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“Bloody” Mary, a vampire with a death wish, has spent the past 400 years chasing down a modern-day exorcist named Maria who is thought to have inherited “The Blood of Maria” and is the only one who can kill Mary. To Mary’s dismay, Maria doesn’t know how to kill vampires. Desperate to die, Mary agrees to become Maria’s bodyguard until Maria can find a way to kill him.

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 26, 2014

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1031 people want to read

About the author

Akaza Samamiya

37 books49 followers

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5 stars
542 (39%)
4 stars
428 (30%)
3 stars
312 (22%)
2 stars
72 (5%)
1 star
27 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 153 reviews
151 reviews37 followers
March 10, 2021
this series is promising me blood, gore, supernatural violence, meaningful friendships, and emotional torment. I’M IN
Profile Image for Mizuki.
3,377 reviews1,403 followers
Want to read
November 3, 2017
The artwork is awesome and...VAMPIRES!!!! HOMOEROTICA-UNDERTONE!!!!! I jumped to read it ASAP.

However, the plot is..........slow paced and confusing at time, the personalities of the main characters aren't very fresh out. I wonder should I continue.

PS: I'm not a fan of Maria (the teenage priest), but as a centuries-old vampire, Mary is such a darling!
Profile Image for Victoria ✮⋆˙.
1,112 reviews129 followers
August 23, 2021
Re reading this series ! I haven’t read it since 2015 so I’m excited!

The premise for the series is just so fun! A vampire who can’t die and a priest who’s the only one who can kill him, it’s super interesting and the art is lovely !!
Profile Image for Pip (Bookish_Pip).
100 reviews25 followers
January 16, 2016
I definitely enjoyed this way more than I should have but it's shounen ai so of course I did. A vampire called Mary succeeds in finding another boy called Maria and desperately asks for him to kill him which should be no problem for a priest with the 'powers of exorcism'. However, Maria hasn't even heard of such a thing. The series seems to be uncovering why Maria hasn't been told about exorcism and also why Mary is desperate to die.

Volume 1 is, of course, setting everything up and introducing our characters. From the look of the cover I thought this series might be a serious one similar to No.6 but there are lots of funny moments, some straight of the bat. As well as being funny there is plenty of tease to be had between the two main characters. Mary is adorable (I just want to hug him) while Maria is the 'cool' one of the pair. Takumi seems like an interesting character and it's just a shame we didn't really get a chance to meet him this volume.

The art was a huge plus for this volume and I really can't wait to get the second! This series is going to be fun!

Profile Image for Dreamcatcher (HIATUS).
202 reviews223 followers
September 30, 2025
1.5 Stars for the entire series.

Oh boy this one continuously exceeded expectations.

Each chapter I thought, "Surely it can only gets better from here. After all, it's not possible for a story to get more boring than this. Right?" And the next thing you know, I wake up after a good nap because I fell asleep reading this.

Seriously it's not even bad. If Lukewarm was a manga it would be this one. And being boring is far bigger of a literary sin than being bad.
Profile Image for Mir.
4,975 reviews5,332 followers
August 12, 2019
The blurb makes this sound angsty and sexy, but in fact it is pretty cute, with a dash of mystery.
Profile Image for Azbaqiyah.
1,003 reviews
April 26, 2020
Plot - 5
Character - 5
Writing Style - 3
World Building - 3
Art - 5
Cover - 5

Overall - 4.3 / 5
Profile Image for Spudpuppy.
538 reviews1 follower
Read
August 19, 2025
Twilight but with a bunch of fruity bishounens. This would've rocked my world when I was 14
Profile Image for Shan( Shans_Shelves) 💜.
1,083 reviews94 followers
May 14, 2018
3.5

This was quite a good manga. While I did enjoy it, the story and characters still need some development. Which luckily for me the other volumes are for.

This manga is about a 17 year old priest in training called Ichiro Rosario di Maria or just Maria for short, who wants to live but because of his family and the power of his blood he attracts every vampire under the sun. Who just happens to want him dead. It’s also about a vampire nicknamed Bloody Mary. Who’s name and past is unknown but wants to die, and cannot. Both decide to team up and help eachother; if Mary keeps Maria alive long enough to find a way to kill him, he will do it but only when Maria feels he isn’t in danger anymore. So basically Mary is now a vampire bodyguard.

