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catra121's review
3.0
This is a tough one for me to rate. I really like the artwork and the stories about this family are all fine...but I just didnt find it very compelling. I didnt finish it in one day and I really had to force myself to pick it up again. Not because it's bad...I just had lots of other things I wanted to read instead. But I got through it and I'm glad I finished it.
juliannehr's review
5.0
Hagio Moto is one of the pioneering shōjo artists for a reason! Its a huge story, and if you can keep track of the rotating cast of characters, it’s so much fun. Her vampirnellas are a fun take on the typical vampire, and all the characters have so much depth. Her art is beautiful, and her layering is restrained enough that the story is still possible to follow.
bemused_writer's review
5.0
Absolutely loved this and can see why it's a classic of the shoujo genre. I can't say whether or not it also helped establish vampire tropes in manga, but it is definitely living up to some of the tropes I expect to see and it does so very well. Two siblings doomed to eternal life as young teens? A solid melancholic air and tragedy around every corner? Ambiguous relationships? It's all here and it's great. I'm really looking forward to when the second volume is released in America (and isn't that a strange thing to say when this series has been out in Japan since the '70s...).
There were a few moments where I was a touch confused, however, and sometimes the characters look a little too similar to one another on account of all the blonds running about, but I felt this was a very minor critique all things considered. I think the art is beautiful and the plot is definitely a highlight.
This is now the second volume of Moto Hagio's work that I've read and I definitely intend to keep it up because she absolutely knows what she's doing.
There were a few moments where I was a touch confused, however, and sometimes the characters look a little too similar to one another on account of all the blonds running about, but I felt this was a very minor critique all things considered. I think the art is beautiful and the plot is definitely a highlight.
This is now the second volume of Moto Hagio's work that I've read and I definitely intend to keep it up because she absolutely knows what she's doing.
marcon's review
5.0
The Poe family saga has developed over the centuries, placing the always fascinating figure of the vampire in a romantic perspective full of human drama.
The Poe clan doesn't age. However, the world around them continues to change, to progress and to offer continuous opportunities for meetings and exchanging relationships with human beings.
Hagio's narrative is engaging and dynamic and she alternates relaxed and peaceful moments with others that are more disturbing and full of tension. From my point of view the narrative capacity of Moto Hagio is tremendous, and the involvement of the reader in the events is inevitable.
The Poe clan tells the story of loneliness and sadness; of fleeting moments of love and of constant struggles to affirm their existence despite everything. The gift of immortality is actually a condemnation that brings pain and suffering without ever being able to stop.
The Poe clan doesn't age. However, the world around them continues to change, to progress and to offer continuous opportunities for meetings and exchanging relationships with human beings.
Hagio's narrative is engaging and dynamic and she alternates relaxed and peaceful moments with others that are more disturbing and full of tension. From my point of view the narrative capacity of Moto Hagio is tremendous, and the involvement of the reader in the events is inevitable.
The Poe clan tells the story of loneliness and sadness; of fleeting moments of love and of constant struggles to affirm their existence despite everything. The gift of immortality is actually a condemnation that brings pain and suffering without ever being able to stop.
meru's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
bluehairedlibrarian's review
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is really a collection of stories about The Poe Clan, a family of vampires that live in what is possibly another plane of existence. The main characters are two children, siblings adopted by wealthy and very old parents, and turned into vampires too young. The stories generally revolve around the people who come across them, either obsessed with the beautiful younger sister Marybelle or get caught up in the machinations of older brother Edgar. The illustrations are made up mostly of whisper thin lines with all the characters having huge anime eyes.
There's a weird thing that happens about mid-way through the book.Marybelle, who had previously died after it was discovered she was a vampirnella, is suddenly a human girl sent away after Edgar discovers the kindly old woman who took them in is actually the leader of a vampirnella family. Marybelle is never turned into a vampirnella, grows into a beautiful teenager, and becomes friends with an older boy, who looks a lot like her brother. After she falls in love with the boy's beautiful brother, it's discovered that she and the boy are half-siblings with his father believing Marybelle and Edgar had died as babies. I have no idea if I missed something and this was a different generation/version/timeline of Marybelle and Edgar or a ret-con that allowed for the final story involving Edgar and Alan to go off to boarding school in the 1950s. Either way it left me confused enough to dock a point off my score.
Otherwise it's a classic vampire story focused on children turned too soon and the lives they have to create for themselves over hundreds of years.
There's a weird thing that happens about mid-way through the book.
Otherwise it's a classic vampire story focused on children turned too soon and the lives they have to create for themselves over hundreds of years.
emkat1997's review
3.0
Art was lovely, but the story line was just okay for me. I'd read the next volume.
cynicalraven's review
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
snowyshallows's review
4.0
Very interesting. The edition and whoever printed this volume made it so beautiful. It feels high quality and the cover is exquisite. Totally worth the cost of it. The story is very classic vampire and old timey japanese BL. Yes, there is bl in this manga. There's also a lot of gray morality. At some points, there's a clear good/bad line and some characters acknowledge it, but it gets thrown out the window. Who's the villain? They realize that when they're turned into a vampire their sense of right and wrong are blurred. Some people are killed for protection, for no reason, for love, for a future. Who's the hero and who's not? I still don't know. But I know that the end of of the series will probably be bittersweet with the death of most, if not all the main cast. But I still hope that the main characters get in touch with their human hearts again and live together peacefully
capernex's review
emotional
3.5
As with all of Hagios books, the writing and art is just so beautiful. I liked the characters, especially Edgar, but the story slowed me down a lot in the 5th chapter, it was just so dramatic and dragged on a little bit.