Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite Volume 1 by Julietta Suzuki
Hina is an otaku vampire who has decided to move to Japan to devote herself to her fandom, an anime called Vampire Cross. She’s basically a shut-in, only venturing out to try to score limited edition items at merch drops. She takes occasional calls from her father who seems supportive of her lifestyle choices but can’t help reminding her that vampires sometimes find a special human who they want to bite. Hina is resolute in her decision to only drink from blood bags and fully indulge her fangirl nature. She does become distracted one day by her next door neighbor who looks exactly like Mao, the character she’s obsessed with. Kyuta recoils in disgust initially when he realizes that Hina is an otaku, but something about her draws him in. On Hina’s side she finds that Kyuta smells irresistibly delicious. She notes that there’s a mysterious voice coming from his apartment occasionally – who or what could it be?
Suzuki excels at portraying tsundere heroes. Kyuta initially finds Hina off-putting, but when he realizes that she truly knows nothing about how to live on her own he starts helping her. He gives her practical advice about taking out her trash and even joins her for a special Vampire Cross cafe event when the internet friend she was supposed to go with stands her up. Kyuta ends up being a vampire magnet, and Hina has the ability to protect him because she’s unexpectedly powerful even if she has no desire to engage in vampire activities like sucking blood. I enjoyed the developing relationship dynamic between Kyuta and Hina. Hina has powerful supernatural abilities but only cares about arranging acrylic standees and Kyuta’s ability to function in the modern world balances her out. Suzuki’s art is so whimsical and cute. Hina’s tiny fangs and pointed ears are adorable and Kyuta’s exasperated but kind in spite of himself mannerisms make him sympathetic. Suzuki’s series are always delightful and the first volume of Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite started off strong.