Mary is so far, the most interesting. In this story vampires have grey, black or no hair when they change. However Mary has deep red. Vampires can also be killed by the usual: Sunlight, garlic, a stake through the heart, church and crosses. Yet Mary can be killed so far by nothing?? Though a little childish and whiny I’m so curious about his character.

Since this is the first volume we don’t get much more information than that. However, the author introduced two interesting side characters and there was even a twist at the end. I’m looking forward to seeing how this story progresses.

I’ll be honest I gave this a try because it was categorized under vampires and LGBT+ on my anime list, so of course I needed it. So far we don’t know if any of the main characters are actually queer, but it’s early days.

The art was also very well done and I like the authors message to readers at the end.

Overall, not a bad manga. It’s only the beginning and Bloody Mary has the potential to be something amazing. I’m looking forward to continuing on.
Profile Image for Jillian -always aspiring-.
1,870 reviews535 followers
February 11, 2019
On an entertainment level, this first volume gets a one-star rating from me because the story and characters just aren’t compelling. “Suicidal vampire” and “sadistic priest” sound great as hooks — but the execution here just doesn’t play out well. “I want to die!” says the vampire. Then the priest (who’s in high school still???) responds, “I’ll kill you once I learn how to access my ancestral powers, and in the meantime you can suck my blood to access YOUR great powers to protect me!” It might have been good if it had been tackled from a sense of irony, but nah, it just falls flat, even with hints of shounen-ai. If you want to give it a try, though, I recommend that you find it at your library or buy a digital copy.
Profile Image for dasfraeuleinliest.
268 reviews5 followers
June 30, 2024
Ich habe die ersten drei Bände der „Bloody Mary“ Manga - Reihe von Akaza Samamiya gestern in einem Rutsch durchgelesen. Der Zeichenstil ist sehr schön und auch die Geschichte konnte mich gut unterhalten. Die Charaktere sind interessant und hinter jeder Ecke lauert ein neues Geheimnis. Der Verlauf der Geschichte ist recht schnelllebig, aber dadurch fliegt man regelrecht durch die Seiten und möchte direkt den nächsten Band aufschlagen. Der Plot lässt keinen Raum für Langeweile und macht Lust auf mehr. Die Beziehung zwischen den Protagonisten ist noch etwas holprig, aber bei so vielen Teilen muss eben noch Luft nach oben bleiben. Ich bin gespannt, wie es weitergeht und freue mich sehr auf Band 4!
Profile Image for Elinor.
1,380 reviews37 followers
June 20, 2017
Un très bon premier tome de manga de vampires ! Une ambiance gothique qui me rappelle Vampire Knight, des personnages intéressants et une intrigue qui commence tout juste à se former... un début prometteur.
Profile Image for Melanie.
157 reviews3 followers
September 1, 2019
I don't know what's with me and vampire manga lately but oh well. Since I caught up with Servamp and now have to wait for new volumes to come out I decided to read this since I have almost all the volumes anyway.

This and the 2nd volume will technically be re-reads because I know I read them before even tho it's impossible for me to remember when.

I had actually forgotten how fast passed this is right of the bat. I'm really curious about how this story will go. I have one kinda major spoiler but I still think I don't know/remember everything around it.

Funny thing: I actually cosplayed the vampire main character of this at the beginning of this year even tho I only had read the first two volumes before lol
Profile Image for Kate.
Author 15 books900 followers
May 17, 2018
All the vampires want the blood of Ichirou Rosario di Maria, a priest and exorcist (and high school student...), but not Bloody Mary. He wants Maria to kill him. But Maria refuses - he needs protection from the other vampires. Maria and Mary (both dudes) enter into an agreement: Mary protects Maria, while Maria looks for information about the power of exorcism he apparently inherited from his ancestors.

Okay, so by the title I had assumed the Bloody Mary character would be female - I can't say I was unpleasantly surprised to find that this was a yaoi (m/m) manga. The relationship is a bit dom/sub but not really, since Mary could kill Maria at any time, but Maria is the only one who can kill Mary. Mary doesn't have any memories of his past, but he is very certain on the fact that he doesn't want to drink blood and he doesn't want to be a vampire. I began to like Maria less and less as the volume went on, he seemed a bit cruel. Bloody Mary was definitely the sympathetic character and I'm very curious to find out more about his past...
Profile Image for Marc D. ✨.
807 reviews79 followers
November 24, 2019
4/5 estrellas.

