Kuro Bara Alice

This is a really tragic and interesting story. This is technically a vampire manga, but if you go in expecting to see creatures of the night baring their fangs and seducing/sleeping with many women, you'll be very disappointed. This manga takes vampires to a completely new realm- it's so unexpected and strange. It took me a while to get used to this type of vampire, but the concept is really interesting, and love to see such fresh ideas with one of the oldest and most re-told monster story around.

Kuro Bara Alice starts out in turn-of-the-century Vienna, where we meet two of our main characters. For the first couple of chapters, there's not even the slightest mention of vampires. But soon, through a series of unfortunate events, the lives of our main characters are completely changed. Without giving anything away, the story adds a few more characters as it progresses, with the full cast being a group of vampires and a girl, so it's very much a reverse harem. If you're into those, you'll love this.

This manga deals with a lot of very mature themes, mostly pertaining to the darkness that can dwell in humans, as well as many unfortunate accidents with truly sad outcomes. There's a bit of violence, particularly towards women, and there are a few fairly sexually explicit moments, but nothing is done distastefully.

Overall, the artwork is beautiful, the plot is wonderful, and it's a manga that's extremely hard to put down. The character development is good, but I can't help but feel that it's somehow lacking. Overall, I'd definitely recommend this manga to anyone who enjoys drama, romance, and fantasy, or just wants to read a beautiful story.

This is not just any random shoujo you might like and it's not the next vampire love story that you would read before going to bed. This is a piece of art that shows the twisted side of love and life. It's the story that would make you reconsider your believes of the vampires.
First of all, its concept is quite unique, not perfect, but yet very enjoyable and touching. The development of the story is good enough for a psychological manga (slow enough), but some parts could have been worked out a little bit more. The storyline follows the life Dimitri, who was turned into a vampire, and Agnieszka - his beloved one. Both of them get involved into a bloody tragedy with no end. Furthermore Dimitri has to deal with the "breeding" problem of the vampire race in the future and his own feelings for the beautiful Agnieska, in order to make the right choice. But choosing one of them isn't easy...
The Art - it depends if you like different styles. I do not recommend this manga to those who are fans of the standard shoujo, because here, the art is more of an outline of the story - it is dark and sunk into the vain beauty of immortality.
Kuro Bara Alice has, more or less, remarkable characters. One has to see for himself, otherwise I might spoil the surprise :)
Overall - (8) - I would recommend this manga to those who seek something different, a little bit strange, a little bit dark. I don't think of the story as a horror, not if you aren't afraid of spiders, but more of a dark fantasy. But...see for yourself - it's not a manga for everyone :)