Publishing Information: VIZ Media, paperback, 208 pages, $9.99 (US), $12.99 CAN
Ordering Numbers: ISBN: 978-1-4215-2901-1 (ISBN-13)
The Record of the Fallen Vampire is a manga series from Kyo Shirodaira (the writer of the manga, Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning) and artist Yuki Kimura. The series focuses on a powerful vampire king named Akabara “Red Rose” Strauss.
One thousand years ago, Strauss lost both his sovereignty, The Kingdom of the Night, and his wife, Queen Adelheid. Akabara’s enemies, dhampires (humans with vampire blood), entombed Adelheid behind an enchanted seal in a secret location. They erected thousands of false seals to keep Akabara from finding Adelheid’s true location. Akabara’s quest has always been haunted by various incarnations of the Black Swan, his appointed assassin. Inhabiting the body of a young girl, a new, the 50th Black Swan has come to kill Akabara.
By the end of The Record of a Fallen Vampire, Vol. 8, most of the series mysteries have unfolded. The biggest is the revelation of the origins of the Black Swan line and its intimate connection to Akabara. Meanwhile, the dhampires and their human allies struggle with the invading alien force, the Fio.
After reading The Record of a Fallen Vampire, it is easy to believe that Kyo Shirodaira is a novelist. This series doesn’t quite have a cast of thousands, but it seems to be getting there. So many characters mean a sticky web of conflicts and competing motivations. It might seem impossible for a new reader to understand this, but Shirodaira somehow, magically delivers a crisp story.
I have not read this series since Vol. 3, but by the second chapter, practically everything made sense. All the shocking revelations, alone, make this a very nice read, especially for those that are familiar with this series. Because it mixes both shojo and shonen manga, with elements of science fiction, vampire fantasy, horror, and political intrigue, The Record of a Fallen Vampire has something for many tastes.
B
Consume The Record of a Fallen Vampire, Vol. 8
