Fangs is a short graphic novel following the relationship/romance between a vampire and a werewolf. It is meant to be humorous and fairly light hearted. Other characters we meet through Ichii's blood delivery job include a gay vampire couple consisting of an overprotective plastic surgeon and his flirtatious spouse,a loving vampire/human couple whose love has stood the test of time with both the human wife and the couple's child reaching old age still cherished preciously by the devoted vampire husband/father, and a grieving vampire widower with a giant pet tortoise who hasn't been able to move on from the loss of his husbandwhotragically fell asleep outside watching the stars one night and vanished with the rising sun. The characters all feel like unique entities rather than a generic cookie-cutter vampire cast. They own businesses, keep exotic pets, go skateboarding, get married, and do all the other things ordinary people do depending on their tastes, just with the occasional biological restrictions placed on them due to their vampirism. They feel very "human" in some ways and their diverse tastes and personalities make them fun to get to know. In addition to wanting to see more of the main couple, I want more of these guys, too. I really enjoyed this first volume and am interested in seeing where it goes from here, particularly with the intrigue of the last chapter and what En and Ichii's role in FANGS will end up being. The artwork was well done, the story was easy to follow, and while it has familiar elements of supernatural mature romances, I liked the intrigue of following the different characters here.

iii) Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material; We got to really meet six different vampires in this volume, and each was unique and different. I really got a sense of personality for every character. They all felt believable and somehow even felt older, like their actual ages, despite looking young. One thing I did enjoy was Balibally's art. I like their scenery and how they gave their characters distinctive traits. They're able to build sexual tension effectively, and some of the comedic elements worked in their favor (Darwin's introduction). I also emphasize with En figuring out his place as a newly christened vampire, being as "young" as he is and getting to meet fellow peers and see how they deal with the transition. I didn't understand vampiric plastic surgery when Masaki explained it, but that's relatively minor given how much Balibally went over. The story was weak for me. This volume felt like a prologue to a bigger story with little establishing action beyond En getting turned and him declaring his partnership with Ichii. Balibally teases their audience with Ichii's mysterious past and a secret he's keeping, but the pull isn't strong enough when the volume centers around meeting side characters, how En reacts to them, and two sex scenes. En's framing also made me uncomfortable at times. I understand age gaps have existed in vampiric love stories before, but the constant reinforcing of En as a "virgin" and a "baby" feels like infantilization and reminds me of fanservice media I've seen/been exposed to with women getting the same treatment. I'm getting past the point where characters are framed as desirable because of their youth. I think supernatural romances deserve more than that.

Discussions

I found the book enjoyable, but the writing was more stilted and herky-jerky than I like. It felt more like a direct translation rather than a cleaned up interpretation of the text. It made it hard for me to follow the very paper-thin plot. In a way, this book felt more like a set up for the universe and the characters with several sex scenes mixed in rather than a cohesive story. It's okay, but I don't feel like I need to read the next volume to find out more. vi) A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed. There are some explicit steamy scenes. Trigger warning for the first being maybe kinda dubcon (En kept telling him to wait, slow down, etc. but Ichii didn't, and then En liked it).

Oct 25 Yearning Teens, Frustrated Romance, Pretty Skies — Is There Anything Else to Makoto Shinkai?

There are so many things I loved that it's all just ping-ponging around my head with no hope of real organization, so here's a list!