Blood Hound by Kaori Yuki

Synopsis: Rion has always been intrigued by vampires. And recently some girls have been missing and then found dead with all their blood drained. One day Rion’s best friend is no where to be found, a few days later Rion receives a business card signed by Shiho, Rion’s best friend. Armed with all her might she decides to face the leeches who kidnapped her friend, only to find out that they are probably the most charming, handsome, interesting cast of characters she will ever know and most importantly that they don’t know where Shiho is.

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Another Kaori Yuki manga and again a short one. Yet unlike Cruel Fairytales this manga has a few more problems. While the story is not as original as it sounds, the way it develops and ends has Kaori Yuki signed all over, with an amazing twist ending it will surely be enjoyed by many fellow readers.

But unlike many other mangas by Kaori Yuki this one lacks a few things, specially the characters. While Rion is given one hell of a development and background, the rest of the characters lack development or background raging from none to not enough. And as for the villain the reason why her behavior is like that is unexplained, making her an accessory, an excuse, to the story rather than a key piece and this is a problem some of the other characters have in common, the lack of importance. It wouldn’t have matter much if a few characters where simply not there. But the main characters background and development don’t allow this flaw to ruin the experience.

As for the artwork it’s, as always, excellent. Large amounts of effort and time were spent in character design and detail, no aspect is forgotten and as always fits the mood to perfection, doesn’t matter if it’s a dark or a bright atmosphere, it will fit, this is one of the things I like more about Kaori Yuki’s manga, the way she finds to portray the perfect atmosphere.

Even when this manga is fun and fast to read it has its faults and catastrophic ones, surely not one of Kaori Yuki’s best works. The lack of character background and development really sunk this manga into magma.