Cherry is on an airplane watching a vampire movie. In the row across from him sits a girl who is exhibiting some strange behavior and gets up from her seat and heads for the restroom.
A bit later, everyone on the plane has fallen asleep including Charley and in comes one of my favorite characters, Rayflo who silently sits next to Charley. He starts messing around with Charley because he thinks Charley is asleep. He starts to fondle Charley a bit but to his surprise and disappointment Charley is awake and quickly stops Rayflo from sexually harassing him (his words not mines).
Meanwhile the girl is still in one of the restrooms and she’s messing around with bullets and drooling from the month. In a nearby restroom Charley and Rayflo are taking part in a little mile high action. Charley is sinking is teeth deep into Rayflo’s neck. Rayflo takes the opportunity to question Charley as to why they are taking this trip without Sacre (it’s obviously not a mission to hunt down vampires). Charley doesn’t reveal much to Johnny only that they are going to visit Cheryl. Rayflo has surmised that Charley is visiting Cheryl to question her about her ancestor Arnold Paole. VOLUME 1 NOTES: In the last volume, chapter 2 Cheryl had mentioned that she had inherited the blood and curse of Arnold Paole END NOTES. Rayflo then goes for Charley’s zipper and Charley starts to freak out. (more…)
#15 The One I Love Is . . .
Everyone is back from summer break. The bond between Tomari and Hazumu has gotten stronger since that night at the training camp.
Hazumu meets Tomari at her house to walk to school. Outside Tomari’s home they plan to go to the aquarium amusement park after school. They both start to reach for each others hand but are interrupted by the others (Asuta, Ayuki, and Yasuna) arrival. They look totally embarrassed and everyone knows something is going on between the two of them (but they are not sure what). NOTE: It should be noted that Yasuna is feeling sick but refuses to go one day without seeing Hazumu.
They all arrive at school. Asuta reminds Hazumu about staying after school to take temperature readings for science class. Hazumu freaks out. She totally forgot about it. During class Hazumu is obviously feeling bummed out about staying after school. Yasuna comes up to Hazumu asking if she had other plans after school and Hazumu reveals to her the plan for the aquarium. Hazumu was totally out of it when she was talking that she hadn’t realized that she was revealing this information to Yasuna. When she finally notices that she had been talking to Yasuna she freaks out again. But Yasuna tells Hazumu to go ahead and go to the aquarium. She will handle her after school duties. Besides, it’s only fair that Tomari gets to spend a day with her alone (she got to after all). Hazumu accepts Yasuna’s offer. (more…)
Chapter 3 Fleeting Dark Abba is a memory sequence chapter: It begins with a young boy telling his feelings about darkness to a nun. He explains how he has never been afraid of the dark because explosions and bloody people can not see “you” in the dark. So, when he meets this strange man, he isn’t afraid of him because this man is obviously a person of darkness (the man looks like Johnny Rayflo).
He continues by telling the nun how nice this gentleman was to him but in actuality the first words that came out of this stranger’s mouth were “Get Lost” The man goes on to describe how the abandoned church is his feeding ground and if the little boy doesn’t get lost he’s going to eat him up. Unfortunately for the man, the little boy’s stomach starts to growl (it apparently liked the way the man was describing how he was going to “eat” him up). So, the man gives the little boy a piece of old bread to eat and their relationship begins.
Rayflo (that’s what I’ll call him because his true name is never revealed in this chapter) tries several times to get the boy to leave but the boy won’t leave his side. So, they stay together and Rayflo does his best to provide him with “human” food but there’s a war going on so there isn’t much food or people around. (more…)
The Confined Elagabalus begins with Johnny Rayflo getting out of his pool (naked) while talking on his phone discussing business. In the background there is something emerging from the pool. It’s Charley (aka Cherry). He takes his sword and plunges it into Rayflo’s back. Johnny scatters into several bats leaving Charley to battle the fighting maids.
The maids and Charley battle for quiet a while. Charley finally disposes of the maids and goes looking for Rayflo. He finds Johnny and readies himself to stab him again but the maids return and bombard Charley with a series of daggers causing Charley to collapse to the floor. As Johnny bends to face Charley, Charley pushes forth a metal stake and stabs Rayflo who is now underneath Charley. (more…)
#8 Bride and Groom
After Tomari walks in on the kiss between Hazumu and Yasuna she tries her best to avoid them. She remembers a promised that Hazumu made to her as a child about being her groom but now with the kiss and Hazumu obviously not remembering she’s trying her best not to interfere.
During Hazumu’s bath time she tries to figure out what’s going on with Tomari. Why is Tomari avoiding her and not talking to her like she use to. And then an ideal occurs to Hazumu. She immediately jumps out of the tub and heads over to Tomari. Once there Hazumu explains that she now understands why Tomari has been behaving so strangely towards her. Hazumu tries to tell Tomari that she really likes her but Tomari instantaneously smacks Hazumu across the face. Tomari doesn’t want to hear such things, after all isn’t Hazumu in love with Yasuna?
