I'll give myself time to sit on this, but I might have resonated with this manga more than even Shoujo Tsubaki. A lot of similar imagery is conveyed, the early 20th century freakshows, psychedelic sexual violence, queerness, twisting of power dynamics, and lyricism of the flow of the story that feels like poetry not unlike a Mishima novel. This is a story of a young boy at the edge between childhood and early adulthood of being a teenager. His youth feels like a guaranteed constant ever since his transformation, and a hedonistic approach to life follows. All of this under the eye of a deranged older woman forcing him to commit obscene crimes, as his life is now forever altered as a result of his vampirism. But this is not a feel-bad horror full of disturbed visuals, well, maybe in some parts, but it also is an adventure story full of high thrill stakes and fights for true love and a right to self determination. The empowerment of young people in the face of systemised abuse creates a wonderful tone when contrasted with the image of the vampire, not unlike the film "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night".
Oh god, the art work. It feels needless to say a Suehiro Maruo manga looks wonderful, but this one stands out across the small handful I've read. A strange technique is present throughout, where a body part like the face will be draw multiple times in the same panel implying movement. The effect created makes me this of giallo films and their posters, a distortion of something horrifying bringing in terror into the simplest moments. The character design here is simple for the school age protagonists, but the deep eyebags and a sense of grandeur that Konosuke Mori carries himself with create a fascinating figure on the page. It is an oddly heartfelt story, a young woman named Luna falls for Konosuke as they become both vampires. The way in which she becomes the creature of the night is a powerful image I wish my girlfriend to recreate with me. Maruo loves to linger on the peripheries of good taste, but I cannot help but to fall in love with the soft interior of the gothic horror nightmare the manga presents itself as.