Animania

I've never seen the anime series Karin, but a while back I stumbled on its manga series at my local library. For its English release, Tokyopop renamed the manga to Chibi Vampire to avoid having the series confused with another of their titles, Kamichama Karin. I picked up the first four volumes from my library on a whim and because I was bored and wanted new manga to read. I figured it would be something silly, full of dub gags and fan service, and nothing I'd like that much. I'm glad to say, I was mostly wrong, and have since picked up the all seven volumes of the manga that are currently available. While this review is mostly for volume 1, I do touch on some of the over all story lines that are explored more in volume 2. In Japan, fourteen volumes have been released as of this month. There is also a nine volume light novel series, which I'll be reviewing soon, and an anime adaptation that was being released by Geneon as Karin, but that is now in hiatus due to the company's shut down.

Chibi Vampire puts a new twist on the vampire in a human world story usually seen in manga series. Its not a dark series, though there are some serious overtones, and primary Karin Maaka is not your typical vampire. Instead of sucking blood, she has to regularly give blood to others or she becomes too full of blood and has a nose-bleed of epic proportions. Her family, all normal vampires, consider her defective and regularly let her know, yet despite how it sounds its pretty obvious her family loves her greatly and are very concerned about her condition and its toll on her body (well, maybe except her brother Ren :P). Karin finds her life becoming even more hectic and strained when a new classmate joins her class, the scowlingly handsome Kenta, who discovers her secret because he is Karin's preferred blood type and sends her excess blood production into overdrive. To stop the affect, Karin figures out that she must somehow make the unhappy Kenta happy, but first she has to figure out why he is unhappy all the time.

Chibi Vampire is a great series so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes. Yuna Kagesaki, the writer of the series, has done a wonderful job in creating a varied cast of characters with multiple facets to their personalities. The artwork is well done, and despite the rename, Tokyopop seems to have done a faithful and well done translation within. While the series certainly offers plenty of laughs, and a mild bit of fan service, there are some nice underlying undertones in the growing feelings between Karin and Kenta, the drama of Kenta's home life, and the potential ramifications and the seemingly hidden seriousness of Karin's condition. My only complaint about the series? That I have to wait four months between volumes!

Rating: A+