Customer Reviews

Vampire Doll: Guilt-na-Zan Volume 1 (v. 1)

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I was attracted to this title by the cover first of all. When I read the back I knew it looked good. I must say as far has darker type manga art goes this book hit the mark! The art is wonderful and enjoyable to look at. The storyline is also enjoyable and interesting.
The plot is that a aristocratic vampire was sealed away into a cross by a exorsist. 100 years later that exorsist's great great grandson releases the vampires spirit into a doll. A human sized wax girl doll. Not only can the Vampire not do magic anymore but he must work for the exorsist who released him!
This book is funny funny funny with good drawings. I label it a must have!!!

As much as I'm not a goth, not interested in vampires, could care less about dolfies, and ignore bishounen, I have to say Vampire Doll quickly became my most recommended manga on my comedy list. No emo-angst here -- Vampire Doll asks the simple premise: What if you were a modern-day Exorcist who'd rather design dollfies than clean the house (or take over the world)? That's right, resurrect a Vampire Count Lord to be the maid and put him into a really cute *girl* wax doll! (And give him appropriate magical powers, like summoning teddy bears, and conjuring sweets and cake. Yay! Cake!) Vampire Doll also has a strong cast of supporting characters. My own favorite is the Exorcist's black sheep brother who stole the family artifacts -- and found out, the hard way, that they were *all* cursed. Probably the only challenge to this manga is how it will maintain the crazy momentum of the opening pages. Shoujo and goth readers will love the art and bishonen. Everyone will love the comedy.

Vampire Doll is a Manga centering around a vampire, Guilt-na-Zan who was sealed into a cross 100 years ago by a very powerful exorcist. Now 100 years later, a descendant of the exorcist (Kyoji) has released the spirit of Guilt-na-Zan into the body of a wax doll created to look like his sister. Since it is modern times, the need for an exorcist has been drastically reduced so Kyoji has plenty of hobbies and has "employed" Guilt-na (his name when he is in "doll form") to be the family servant or else he'll be placed back in the cross from which he was released.

Now, Guilt-na-Zan has to put up with the doll form and the magical girlie powers that he has while in this form (instead of his normal dark black magic). However, not all is well, as Kyoichi (also known as Night Veil and Kyoji's older brother) repeatedly attempts to steal the cross that he believes to hold the Spirit of Guilt-na-Zan to use him to do his bidding. Kyoji uses Guilt-na to foil his brother's crazy schemes by allowing him to drink 1CC of blood from his sister Tonae, the blood of Tonae allows Guilt-na to transform into his "normal" self Guilt-na-Zan.

There are several little adventures in this one little book, all pretty much following along the same lines of foiling Night Veil's very stupid schemes.

This manga is almost bursting with all the comedy held inside of it, there's always something happening to make you laugh, there's a fair share of battles featuring Guilt-na/Guilt-na-Zan, and even some crazy villians in this story, including one who sucks the wickedness from people turning a school into a veritable love fest.

If you love vampires and you love lots of comedy and crazy situations, then you will definetly love this manga.

I suddenly got on a Vampire kick and wanted some new manga all in one thought...so I shot over to the manga department of Borders, and ran straight to the V titles. At first, I skipped right over this series, it was so short! But, when the other Vampire mangas failed to grab my attention, I pulled this book off the shelf.
The cover art was amazing, so I flipped it over and read the paltry summary on the back. I decided to buy it, and grabbed the 2nd book while I was at it.
I was hooked as soon as I started reading. The atrwork is beautiful and the dialogue. The dialogue is amazingly funny. Great jokes, unforgettable characters and a plot with fun twists and turns, but not enough to confuse you or get you angry about it. Its one of those mangas you will rant about for a week and re-read a thousand times.
I'm an addict now. Personally, I can't wait for Vampire Doll merchandise and the like. Give it a try. There is something in it for everyone. Its not a traditional dark-emo-goth story. Its got humor, light-heartedness and a slough of characters who buzz in your head all day. You'll remember the snappy lines...and repeat them to friends. I loved it instantly, and I know you will, too.

Imagine if once Europe had been ruled by a powerful vampire lord, who was sealed away in a cross by a powerful exorcist. Cool story, huh?

Now imagine if that same vampire was brought back a century later... as a cute Gothic Lolita girl, and forced to work for his jailer's descendent. The concept of "Vampire Doll: Guilt-Na-Zan" is a pretty wild one, and Erika Kari seems determined to milk this delightfully weird vampire tale for all the gender-bending, gothy-clad humor she can wring from it.

The legendary vampire lord Guilt-na-Zan is brought back to life... but discovers that he's been stuck in a life-sized wax doll by the lecherous Kyoji. To make matters worse, the doll is the spitting image of Kyoji's saintly sister Tonae (whose blood temporarily gives Guilt-na his old form back), and his inept twin brother Kyoichi (or "Night Veil") is trying to steal Guilt-na (as the vampire has been renamed) to serve him.

Worst of all: Kyoji is forcing Guilt-na to be his own personal maid, complete with frilly GothLoli wear. As in, housecleaning day and night.

Tthings become more complicated when "Night Veil" resurrects Vincent, the naive man-bat who once served Guilt-na-Zan -- and unfortunately he's having trouble recognizing his old master. And as Vincent and Guilt-na navigate the daylight world, they have other problems to deal with -- including random transformations, a nasty cold shared by the obnoxious twins, and a demon who is somehow filling a local school with boys' love. Yes, boys' love.

"Vampire Doll: Guilt-na-Zan Volume 1" is full of elegantly exaggerated manga art, lovingly detailed goth-y clothes (lacy GothLoli dresses, frilly shirts, Guilt-na's angular spiky black leather clothes), and weird supernatural creatures. But don't let this fool you -- the entire story is a fun, frothy ride that basically exists to turn the usual vampire-human dynamic on its ear: the vampire is the hapless victim, while the moderately evil human is the one causing problems.

And Erika Kari has a lot of fun with the ideas in here -- she really crams it from beginning to end with comic relief, whether it's the ineptitude of "Night Veil" (who has a habit of falling prey to his own cursed items) or the innocent eccentricity of Vincent and Tonae. And of course, lots of fun is had with poor Guilt-na-Zan's gender-bending problems, especially when he has to go undercover at the local high school -- and transforms into his male form ("AAAAA! I'll be a cross-dressing character!").

Actually, Guilt-na-zan is a vampire who automatically gets your sympathy. The poor guy seems like a decent sort of bloodsucker, but he's gotten roped into a life of servitude, and his awe-inspiring powers have been reduced to conjuring cakes and stuffed toys. His batty sidekick Vincent is adorable ion his earnestness, and Kyoji makes a wonderful antagonist -- he's wonderfully amoral, lazy, and manipulative. And any character named "Night Veil" is worth reading about.

Smothered in gothic trappings and gender-bending difficulties, "Vampire Doll: Guilt-na-Zan Volume 1" is a delightfully comic little vampire story, and it promises to get even better after this.

Awesome book. Great storyline. If you like the unreal this the book to read.