Hiroki Kusumoto set out to draw a vampire story and that’s exactly what she has done. The story focus is more on the vampire aspect than the boy’s love aspect and I applaud it for that. It would have been so easy for Kusumoto to have turned this into a no plot basic yaoi story with vampires just thrown in. However, because there is a plot it seems that Lou is a rather unnecessary part, or should I say he seems like more of a plot devise than a character.

The artwork has its own distinctive style and is superb. Kusumoto seems to have a talent for putting a lot of energy into every single line. The action scenes are executed well with a good sense of movement and perspective. Her drawings are so moody and seem to come right off the page. There’s also a lot of atmosphere which makes Vampire’s Portrait actually feel like a vampire story. While I wouldn’t call this an original story I think it is a decent vampire story. It’s difficult to be all that original when dealing with vampires and I think Kusumoto just manages to display enough flare to make it something of her own.

A more detailed review can be seen at: http://nikkimanga.com/vampires-portrait-volume-1-review/