Chibi Vampire: The Novel, Volume 3

I read on wikipedia recently that there were nine Chibi Vampire novels (set within the manga, but containing mostly text with a few pictures throughout) written in Japan, but that Tokyopop discontinued releasing them here in the US after volume 5. That's a real shame, I really loved the first five volumes that I got to read and I consider it a great loss that American fans can't read volumes 6-9. As with my reviews of the previous Chibi Vampire novels, this one assumes the reader is already familiar with Chibi Vampire and so I'm not going to bother explaining who characters are or their histories prior to the book, save for new characters who were created specifically for this book. Karin and Kenta are working at the Julian Family Resteraunt when Kira Matsumiya, a rich junior high girl, and her butler Shougo Tachikake, come in so Kira can make take an emergency bathroom break. While there, Kira shows an odd attraction to Karin. Kira then offers her a job, to spend the weekend with Kira on her family's private island as a maid and as Kira's playmate. Karin tries to refuse, since Kira's presence sets off Karin's blood increase, but then Karin has another one of her clumsy accidents that results in Shougo's expensive suit being splattered with spaghetti. When Kira threatens to saddle Karin with the very large cleaning bill if she doesn't take the job, Karin reluctantly agrees, but is able to get Kira and Shougo to hire Kenta to come too as a servant for the weekend so he can watch out for Karin. Both Karin and Kenta are able to get their parents permission to go. There are two other girls who have been hired as maids-Mayumi Oosaki, a young woman who Karin bit the night before leaving, who is quite a flirt and takes an interest in Kenta Usui, and Shouko Seki, another girl just a few years older than Karin. At the island things seem fine at first. The girls swim and play games and eat lunch together, but soon some troubling things begin happening. Karin accidentally cuts her finger while on the beach, and the sight of it sends Kira into shock. Later on Tachikake tells them that Kira's mother died horribly, and that seeing blood triggers the trauma. Later on Karin hears Tachikake talking to someone on the phone, saying the maids are good girls with nice figures and that they'll stick to the planned scheduel. Another time Karin overhears a loud arguement between Kira and Tachikake which ends in the normally cute, upbeat Kira pushing him down the stairs. However he insists that it's nothing and that they should all forget about it. On the second day, Mayumi mysteriously disappears. Tachikake tells everyone that she had appendicitis and had to be taken to the mainland to the hospital. However, when Karin thinks about it later she realizes he wouldn't have had time to do that. Later, when Shouko overhears a conversation between Tachikake and Kenta, she misinterprets it as Tachikake making romantic advances to Kenta. This sets Kira's anger off, and she

This set of manga is great for a fun new twist to the vampire section of books. I enjoy it quite a bit.