Title: かりん (Karin) Vol. 1
Artist/Author: 影崎由那 (Yuna Kagezaki)
Book Size/Pages: B-6, 163pp., w/furigana
Original Serialization: Monthly Dragon Age 5/03-9/03
First Printing: 10/1/03
Rating: 4/4

This is another series that will persuade me to subscribe to Dragon Age, that with Someday's Dreamers, and Maburaho. This series takes vampire-ism, makes it a pretty girl and adds a variation on the theme where her problem is that she starts oozing blood when she can't relieve herself by biting someone's neck.

The artwork is pretty nice, typical of these romantic comedy type genre. I have no idea why the chapter titles contain that English. Bonuses include 4 color pages, a few comics with the author, and a mini-comic. On the inside flap, there's also a 4 panel comic.

1. かりんの出会いと不思議な少年〜First Impression〜 (Karin's Encounter with A Strange Young Boy): 真紅果林 (Karin Maaya) is a regular girl in every way except for one day every month. It's about that time again. At school, a new boy, 雨水健太 (Kenta Usui) has tranferred to her class. For some reason she passes out when he approaches her. So the next time she sees him, she darts off. After school, she runs off into the woods thinking that no one is following her and spots a man there who is quite depressed from his work. She succumbs to her urge and bites him. However, Kenta, who has been following him, sees her in an embrace with an older man. Later, that old man is somehow more energetic and is motivated to do work.

2. かりんの家族と危険な午後〜Hard nut to crack〜 (Karin's Family and A Dangerous Afternoon): Chapter starts off with an introduction to Karin's parents and 2 siblings. She's still avoiding Kenta. She works at a restaurant and finds out that Kenta has also applied to work there. Kenta tells her she doesn't have to prostitute herself out to old men, and she realizes what he's seen and tells him she's not.

3. かりんの素顔と剥がれた仮面〜Fall off〜 (Karin's True Face and The Mask That Came Off): It's a while later, almost that time of month again. She's been avoiding Kenta, but Kenta's been taking notice of her. In fact, he's always staring at her in class so some of the classmates thinks he has a crush on her. She runs off again, but this time she chases him and finds out that she has a condition where once a month, she grows fangs and accumulates a lot of blood, so much that she has a profuse nosebleed. She tells him not to tell anyone else about her condition.

4. かりんの悩みと健太の苦悩〜Confinement〜 (Karin's Worries and Kenta's Agony): Karin has been staying at home for the past two weeks because her secret has been revealed. Kenta has blamed himself for her truancy. However, Karin's brother explains to her that being a vampire actually helps people, and shows the picture of his girlfriend before (tired and ugly) and after (energetic and sexy).

5. かりんの好みと魔性の女 (Karin's Likes and The Enchantress): With that message, Karin and her brother, 煉(Ren) see a depressed lady who had just been fired because her made a big fuss over her boss's advances. Turns out that she's Kenta's mother. So with Karin's urges and what she has heard, she takes a bite (Kenta sees her hugging his mom). When that boss comes again, she has the courage to give him a nice punch to the face.

Comments

(Comments are Closed)