Ryu’s Musings – Dance in the Vampire Bund 1-14 (Complete)

danceinthevampirebund_vol1_fullISBN-13: 9781933164809
Language: English
Direction: Right to Left
By: Nozomu Tamaki
Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment
Type: Series, Manga
Genre: Supernatural, Seinen, Romance 

Synopsis:

After millennia in hiding, Mina Tepes, the Princess of the ancient covenant and ruler of all vampires, wants change. Using the vast wealth of the Tepes line, she has paid off the entire gross national debt of Japan and in so doing, gained the authority to create a “special district” off the coast of Japan that is to become the future haven to vampires the world over! Now, on the eve of the landmark press conference announcing the existence of vampires to the world, terrorists and rival factions plot to assassinate Mina before she has a chance to make her world-changing announcement!

I have to admit i LOVE this series. Tamaki did an amazing job on this series pulling together a great story with amazing art.

the story starts off looking as one thing, a battle between Mina, the Queen of the Vampires; and the Lords who all vie to have her bare their children. In the mix we have Akira, the werewolf guard of Mina who loves her deeply.

The first part of the series focuses on this relationship. With a good mix of relationship building, intrigue, betrayal and redemption. It’s great to see Akira developing over the course of the volumes. he has to deal with balancing school, love interests and being a werewolf. Then when Mina returns to Japan his life takes a rather interesting turn of events.

The story is really well done, well written and planed. Matched with amazing artwork that’s consistent throughout the series.danceinthevampirebund_vol7_full

What really made the series stand out however was the characters, their personalities were well  developed right from the outset. the strength of each character might have been over powering if any of the others had been weak in any way. However Tamaki brought together a full cast of characters that compliment each other perfectly. Even the support characters  have amazing strength and personality complimenting the leads perfectly. The one thing i loved about the series was the change in directions the story takes is amazing. The way Tamaki introduces the real intrigue, and the way it plays out was brilliant.

While the basic premise of the story isn’t anything new, Tamaki picks it up and runs with it. The way the characters develop with the new threats and revelations really made me feel for the characters. Vera was especially heart wrenching for me, and it brought a lump to my throat.  This is essentially what the entire story comes down to, character development and interactions.

This is especially true in the later half of the series, which while there’s a lot of action, the intrigue takes an interesting turn.

The problem i have however is that the story isn’t quite as good in the second half of the series. this is down to the pacing, it speeds up and becomes a bit off due to it. In the early volumes it has a natural and smooth flow, where as in the later part it’s to fast. I believe this is due to a time constraint, there was, possibly, a volume limit on the series.

The other problem was the ending, it’s a cliff hanger, and what a cliff hanger. There is the problem, the cliff hanger leaves it clear there’s more to the story and i hate it being left like that, especially when the story was this damn good. I just hope that Tamaki gets a chance to finish the series some day.

danceinthevampirebund_vol14_fullSeven seas did an AMAZING job with this series, and after reading Monster Musume it was great to see them back on track. The editing in this series was flawless, the translation really well done, and i almost cried when i saw they left Hime-sama as Hime-sama. I like the cover designs, but i do wish they had left the colour pages intact, but hey we can’t have everything.

The question is, should you get the series? And i have to say absolutely. Despite the misgivings i have about the way the story ends; it ends the series while wrapping up all the lose ends. It just ends opening up a new chapter in the story. There’s two options available to you, individual volumes; get these if you can’t wait. They’re still readily available on sites like Amazon or Book Depository. Or you can get the omnibus editions of the series which is just starting out.

Author: Ryu Sheng