A Midnight Opera, Volume 1

by Hanzo Steinbach

Some among the undead feel that now is the time, in the midst of human complacency, to strike against the mortals in a coup that would leave humanity at the mercy of the "dark creatures." Of course, it is at a time of human complacency that dogmatic agents in the Catholic Church also feel ready to strike against "evil," with just as little regard for the cost to human life.The power to stave this ultimate, destructive conflict between evil and righteousness rests in two wise and powerful undead brothers. The only problem is they haven't spoken to each other in a hundred and fifty years.

Genres: Manga, Graphic Novels, Comics, Horror, Gothic, Urban Fantasy, Fantasy

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most Manga I read is always just a little too far out for me, and this wasn't an exception. That being said, I do still enjoy it reading it from time to time just to enjoy the artform. Manga is a method of storytelling all its own, even different from American Comics. It's entertaining even if the stories are hard to follow.

This one is basically a horror gothic love story. You have the centuries old vampire who is now a rock star in modern times. He's fallen in love. Then he gets caught between vampire hunters and another clan of vampires. His brother shows up to complicate things as well.

If you like gothic manga, then you'll love this one. If you don't like Manga, this one won't change your mind.

[Leila Anani · Rating 1 out of 5]

For some reason non-Asian manga really doesn't work for me. A Midnight Opera is one of Tokyopop's Euro titles but because it features a gothic plot about an immortal rock star, supernatural creatures and history I thought I'd give it a go. Absolutely hated it - the "plot" jumped all over the place from France 1562 to present day, mixing in all sorts of stuff - phantom of the opera, werewolves? Elizabeth Bathory, demons? brothers locked in hatred, Huguenots vs. Catholics and random singing in Latin with no translation. About the only sense I could get was this immortal rock star had fallen in love with a girl but his insane brother objected and he was destined never to find happiness or something like that.

As well as hating the confused and choppy narrative, I disliked the art style as well with it's styalised stick like figures. There are two more volumes but on the strength of this one don't feel particularly motivated to seek them out.

[Ririn · Rating 3 out of 5]

sometimes I wanna slap Ein.

[Vanessa]

The art was the most interesting part to me. SUPER uniquely stylized with a strong visual language/art direction, but the skill slipped hard sometimes, creating some genuinely ugly panels and visually confusing spreads. I just had to look up the artist to see what he's up to, 20 years later, and he's immensely skilled and seems to be doing really well in the video game industry, though I would have loved to see this bizarro style done with more finesse!

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was dark! I remembered it was good and gripping but I didn't grasp some of it because it was so complicated.

[Dexter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure what I think about this one yet. I was already hesitant because I'm a snob and not a huge fan of graphic novels in the manga style that aren't really manga. I'm never sure how to classify them.

That said, the art is quite pretty. The story isn't awe-inspiring, and I'm not sure about Ein. He seems kind of uninteresting. Overall it's just kind of a bland disappointment, but I'll keep reading the series to give it a chance.

[melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tapped out about halfway. Back and forth timelines without much info in either. Foreign texts without translations, not really interesting enough to try harder on this one.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Midnight Opera is a European manga about two brothers who escape extermination for being demon children by the Crusades in the 16th Century by traveling forward into the present era. The hero Ein Delalune is now a young goth rock star chain smoking and rockin' out like Keith Richards. He has no interest in the spiritual world and enjoys his rock star fame and all the chicks that he can handle. But the Crusades are hot on his heels and want to kill him and his brother in the good old 21st Century.

Hans Steinbach draws a pretty wicked story in an almost weird rococo style with photo realistic flourish here and there.His story telling isn't bad but kind of dense in places. I think a little more humor wouldn't hurt, but then again casting the Catholic Church as the bad guys is actually pretty funny in itself.

[Ariel · Rating 4 out of 5]

For what it's worth, I think the book wasn't too bad. I honestly thought it would be complete crap, but it's really good. On the plus side, it's only three books long, so it's not like it has enough time to turn into a crappy series. I'm glad it's short. I kind of have to laugh because the book made me think about the lead singer of the band Creature Feature. Ein makes me think of Curtis in the similarities they share. The fact they are both lead guitarist/singers in a lesser known band. Their style of clothing, things like thay. I'd Definitely finish up the series

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting style, though I'm not sure it would be classified under the banner of manga.

Going for that gothic, horror style & it all feels very sharp. Everything moves at a quick pace as well, but I kinda have to admit I'm a bit confused on parts - perhaps I'm just slow, or it could be the time changes.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the gothic mood in this one.

[Regina Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Faces are totally priceless when they fight!!!

[Gianina · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's just meh for me

[Heather Carlisle · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's good for a quick read and I love the incorporation of historical characters. Vol. 1 doesn't have much of a plot, but rather an outline for the rest of the installments.