When the truth is unbelievable.
Creative Staff
Story: Narise Konohara
Art: Marimo Ragawa
Translation/Adaptation: Taylor Engel
What They Say
When a vampire from Nebraska named Al gets frozen in bat form, he winds up in Japan under the care of a dark and mysterious man covered in a bloody scent!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Al just can’t catch a break. Not only did the vampire that bit him not finish the job and made him into an incomplete vampire, but he’s also poor and had been living on cow blood in a Nebraska butcher shop. His string of bad luck doesn’t stop there. He gets mixed up in a shipment of meat while in his bat form and ends up in Japan. Now, he’s in a place where he can’t speak the language and is thrown into jail twice.
Kind detective Nukariya brings Al in his bat form to a friend, Akira, who likes bats. Al’s dilemma does not end there. Since Al cannot control his form from human to bat, he struggles to get Akira and Nukariya to believe exactly what he is. In the end, Akira gives him two weeks to stay at his place, but makes him learn Japanese and consider finding a way to look for a job. However, when things get stressful with Akira, Al takes off, but instead, he’s confronted by a murderer.
In Summary:
I didn’t have a lot of expectations for this story. It’s a vampire story. It can only be done so many ways, and a lot of them tend to be terrible. I was not only wrong, but I found out that I pleasantly enjoyed this slow-moving drama of Al and Akira (and let’s not forget Nukariya). It was actually rather interesting to discover Al’s transformation was botched, and he isn’t a typical vampire. Not only is he not the usual vampire fare, but he’s also young and emotional to the point it’s endearing.
There is a color insert at the beginning of the book. Page-wise, it’s a larger manga than usual. The original Japanese version did come out five years ago, so there may be a bit of an older style feel to the art. Marimo Ragawa is the creator of Baby & Me that ran in the 1990s and Shojo Beat published.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Older Teen
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: February 2, 2021
MSRP: $13.00