Blood Lad

Still a better love story then twilight.
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When I saw Blood Lad, it looked extremely interesting. The art was different from many mangakas that I've seen so far, the plot looked creative but not dangerously and recklessly so, and it had a score of 8/10 along with some good reviews. . . so I decided to read it, and now I'm hooked.
While reading Blood Lad, please toss out any labels of vampires you have of dark, gloomy, reclusive creatures that just happened to be extremely handsome- none of that here. (Although I'm not saying Staz isn't attractive. . . he is, but just not in that elegant, superior kind of way.) I can't really say anything that won't spoil the manga, so I'll just point out the pros and the cons-
The pros:
As I said, Blood Lad has amazing art- I don't think I've seen much of this kind of art. Blood Lad also manages to hold up the plot- it isn't a wreck like I was afraid it would turn out to be. It has a great plot so far, and it's being drawn wonderfully. The characters are all lovable, although the more criticizing of us manga readers might get angry that Fuyumi doesn't have much of a background. There is a subtle mix of comedy and action, and the supernatural theme isn't being exaggerated too much.
The cons:
There are few, if any. One of them could be the lack of background for some of the supporting characters- however, I have a feeling most of that will be taken care of later on. (I mean, the manga is still publishing and it would be a real bummer if it suddenly got cut off.) No matter how hard I look, besides that, I really just cant find anything wrong with Blood Lad. I mean, I'm literally sitting here, about to make my dad's $3000 PC burn up with my ferocious glares, trying to spot any errors the author did.

Blood Lad really is an amazing piece of work so far- I'm crossing my fingers that the publishers don't rush it and end it crappily, because it's gotten a lovely headstart.

It's an ok manga.

It has the ability to stand out on its own as a shounen manga and it is a fun read. It has a non complicating and interesting storyline and not the cliché kind you usually find in a typical shounen manga.

The comedy factor is there too although its not any major "Ha ha, oops I shit my pants" material but still good for a few laughs. Characters are never dull and has their own personalities and add more flavor to the story.

The artwork is well made and although there might be a few flaws here and there, but still good.

I highly recommend this to fans of Soul Eater, Ao No Exorcist and the like.

**May contain some spoilers+Could be long to read**
Story: One might think when coming across this manga that this is just another vampire manga, but in actuality it isn't. How? Well, when I first looked at this manga I thought, "oh great another vampire story zzz probably full of ecchi scenes since this big-boobed girl is with this male protagonist and full of violence. Also since there's a human before him he's obviously going to go having scenes of sucking her neck all the time right?" (kinda over dramatized my first impressions) Anyway, I was however proven wrong, which I'm very thankful for. Like the summary says on MAL, it talks about how Staz, a vampire who is very powerful yet is very obsessed with the Japanese culture. I couldn't believe that this type of character could exist and when he heard of a human girl in his demon world he didn't want to suck her neck, and instead of that he wanted to chat with her! He was thinking about how they could talk about manga together and such. Unfortunately after meeting her he had to go for a few moments to deal with an intruder in his area, and thus he found that she was dead and only her soul remained. Staz saddened by this greatly, since this was the first human he had ever met decides to make her alive again. So, the adventure starts and a lot of comedic events too. I'm sure once you read the first chapter of this manga you'll be just as amused or enchanted as I am with this manga.

Art: I don't think it's that impressive, but all of the characters look different and you'll never have to guess who is who.

Characters: Okay, I won't get too much into this one, but all I can say is this is what made me enjoy the manga greatly. Every character introduced in this manga is quirky and entertaining. No one will be too annoying, not even Yanagi which I think is good. If she was like Orihime (girl from Bleach) I think I'd have to rip my hair out. :P

Enjoyment: Seeing as how I already mentioned that this was not the typical vampire story I was expecting and how the characters are all wonderful you should know that I'm going to say I enjoyed it highly! I give my enjoyment a 9.

Overall: In my opinion if you want to read a story that will make you laugh all the time check this out! I'm sure it will not disappoint you, and sure there are some perverted moments in this manga but there isn't many. Go read Blood Lad! I command you to (just kidding; you don't have to!).

