Dance In The Vampire Bund, Vol. 1 (2008) - Plot & Excerpts
This manga is a little odd as I can't decide just what to think of the characters. The main character is Akira, a high-school aged werewolf who is of age now to take up service to the queen of all vampires, Mina Tepes. He is discernible as he is fairly idealistic. Everyone else... not so much.The other main character so far, Mina Tepes herself, goes back and forth between cheerful and playful on the one hand, maybe even a little idealistic herself, to cold-bloodedly pragmatic, on the other hand. Her plan to have a safe haven, a small city-state within the confines of Tokyo, for vampires to exist in. Therein, she can keep the class differences and persecutions of different ranks from occurring. This is truly noble, but the somewhat haughty attitude she takes, mixed in with her irreverence, are attributes I think will drive the story somewhat. To put it simply, she has no problem offering an olive branch mixed with somewhat racist? (or speciesist? I don't know) attitudes of how much better vampires are than humans and how lucky they are that she is so nice to mankind. I really get the feeling this will come back to bite her in the ass eventually. What makes this disconcerting to me is how much of a mood whiplash her kindness yet elitism or idealism yet ruthlessness can cause for the reader. At the very least, she is interesting. Even if the real main protagonist is Akira, Mina as the secondary protagonist is far more interesting.The artwork was really cool, but the mangaka was perhaps a tad too free in showing Mina in her typical, shall we say, vampiric freedom on certain matters of taste. She is hundreds of years old, so it was fine from a story point of view, but she assumes the form of a thirteen to fourteen year old girl, so it was a tad squicky.In general, a good first volume that, while not the most interesting thing I've ever read, did pique my interest enough to give the rest of the volumes a chance. I wasn't sure about this manga the first time I read it because I hadn't read a lot of mangas back then and was still adjusting to the different style, as well as the art. Now that I've read it again, though, I really enjoy this book. It's a strange story, and one that leaves you wondering where it is going, but it has a lot of potential based of this first book and it captured my interest. I've read many more in the series since then and I can definitely say that, like many manga series I'm finding, the first one is a teaser and the larger story doesn't really unravel until later books. So if you don't mind a vampire story, and a little darkness (and some nudity), then you'll enjoy this story.
What do You think about Dance In The Vampire Bund, Vol. 1 (2008)?
An interesting beginning to what appears to be a most fascinating vampire storyline....
—Naarah
Una tematica un poco trillada, pero parece mejorar al final. Le dare una oportunidad.
—Samantha
Gross pedo trash; the story is pretty terrible too.
—Nyx
