When the regular editor for Takumi, a famous mangaka, winds up in an accident, Minami steps in. She’s just come off a string of bad decisions revolving around dating guys for their looks, but she’s a real sucker for Takumi, who’s also the son of the author of her favourite children’s book. But she’s not the only sucker in the picture here…
What a ridiculous book. This is a very cute romance that somehow ticks all the boxes of being cute enough and good enough without being especially great. It’s a little too much for its own good at times, really, but not enough to make it bad.
Yes, Takumi is a vampire and that means… not a whole hell of a lot, honestly. He needs some human blood now and then (heck, I need a whole 1.2-1.5 gallons according to the Red Cross), gets sunburnt easily, but loves garlic and doesn’t get repelled by crosses.
Even the vampire blood sucking thing gives the humans super healing, so there are no marks left. It’s basically a hard coded excuse for him to nom nom on Minami now and then, he just has to make sure she doesn’t become anemic (big health care thumbs-up for the juice box having the correct vitamins and minerals to cover every type of anemia, great touch).
So, this is a lot more, well, bite fetish based than it is vampire fetish based and while I freely admit to conforming to neither, I can see those of you hoping for some capes and flowery puffy shirts and ‘mlah!’ this and bat that being rather disappointed.
The balance of this story is Minami trying very hard not to make the same mistakes as she has in the past and failing just as very hard. Takumi seems like an idiot at first, but he’s actually totally nice and not in an ‘underneath it all’ sort of way that’s kind of refreshing.
They’ve definitely got chemistry and the “date” they end up on is super fun - Minami’s type A personality meshes well with Takumi’s more chill side and there’s definitely potential for them as a couple. He’s clearly a stabilizing influence she could use, no question, and they manage to get a little spicy here and there.
It’s sweet and Minami is constantly in a state where she seems poised to have a massive heart attack and such, so if you don’t like high strung characters that’s a thing, but otherwise it’s absolutely enjoyable, doubly so if you like workplace romances or non-high school ones (even if this still wedges in a lot of the high school tropes).
These kinds of stories are basically okay and hard to say too much about. There’s not a ton here I would single out and go, ‘dang, this is great’ (okay, the kiss is really good and actually conveys some solid desire), but it isn’t riddled with cringe either. Sometimes something you don’t regret reading is enough to make it stand out.
3 stars - its heart is in the right place and all liquids it might be pumping are mostly confined to where they should be. Not the most biting shojo out there, which is not only accurate, but is also an awful pun I feel no shame in ending the review with.