>>Girl, disguised as a boy, arrives at beach.
>>Girl gets told to strip right there on the beach as clothes fly.
>>Girl is suddenly in a men’s one-piece swimsuit and somehow is not revealed to be a girl.
I’m not sure whether Mito should immediately be hired to be in one of those magician’s quick-change acts or if all the guys need to get “the talk” again since they didn’t learn anything.
So Mito’s feminine charm has beguiled both Ruka and Ren, and the two find themselves admitting to themselves they like Mito as more than a friend. But this realization doesn’t suddenly mean life is suddenly cheerful and good. For Ren, he knows he has an uphill battle since Mito is constantly thinking about Ruka even though they were fighting. In Ruka’s case, other vampires are not happy their next leader is prioritizing a random boy over finding his destined female partner.
Between the fight, summer activities, and the girl Mito met at the group meet-up last volume, Ruka and Ren each get romantic moments with the heroine. The manga shows these off with some beautiful artwork — plenty of blushes, passionate gazes, and sweet touches. Most readers will find the highlight to be when Ruka sucks Mito’s blood. Vampire Dormitory, like many other vampire media, makes bloodsucking risqué, and it’s hard to deny the allure with scenes like this trying to give readers nosebleeds:
Of course, the sexual tension has had elements of BL manga. But in shoujo gender benders, the male lead is often “rewarded” with their dedication to their beloved by finding out their crush is female after all. Vampire Dormitory is greatly leaning on this idea, with Ruka saying he cares about Mito most of all, but we all know Mito is his destined woman. I guess as a way of balancing this, we get confirmation that one of the male characters is interested in someone of the same gender. I don’t know if the LGBTQ+ community will feel like this is pandering, or maybe it’s a way for the author just to get in on the lucrative yaoi market despite this being a shoujo manga. The author could be branching out a bit like Arina Tanemura did in The Gentlemen’s Alliance +. We’ll just have to see.
Otherwise, while the gender bender part is a hot mess, the rest of the manga seems to be developing nicely. We see some new (but unnamed) vampires. Like Komori, they seem to have an alternate form (bat, snake, rat), so I wonder if we’ll see Ruka turn into an animal sometime as well. I’d love to see that. And speaking of Ruka, his powers have been underused outside of healing Mito, and Toyama finally shows a bit of why he was chosen to be the next vampire lord. Although I’m still not sure what that means, but perhaps we’ll see more of that in volume 4 since Ruka is heading home. I hope we get to see more of vampire society.
Ruka’s departure means Mito has been left behind with the only other one who doesn’t have a place to return to: Ren. And it seems like maybe my biggest complaint about the manga will be addressed…? That would be awesome since it would allow Vampire Dormitory‘s stronger aspects (the art, Ruka and the vampires) more room to shine.