students, along with Dev, Lukan and Mordicus. Only his head, the lower parts of his arms and legs and the lower portion of his torso are bandaged. Like the other slackers, he is a low class monster. Pannus says and does very little, and displays few special powers, other than Dev's description of him as a "chick magnet" -- an understandable trait, considering the good looks under the bandages. He is, however, often shown wearing boxing gloves and trunks, indicating a love of boxing.
Like the other slackers, Pannus undergoes a transformation into a vastly more powerful form, presumably to having eaten a bandage used by Sang. As with the others, the exact nature of this transformation is not yet detailed.
Mordicus - A teenage vampire and one of Hades's worst students, along with Dev, Pannus Tyrannus and Lukan. Mordicus is, according to Sang, not a "pure blooded" vampire, but was originally human and became infected by a preexisting vampire. In order to help her sneak into Hades, he bites her, transforming her into a vampire as well.
Other than the ability to turn humans into vampires, Mordicus can move at superhumanly high speeds and even transform into a swarm of bats, but neither gift proves of much use against the likes of Katana's gang. However, like the other slackers, Mordicus transforms into a vastly more powerful class of monster at one point, and it is he who speculates that this is due to consuming Sang's blood.
Lukan - A teenage werewolf and one of Hades's worst students, along with Dev, Pannus Tyrannus and Mordicus. Lukan usually behaves more like a friendly dog than the vicious monster he is expected to be, and is very nearly turned into lunch by a famished Sang before his friends show up. Unlike typical lycanthropes, Lukan seems only to have one form: a human body with a wolf's head. Though he fights using his long teeth and claws, and is probably more than capable of tearing a person apart, he wears clothes and occasionally walks on two legs like a human.
While considered an extremely low-class monster by other demons, Lukan later manages to transform into a vastly more powerful form, presumably due to having licked a fresh wound on Sang's neck. The extent of this power, and the true nature of the transformation, is unclear.
Fatalis - Older brother of Dev, and an extremely powerful devil. The aptly-named Fatalis serves as the Intermediate Grade Advisor of Hades -- as well as the chief assassin of General Belpegore. Classified as a "Greater Demon, with dormant powers" by Mahadeva, Fatalis is anything but easy on his little brother as far as Dev's poor schoolwork is concerned. Despite his seeming objectivity towards Dev as a student, Fatalis is exceedingly protective of him.
Fatalis is periodically called away from the school to assassinate powerful humans who have become a threat to demons, but has expressed a degree of remorse over the amount of blood on his hands. In battle, he combines a mastery of demonic energies with his trademark weapon, the Death Scythe, to shred his foes.
Katana - The strongest student at Hades, Katana is the leader of an elite trio of demons. Like his friends, Chris and Hammer, Katana harbors little tolerance for low-class monsters like Dev's gang. Previously, Katana's respect for Fatalis and Notra kept him from bullying Dev; but when the group brings Sang to the school, Katana uses the intrusion to challenge him to a duel. Ever since their battle was interrupted by Henduh Khyung's arrival, they have forged an uneasy truce -- but no one knows how long this alliance will last.
Katana uses a number of powerful lightning-based attacks in battle, and views fighting with anything but his demonic abilities to be of the utmost barbarity. He enjoys taunting Dev about his tiny, undeveloped horns, despite only having a single long horn himself. Apparently, this is fairly common among demons.
Notra - A sexy female demon, Notra is the cherished daughter of Lady Bellpegore. Despite her objections, she is often referred to as Lady Notra due to her noble status. Her engagement to the son of Lord Baal, the supreme commander of Hell, was arranged by her mother -- a decision against which Notra rails so heavily that she even requests that Dev kidnap her to avoid it.
Notra is clearly interested in Dev, despite his reputation as a slacker with little future. Whether their relationship is more towards a sibling bond or a romantic one is unclear, though other demons seem to view it as the latter. Notra is quite willing to use and abuse Dev, but seems genuinely concerned when he is in danger.
Though Notra is not a powerful fighter, she claims to be able to "beat Dev up" and is quite proficient with a whip. This, in addition to her talent with her feminine wiles, suggests that she is a budding succubus. Her engagement ring just happens to be the Ring of Satan, which Sang comes to Hades looking for.
Chun-Lang - A perpetually-hungry swordmaster whom Sang meets in the woods. She possesses a mystic ring exactly like Sang's. While Chun-Lang seldom refuses a fight, she has few qualms about running from a superior opponent. Chun-Lang is called the Prince, so it is assumed that she is a he, and that his ring turned him from a man to a woman. Her ring doesn't always change her back into a man, like Sang's rings do. (Sang stole Chun-Lang's ring, and Chun-Lang stayed a girl, whereas when Sang removes a ring, she transforms into a man)
Madosa Guild
Ranked Members- Lance - Calculating leader of the human's Medusa Guild. Dislikes chaos and always thinks through his orders carefully and methodically(marked on the center of forehead I).
- Henduh Khyung - A bloodthirsty human warrior of incredible physical strength. The massive Henduh, along with his partner Mahadeva, arrives at Hades shortly after Sang. It seems that they, too, seek Satan's Ring, and have no qualms against cutting a swath of destruction through Hades to find it. Henduh holds the title of third-ranked general of the Medusa Guild. In dire situations he can project the Blessed Breath, a high-powered beam attack fired from the mouth(marked on the center of tongue III).
- Sorceress Stonia - In Volume 4 she appears Chun-Lang's nightmare and mentions being second in command of the Madosa Guild's third level(marked on the center of forehead VI).
- Alcan - Elderly warlock of the Medusa Guild who was wounded by a creation of his then killed by unnamed assassin. After his death he turned into a lich and then was killed again by Shumiro(marked on upper left forehead with VIII).
- Mahadeva - Henduh Khyung's partner, Mahadeva is a human sorceress with the power to manipulate wind by drawing on the element of fire. She is generally calmer and more organized than Henduh; but once he begins a rampage, she lacks the power to stop him. It seems the two were once lovers.
- Gelpa - A member of the Madosa Guild, his Crest is small and located on his left eye, so it is unclear if he is unranked or not. His main power seems to be vision-based due to the location of this Crest, and enabled him to allow both Dev and Katana to see what was happening in other areas of Hades. In addition, Gelpa is able to pass, ghostlike, through solid matter, and has strength enough to incapacitate Dev and Katana with ease.
Other Characters
Gigantes - A terrifying monster of old. Alcan's attempt to resurrect the Gigantes was apparently foiled when Chun-Lang accidentally ruined the spell, creating some bizarre sort of mutant. But when the resulting monster attacked Alcan to defend Chun-Lang, it was revealed that the spell had worked; the Gigantes was reborn after all. In addition to its immense physical size and strength, the Gigantes possesses some degree of magical immunity, seeming to grow in size and power even when Alcan attempts to destroy it with a spell.Hwee-Young - A feisty swordsman who feels the urge to fight anyone with a weapon. A warrior to the last, Hwee-Young operates by principle and with honor, and finds those who turn down a challenge or run away from a fight completely despicable. Hwee-Young becomes infused with the cells of Gigantes, enabling him to deflect Sang's magic attacks without being harmed.
See also
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.