Yorugata Aijin Senmonten - Bloodhound - Nocturnal Lovers Speciality Store - Bloodhound - By Yuki Kaori Publisher Hakusensha Imprint HANA TO YUME COMICS SPECIAL Magazine Hana to Yume Vintage / Length 2004 / 1 volume

Story
When Rion was a little girl, she was rescued by a vampire. Now that she's in high school, she's convinced that a real vampire is responsible for a series of kidnappings that include her friend Shiho. Following a clue left behind by Shiho, Rion finds herself in front of the host club Krankenhaus, run by the charismatic Suou and a staff of handsome, alluring young men. Suou & Co. claim not to know anything about vampires and the disappearing girls, but Rion is convinced that she's got her murderers. Now all she has to do is prove that they're the guilty ones! But when she draws the attention of her school's nosey guidance consular, Rion finds that she may have gotten in over her head. And little does she know that her connection to Suou and the Krankenhaus hosts - and real vampires - may be older and deeper than she ever imagined.

Review
Unfortunately not a true "series", Bloodhound is actually a collection of three short stories about Rion, Suou, and the Krankenhaus hosts (krankenhaus means "hospital" in German). The first, summarized above, introduces the characters and sets up the situation for the other stories. The second involves Rion's search for Suou & Co. and a run-in she has with a witch. The third finds her back at the club as a part-time employee and a mishap she has with a cursed bottle of wine. Like most of Yuki Kaori's work, the Bloodhound shorts are gothic mysteries involving horrific, Western fairytale- and folklore-themed crimes performed by twisted people. At the same time, humor punctuates the disturbing and angsty mood, so the reading has fun moments and isn't too heavily loaded down. The third story in particular is pure fun, and it's nice to see the gang not so serious. Strange situations, horrific encounters, and general goofiness is a good mix for Yuki Kaori. That said, the only really disappointing thing about Bloodhound is that it is not a continuous series.

For me, Rion and Suou are the best aspect of Bloodhound. Rion is my favorite of Yuki Kaori's heroines to date. Smart, loyal, out-spoken, straightforward, and aggressive, she takes matters into her own hands and doesn't care about what other people think. What's not to like about a girl who purposefully breaks an expensive bottle of wine just so she'd have to come to the club everyday to pay off the debt (and snoop around). The 'forced-servitude' scenario is so common in shoujo manga nowadays, but not many girls actually put themselves in this situation and make it work to their advantage. I really admire her brazenness and her spunk. And it's difficult to dislike Suou, who is refined, slovenly, tricky, and tortured all at once (to say nothing of handsome). The rest of the Krankenhaus guys play only bit roles in the stories and are mostly confined to standing in the background and being attractive. But this doesn't keep them from being a bit subversive as well. Moegi, for instance, is supposed to be the cute and sweet one (a must-have in harem manga), but he has something of snarky streak that really clashes with the reader's expectations of him. It is not too much of a stretch to think of Bloodhound as a slight parody of shoujo harem manga, such as Hatori Bisco's Ouran Koukou Host Club or Furukawa Shiori's Five, done Yuki style. Rion, Suou, and Co. only have a brief time in the spotlight, but they're engaging and fun nonetheless.

Yuki Kaori's so-called "gothic-style" art has really come into its own over the years. The illustrations are sharp, clear and detailed. Yuki is a well-known fan of j-rock and visual kei, so the characters look and dress like they're straight out of Dir en grey or Luna Sea. I particularly like her style of drawing eyes, which always look heavily mascara-ed. The mood set by her style works as well for this contemporary vampire series and it did for the last phase of her Victorian murder mystery series, God Child.

That said, it's too bad that there is only one volume of Bloodhound. It just doesn't seem like quite enough. The stories are good as they stand, but at the same time there is so much more that can be explored and could be explained. Who, for example, is Ellone? Is Rion really Ellone reborn? (And what is the correct way to transliterate her name?) Where did the Krankenhaus guys come from, and how long have they been hunting for their mistress? I'd also like to see Rion and Suou’s relationship develop more. Even if it doesn't blossom into romance, the two of them are still a fun pair of mismatched personalities whose interactions are the best parts of the stories. Now, a live action TV drama loosely based on the first short story, called "The Vampire Gigolo", probably develops these things a little more. I have the distinct impression that the short stories were written to preview the drama, rather than stand on their own. Many of Yuki Kaori's short stories are self-contained, while those in this volume leave too many questions unanswered. It's something of a shame, because she has a great concept with solid cast that she really could have developed in its own right.

People who might be skeptical of Bloodhound after reading some of Yuki Kaori's older short stories or attempting to plow through the (right badass) quagmire that is Tenshi Kinryouku might nevertheless give Bloodhound a try. She handles the story and the characters very well, and her art is much improved. Rion is a unique heroine, while Suou and the Krankenhaus vampires are a fun gothic twist on the shoujo manga host club theme, to say nothing of being devilishly attractive young men. Even though I'm disappointed that there is only this one volume of loose stories, Bloodhound is still and always will be among my favorite of Yuki Kaori's works.

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