Trinity Blood, Vol. 5

Trinity Blood #5

by Kiyo Kyujyo (Adaptor), Sunao Yoshida (Original concept)

In a post-apocalyptic world of constant war between humans and vampires, many desire a peaceful co-existence between the two species, but standing between them is a group of vampire extremists who manipulate the two sides and pit them against each other.

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Vampires, Horror, Comics Manga, Graphic Novels, Fiction

184 pages, Comic

First published September 17, 2005

About the author

A.k.a. Kyujo Kiyo 九条キヨ-

Reviews

[Gustav Roccia]

4.5/5.0

[Aaron]

Okay this is THE volume. Painful betrayals, uneasy alliances, dramatic self sacrifice. Pretty sure I cried while reading this one for the first time in a Barnes and Noble 15 years ago.

[Viridian5]

The Trinity Blood manga is continuing the rise in quality that started with volume III. Volume V has plot, drama, humor, and big things at stake for almost all the characters involved. I still want to punch Esther, though.

* How do I love Tres? Let me count the ways for volume V: talking to Ion (with the two of them talking more at each other than to each other, as Abel astute notices) and extending apologies while accepting none in return, ignoring Petros' declaiming in favor of just trying to kill him for the crime of threatening Cardinal Caterina, kicking revenant vampire ass while blind, or quietly letting people have their own way without admitting to it. Him headbutting that one vampire's skull to mush, then walking around with the gore dripping down his face for several panels... is it wrong of me to find that totally badass? I loved Abel throwing his whole body weight in trying to stop Tres from shooting at Petros... and failing.

Tres remains a mix of ruthless pragmatism and subtle caring. How Tres' ruthless pragmatism in saying they should save Cardinal Caterina and let the rest of Carthage die because it's too late to save them briefly unites Petros and Ion in sheer horror was fun, particularly since Tres ignores them completely. At the end of the battle Tres goes for his gun against Petros but doesn't draw, where before he was ready to "delete" Petros and maybe take out Abel too if Abel kept trying to stop him. Interesting.

* Just as interesting as Petros saving Ion from burning to death, although he does promise to come back to excute Ion and the heretics helping him later. Petros amuses me at times.

* Sometimes Ion seems to have visually aged a few years. I wonder if that's intentional, a way to show how his continuing problems with Radu are forcing him to mature, or the artist thinking that a fighting Ion has to look more adult to be a credible foe to Radu in battle. Wee Ion and Radu are still super cute. I appreciate the steel that this volume shows is at Ion's core. Manga Ion is far less of a spoiled brat. He does things, the right things, instead of complaining and then sneaking off to do something stupid. I also appreciate that so far the manga is avoiding the rather vomitous Ion/Esther romance the anime went into, the one that made both characters act more selfish and stupid.

* But I have to say that anime Esther took the knowledge of Abel's Krusnik side far better than the manga one. Staying in bed out of fear of him and facing no one? Isn't she a special princess. Then yelling at Abel for leaving before she had a chance to say anything. How long was he supposed to wait for her to stop pretending to be asleep? As if the whole world will come to a screeching halt because she finally decides she wants to get something off her chest?

* Although she may be helpful against the Iblis if Abel can get her to stop complaining to him long enough. Lilith really drove a nail through his heart in that video presentation. Nice bet she and Elissa made, but what if he were friendly with the Terrans and just hadn't brought one with him to stop the Iblis? I appreciate the holy legend retelling of Saint Elissa versus the historical (science fiction) fact of First Lieutenant Elissa Dar Cherait. Was Nia Sancta Lilith? Probably not, but stil....

* And the weight of his guilt and grief is enough to make Abel give up and stop fighting. Maybe he even saw a poetic justice in dying on the fangs of a vampire that had been mutilated into an even worse killing machine.

* Sister Kate is cute. "Boys give me a headache." And she's trapped working with a whole lot of them.

* Radu is rather one note, though.


The creator's afterword section isn't quite as funny as last time, although "The Magic of Sleepiness" and the picture of Ion being impressed by Petros' rock-hard abs were amusing. (Although the image of the creator's avatar of Petros with the phone cord in his/her mouth as Kyujyo's dad says the nuns should be drawn in mini-skirts was a special moment too.)

[Yv]

[9/10] Buen tomo, más un 8.5 que un 9 pero aun así, muy emocionante.

[marisa.]

five stars for lilith and radu's punk ass finally dying.

(i love radu but i also love ion and you don't touch my son.)

i think the iblis is one of my favorite arcs in this manga, other than the empire arc.

[Hana Eka]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, Radu! ;'(

[Kyle Rieman]

Gorgeous artwork, vampires and a great story. What more could you ask for in a manga?

[consumedshadow-mysticmc]

A very interesting and painful.

[nidah05 (SleepDreamWrite)]

That art style. Good volume.

[Philippe Lhoste]

Revue groupé pour les cinq premiers tomes, j'ai encore 5 autres de la bibliothèque municipale.

Histoire assez dans le courant de mode actuel sur les vampires... Mais renouvelant le genre en supposant qu'un partie (importante) des humains a évolué dans cet état, avec les attributs habituels : force énorme, super vitesse, régénération, et bien sûr goût pour le sang humain...

Le Vatican lutte contre eux, avec des super-prêtres, dont un à l'aspect ordinaire, voire farfelu, mais s'avérant redoutable pour ses ennemis (en leur ressemblant fortement...).
C'est épicé avec une jeune nonne sexy (nous avons aussi une femme à la tête du Vatican), une Inquisition impitoyable, des combats avec sabres et armes à feu, une intrigue qui s'épaissit avec des intrigues et des négociations entre Vatican et l'Empire des vampire. On sent l'origine livresque de l'intrigue.

Le dessin est parfois un peu confus, particulièrement dans les combats. Mais il est élégant, et plonge parfois dans le burlesque, un peu à la Full Metal Alchemist. Le mélange de gothique élégant (les tenus des religieux sont loin d'être austères !), de drame (perte d'êtres chers) et d'humour, de combats et stratégie politique en fait un très bon manga.

À suivre.

[Holly]

Having learned my lesson from writing short little reviews for the Vampire Hunter D manga, I'm just straight up going to say that the art for this is gorgeous. My only complaint is that it's sometimes a little too heavy on the fanservice, but it's otherwise really well put-together. I love the characters and the plot – which builds itself as the volumes progress, revealing the world to us gradually and making it seem very, very real. Overall, this is one of my favourite mangas and I'm really disappointed that the English release hasn't been continued.

[Miss Ryoko]

Well, I'm sure glad Esther got over her stupidness. Abel is bad ass as Crusnik and that is all there is too it :-p

Haha! I don't have much to say about this volume other than I think Tres is also a bad ass. I'm also rather enjoying Ion and his fun, Shakespearean vernacular.

On to the next I say!

[Khallandra]

Oh that scene on Iron Maiden is just brilliant (and funny with Petros). I'm such a shipper at heart.

[Rachel (Sfogs)]

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!

[Fugo Feedback]

Me gustaba bastante esta serie, lástima que haya quedado en el limbo. De hecho creo que nunca leí los últimos tomos publicados acá.

[Prisca]

Nanomachine Crusnik 02 Power Output 100% Activated

[Atm]

good

[Dony Grayman]

Edición argentina, tomo 5.

[Audre]

still better. and I really love petros and Kate