Es precioso. La estética es deliciosa.
Y por favor, no me vengan con que esto es shōjo porque puedo ver la homosexualidad a kilómetros, traspasa el papel(?).
Profile Image for Amanda Leigh .
220 reviews2 followers
April 11, 2022
I was not expecting to like this as much as I did and now I need to read the rest!
Profile Image for CrazyDarkSheep.
41 reviews
June 19, 2025
Spoko, taka lekka, prosta historia (jeszcze wciąż rozkminiam czy chce mangi tu dodawać też)
Profile Image for everybookadoorway.
208 reviews43 followers
June 23, 2025
a promising start! i will definitely be buying the next couple of volumes
Profile Image for Luke Reynolds.
667 reviews
October 3, 2016
I was really looking forward to this, but man, this was disappointing. Bloody Mary may have great art, but it's unfortunately a prime example of what happens when style goes over substance. Even the homoerotic undertones that were right on the edge to becoming BL/yaoi couldn't save this, partially because Maria (or Ichiro) is a creep that makes me way too nervous.

We should probably start with the positives, that being the art style and the concept. To start off with, the color illustrations for three of four chapter pages are absolutely gorgeous. There's a smooth fluidity to those that is a sharp contrast to the simple, often jagged drawings of the actual panels. At first, I wasn't super impressed with the switch, but I actually grew more to it. There's actually great attention to detail and plenty to look at, from the wicked eyes to Mary's sometimes cartoonish expressions that are just so darn cute to the different emotions and facial expressions. The atmosphere is limited, but it's obviously going for the dark and Gothic environment of some vampire series past. It would probably work very well in animated form in the hands of a great director, and I actually wouldn't mind an anime adaptation for this series (a drama CD adapted from this volume was released last year with Yuki Kaji and Shinosuke Tachibana playing the leads, which work extremely well).

However, Bloody Mary isn't going on a very interesting and exciting path. The team-up of a vampire desperate to die and a priest desperate (maybe that's the wrong word, it's more like 'wants') to live is interesting in theory, but their partnership isn't particularly groundbreaking or interesting. There's the typical break-up chapter that lasts for about 10 pages , fraught dialogue that repeats motives over and over again, and this edge of creepiness that made me uncomfortable more than intrigued. The plot has been incredibly slow, and it could get interesting in future volumes, but at this point there's nothing really here to grab my interest. A school with a hidden vampire information collection? I've seen that before. A cute vampire? I just read Servamp a week ago and enjoyed it more (ironically, both Mary and Kuro from Servamp share the same voice actor, yet they're completely different characters). A dark and bloody escapade? There's Akame ga Kill or Attack on Titan, even though I have absolutely no interest in watching either of those shows or reading their mangas (maybe a little more for the latter).

If I had to state my biggest complaint, it would have to be Maria (although he's got a great collarbone, not gonna lie). He's obviously the main character instead of Mary (which I was disappointed in, since it seems Mary is no more than a mascot), and I just don't like him. Granted, this would be fine if done well, but there's a catch here. Author Akaza Samamiya has done BL before, and although this is not nowhere close to explicit as that stuff usually tends to get, the hints are still there. Mary is the uke and Maria is the seme, and that framing is enough to send a chill down my spine. They're drawn in the most darkly romantic ways possible: Mary licking Maria's fingers as they drip with blood as Maria urges him on by saying that he'll kill Mary once he becomes a full-on exorcist, Mary latching his fangs onto Mary's neck so he can fight some vampires, Maria saying the coldest things with an innocent little smile on his face as Mary looks scared.... I'm sorry, am I supposed to find this sexy? It's not whatsoever. I have no doubt Maria is having fun making Mary squirm, meaning that he's got a nasty sadistic streak and needs to be kept away from the children. It also doesn't help that he's one of the most popular boys at the private school because of his kind nature. Sure.

