Creative Staff
Story/Art: Aya Shouto
Translation/Adaptation: Su Mon Han
Lettering: Alexis Eckerman
What They Say
“Take care… for your blood…is sweet…” The angels Isuka and Hitaki have been targeting Aki all along! In order to “purge” the pureblood vampire, they bring their Swords of Judgment down upon him! Will Kana be able to help Aki out of what appears to be a life-threatening situation…for both of them?!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I’m not big on starting a series in progress, especially when I haven’t been exposed to it in any other medium, but He’s My Only Vampire #4 has me 
questioning my long-set convictions. Opening with the not uncommon Characters and Story spread, my biggest problem with this installment was that I kept confusing the core couple of the story, Kana and Aki. It took me an entire chapter to stop swapping them, but once that settled, I was in great shape.
Volume #4 starts the readers off n what I can only assume is the middle of a battle, or the end of one battle and the beginning of another. Aki, a delicious looking vampire, appears to be wounded as he faces off against Isuka and Hitaki, the president and Vice-President of the St. Agatha Academy Student Council—Who are apparently angels. Jin, a werewolf, and Kana, a Thrall, stand on the sidelines in the first few pages, but that doesn’t last long.
A note on Jin and Kana, by the way: Apparently, werewolves are just pretty blonde boys with wolf ears. I don’t even think Jin has a tail, and Kana, who is the only female in the major cast of this volume, is just as androgynous as any of the other characters in design. It actually look me a bit by surprise that she was female when I read her little character blip. About the only thing that gives her away as female is the shape and “sparkle” of her eyes, and Isuka’s eyes aren’t that much different than hers.
Back to the story, it seems that the angels want the vampires, currently just Aki, gone. There’s some kind of game that involves collecting 7 Stigmas, which I finally figured out at the end of the novel are tattoos that appear on people who have done “dark” things, to fulfill a wish. The angles are convinced, though, that a vampire getting the stigmas will be the end of the world. However, the kink in their plans of removing Aki from the competitors is Kana, Aki’s Thrall. (A Thrall is someone who has given over their soul, essentially, to a vampire. The vampire can’t feed from anyone but their Thrall, and the Thrall is, essentially, immortal. About the only thing, so far, that can kill them are HOLY Swords… which, of course, the angels carry.)
When Kana steps forward to stop Isuka from killing Aki, Isuka, sort of regretfully, decides to just kill her, too—BUT! To everyone’s surprise, Isuka’s Holy Sword appears to shatter. It’s a startling moment, and brings the battle to an end, though Isuka and Hitaki promise to keep an eye on Aki and Kana: Which amounts to them showing up to eat lunch with them the next day, and forcing them to help with student council business.
The rest of the volume dedicates itself to an arch that has the Supernatural Events Club (Aki, Kana, and Jin) reluctantly hunting down another vampire who has turned serial killer, and participating in a Drama Club play… with a little gender bending. Kana plays the pretty prince, and Aki is thrust into the role of the evil princess at the last moment.
As seems to be the trend with the manga I read, He’s My Only Vampire is pretty. I mean… really pretty. If you like bishounen, which I do, it’s chock full of them, as well as fairly detailed costume designs. The backgrounds, when they are present, are fairly simple, giving the focus of the artwork over to the characters, but there’s some pretty stained glass windows on the full color, glossy insert just inside the cover—if you can notice them past delicious Aki and Swallow, a judge in the Stigma game who appears just about any time Aki gets into a fight.
In Summary
He’s My Only Vampire delivers drool-indusing bishounen, pretty costume designs, and an interesting, if sometimes cliché, plot. It’s an enjoyable read if pretty supernatural some-romances are your thing, and it has a few vaguely steamy panels. I give it two thumbs up and will be continuing the series, as well as picking up the first three installments.
Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A+
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Older Teen
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: September 2015
MSRP: 13.00
