sholio | Vampire recs?

Vampire recs?

Someone asked me via PM if I can recommend any manga featuring vampires. Since vampire fiction really isn't a genre I seek out, I can't really help; I said I'd ask on my blog.

They're looking for vampire manga, or "dark fantasy/science fiction" books, suitable for an older teenager.

Any recs would be appreciated!

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Rebirth by Kang-Woo Lee (Tokyo Pop). Manga. Up to #21. Main character is a vampire. I like it because I'm into the long, dark haired gloomy types, with a fantasy setting. Suitable for older teen.

(more info)
http://www.justmanga.com/browse.cfm?anime=Rebirth

Vampire Knight isn't bad, if they like the tragic and beautiful type. Vampire Hunter D is pretty classic. Hmmm. . . Berserk isn't a vampire manga, but it's certainly a dark fantasy (emphasis on Dark.) The story is cool, but the gore is a little on the heavy side.

The ones I know of are: Hellsing, Trinity Blood, Vampire Knight, Rosario + Vampire, Blood+, and Blood: The Last Vampire (film, but I think there's also a manga).

Note that I haven't actually *read* any of these, so I can't speak to the quality. I hear Hellsing and Blood: the Last Vampire are pretty good, though.

My sixteen-year-old daughter likes Hellsing. Can't say I like the Hellsing T-shirt she wears, but I do trust her taste and judgment. So, it shouldn't be too terribly psyche-scarring or perverse, and it's probably well-written and drawn.

Hellsing (the manga, the anime is a lot toned down) is kind of the definition of "guilty pleasure" - it's all blood and gore and outrageous fanservice, alleviated by its tongue-and-cheek camp attitude. It's not exactly scarring but it's got a lot that could be considered "objectionable" by many standards.

The manga is a seinen - intended for adult men, so it can get pretty, hmm, raunchy. And whacked. The anime is quite gory but nicely animated and otherwise not that bad (if not that interesting, either); the manga is insane...like, "resurrected Nazi vampires and werewolves invading London in zeppelins" insane. Not to mention the Jesuits vs the Church of England...

...don't get me wrong, I kinda love the Hellsing manga, but it's something I tend not to rec unless I personally know the person I'm reccing it to ^^;

Hmm...thanks for the lowdown, X-parrot. Methinks I shall speak to my daughter of this. I still trust that her enjoyment of the manga is relatively innocent, but I can see that there might be issues involved that we should discuss....

Oops! Hope I didn't get her in trouble - it's really not as bad as I might have made it sound, it's very camp, and the worst stuff is the splatterfest gore, which isn't that bad when it's drawn b&w. It's fanservice-y but it's not hentai, there's no graphic sex or anything. R-rated, not X. And the religious themes are, hmm, well, it's a Japanese manga, and they tend to handle Western religion much as some Western entertainment handles Eastern religion, as, "cool trappings of mythology & tradition", not so much real beliefs.

If your daughter is into a lot of anime/managa already, I doubt she's seen anything in Hellsing that she hasn't seen before.

Er...so, I can quit with the new mantra? ("You are a bad parent, Trish. You are a bad parent.") =\ Thanks, though, for the further clarification. She does gleefully love splattergore and campiness, which I'm okay with, given her personality (which is very well-balanced). Very glad to hear she's not getting anything too horrible along with it, but I would expect her not to enjoy anything truly awful. I've read and enjoyed the mangas she actually owns, so if it's fairly close to that range, it's alright.

Ach, and don't worry about getting her in trouble--I really did mean that I'd talk with her about it, not rant and rave and punish. She's a good kid who's developing some real depth of character. And actually, I love a good excuse to talk with her about religion and morality, or anything else, for that matter--she's actually one of my favorite people to converse with. ♥

Well, Descendants of Darkness has vampires ... and the main characters are Japanese death gods ... But there's slash, so, not sure of its quality as a rec for a teenage boy. Sorry.

Blood Hound by Kaori Yuki. It's not that dark.. at all actually, but it's fun to read and Yuki's style is just beautiful!
There are some vampire books too.. I mean all the classics! Dracula by Bram Stoker or all these books by Anne Rice. I don't know if this is helpful or not. I can't say I ever read *dark* scifi or fantasy..

Master Mosquiton is pretty funny, but it's one of those orphan Manga that were never finished... I think there's three volumes, and there's also an anime

They might like Rosario + Vampire if there into the funnier side of Vampire life. This is geared mostly towards boys even if there are a lot of girl characters.

One of my favorites dark fantasy series is the Godchild series, which is meant for an older audience and involves all sorts of dark characters, though it has blood bathing zombies, not vampires. It is also geared more towards girls.

They might also like Jack Frost though I think its only available in the Yen+ manga magazine and it's about demons not vampires.

My 14 year old has for years been a fan of the manga "Vampire Game" which is probably on the lighter side and is rated T(een); an even lighter manga is "Chibi Vampire".
"Chrono Crusade" is darker, and also read much by the teens (I'm quite suprised that the school library is buying this series - I don't think the librarians have actually read it).
There's always the Twilight books (not really recommended by my girl, other than the first one).

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Vampire recs?

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Vampires, Demons and Zombies, Oh my!

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