▪	RELEASED BY:		DARK HORSE
		▪	AUTHOR / ART:		ASUKA KATSURA
		▪	FORMAT:		JAPANESE / BW
		▪	PAGES:		210
		▪	RATING:		14+
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		01/30/2008
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		02/18/2008
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		HOLLY ELLINGWOOD

Inspired by the internationally popular anime series, Blood+ the manga is as bloodthirsty as the anime that it is reinterpreted from. Saya is a girl with friends and a happy life until terrifying monsters attack, lives are lost, and something inhuman stirs within her. A secret organization, a past she cannot remember, and a fate more nightmarish than any she could have imagined await her…

The manga follows the anime story closely, but not too close. It has it’s own take on how events unfolded and those small differences so far noticed in the manga makes the events that unfold happen faster, hitting harder, to create a faster paced experience with just as much bloodshed.

This first volume follows Saya showing her peaceful life and how it begins to unravel quickly and brutally into a world of escalating violence and horror. The violent fate awaiting Saya threatens to tear her away from the people she loves, from her only stability, and throwing her into a world where she is nothing but a killer. The organization is quick to move in at the first signs of her awakening, telling her it is she who must fight the monsters known as Chiropterians. But suffering amnesia she doesn’t know why or how, and the organization who claims her isn’t offering her answers beyond ‘you are not human and give up all hope of happiness, you are our weapon’. That is all. However, an enigmatic man by the name of Nagi comes to be by her side and could prove to be a wrench in Red Shield’s works. He claims total devotion to Saya, but is that true and just what is his connection to her?

Saya begins the search for the answers to discover herself, regain her family if she can, and protect them at all costs. To accomplish this she must discover who – and what- she really is, perhaps at the risk of losing the Saya she knows now. The first volume ends with an evil creature trapping her in his disgusting clutches. What is the organization working against them and why do they want Saya? What are the Chiropterians really? And why are they drawn to her and she compelled to kill them? Lots of mystery, battles to be fought and the blood is beginning to flow.

It’s a great start to a compelling action horror series with lots of mystery and enough original reinterpretation so that even if fans are familiar with the anime, the story offers different takes on the characters and the tale as it unfolds. David is even colder and far crueler in this manga series. He’s downright vicious. Kai, Saya’s brother, is braver from the outset but just as loyal. And Saya remains just as tormented a heroine as ever and Nagi is ever mysterious.

The art work captures the original designs of the TV series exceptionally while adding stronger horror flair to the action illustratively. There seems to be a lot more blood in the manga compared to the anime, which is saying quite a bit.

Extras in the manga include 4 full color pages at the start, a preview of the Blood+ novel at the back, and comic bonus panels,

IN SUMMARY:
Blood+ the manga is an absorbing action horror series that shakes up the vampire mythos to offer a compelling journey of self-discovery and growing horror for one lost girl.