Hazumu isn’t able to say she loves Yasuna because at this point she likes both girls equally. And with that information, Tomari tells Hazumu that if that is true then she’ll have to do the same thing to both of them. Hazumu starts to panic thinking she’ll have to kiss Tomari (more…)
I had another night of staying up late and reading manga. This time my late night reading pleasure was Vassalord.
It’s about a cyborg vampire, who works for the Catholic Church and his relationship with his master vampire Johnny Rayflo. I had originally read a snippet of the manga in an issue on Anime Insider and I was intrigued with what I read. However, I find now that the snippet I previewed and the summary on the back of the cover does not do the manga justice. I had originally thought it was this dark, bloody story about a vampire cyborg who is trying to destroy this other vampire who he is actually in love with.
It’s actually quite funny to begin with, they are vampires but the cyborg Charley isn’t trying to kill Johnny. They have a relationship and it’s the relationship between the two of them that I find really interesting and want to learn more about. Together the two of them, so far, solve these vampire related incidents. Their personal relationship is much more intriguing then the cases they solve together. It’s the kind of relationship where they suck blood and possible a few other things (I’m just assuming).
The issue I have with the manga is the drawing, particularly when it comes to the fighting/action scenes. They tend to be just a series of strokes and lines making it very difficult to see what is occurring in the panel (kind of messy and blurry). When there are no action scenes then I am able to get into the story but the minute a fight scene occurs I am completely confused as to who did what or how they did it. I have to read the next panel to piece it all together.
Overall, I really like Vassalord. I have to say I tend to have a bias opinion for manga with pretty, handsome guys but not always (for example Cain. I wasn’t feeling that one). I am looking forward to reading the next volume scheduled for release on November 11, 2008.
I am fascinated by vampires and relationships so the two come together nicely. Check out my Vassalord Volume 1 book summary coming up soon.
Book details:
Tokyopop
Age: 16+
Creator: Nanae Chrono
#1 The Day He Changed
Kashimashi (girl meets girl) begins with an introduction of the 17 year old male character Hazumu Osaragi. He has feelings for Yasuna Kamuzumi but when he goes to confess his love for her she turns him down.
In an effort to move on and forget about her Hazumu journeys into the Kashima Mountains while there he is struck by a spaceship. The alien, feeling just horrible about the incident, works on restoring Hazumu’s life and body. Unfortunately, during the process something irreversible happens.
The alien heads into town to reveal his identity to the townspeople (It’s part of the Interplanetary Life Preservation code). During his explanation he explains what has occurred on Kashima Mountains and how he was able to restore life into the earthling but he got the gender all wrong and now “he” is a “she” The alien then returns Hazumu to his parents and friends as a cute and busty girl.
Everyone is shocked by this startling information, even Yasuna (who apparently like girls and that was the reason why she turned Hazumu down). (more…)
Here is a rundown of the characters of the manga Kashimashi - Girl Meets Girl. The Kashimashi Volume 1 summary will be up soon. Until then, why not familiarize yourself with the cast of characters. Enjoy!
Hazumu Osaragi – once was a boy and is now a girl
Tomari Kurusu – childhood friend of Hazumu’s. She has feelings for Hazumu
Yasuna Kamiizumi – Hazumu’s crush and part of the love triangle. She can not see guys clearly
Asuta Soro – male friend of Hazumu. He finds himself being a little attracted Hazumu now that he is a she
Tsuki Namiko – students homeroom teacher. Has been single for 35 years
Toru and Kahoru Osaragi (dad/mom) – Hazumu’s parents. They are too thrilled to finally have a daughter to call their own
Sora Hitoshi – male alien who gets a job at Hazumu’s school to study Hazumu a bit closer
Jan-puu – the spaceship that crashes into Hazumu but takes on a human physical appearance similar to Hazumu
I was hanging out with Samantha checking out her manga collection (she has 2 walls, covered from top to bottom with bookshelves). I think she’s totally obsessed with manga but who can blame her!
Anyway, I was looking at her bookshelf and came across one entitled Cain. It sounded interesting so I grabbed it from the shelf. She told me it was a Yaoi. I told here “I know what a Yaoi is. It’s like a Shonen-Ai, right?”
“Well, not really.” she replies. Well, I was confused. I’ve look into both shonen-ai and yaoi and according to the net they seemed very similar.
But Samantha quickly helped me determined which manga books were shonen-ai and which manga were yaoi (and they are different).
Check out Sex, Violence and Pretty Men: All About Yaoi and learn what makes a Yaoi a Yaoi.
Also, read my summary of Cain (my first yaoi). There’s probably better yaoi to start with but I gotta start somewhere, right?
