Manga Review: Honey Blood, Volume 2 + Tale 0, by Miko Mitsuki

Rating (Out of 5): ~3; ~3.5

Publisher: Shojo Beat (VIZ Media)

Release Date: December 2, 2014; February 3, 2015

Volumes: 2 + 1

Spoilers?: No.

Volume 2: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Tale 0: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume: 1.

Goodreads Synopsis:

2:

When a girl at her school is attacked by what seems to be a vampire, high school student Hinata Sorazono refuses to believe that vampires even exist. But then she meets her new neighbor, Junya Tokinaga, the author of an incredibly popular vampire romance novel. Could it be that Junya's actually a vampire--and worse yet, the culprit?! 

 

Tale 0:

When a girl at her school is attacked by what seems to be a vampire, high school student Hinata Sorazono refuses to believe that vampires even exist. But then she meets her new neighbor, Junya Tokinaga, the author of an incredibly popular vampire romance novel! Could it be that Junya's actually a vampire--and worse yet, the culprit?!

Honey Blood Tale 0 is where Hinata and Junya's love story originally began. In addition to the one-shot chapters that made Honey Blood's serialization possible, this volume contains two bonus short stories from the author!

Review:

Volume 2:

I don’t really know how to feel about this book.

The plot and characters are interesting and mostly enjoyable, but the way it ends… It kind of ruined it for me.

We’re introduced to a new character, we see the possibility of a new plot line, possibly a couple of them… But then it just ends. The author mentions that she had more planned for the series, so it got cancelled, which is understandable why it ends that way. But still. It kind of ruined it for me. I mean, I guess since it was cancelled, the ending isn’t so bad. It concludes in an all right way. I’m just unsatisfied with the plots left hanging.

&

Tale 0:

 

After the last volume, which ended with still lots of questions, I wasn’t sure what to expect with this. I knew that it was the first draft of what became the two volume series, but still.

I was surprised with how much had actually changed. The first three chapters are the prequel story, and in them, Hinata is a completely different character. Instead of being pessimistic about love and off-put regarding the novels, she’s a hopeless romantic, who immediately falls for Junya. It could have been a very different story this way, and I’m not sure which route I liked better.

I will say, though, that this story is much more rushed, with a lot less development to story and character. Junya is still pretty similar, and I’m still not really in love with him. The last chapter, where Junya kind of outs himself in public, kind of bothered me.

But it was actually the last two one-shots that I enjoyed. The first one, starring a fashion-friendly guy who falls for the tomboy, was just adorable. It was charming and well-done, and so cute. The second one, about two childhood friends who keep hiding their love to each other, was also very cute, but it had a very unhappy ending that almost ruined it for me. I don’t think the ending needed to happen, honestly.

Above all, this wasn’t too bad of a one-shot volume. It doesn’t have to be read with the original series, and I actually enjoyed it for the most part.