BayAnime.com

Vampires are in vogue these days, what with Twilight and True Blood, and a new manga series from TOKYOPOP falls perfectly in line with the new craze.

Bloody Kiss is about Kiyo Katsuragi, a girl who inherits a haunted mansion from her late grandmother. Unbeknownst to Kiyo, the mansion comes with a few extras: two vampires.

Kuroboshi is a bishonen who is looking for his “bride.” As he explains to Kiyo, vampires only drink the blood of one human, and that person is known as the vampire’s bride. Alshu, the other vampire, is Kuroboshi’s attendant. When the two were expulsed from their vampire clan due to Kuroboshi’s half-human blood (his mother was human), they were taken in by Kiyo’s grandmother and raised in the mansion.

At first Kiyo decides to sell the mansion and kick them out, but gradually she becomes attached to the two vampires. Kuroboshi and Alshu show up at Kiyo’s school and help her out of a few fixes, and Kiyo begins to fall for Kuroboshi. If only he would stop wanting to drink her blood!

Kiyo is an independent girl who can take care of herself, and she’s not above punching out Kuroboshi when he gets obnoxious. Kuroboshi pretends not to care about Kiyo, but of course he actually does. The art is cute and the growing attraction between Kiyo and Kuroboshi is believable, making Bloody Kiss a fun read for the shojo audience.

Volume 2 of the series is due to be released in November 2009.

Bloody Kiss was created by Kazuko Furumiya. Published by TOKYOPOP.

Jan Suzukawa works in the manga industry as a freelance editor and English adaptation writer. Website: www.jansuzukawa.com. Blog: jansuzukawa.blogspot.com.