Story: 7
The story is good. There are some plots that i though Yuuki Kodama could of focused on. For example, at the beginning it explains that there are bosses who control different regions & fight to keep control. After a few resolutions about it. Its not exerted further & moves on to different plots. Some of those plots are used the same way so its kind of a wasted potential. But other than that its reasonably good.
Art: 8
The art is very good. Not as detailed but it has a very clean and vanilla feel to it. Everyone looks different enough to depict who is who.
Character: 7
The cast is good. Personally my favorites being Staz & Braz. Staz displays more personality and is more reckless. While his brother shows more intellect and kinda has a deadpan manner of humor. The rest have a certain..genericness to them.
Enjoyment: 9
The enjoyment is great! I had a lot of fun seeing the struggles & misunderstandings between the characters. The fights are well done.

Overall: 8
I think Blood Lad is very good. There aren't many fun vampire/Demon World manga series like Blood Lad. I recommend it. 👍

found this manga about 2 years ago and when i first saw the main character(staz) he reminded me of rin from ao no exorcist and since i like the series allot i decided to try out this one and after reading a few chapters i just went and read all the chapter that was out and loved it was laughing the whole time and thought the fight scenes were really good and now this manga is one of my fave manga;s but not in my top 10 just yet but very close close to it and staz is just awesome

Story : 7
Art : 8
Character : 7
Overall : 7.5

The story stars off simple enough,with the male protagonist,which is Staz, an otaku vampire who is a boss in the underworld, found a human girl, Fuyumi who has fallen into his territory. Fuyumi was then eaten by a monster and somehow turned into a ghost. Staz must now find a way to turn Fuyumi back to normal and send her back to the human world.

It's a typical shounen type manga,with the main character being overly powerful and getting even more powerful later in the story. The story isn't all that original but it is enjoyable and fun to read,with a few hilarious moments in the manga. The art is well drawn and pretty detailed in my opinion,and i especially like how cute Fuyumi's character looks like (Flushed cheeks and all). I give it an overall 7.5 and it is a good read if you want a funny manga that isn't too serious or simply just to pass your time.

I am reading this manga after watching the movie "twilight" (on my friend's request). When i read the summary, i went "wtf..more Vamps?" But i could put up through the whole movie so i thought that a manga couldn't do any worse, but poof! It turned out to be exactly what i did not expect! :D
Its a nice manga with great artwork, a bit shaky-waky story which is compensated by the comical scenes; has the typical character line, and does not bore you at all! :D
A recommended read to anyone who is bored of Twilight, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, blah blah blah!

This manga had enormous potential and was actually very enjoyable up until the last fights when it just turned bad. It's a classic example of manga that completely fail to write a good ending and in the end you'll be left disappointed that the story ended the way it did.

The story is very straightforward and enjoyable enough, but it also feels a bit too rushed in terms of pacing. It's pretty much straight to the point which is both a strength and a weakness. However as already stated the ending is mediocre at best and I think I would have liked the series a lot more if I hadn't read the ending at all.

As far as characters go they are also pretty great up until the last fights. What I mean by this is that what you can consider the two main characters in Staz and Wolf have essentially everything they've been through made void by how useless they are in the end which doesn't sit right with me. Due to the ending it feels like the character development completely stopped or even as much as declined.

As far as the combat goes it was also pretty good up until the last fights and especially the last fight was just complete garbage and honestly I wish I could erase it from my mind. In the end you're sitting there waiting for an epic fight of sorts to break out but it never happens, there's no real climax for the reader, just bitter disappointment.

If you wish to read this manga I recommend not reading the last couple of volumes as you'll just end up disappointed. Apart from the ending the manga is pretty good though with a relatively good story, combat and comedy.

Blood Lad honestly scared me at first. Not because of its violence or supernatural trappings, but because that first volume was rough to read through. I thought I was in for a LONG ride of a read, but thankfully by volume 3 it found more solid footing and rolled with it. It's not a *great* manga (definitely not a seinen, for one thing), but it has its pros in competent pacing for a solid plot, and engaging artwork.

[Story - 7]

Our story starts off simple - in a 'demon' world where every stereotypical supernatural being exists, a human girl stumbles into the 'territory' of a vampire. She gets killed after he tries to capture her for Blood Consumption, and he resolves to revive her to get said blood. The first several volumes follow Staz (the vampire) and the series of efforts he makes to just revive the girl, but it soon turns into another Save The World From The Ancient King story.

While I was initially critical of this change, I found that it was ultimately for the better as the latter is more intriguing than the former, despite its generic beats. The former had slow pacing in the first couple of volumes, and by the time it got to the 'plot twist and switch', it was moving along swimmingly. Naturally, the themes for the title are best suited for this pacing: the Powah of friendship/family/romance, along with some toying of how one's role in the world affects said world rather than the other way around. There's a ton of ecchi mixed in with the Ha Ha That's A Reference-type of comedy, but there /is/ actual comedy sometimes.

