Once every hundred years, a human like you is born. If a demon drinks her blood, he is granted a long life. If he eats her flesh, he gains eternal youth. And if he makes her his bride, his clan will prosper…
Info about the manga
You’ll like this manga if you like…
- mythical ML’s
- age gap romances
- dangerous fantasies
Manga author, and other manga
- Black Bird was written by Kanoko Sakurakouji
- This is her most notable work
How many volumes?
- This series has officially ended at 18 volumes!
- Both the English and Japanese versions are complete.
Why I like this manga
While this manga does have some aspects that I really just cannot bring myself to enjoy, I do find the overall story to be fun! Back in the mid 2000’s when this was published, shoujo manga tended to be a little bit more messy than it is now. Think Peach Girl, or Hot Gimmick. While they probably wouldn’t be all that socially acceptable if they were released now, you can’t deny that they are entertaining!
The story…
The characters
While there are quite a few different characters introduced in volume one, I am going to only feature our two main characters here.
Misao
Misao is a 16 year old girl with “the gift”. This gift being, a special ability that allows her to see supernatural beings. Not just see, these creatures also tend to flock to only her, and cause her harm for some reason.
It’s revealed rather quickly in this volume that Misao is an incredibly special human from the perspective of these beings: depending on how she is treated (see: eaten, drank, or wed), the creature that claims her gets special abilities. This obviously causes her a great deal of problems right from the start of the story.
Kyo
Kyo is a tengu demon, who claimed Misao as his bride when they were both children. He returns on her 16th birthday to make good of this promise, hoping to take her into his clan.
While Kyo’s age isn’t exactly shared, we do know that he is at least 5 years older than Misao (though I would say he feels at least 10 years older). When he comes back for Misao, she turns him down. This doesn’t stop him from staying in her life, as he just enters her school as a new teacher, and keeps tabs on Misao as an authority figure now (ew).
Kyo is the leader of his Tengu tribe, and he is quite powerful for a demon! We watch him fight a few others, so we get to see a little bit of where he falls on the power scale: while he’s not the strongest, he’s definitely not weak.
Misao and Kyo
Oh my god do I hate these two together. The second he took on the pretend role of a teacher I wanted Kyo GONE. He already lives next to her as a neighbour, and I feel like there were a million better ways to keep tabs on her during the day if he absolutely had to…
Is it really that messy?
This is honestly the messiest manga series that I own. Some of the concerning themes found in just volume one include:
- non-con
- age gap
- forced confinement
- forced sky confinement
- assault
Maddies Ratings
Romance
There is literally no romance in this (IMO)
World building
I would really like to learn more about the mystical creatures in this world, and exactly why Misao is so special!
Character development
Misao flip flopped really quickly, and I was not feeling it. I’d like to learn more about Kyo’s backstory.
Is it entertaining?
Thanks to the messiness, yes!
Have you read Black Bird yet?
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