Bloody Cross

tl;dr: A manga centered around betrayal that takes too long for things to start clicking and feeling adequately fleshed out but does well when they finally do.

If there was one word I would use to describe the core of this manga, it would be betrayal. The vast majority of the plot centers around someone betraying someone else or it being unclear who is loyal to whom. This manifests in lots of different ways, such as betraying people during key fights, leaking information, or stealing relics. There's action and some other strategizing as well, but at its core, betrayal and alliances is what it feels like the crusades here are all about. And to a certain degree it works in adding a good amount of suspense and intrigue. The issue with this however, is that for the vast majority of the manga, this involves characters with undefined backgrounds betraying each other due to unclear motivations as a part of an ambiguous game. The twists just on their own are interesting at first, but after it happens for the tenth time and we still have no clue as to the foundations for why all of this is occurring in the first place, it feels like there's something missing, and it starts getting kind of old. Also, if it wasn't clear, there is little fleshing out of characters for most of the manga, wherein because motivations and backgrounds aren't made clear until the very end, no development or relationship development really occurs, and though the character set is reasonably interesting and a few are pretty easy to get attached to, for the most part they feel pretty flat. The lack of clear explanation for the crusades themselves also makes a lot of the twists involving aspects related to that lack impact. Still, as it approaches the end, there's a really fast paced rush where everything gets adequately revealed, characters goals and backgrounds are made clear, the way the systems of the crusade work feels complete, the plot starts moving really fast into a solid climax, leading into ending on a pretty good note that I'm satisfied with. The art was decent, but it basically felt like CLAMP lite, though even more shoujo looking, which felt limiting at times. 

"You know. It´s something I ´ve been feeling for a while, but.. Whenever I´m with you, dying seems idiotic." - Hinata

"Bloody Cross" is definitely something for all of you who really enjoyed the "Fate"- series. Bloody Cross contains the same type of elements, but execute them in it´s own way. I will go in a bit in detail about how good I think this piece is, and why.

Story: 10/10
Bloody Cross has a type of plot I really enjoy. You are from the start thrown in to the story, that will throw you off board many times. Intriguing plot twist, intense characters and many agendas are colliding at several times during this read. Just like the Fate series the main plot centers around a Holy Crusade and magic, where the contenders are plotting and tries to outsmart their rivals. The one who wins the holy crusades becomes the new god, and to win the contender has to claim 13 divine relics that will appear on different locations and times. The god candidates them self has been given great power to reach their goal. I love this type of storytelling, it´s filling the plot with a lot of tension and mystery. Who´s gonna come out on top? Of course the one with the sneakiest plan, greatest skills, and a huge portion of luck, and that part varies a lot. We get temporary alliances, deals and trades. You never know what many of the characters true agendas and reasons are - it´s a war-like situation and everyone has something to gain, and everything to loose. The mangaka has done a great job of learning you about the crusades, the relics, the different kinds of seals and so on as the story progresses. Many factors are unknown to the contenders as well, which gives "Bloody Cross" a nice touch of mystery to it. We get angels and demons, different dimensions, sword- and magic fights, strategy and tactics, agreements and betrayals, interesting magic-tech and familiars.

And in this mess we have Tsukimiya and Hinata. They are getting involved when in their attempts to get rid of their half-blood curses, makes them collide with the god´s candidate Tsuduki and his demon companion Hanamura. Tsukimiya seems just to be getting involved by bad luck and circumstances, but Hinata´s involvement and motives are long unknown - what´s he after, and why? Our main due has one of hell of chemistry as well - may it be mind gaming, sexual, comical, thinking out a strategy, betray each other or making a pact, I always enjoyed their exchanges. They can go from enemies to lovers to one time allies in a heartbeat. This made up for a lot of entertaining moments.

Art: 9/10
I personally really liked the art. It´s very black and white and plays a lot with clear lines and symbols. I think it has certain elegance to it. You can tell that the mangaka has a thing for black and white suites, eye-patches and stockings. It personally think that it did work very well on the characters and the story. The magic was displayed very nicely with glowing effects and delicate symbols and patterns. I liked the characters design and mostly Hinata´s. That look suited his personality really well. The characters has long, lean bodies and some has interesting hairstyles. The backgrounds are nothing extraordinary, but fills their purpose and don´t get in the way of the display of the magic.

Character: 10/10
I can honestly say that the characters was the best with this read. I really enjoyed all main and supporting characters. Tsuduki and Satsuki (the gods candidates) was well fleshed out with backgrounds stories and much panel time. Even Hanamura, Izumi and Kanade get´s good invested time and interesting roles to play. Bloody Cross would have been many times less appealing to me if it wasn´t for it´s great characters. They are funny, characteristic, sarcastic, smart, intelligent, egoistic, determined, sneaky and all out entertaining. They makes this holy crusade into a multipurpose chess game, with their lives at stake. They build the tension, and many of the them was so brilliantly dubious. You never know what was gonna pop up around the next corner, their schemes was so complex that the outcome came and bite you in the ass. And how they came up with comeback plans was always something that tugged on my nerves. As I mentioned before I really enjoyed the chemistry between Tsukimiya and Hinata. Their relationship develops perfectly with the plot. Much of the time they don´t trust and use each other. But during the progress of the story they start to develop a "we against the world" bond. And they hide this new feeling for each other behind their typical attitudes. It´s clear form the start do, that they are drawn towards each other - they usually ends up making out and grouping each other (or mostly Hinata feellng up Tsukimiya), and often at the most random places. I liked how their journey played out. Both Hinatas and Tsukimiyas past will be explored but not until in later chapters. A bit of the intrigue and mystery is just their past and mostly Hinatas person. He acts in such a way that you just can´t figure out his motives, It makes up for a nice twist in the story.

