Bloody Steam is an Action-Packed Sci-Fi Vampire Manga
Kumori Ichigami can’t believe that the vampire he saw attack a person yesterday is the new girl at his school!
Things become clear quickly that he doesn’t know whom he really can trust, however, when someone who’s been good to him ends up drinking his blood. The vampire girl, Miko, comes to his aid, but now he has an impossible choice: he can either die or he can become a steel vampire. This action-packed vampire adventure is full of mystery as Kumori becomes part of a world of darkness.
Bloody Steam opens with Kumori Ichigami, a hapless high school student, catching sight of a vampire girl sucking someone’s blood. The next day at school he brags about it to a friend, and the friend wants to know if this is related to the serial vampire murder case that is all over the news. Kumori is pretty cool about the fact he witnessed a murder, but he starts acting much less brave when the same vampire as last night comes strolling into his classroom as new student Miko.
But if Kumori thinks this vampire girl is what he has to fear most, he’s sorely mistaken. Someone he trusts also turns out to be a vampire, and sucks his blood. While his blood is being sucked, all sorts of strange, dark, violent memories assault him. It’s as if they come out of the void, and it’s fascinating to slowly figure out where these memories came from. Of all people, Miko actually saves him from being killed by his friend, but she warns him that he is no longer human, and he can either die here or live as a steel vampire.
Bloody Steam has its own vampire mythology and history, which slowly unravels. Like most manga, it’s in black and white, but now and then it brings in the color red to much horrific and appropriate effect. And while the manga stars vampires and is a horror manga, it’s not a bump-in-the-dark manga meant to scare you. It has science fiction and fantasy elements, but at its core it really feels like an action manga. This is especially true when another side of Kumori — another personality — arrives after the vampire has attacked him. There are many pages of heart-stopping action as characters fight. It has the feel of a popular shonen manga, with the sometimes hapless, sometimes heroic lead, the sexy girl, and the frequent conflicts. There’s some fan service, and Miko is well-endowed, but it doesn’t bow heavy to these things, instead relying more on action and story.
It’ll be very curious to see how the mysteries play out, like what those memories were when Kumori was getting his blood sucked, and why he has another personality. There is also a war background, and lots of talk about blood machines. How all these things connect hasn’t been specified yet, but the questions are building like bloodlust, and this is clearly one of those manga series where things are going to be revealed bit by bit. That makes it more exciting for the reader. Bloody Steam is available only on Mangamo, where its chapters are being updated, and would be best enjoyed by people who love shonen action with vampires and mystery thrown in.
Manga review by Danica Davidson.
