Mizushiro Setona - Black Rose Alice, vol. 01-03 (Chi. trans.)

In 1908 Vienna, opera singer Dmitri [I can't figure out how to transliterate his last name レヴァンドフスキ] is a bit in love with his best friend Theo's fiance, the angelically beautiful Agnieska. Unfortunately, he gets run over by a carriage and unknowingly turned into a vampire. One hundred years later, Kikukawa Azusa is a teacher being romanced by her student (why, manga, why?!)...

I am not entirely sure how much plot to give away, since the first volume and a half or so feel like set up. However, what I thought was going to eventually be the plot (Alice living with four vampires in fun domestic bliss) is... not quite the plot. Or at least, it's less of a set piece than I thought, and much more dark, which suits the tone of the set up much more.

Also, leave it to Mizushiro to come up with a very new take on the vampire mythology. In this, vampires are called 吸血樹 (pronounced the same, but with the final kanji changed to the kanji for "tree" instead of "ghost/monster"). So I am not sure if I should call them "vampire trees"? I hope this gets licensed just so I can see how the translator and adaptor figure that out! The vampires' bodies are shells for the tree/plant-like-organism, even though they retain memories and etc. I am not exactly sure how becoming a tree affects the person's psyche; so far, it doesn't seem to much. However, the tree lives off of human blood and dead flesh, so really, it is kind of a vampire/zombie hybrid tree. Also, these vampires don't have fangs—instead, they house a variety of insects, including giant tarantulas, inside of themselves. When they feed, the insects climb out of their mouths to feed for them, then return. Tarantulas are best for providing nutrients and energy, but the vampires can also heal and enspell people with assorted other bugs.

And yes, Mizushiro draws the bugs—especially the tarantulas—in extreme detail, which I found disturbing, to say the least. Reading about spiders crawling from a romance heroine's mouth? Fun! Actually seeing it drawn in great detail? Gross!

That said, no matter how bizarre the worldbuilding sounds, Mizushiro makes it extremely compelling and not at all hilarious (except when I read "vampire tree," I still laugh to myself). Her vampires are driven by the need to reproduce and plant their seed in someone, but just like many insects, they die as soon as the deed is done. Thankfully, this is played out in the manga as extremely disturbing, which is how I managed to make it through several scenes that were very non-consensual. Mizushiro still comes closer to excusing it than me, but I'm glad that the overall tone of the manga is creepy and disturbing. Her vampires are very much not sexy and hot, and no matter how good they look, you're reminded of that pretty much anytime bugs crawl out of their mouths.

( Spoilers! )

In conclusion: well worth reading, very compelling and disturbing, and much like After School Nightmare, I can see how this can go terribly wrong, but I also have no idea if it will. If After School Nightmare serves as an example, I hope Mizushiro will continue to surprise and not do the expected.

Shinjuku, Harajuku, and Omotesando

Yesterday was incredibly confusing because of culture shock from Seoul, strangely enough. I'd anticipated speaking Korean instead of Japanese, but it's really hard to break the habit. I keep saying "ne" and "aniyo" and "kamsahamnida," and I can't quite get back into the habit of thinking in Japanese after not having done so for years (I've read manga in Japanese after undergrad, but not spoken the language). Thank goodness my listening is still all right. Also, Seoul Metro had conducted a "keep to the right" campaign with stickers on all the stairs and escalators and hallways in the subway. I'm already terrible at switching over to the other side (I kept trying to get on the wrong escalator when I was in Hong Kong), and that probably made it so much worse.

That said, today was much more fun, probably because there wasn't anywhere we had to be or anything we had to do! We headed over to Shinjuku to see the Bunka Costume Museum, which is sadly closed during my entire visit here, I think for Obon. I also found out that the Takarazuka performances while I am here are completely sold out, though I'm going to try lining up the day of to see if I have a chance then. Then I dragged my sister to yet another Book Off, where I sadly didn't fill any holes in the gaps I had from yesterday, but I did find Saiyuki Gaiden 4! After that, we were going to head to Harajuku but got somewhat distracted by Takashimaya Times Square (HUGE!). We originally were going to go to Uniqlo, but after I saw the sign for yukata on sale, we headed over there instead. And! Upon entering the eleventh floor, I was met with yards and yards and yards of cloth on sale! It makes me want to sew. But even better, there were shelves and shelves and shelves of YARN!!! I went and ogled all of it, most of which were Japanese brands I've never seen. It was seriously the size of a medium yarn store right up there in the department store! They had hemp and rougher material for crocheting and knitting hats too. They also had trims and beads and all sorts of awesome arts and crafts stuff.

They also sold school uniforms on that floor, probably for very exclusive and expensive private schools? My sister and I wondered why Japanese school uniforms seem to look so much better than ours (a painfully bright shade of pink). And so many yukata and gorgeous kimono! Oh! They also have a Din Tai Feng there, which is much more expensive than the one in Taiwan. I thought the line was only a few people and figured that was good enough and indicated a fair amount of popularity, and then I turned the corner to find people lining down the entire other wall. And! They have green tea donuts at the Krispy Kreme here with green tea cream inside and green tea icing on the top! They are very good; not too sweet and tasting very strongly of green tea. Sadly, we have not yet encountered a Mr. Donut.

( Harajuku and Omotesando )

In conclusion: I'm actually still not in love with Tokyo, but I suspect if I ever lived here for only a month or so instead of just visiting and doing the whirlwind tour, I would fall pretty quickly.