In the end, this was unfortunately very forgettable. Even though I gave up on The Gentlemen's Alliance Cross, at least I cared about the characters enough to keep reading even though the plot grew more and more convoluted soap opera style with every volume. Maybe Bloody Mary would be more interesting if it was actually yaoi and Maria and Mary were making out? It would definitely help clear up the sexual tension that is heavily implied. As of now, though, I'm taking a pass on this.
Profile Image for Cornerofmadness.
1,960 reviews16 followers
April 26, 2016
I bought this one on a whim in the bookstore and I enjoyed it more than I should. I do really enjoy vampire stories and this one has an interesting set up IF you can do a lot of suspension of disbelief (and also look past the stupid names) Bloody Mary is not your typical vampire. He wants to die but nothing seems to work. He can handle sunlight, crosses etc and he's redhaired (which in this universe is rare for vampires so it deviates from actual myth quite a bit there). He wants Isaac di Maria, a priest to exorcise him so he can die.

Only the Isaac he wanted lived centuries ago. This one is a teenager, Ichiro, (I have no idea why there are so many high schooler priests in manga but they are so off...). Ichiro goes out walking every night, almost as if to taunt the vampires who try to feed on him. He and Mary make a deal, he'll learn about this exorcism deal (he has no idea about it and I don't want to say too much about that because his ignorance is one of the twists).

It's an interesting relationship with hints of shonen-ai (though it is put out by shojo beat). There's plenty of action and mysticism. I liked the characters enough to try the next volume.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
681 reviews6 followers
April 8, 2020
Das ist Band 01 der "Bloody Mary" Reihe von Akaza Samamiya.

Der Zeichenstil ist wirklich sehr schön, vor allem finde ich es total niedlich wenn Mary ein kleiner Catboy ist :D Ist einfach so süß gezeichnet dann. Allerdings weis ich nicht was ich davon halten soll das ein Kerl also der Andere der ihn töten Soll Maria heißt. Finde ich etwas gewöhnungsbedürftig, aber es tut der Story keinen Abbruch.
Das Cover ist ganz nett, allerdings nichts spektakuläres.

Es geht hier um einen Vampir- Mary... er möchte unbedingt sterben, warum weiß ich allerdings auch noch nicht. Und um Maria der eigentlich die Gabe als einziger besitzen soll Vampire zu töten. Nunja, mit einem mehr als merkwürdigen Pakt, versuchen die Beiden nun miteinander auszukommen. Allerdings gibt es im Hintergrund weitere Dinge die Fragen aufwerfen. Die kleinen Bemerkungen finde ich auch sehr lustig. Das Ende war extrem verwirrend weshalb ich mich auch auf Band 02 freue.
Profile Image for Selena Pigoni.
1,941 reviews263 followers
October 5, 2016
So far, I am intrigued.

This is about a high school student named Maria (male) who is being followed around by a "vampire" named Bloody Mary (also male). Mary's following Maria (yes, the names can get a bit hard to follow) so that Maria can kill Mary, who is immortal and cannot die. Problem is, Maria doesn't have the ability to do that (yet) and so Mary's got to keep Maria from dying until Maria can figure it out.

Also a problem for Mary, Maria's a bit of a bully. This makes for some interesting and entertaining interactions between the two characters. After all, who would expect a 400-something-year-old vampire to kowtow to a 17-year-old with no real power?

I had a good laugh, I was intrigued. I think I will be reading the next volume.
Profile Image for Aurakinski.
262 reviews5 followers
December 4, 2024
"I promise that I'll kill you. So until then, live for me."

What if Yuki Eiri and Shuichi were a priest and a vampire? That's kind of what this felt like. And it was totally my jam.

I picked this up on a whim, got a few volumes for a cheap price on an auction site and just thought "oh vampire BL, nice!". Didn't expect to become so fond of it. Also didn't expect there to be so much comedy, but I like it. That part also reminded me of Gravitation. I think it'll get more serious from here on, but I love the author's sense of humor.
37 reviews
April 29, 2025
mega polecam jednak przestrzegam że mimo okładek to nie jest bl. oczywiście można przypuszczać że między bohaterami jest jakaś zażyłość emocjonalna jednak nie jest to powiedziane wprost. mimo wszystko napewno spodoba się osobą lubiącym bl ale trochę w mrocznym i tajemniczym stylu
Displaying 1 - 30 of 153 reviews

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