Chibi Vampire: The Novel 2 (Review)

Okay, more Chibi Vampire. This time around a series of mysterious fires have broken out in various parts of town. The police suspect arson. Kenta is on his way to the Julian one day when he comes across China Oriska, a novice nun who is being harassed by a lecherous business man which Kenta chases off, and to which China thanks him and starts watching him adoringly. Karin watches the scene across the street and the events bothers her considerably, even though she still refuses to think of Kenta as anything more than a friend. China seems to be attracted to Kenta, even though her status as a novice nun forbids such a thing. From there the characters have a freakishly high number of misunderstandings and eventually wind up entangled in the arsonist's schemes.

This second novel was an engaging read, though I felt it wasn't as strong as the first. It has some comedy reminiscent of the first novel, especially with all of Karin’s ‘embarrassing’ moments and the story also has a dark side. For a comedy, so far these novels have touched on some somewhat serious subject matters and its a shame that the volume two doesn't go as far as the first one did. The first novel's plot entailed the kidnappings of young girls, molestation, sexual assault and murder and it all played out more like a suspenseful detective story at times. The second novel features some kidnappings and attempted murders but it didn't keep me on the edge of my seat in suspense like the first one did.

What amazes me about both of the novels I've read so far is that the trouble Karin finds herself in is dead serious and somehow this manages to mesh fairly well with the lighter and quirky vampire/romance comedy this series depends more heavily on. The mystery and adventure and the new love triangle that brews between Karin, China and Kenta all have their intriguing and enjoyable aspects and manage to keep thing from getting stale. My only major gripe with this book is that much like the first novel, this book takes place between volumes of the manga. Apparently, a pretty big event occurred in manga that changed a bit of the relationship between Karin and Kenta. It's only passingly mentioned here and some of the misunderstandings from Kenta's prospective stem from this and all it managed to do was make me wish they would have covered this event in depth in the novel in well, but I guess I'll just have read the manga. Anyway, the second volume of the Chibi Vampire is enjoyable and it will be intriguing to see what the future novels develop.