Enjoyment: 10/10
This was truly a good read. I will buy it and have it in my collection. I read the whole thing in no time at all. The chapters just flow buy. I loved the complex and action packed schemes, all the funny and intriguing characters, the magic and powers, the brutality of the crusades, and Tsukimiyas and Hinatas relationship. They make up a hell of main duo - I enjoyed their interactions a lot, their development didn´t feel forced or boring at all. I will for shore read it again and again, Bloody Cross has become one of my favorites.

Overall: 10/10
I love action and mystery packed game/fantasy stories so this was a real hit for me. I liked that the characters was as sneaky as they were, and that their actions made me gap several times. The chemistry between the main duo was excellent, the crusades exciting and interesting, and the story didn´t drag out to long and managed to keep all the suspense and tension and release them at the perfect time. Awesome. I can warmly recommend Bloody Cross to everyone (ok, maybe not if you don´t like sneaky characters, dramatic plot twists and loads of blood).

We have angels, demons, vampires and, cat girls!
Only 1 volume is out so far for purchase, but so far a really nice series here.
The story is she must drink pure demon blood to hold of the curse that will kill her!
I really like the relationship the 2 MC's, one moment they lust
for one another but at the same time always being deceitful. The artwork can tend to get a little confusing at times but that's just me and I don't find it too much of a bother.

Overall it was a really enjoyable read and I took my time on it because I didn't want it to end. :}

One of those hilarious and a bit lifeless anime/manga (s). May be just me, but I think this manga is in the genres: Action, comedy, shoujo and supernatural.
Of course, there is romance, but in a different way. Harem is also another.

The hilarious and a bit lifeless part from my definition is a bit like Zetsuen no Tempest or Hatenkou Yuugi. Where "Life" itself has a certain importance.

Generally it is an awesome manga to read~ there aren't many other manga/anime like the type of "romance" involved with Bloody Cross. Which i enjoyed the most >w

I was surprised to see no one has written a review for this series yet. So, I am going to write one!

I begun reading this manga when searching for a good action/romance manga. Bloody Cross had about everything I was looking for, right up to the good artwork as well.

This is a Japanese manga with two main characters who are the prime focus of the series so far: Tsukimiya and Hinata. Tsukimiya is a half-vampire half-angel who is looked down upon because half bloods are considered 'vulgar'. Hinata is a half-angel. They both share a love/hate relationship, which is very fun to watch.

The story is good, it sometimes get confusing with terms that are not used everyday but you get the point. I give it an 8.

The art is good. The series has an ecchi element to it, specifically with Hinata being a pervert and grabbing Tsukimiya's breasts (it's to be funny), but so I give it a 9 at best.

The characters are a bit hard to understand. From where I am, I don't have much background on either characters besides the fact that they are both half-bloods and are basically two-against-the-world. I give it a 7.

The enjoyment is good. I like it. They do a good job at making the series exciting and making me unable to go without reading the next chapter, because it's just too thrilling to see what happens next. I give it an 8.

Overall, I like it. So I gave it a 9 just because it's good so far. It's still ongoing but the reason I give an a 9 is because the relations between the characters is fantastic. The author does a good job at displaying that.

I enjoyed it, so I surely hope you will too!

The Story

The story is about three hybrids trying to get rid of their curses.

The story seems like an original story at first, but then it becomes a hybrid of ‘The Future Diary’ and 'Pandora Hearts’ where two god candidates have to find the relics that can turn them into gods and try to stop the other from taking it.

The story doesn’t really have a clear setting, either. It keeps changing from a middle-age Europe setting to a modern day New York setting. It is clearly a fantasy world, but the world makes no sense!



The Characters

The characters are all generic, have single tropes or are really unlikeable. The series decides to switch the protagonist from a stuck up bitch to a perverted jerk with magic powers. It got to the point that I was actually rooting for the villains! Even though they are unlikeable, they are more developed and more interesting than the good guys!

Now, you must be wondering why the hell I read the series as long as I have and had not stopped earlier? Well, the answer to that is very simple, Nao.

Nao is by far the best character in the series and is one of my favourite manga characters of all time. I am not kidding when I say he felt more like the protagonist than the other two main leads. He is given so much character development and we know almost everything about him and he doesn’t have a trope being repeated over and over again. Yes, they do use bisexual jokes with him, but it happens three times and the jokes are actually quite funny.
Nao singlehandedly saved the series for me, he basically came into the series into volume 2 as a one-off character, but then he took the spotlight and became a main character.

Minor spoiler here, but when they (supposedly) killed him off in volume 5, I stopped reading the series. But while I was looking around my book recommendations, I found out while reading volume 7’s description that I found out he was still alive and I bought volumes 6 & 7 together. And yes, reading the chapters that he wasn’t in we’re painful to get through, but it was worth it.



The Art

The art in this manga is almost backgroundless. Everyone is standing in a white void of nothingness for the entire series, thus, making the setting of the series quite confusing.

The characters designs are quite memorable, with unique character designs, you wouldn’t be getting mixed up with who is who in the series.



Final Thoughts

Overall, (apart from Nao) the entire series was painful to read through! The story is a mess, the characters are unlikeable and the art is a white void!

But the series does have some good parts to it. The character designs are unique and Nao is the best character in manga I have ever seen!

The reason why I decided to stop at volume 8 instead of reading the last third of the series was because it felt like a fitting conclusion to the series. Honestly, if you are planning to read the series, either rent or buy volumes 1-8 for a cheap price or read online up to chapter 42.

I recommend to give the series a chance (only because of Nao). Read the first 3 or 4 volumes to see what a great character has to suffer through.

The Story 2/5
The Characters 3/5
The Art 3/5

Overall 2.5/5