Black Bird

Black Bird is a manga series that follows the life of schoolgirl Misao, who can see supernatural beings such as demons and such. After she turns sixteen, she is frightened to learn that now these beings are hunting her and seek to kill her.  A childhood friend Kyo, comes to rescue time and time again.  Surprisingly, Kyo is also a demon and Misao learns she is known and the Bride of Prophecy, a rare and coveted being.  Kyo is the one who needs to protect her from the blood-thirsty demons who wish to feast on her blood and become more powerful. 

This is a relatively shorter series, about 12 volumes I believe, but it reads rather quickly as I have found with most manga series.  The artwork in this is beautiful and I found myself wanting to cos-play as Misao.  The story follows the artwork in the beauty and fine crafted story-telling skills.  It held my attention throughout all the volumes and makes me want to watch the anime series/drama if there is one, I haven't looked.  I found the story and plot to be very interesting and wanted more when the series came to an end.  It was unique in that it wasn't vampires needed her blood or needing her blood to sustain themselves, but rather to gain power over one another.  Also in that it was only her blood that could do this rather than any person that they would come across.

If you enjoy manga series, or are looking for something a little different than novels, I would suggest checking out not only this series but other manga series.  This one particularly is great for those who enjoy the supernatural and demon type of stories.  I give this series as a whole a rating of 3 stars.



Record of the Fallen Vampire

This was an interesting manga series to say the least.  I had picked it up because the art work looked interesting and the idea of a vampire king looking for his queen seemed interesting to me.  What I got was something a little different.  What I got included half-vampires, an alien invasion and a vampire queen bent on revenge.  There seems to be a lot of stuff going on in this manga series.  A lot of weird things mixed together.  There were things that didn't make sense with the storyline, I don't think they needed the alien invasion part, but the author made it work with the storyline. 

I have always loved the art of different manga series' and this one is no different.  I love the art work of Fallen Vampire and fell in love with it from the first volume I read.  With 9 volumes, it doesn't seem like there is enough time for the author to appropriately tell the story.  There were times when things seemed to happen too quickly and other times when it seemed like nothing was happening.  Although the storyline felt flawed, I still fell in love with the story!  I was surprised at how much I simply loved this series I mean vampires fighting aliens, how bizarre is that?  But it still draws you in, maybe it is the artwork that sucks readers into the story like a succubus.

Overall it was an interesting idea, how well it would have been executed in a traditional novel, I am not sure.  I don't think it would have been as entertaining to read.  I would give this series a 3 out of 5 rating because it was captivating at times and you couldn't help loving the vampire king.