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!

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!

The first couple of days of the vampire Manga Moveable Feast have gotten to a bit of a slow start, but I’m confident things will get busier as we hit the middle of the week! Let’s take a look at some of the contributions so far:

Ash over at Experiments in Manga kicks off the feast with a vampire-themed Week in Manga post. In it, he covers volumes 1-4 of Blood Sucker: Legend of Zipangu, Devil, volumes 13-16 of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Phathos volumes 1-2, Until the Full Moon volumes 1-2, and volumes 2-5 of Vampire Hunter D. With everything from the hardcore shonen title Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure to BL offerings of Phathos and Until the Full Moon, I’d say he’s got quite the selection!

Next, Manga Xandu takes a look at the Blood Alone omnibus, which contains volumes 1-3 of the series. Lori says: “Blood Alone isn’t the typical vampire series with a lot of angst and melodrama. Instead, it is populated with rich, interesting characters and a story that is a mix of slice of life and murder mystery with a sprinkling of vampires.” Sounds like it might be worth checking out!

Finally, I wrote a shojo-centric introduction to vampire manga here at Chic Pixel, which will hopefully provide a few good titles to start from for shojo fans looking to have some vampires with a side (or perhaps a heaping plate) of romance.

Keep those submissions coming! The vampire MMF will continue through to the 27th. You can email submissions to me directly, or leave a link here in the comments.