Chibi Vampire AKA: Karin

Chibi Vampire other wise known as Karin is the story of an un-vampire.

Karin is a strange young girl not only in the human world where she has the occasional nosebleed and is considered sickly at times; but also in the vampire world where she doesn't bite people to suck their blood, instead she bites people and gives blood. She can also walk around in sunlight, doesn't have the heightened senses a normal vampire does, and can't wipe people's memories as needed after biting someone. All in all, she is strange.

Things seem to run smoothly in the Marker household with Karin going to school and the rest of her family staying up all night, until a transfer student enters the class. Karin finds that her blood level increases quickly and nosebleeds happen more often when ever she is around Kenta Usui. In him she's found her bloods affinity, the type of emotion her body yearns to bite. When they bite a person normal vampires suck that emotion out. So if a person is super stressed and a vampire bit that person they would become stress free for a short period of time. This could be considered helpful and kind of a cool take on vampires. It is a 14 volume series so after she finds out how to cope with Usui, her grandma wakes up, and a new girl comes into town looking for the Markers and a specific vampire in their family.

I think it is a very well thought out and well done story. The overarching plot was interesting and cute, engaging and hysterical at times. I love the family dynamic throughout the series and the ending kind of had me angry. I really liked the epilogue episodes. They satisfied me enough to accept the decision that the writers made. The Marker family was full of fun, intersting characters with their own personality that rounded the family.

If you have enjoyed the anime before you read the manga, that's great. But know that the manga and anime are vastly different. The anime derails from the manga after only a few episodes. Sadly Winner St. Clair makes no appearance in the manga. This fact made me very sad. But the manga is really good and I do recommend it. An oldie but a goodie.

Miss. Abbott and The Doctor: Season 1

Amongst NaNoWriMo -ness, I know I won't be able to be busting out the books like I normally have, instead I'll be writing one. So when I'm needing my brain to slow down and not become overloaded by the scenese in my head, I binged a whole "season" of Miss Abbot and the Doctor by Maripaz Villar.

Miss Abbott and the Doctor is a very cute romantic comic that can be found on DiviantArt.com or Webtoons.com. Miss Abbott is an adventurous girl born in Amozonia by explorer parents. She is spotted, after years of growing up, by another adventurer who takes her back to <undisclosed location of "civilization"> where she was taught to be a lady, for the most part. Sporadically she dons her ceremonial clothes from Amozonia and shoots bows and arrows or goes lost in caves while adventuring. She is a very odd girl for her time and place, but that seems to be what draws the good doctor in to her. The romance and adventures bloom.

The first part is a little mixy where it feels like it jumps around, almost like a slice of life story, but as it progresses you can really see the story unfolding. So if it doesn't make sense for the first little bit, it is because their first meetings are more happenstance and coincidence than intentional "dates."

It is very sweet and at moments "squee" worthy. The attention to detail and emotion is well done and really pushes the story along. There were many moments when I burst out laughing and my husband looked at me questioningly which then forced me to explain.

There are a few things that this story gets wrong, that kind of drive me nuts. The word "dates" instead of the idea of courting, older ladies being okay with "bed head" once they both reappear (kisses only), and a few other things kind of rub me the wrong way as being inaccurate or thrown in for effect instead of being true to the characters. Some of these moments were jarring and (as said by the author in the next chapter, in side notes) many readers unsubscribed to the webtoon. It didn't fit with the flow of things and felt very forced. This book also has a lot more progressive ideas that might not have been so readily accepted back in the 1870-90s. People are struggling with them now, let alone 130 years ago where people got tarred and feathered for their views and actions.

*shrugs* At points if feels a bit preachy to me, but I like the characters in it enough to push aside the preach and move on.

Read it if your wanting a light hearted, for the most part, read.

Edit: The next season got a little more skanky than really like, so even though there is a wedding in the mix I'm probably not going to read too much more. Sorry Miss Abbott, I don't do the whole sexy times in books.