Chibi Vampire (called Karin in Japan) is created by Yuna Kagesaki and published by Tokyopop. Being a massive fan of vampires, and not because of stupid Twilight, to see a story with an interesting take on vampires and with some really cute art this was pretty much a no-brainer for me to pick up.
The story goes that Karin is a vampire. However, she is kinda a disgrace to the vampire world because she doesn't hate sunlight and she doesn't drink blood. You see every month Karin gets an overload of blood in her body so she spends her time giving away blood so that she won't have massive nose bleeds.
At the start of the series a new transfer student comes to her school. His name is Kenta. For some strange reason Karin's blood goes funny when she is around him. Volume 1 basically revolves around Karin avoiding Kenta and Kenta trying to find out what Karin's problem is.
This series is awesome. Even though not a lot really happens it introduces the main characters in an excellent way. The entire book was full of enjoyment and the pacing of the series is great too. Bonus points go to the fact that it tried something new and original to vampire lore.
The art in this series is wonderful. Karin is drawn in a cute style, while Kenta has a face that sorta reminds me of Ichigo from Bleach. Karin's parents are drawn in a more European style, while her sister Anju is a Gothic Lolita. In some series I have trouble working out which character is which but I had no problems in this manga is everyone is drawn distinctly different.
Translation wise I didn't have a problem. What I did have a problem was that the sound effects were not translated. At the back of the book you get some nice extras in the form of 4-koma panels which tell in a funny way how this series was made. There is also a short story about Anju's scary dolls.
I really enjoyed this book. Even if you are not into vampires you should at least give it a try because it is a cute, fun and original take on the vampire world.
No comments:
Post a Comment