Black Rose Alice: Volume 3 manga review

Manga
Black Rose Alice: Volume 3 manga review
By Leroy Douresseaux
January 31, 2015 - 18:16

Viz Media
Writer(s): Setona Mizushiro, John Werry
Penciller(s): Setona Mizushiro
Letterer(s): Evan Waldinger
ISBN: 978-1-4215-7162-1
$9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK, 200pp, B&W, paperback
Rating: T+ (Teen Plus)

Black Rose Alice Volume 3 cover image is courtesy of barnesandnoble.com.

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Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”

Dimitri Lewandowski was a celebrated tenor in early 1900s Vienna. After he was accidentally killed at the age of 26, his corpse was colonized by the seeds of a vampire. At first, Dimitri denied what he had become, until he realized that he was killing all his friends. A century later, Dimitri is living in Japan, where he makes a deal with a dying young woman, Azusa Kikukawa. She becomes Alice, destined to become the new breeding ground for a group of vampires.

As Black Rose Alice, Vol. 3 (Chapters 10 to 14) opens, Alice grows closer to Tacichiro “Leo” Kusunose, one of four vampires with whom she shares a strange house. Dimitri hopes that Alice breeds with Leo, but why is he so in favor of this outcome?

Alice is serious about committing herself to her new role, but hesitates. Vampires aren't as immortal as the legends and myths suggest, and her hesitation may be costly. Plus, the mystery novelist, Toko Narusawa, enters the scene and attracts one of the vampires.

THE LOWDOWN: The Black Rose Alice manga is strange and peculiar, but like the vampire, it is quite alluring. I am disturbed by its creepy notions and ideas about vampires, but I thoroughly enjoy reading Black Rose Alice. I just finished reading Black Rose Alice Volume 3, and I did indeed thoroughly enjoy reading it. I have to have Vol. 4 now!

I think that series creator Setona Mizushiro is as intrigued by her characters as she is by the peculiar kind of vampires that she has created for it. In Vol. 3, she focuses on the relationships that exists between Alice and Leo and between Dimitri and Leo. She reveals just enough of the past to explain the latter relationship, while revealing Leo from different perspectives, particularly the way he relates to different people. This shojo vampire romance is strange, but it does not rely only on being odd. Black Rose Alice is also an engaging character study and ensemble drama.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE: Fans of vampire manga will want the Shojo Beat title, Black Rose Alice.