There is a legend that tells of how the world was almost destroyed thousands of years ago by the vampire queen after she unleashed her latent powers. Despite their efforts, the humans were unable to defeat her, and thus resorted to sealing her away until the time they would be powerful enough to kill her. However, the humans are not the only ones after the seal. Having cast aside his kingdom and betraying his own race and the dhampirs (half-vampires), the vampire king is persistently searching, even to this day, for where his queen has been sealed away so he may break the seal and free her. Fearing that once the king and queen are reunited, they shall continue to destroy the world together, the humans and dhampirs hunt the king, using any method possible.-adapted from wikipedia
When I first read it, I was a little skeptical because is this going to be ANOTHER vampire versus humans storyline that can get pretty boring. However, I found it all makes for a very interesting plot and as I learned more details about the story I grew to enjoy it more and more.
In the beginning, I couldn't really develop a connection to every character as the story seemed a little rushed. But I later realised the quick progression in the beginning was necessary to move the story along appropriately, and then from there it continues at a normal pace. And just when you think it all might get repetitive the mangaka throws in a surprising twist!
Record of Fallen Vampire is a promising manga even though it takes a while for a story to find its bearings. Quite cluttered and badly framed at some point, the storytelling is the only strength of this manga. Interestingly, the truth about what that really happenned 1000 years before the story's timeline is shown through the character's biased eyes until the truth becomes clear –the differing perceptions of the same truth.
This is definitely not your typical bloodsucking vampire story and I am impressed about how she made this her very own. In summary, this is mesmerising tale filed with suspense - a supernatural epic. All in all this manga is definitely worth looking into.
My verdict: 8.8