[Art - 8]

The artwork is what actually caught my eye, and convinced me to give it a crack. As multiple people have noted before me, it's very reminiscent of a shonen that I highly enjoy/admire (Soul Eater), but I feel as though it still stands out by itself. It has a very 'minimalistic' feel: While the setting + action has enough detail that you can tell what's going on, it also feels as though these are still unfinished sketches being sent off to serialization. It works, however, since the story and characterization are fairly lightweight.

Character design is very......hit-or-miss for me. Sometimes it works really well in having a memorable feel (Wolf's modern chic look, Bell's FLCL-esque gear, Akim's stitches and scars) but other times it just looks rather generic and bland (The Blood Brothers, the Blacklisted). This is probably me being nitpicky, but having most, if not all, of your prominent women possessing huge knockers is an immature and tacky look, especially in a title that's supposed to be a seinen.

[Character - 5]

Characterization is where I found the manga to be slacking the most, unfortunately. There are actual character arcs and dynamics here, but it just feels really......inferior compared to what could have been.

For starters, let's go with our protagonist, Staz. From the get-go, he's portrayed as a perpetually-lazy and selfish lord, but of course gradually matures into a much more responsible person. This isn't bad, per say, but considering how many times the idea of him being an 'anti-hero' is discussed in the title, it's rather disappointing. He definitely falls into the trap of suddenly becoming a Noble Hero, when his initial characterization + those discussions suggest otherwise. It would have been genuinely interesting to see Staz still indulge in his 'lesser' ideals and morals while on his quest to revive the girl and save his world.

Another character whose writing I found frustrating was the 'leading woman', Fuyumi. The 'leading woman' is marked as such because she's so severely underwritten that it almost got me to drop the title three times throughout the journey. While I didn't mind it in the first few volumes (but note that she's incredibly ditzy and objectified), having her stay essentially the same at the LAST FUCKING CHAPTER is ridiculous. This is made even more excruciating to read when her main arc of development is realizing that she loves Staz (big shock), and literally.....nothing else. That's her entire arc. I'm not kidding.

Other characters, while fun to read about, also feel really underused. Wolf, for example, doesn't have a huge arc outside of suddenly developing another power; Bell also has a similar arc to Fuyumi, along with the added bonus of Making Friends; and so on/so forth. This is frustrating because they ARE fun to read, especially with their group dynamics, but yet they're so much less than they could have been.

[Enjoyment/Overall - 6]

As I said at the beginning, this isn't a great manga by any means. It's definitely not meant to be in the same magazine as Erased and Bungou Stray Dogs, but makes a fun and light read nonetheless. I'd recommend this to anyone who just wants a title that's 'easy' on the mind in terms of characterization and story, but is packing a lot in action and ecchi. Otherwise, skip it over - there are better titles like this one out there.

So, Blood Lad was one of the fist anime I watched where, afterwards, I told myself I needed to read the manga. I've finally done it.

Alright, so I think the art in this manga is absolutely gorgeous. Okay, well, it isn't as breathtaking as a couple other manga I've read, but the imagery is still astounding. The two-page spreads in Blood Lad are always really good at giving you a sense of grandeur and fantasy.

The story itself did get better after the anime (obviously), though I will say I kind of got jaded of it somewhere after chapter 50. The story kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and it didn't all level out into a nice plot until close to the end. At least, in my opinion, but maybe that was just because I sped through it. All in all, the pacing was really well-done. The unique humor this manga has kept it from getting too bogged down in places, so it was used well.

But the characters. The characters are electric. That's the absolute best part of this manga. Give me a crap story any day, because if the characters are on point, I'll indulge myself until I can't anymore. Staz, especially, had *such* remarkable character development throughout this series. It's kind of amazing to see how smoothly he transitioned from who he was at the beginning of the manga to who he was at the end. It's believable, and honestly, I feel like a lot of narratives don't know how to get their characters to take that last hurdle at the end to change who they are, but Staz's hurdle was done so beautifully.

I kind of suck at reviewing manga, but I guess to summarize, Blood Lad was really fun to read. The characters' relationships to each other, the characters themselves, the humor, and the romance made up for any dips in the story. This manga really does have some of the best characters I've seen in any work of fiction. So, for that fact alone, I'd really recommend this manga to anyone who is interested or loved the anime. I'm happy I got to see where these characters ended up (finally).