Sweet Blood Vol: 1 by Seyoung Kim
Art/Story: Seyoung Kim
Genre: Boy's Love
Rating: 13+
Imprint: NETCOMICS
Updated: 12/09/15 Next: 12/16/15
Synopsis: While his parents are away having fun, Soohoo Lee has to face the stark reality he has nothing at all while he's existing in his run-down apartment. He dreams of making the big time, but knows that even if he tries to sell off his coin collection, he might not get much for it. And to cap it all off, while his friends are out having fun, he can't join them as he has to make future plans so that he can keep warm in winter. His friend, Kyungmin sounds like he has heard most of his get rich quick schemes, but none of them will make him any cash, only despair. Not that Kyungmin will help him out - he's too busy with other things!
Review: From the author of the Boy Princess Boy's Love series, Kim is back with a ravishing vampire story with an alternative, modern twist. Soohoo misses his parents, mainly his dad's cooking, but hates most of all that he was abandoned by them. His friend won't help him out with his many money woes, but after one night of thinking about his situation and wishing for better things, someone hears him and comes round to see him - a huge man with bat wings. The next day, he thinks everything's fine, goes to school as normal and his friend notices how pale and tired he looks.
Seyoung is known for her great sense of humour in her manga, and I wasn't surprised that she would show any less humour in this one. There is a reason Soohoo looks so pale and tired, he's being visited by a vampire who drains him nightly. The funny thing is, one night he does visit, he thinks he is a girl and that he should take her back to his world. Being unable to afford the basics of food will do this to any guy, but being mistaken for a girl is one thing that could get on his nerves - when the vampire finds out, it could be the funniest thing ever! As far as Soohoo is aware, the vampire is nothing more than an hallucination, but why does he seem so real, and demanding, asking him to go with him to another place he might not be safe in.
Sweet Blood Vol: 1 is what I would expect from Seyoung Kim. She has drawn in her usual style of large, handsome eyes in a small face, and elongated limbs that have made her style famous in Boy Princess. Her vampire is delicious in a sensual and malevolent sense, but he also shows concern for the one he has come to love. The question remains, will Soohoo want to leave the world he has come to know for one he has no idea about?
Soohoo strikes a pathetic figure, he has nothing, not even a TV remote, a proper stand for it and no furniture worth a damn - he needs others to understand his problems, but his friend sees it as his own problem, even if he does like being around him, he takes great pleasure in putting him down, and life so far doesn't look like it will get any better for him. At least until the vampire comes for him - then his life might turn around, but he will have to take that chance to leave the world he knows and is disappointed with.
Summary:Swap the medieval lust in Boy Princess for the blood draining vampire romance in Sweet Blood...I didn't regret it.
