The reviews continue to come in for the vampire Manga Movable Feast! I’m happy to see all the shojo titles, but where’s some of the shonen love? I hope we see a Hellsing post or two before it’s all over, because I’ve never read it!
Ash over at Experiments in Manga returns to Vampire Hunter D, volume 1 especially for this month’s feast (thanks, Ash!). He writes, “While I wasn’t overly impressed by Vampire Hunter D, volume 1 when I read it for the first time, the manga has grown on me after subsequent readings.” It’s even inspired to possibly go back and read the novels, which I’d definitely say is a tick in the manga’s favor!
Lori published a great review of Digital Manga Publishing’s Moon and Blood volumes 1-2 at The School Library Journal (Good Comics for Kids), summarizing her feelings as follows: “Moon and Blood is a supernatural romance that avoids a lot of the pitfalls commonly seen in this now popular genre.” Though she found the male character’s back story more interesting than the romance, which may be disappointing for some, it’s great to see a shojo manga that features such a compelling male lead.
Anna at The Manga Report also reviewed Jiu Jiu volume 2, which doesn’t actually center around vampires, but it features a vampire character as well as a whole host of other supernatural beings. She notes that the series “…flashes back and forth from scenes exploring emotional abandonment to more typical shojo manga staples like trips to the beach.” Sounds like it does a good job of not being too emotionally heavy, but not straying too far into the realm of pure fluff, either!
Finally, I posted a Call for Localization for two vampire shojo manga that are currently only available in Japanese, Poe no Ichizoku and Kuro Bara Alice. If I had to pick between the two, I’d definitely say publishers should go for Poe no Ichizoku first, as it’s a classic that everyone should have a chance to read, but Kuro Bara Alice is likely to be the more easily-accessible of the two. If either should get licensed, I expect full credit!
I’d like to give a huge thanks to everyone whose contributed so far. I’ve really enjoyed reading everyone’s post, and I hope you have, too! There are only a couple of days left in the feast, but that’s still plenty of time to get your submissions in!
