The Record of a Fallen Vampire Volume 1

While there's a lot of bloodshed, there isn't a whole lot of blood-sucking in The Record of a Fallen Vampire. Instead, there's a lot of fighting, talking, fighting and even more talking between a morose vampire king and the half-human/half-vampire warriors who are hunting him down to kill him (or at least die trying).

Shirodaira deserves credit for trying something outside the usual Dracula canon of vampire stories, and Kimura is owed some props for some nice artwork. However, The Record of a Fallen Vampire is at its best confusing and at its worst, frightfully boring.

The Record of a Fallen Vampire is probably the first vampire manga I've ever read that doesn't have a single scene about blood-sucking. The only thing vampire king Akabara has in common with Dracula is his voluminous cape, his ability to fly and his immortality. Other than that, he looks like any other shonen manga hero, albeit a constantly depressed one.

Why is he down? Akabara was once ruler in a world where vampires and humans peacefully co-existed. All this came to an end when his queen Adelheid went berserk and nearly destroyed the world over a thousand years ago. The human populace couldn’t hope to kill the powerful queen, but they did subdue and lock her away behind a mystical seal. And just to make it difficult for Akabara to find and release her, these crafty humans created thousands of fake seals. So the lonely, obsessed king is doomed to wander the earth, looking for his lost love for years without end.

In his way are Dhampires, powerful half-human, half-vampire warriors who are charged with killing Akabara, and one supremely powerful Dhampire, the Black Swan who could really do him damage. There's a lot more to this story than that, but I'll spare you the overwhelming, inconsequential details.

You have to give Shirodaira credit for coming up with a story that's a departure from the usual vampire canon. Kimura has also drawn lots of dynamic fight scenes. With so much going for it, why is this story so boring?

Maybe it's the dull, morose hero, Akabara, who spends most of Volume 1 looking sad even when he's killing his enemies or fighting for his life. Perhaps it's his indistinguishable enemies who wield magical weapons to no avail. Akabara always wins. The character development is weak and the story is just a lot of talking, fighting and more talking. You could buy worse manga than this, but honestly, you can do a lot better too.