Hina makes an unexpected friend, and inadvertently teaches him how to enjoy the little things in life. Through the power of oshikatsu, anything is possible.
You can check out a sample of this series for yourself below!
Author
Genre & Tropes
Info about this series (ongoing)
There are currently nine volumes in Japanese, and seven in English.
TL;DR thoughts
This volume was as lighthearted as any other in the series, but delivers an emotional punch through the character Rinya.
My thoughts on this volume (Slight Spoilers!)
I’ve been having a bit of difficulty getting into this series, I’m not going to lie. While I really enjoyed the authors other work, Kamisama Kiss, for some reason, Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite just hasn’t pulled me in yet. It has a lot of elements I typically enjoy—a kind FL, vampires, otaku culture—but still, I’ve been having trouble connecting with it.
While I find Hina to be a wonderful main character, at times I find her to be oblivious to the point of being frustrating. I understand her character—she grew up a rich, sheltered, incredibly powerful vampire. It makes complete sense that she only understands human culture through an anime lens. Still though, some of her treatment of the male lead Amanatsu comes off a bit childish in my eyes.
I didn’t include the tag romance in this volume, as at even five volumes in, there is absolutely no romance in my eyes. Of course there’s nothing wrong with there not being any romance in a shoujo series, however it’s marketed as a rom-com. I find it incredibly difficult to picture the two leads in a romantic relationship, as I still don’t fully believe that Hina is able to separate Amanatsu from the anime character he resembles.
I do really enjoy their relationship despite my romantic complaints. Watching Amanatsu go out of his way to protect Hina, someone who could absolutely win just about any fight, so long as she understands that she needs to fight, is always very sweet. I love that she pulls out his protective nature, and I think the two work incredibly well as friends. I just cannot see them as anything more than that.
I’m still unsure if Hina understands, but the way she allows Victor to treat Amanatsu is enough to stop any relationship progression, in my eyes. Notably, in this volume, Victor essentially makes Amanatsu his slave. While sure, it was done to protect Amanatsu in the end, I still believe there were many different solutions to the problem.
This brings me to my next point: just about every point of strife is finished before it can ever get started. In a vampire series, I expect some action and horror. The earlier volumes of this series include these themes perfectly—the sudden overuse of the colour black, the unexpected powers being used, everything felt so vampiric. In this volume however, I almost forgot I was reading a vampire series until the midway point.
Despite my complaints of this vampire manga not feeling all that vampiric, I did enjoy this volume in the end. Specifically, I found the character of Mao’s voice actor, Rinya, to be captivating. I never could get a read on his intentions, and couldn’t decide if he had nefarious intentions right until the very end. I really hope he and Hina end up becoming friends, as I think they could both benefit from it. That scene of Hina reminding him of his time in old Japan when the Shogun era ended… It was just so touching!
I really hope the series goes on to show more emotional scenes like this between the comedic bits, as that fluctuation is what allows for it to shine. If it’s always lighthearted and cheery, things can get a little boring after a while. A more series scene or two every once in a while is necessary to spice things up!
My prediction/hopes for the next volume, is that the new vampire introduced in this volume gets whats coming to him for trying to attack Hina. I really hope there is a full arc with drawn out emotions and consequences for him—please don’t let it end in just one chapter!
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