The last couple of days of the vampire Manga Movable Feast saw some really interesting and varied submissions!
Tony from Manga Therapy took a look at a slightly different kind of vampire that first make their appearance in volume 14 of Gantz. These nanomachine-infused humans are Vampires in that they are both weak to UV radiation and need to drink blood to survive, but they also have emotional “vampiric” qualities. Manga Therapy writes, “When asked about the creation of the Vampires in an old interview, Hiroya Oku said he wanted human enemies and that the “vampire” character exists naturally.” What an interesting spin on traditional vampire lore!
Lori over at Manga Xandu has another review, this time for volume 2 of Dracula Everlasting, an OEL title published by Seven Seas. She writes: “I was under the impression that Nick was to be the protagonist, but this volume proves that isn’t the case. Cate and to some extent Jill are the ones to really move the story” and appreciates the strong female characters, but laments that she still expected the story to go in a slightly different direction. She does note that “it’s nice to have a ‘prince in distress’ for a change,” so perhaps new readers going into the three volume series with the knowledge that Nick is not the main character will have different initial impressions?
Laura from Heart of Manga also took a look at Dracula Everlasting, covering both volumes one and two in her review. She mentions that “the short length of the story keeps the characters from being well developed,” and feels that Dracula, the antagonist who seeks to gain full possession of Nick, is the most interesting. She notes what a long wait it will be until the final volume is published in September 2013, so even though the characters may feel a little sub-par, the whole package looks intriguing enough to stick with it until the conclusion.
Finally, Ash of Experiments in Manga reviewed Yashakiden: The Demon Princess volume 3, and though it’s not a manga, but a series of illustrated vampire novels, I think it’s close enough to include in the feast! Unfortunately, Ash finds the series frustrating, as he writes: “Although Kikuchi has a ton of great ideas, and I continue to love Demon City Shinjuku as a setting, he hasn’t been able to pull everything together into a cohesive whole quite yet.” The original series was intended to end at volume 4 (which is included in volume 3 of the English release, as it is an omnibus edition), Ash mentions that it actually extends to eight volumes, meaning he’s just reached the midway point. Though the narrative feels unfocused to him, he’s going to try to stick with it for at least a little while longer. I think, at the very least, it says something good about the premise if Ash has been willing to stick with a disappointing narrative for four whole volumes!
Well, this marks the end of the vampire Manga Movable Feast. I want to give a huge thanks to everyone who sent in submissions over the course of the week. I admit I was a little nervous, given this was my first time hosting, but everyone was very helpful. I hope I did an okay job – do drop a comment and let me know if you have any suggestions for how I could manage it better in the future! Finally, if anyone has any late submissions they’d like included, I’m happy to update this post to include them over the next few days, so keep sending them in!
[Update] There were so many extra submissions that I went ahead and made a forth roundup post!
Remember, be sure to check out the archive for some great older reviews and links to all previous roundup posts!
