MANGA REVIEW | "Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite" - Volume One
A vampire’s life is a daunting one, especially if you’ve got a bad case of social anxiety. After all, how are you going to hypnotize your future meal if you can’t even have a simple conversation with them? Hina, our focus in Julietta Suzuki’s newest series Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite, can’t even come out of her bedroom to talk to her father. That is, until she discovers an anime called “Vampire Cross”, of which she becomes smitten with the character Mao Ryusuzaki. With this one show, she gets the courage to open her bedroom door…and make a plan to move to Tokyo.
Hina still struggles with making friends, with even online people feeling incredibly distant. In fact, her only friend winds up leaving the fandom she herself found solace in, making Hina’s world a lot smaller again. That’s when she runs into her neighbor Amanatsu, who looks exactly like her anime husbando. But it’s only in the looks department where Amanatsu matches with Mao, as he in no way shares his caring personality. At first, Hina wants nothing to do with her neighbor, until a meetup with a friend gets cancelled and she’s in need of a second banana.
Although they have a rough first meeting, their impromptu hangout helps to rid of some of their early misunderstandings. However, Amanatsu has a problem he’s hiding: there’s a vampire stalking him, and he’s not as nice as Haru. Come to find out, his blood has a sweet scent that makes him irresistible to any vampire! Well…except Haru, who unexpectedly assists with taking care of Amanatsu’s little problem. From there, Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite begins to lay out the ground work for a friendship that maybe, just maybe, could lead to a romance.
Where Suzuki’s new manga finds its strengths is in the characters. It should come as no surprise, seeing as she found a bountiful of success creating lovable characters in Kamisama Kiss. Even when first introduced as something of a jerk, Amanatsu somehow has a kind of likability that makes his meaner side one to overlook. As for Hina, any anime fan can relate to her struggles, on top of some of her cute-yet-annoying habits. A couple more characters also join the circle of friends later on, but talking about them now would spoil some of the fun discoveries this series has.
On top of that, Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite is incredibly funny! From Hina’s awkward calls to her turning a host club upside-down, there’s a surprising amount of solid comedy to be found. Suzuki goes all in to showcase just how dorky Hina is, with her constantly blabbing about “Vampire Cross” in ways that are annoyingly laughable. You can feel the pain on both her father and Amanatsu’s faces when she goes on and on about her husbando!
However, it’s in the sweeter moments where this manga delivers some truly feel-good moments. Whether it’s Hina finding a new friend from within Amanatsu’s clique to Amanatsu himself coming to Hina’s aid, there’s a good chunk of heart and warmth on display throughout this first volume. With it being a shojo series, there’s obviously a push for there to be something to grow in the hearts of Hina and Amanatsu. But for now, it’s having a nice time just building a friendship between these neighbors.
Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite has a lot of life running through its veins. The characters are well-grounded, and it brings a plethora of laughs and feel-good moments that any reader will enjoy. With a certain butler entering the fold at the end, one will wonder how the dynamics will change. For now, Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite has the DNA of what could be a wonderful shojo narrative, one that’s chock filled with chaos and silliness.
FINAL GRADE:
Promotional consideration provided by Chantelle Sturt of VIZ Media.
