Vampires have lately become a trend in the entertainment industry, obviously including the anime and manga industry. Countless movies/books/series etc have been made about them, and in the name of originality, their creators had to more or less move away from the actual vampire myths. Which is a good thing, because otherwise all of them would pretty much be like Dracula, and that could ruin the whole genre. Nobody likes rip-offs, after all. Therefore, over the past few years we've seen vampires that can walk under the sun, go to human school and live a pretty much normal life.

Now, the reason I'm taking this long introduction is because "Record of Fallen Vampire" features the most rediculus variations of the original myth, namely vampires that don't drink blood to survive. I don't know your opinion, but any creature that doesn't need to drink blood is, at least for me, not a vampire. It might be a drow elf, but that's beyond the point. There is however a single blood-sucking moment towards the end of the story, so I will accept it as it is. Now, to the review.

"Record of Fallen Vampire" has one of the most gripping stories I've ever seen or read. Part of it is because almost everything you thought was true at the beginning of the story will have been dismissed as lies by the time you've reached the middle. You'll be led to believe the myth surrounding the vampire king's name, but you will soon learn that nothing is as it seems... and again... and again... until the final truth, the one even the king himself doesn't know, is revealed. On the journey towards that truth you will discover political intrigue in the human and the vampire world, and you will see mortal enemies joining hands to fight a common foe. The only thing that bothers me with the otherwise great story is that, at some point, there is the introduction of aliens to the plot. Many may find them matching well with the vampires, but I personally find the combination pretty silly. The fact that the aliens themselves - although we never get to actually see how they actually look like - are as cliche as they can get certainly doesn't help.

The main characters are quite deep and are developed pretty well as the story progresses. Particularly Kayuki, Bridget and Strauss are characters to fall in love with. Some of the more minor characters could have been developed a bit more, but you'll hardly notice it.

Art is surelly one of the biggest assets of the manga series. All characters are drawn well, but especially some larger drawings look astonishing.

All in all, "Record of Fallen Vampire" is a trully great manga for all those who love good fantasy, action and romance. I would recommend it as a must-read to all those vampire-fans out there (part of whom I am myself ;) ) although the main story is clearly not of the typical vampire genre. But then again, the manga's backstory clearly is, so you'll probably like it anyway.