Vampires live openly in The Honey-Blood Beauty & Her Vampire, so much so that even much of what’s sold at the supermarket is catered toward them. But what they prefer, of course, is blood, and their human food sources are called pabulums. Pabulums with the highest level of blood are called honey bloods. Because vampires tend to go crazy just from the smell of honey bloods, only trained vampires (SPs) can suck the blood of a honey blood.
Heroine Kagari is one of those honey bloods, and the obsessive Ryotaro is her SP. Ryotaro tends to act like Kagari’s servant (he even addresses her as “Princess”), and the fact that she has that noble lady pride and can barely navigate the regular world without his assistance cements their “perfect butler and clumsy ojou-sama”-like relationship.
But while Kagari tends to be haughty while Ryotaro’s doting, in truth, their personalities are more like the opposite. Kagari is a bit naïve but wants to be closer to the person she likes (Ryotaro), while Ryotaro plays the loyal knight while teasing her and also wants to indulge himself more in her and her blood. However, Ryotaro keeps a certain amount of distance between himself and his mistress.
Is it because he’s a hired bodyguard? Or that she (and others) are forced to live in a special protection facility? Or that Kagari’s blood — combined with her tsundere personality — drives him crazier than he’d like to admit?
Probably all of the above. But definitely this:
Kagari likely has some sort of memory loss, as while she narrates a lot in The Honey-Blood Beauty & Her Vampire, there’s no indication she’s worried about their time together ending. Well, ending violently anyway — the thought of Ryotaro being with someone else does bother her more than she’d like to admit! The author writes at the end of the book that volume 2 will be darker than this one, so there’s much to learn about what happened in the past.
For now, Kagari mostly spends her days trying to prove to Ryotaro she’s not incompetent when she’s by herself, handle his everyday harassment, and get his attention. Oh, and maybe gain some new friends, like the current student council vice-president, Saionji.
The Honey-Blood Beauty & Her Vampire, as I’ve explained, includes a lot of tropes you’re going to be familiar with. Scenes like Kagari trying to catch the train or Ryotaro manipulating her into admitting she does want some sweets make up most of the comedy. But the story includes enough of its own absurdities to create a highly entertaining manga. Case in point: Saionji, who somehow takes his shoujo prince starpower and turn it into weatherpower!
However, being a vampire tale, what a lot of people are going to want to know is how sexy and/or violent this manga is. At this point, it’s still in the teen-to-upper-teen range, with panting faces, sexual assault, and Ryotaro protecting Kagari. Ryotaro can use his blood to summon a blade, which I found to be pretty neat. We haven’t seen any other vampire special abilities, so I’m looking forward to seeing him face a real challenge sometime.
The art is fine, although not the greatest or sexiest work. I also have a hard time remembering Ryotaro is also a teenager, although that’s partly because most noble girl x servant stories feature the servant being an adult. The translation could also use some fine-tuning, like not defining what SP is short for or some stilted speech (“You’ve become out of the social circles at school because of me?!”), but nothing too significant.
There’s no shortage of vampire romance manga available out there, but The Honey-Blood Beauty & Her Vampire‘s debut impressed me more than I thought. As long as you aren’t looking for some pure-hearted innocent love story or a super dark/violent take on the genre, this is one you should seriously consider checking out.