Kuro Bara Alice

Name: Kuro Bara Alice
AKA: Black Rose Alice
Original Japanese: 黒薔薇アリス
Author: Mizushiro Setsuna
Status: Publishing
Genres: Psychological, Romance, Horror, Vampire, Fantasy

Sypnosis:

The young tenor singer Dimitri miraculously escaped with his life after a severe accident. But soon after that, strange cases of group-suicides started to happen all around him… A vampire-romanesque tale of love and survival! from Aerandria Scans
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The Story:

Black Rose Alice is not your typical shoujo romance with all the lovey dovey sweet moments.Its gothic, twisted & dark. Romance isn't sweet in this manga instead its presented in a mysterious & dark manner.The setting for the start of the manga is that of old time Venice.Its historical which brings out the more Victorian goth like storyline.The remaing part of the story is presented in modern Japan. Black Rose Alice is creepy.Vampires take the main stage but they aren't what most people expect from series like "Twilight" & "Vampire Knight". Vampires here are parasitic & the whole shoujo idea of hot vampire guy just got twisted. The plot contains murder & psychological aspects such as the idea of not being able to forgive oneself & sinning. Despite the dark themes, the story is intriguing & is a great read.

The Characters:

The main characters in Kuro Bara Alice are fleshed out fine. We also see Dimtri's personality change quite clearly. Each character has an air of mystery surrounding them.The characters are mature & have their own sense of realism. The characters have their individuality & problems.They are mature & doesn't have anything that somehow seem to annoy you. They are all likeable but not enough for me to grow an unusual attachment to any of them.


The Art:

This is a vampire manga but please don't expect extremely hot bishounens. The art style is not the typical pretty characters but the art style does please me. A dark story with overly pretty wide eye shoujo heroines would freak me out. The art in here has no sparkles which would be a mistake if there is because the whole story is meant to be serious & twisted.

Note that the disturbing scenes of gore are present in Kuro Bara Alice.Its dark & bloody

You may like Kuro Bara Alice if:

• you enjoyed Mizushiro Setsuna other works such as AfterSchool Nightmare
• Up for something unique & twisted at the same time
• A fan of Victorian & goth styles
• Enjoy dark romances
  

Ilegenes - Kokuyou no Kiseki -

Name: Ilegenes - Kokuyou no Kiseki-
Original Title: イルゲネス ~ 黒耀の軌跡 ~
AKA: The Genetic Sodom Ilegenes

Author: Kuwabara Mizuna
Artist: Ishizue Kachiru
Status: Publishing
Genres: Military, Drama, Sci-Fi, Shoujo

The Story:

The island of Ilegenes is home to an internationally renown genetic engineering research institution. In addition to their research involving genetic manipulation, a dark underground organization exists called the Black Market. Great profit is gained from the mass production of clones and the sale of human bodies. Thus, people refer to Ilegenes as the place God has turned away from—The Genetic Sodom. Fon F. Littenber enrolled in the Ilegenes military school to become strong. He wants to avenge his parents' deaths by destroying the Black Market organization. Fon is a cool, collected young man whose attitude and parentage separate him from his peers. His father is Professor Littenber, the father of Genetic Sodom and the authority on brain research. Due to this, Fon is targeted by rival students and nasty rumors that claim he was subjected to genetic manipulation at the hands of his father. What awaits Fon in Ilegenes?

- From MAL

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Prior Reading:

I found out about Ilegenes from another blog which I forgot.. but I was fascinated by the gorgeous art. I have a military uniform fetish :3 Seeing bishounens in military uniforms just made me happier. Beautiful art never fails to make me so excited. I was reading GodChild before this & I was really excited to start on Ilegenes immediately after GodChild.I'm happy I did~

The Story:

The main plot focus is on revenge. The story rarely strays away from this main point which is good since a lot of stories would go serious & all happy go lucky the nest moment.We of course don't have whole entire plot on anger & resentment but we see slightly more relaxed moments of friendship being built. The setting of the plot is on the island of Ilegenes in which the story slowly unwraps itself to reveal the secrets of the black market & the people whom Fon (main character) know. As Ilegenes is a sci-fic that deals with issues such as cloning & genetic modification, issues of ethics are touched on. It leaves u thinking whether its fine to sell ur genes for money & the story gives the opinions on family members seeing others use their loved ones genes for their own.

The Characters:

The characters are somewhat alright..not very colourful & fascinating though. Most characters are serious but do have points that set them apart from one another such Jaques being mature but care free. Nicolas being overly seriously uptight & Fon as a cool but at the same time rash young guy.
Note there are no female characters in this series so far except for Nicolas's sister so there aren't any girly "kya kya" moments.
Fon is the main focus in the entire story & we hardly leave him :) He gets a lot attention but then again Jaques gets it too. We see a bond being built between Jaque & Fon with Jaque as a brotherly figure to orphaned Fon. The cast could have been more fun but then we wouldn't want to lose the seriousness of this great manga.

The Art:

Ilegenes Art = beautiful.
The guys are pretty (bonus point for me) & the body proportions are all completely fine. Fight scenes are fluidly drawn. The fights are clear & not messy.The only messy part was a scene in chapter 21.That would be a spoiler. :3
The covers are beautiful, colours are not bright but slighlty dark which suits the setting of teh story. Although there are hardly any female characters when they do appear (the peacock hybrid) she is absolutely adorable. Wish there are more female characters around.The art for them is so pretty too.

You may like this if:

• You liked the series 07-Ghost. Both deal with the military & revenge.
• Have a fetish for military uniforms like me haha
• You enjoyed the manga series Switch.

GodChild

Name: GodChild Original Title: ゴッドチャイルド
Author: Yuki Kaori
Status: Completed
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Supernatural, Historical

Sypnosis:
Deep in the heart of 19th century London, a young nobleman named Cain walks the shadowy cobblestone streets of the aristocratic society into which he was born. Forced to become an earl upon the untimely death of his father, Cain assumes the role of head of the Hargreaves, a noble family with a dark past. With Riff, his faithful manservant, and Mary Weather, his 10-year-old half sister, Cain investigates the mysterious crimes that seem to follow him wherever he goes.

From MAL

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Prior Reading:

I was dying to read this manga but was trying to find some time to try to squeeze into my anime manga schedule. I like Yuki Kaori's works especially after reading "Ludwig Revolution". Her twists on fairytales & gothic touch to the story made me so tempted to read this.

The Story:
GodChild is a mystery manga & I know some mystery mangas & stories end up having cheesy solutions or end up being very similar to something u get out of Sherlock Homes. GodChild's take on the supernatural provides solutions to mystery cases u wouldn't expect to have. I admit being really confused in the 1st chapter on the "March Hare" murder case. Of course that is to be expected. *Starts blaming self for not reading the parent story of the Cain series" It gets confusing but once u get the hang of it everything seems to flow naturally. Murder cases have a gothic & psychological twist to it. The story flows really well too, the murder cases all have something which links it the next one. A piece of the main story gets revealed in every case Cain handles. This slowly comes all together in the big finale.

The Characters:

The characters in Yuki Kaori's GodChild were great! Each character has an individuality to themselves & most of them have a reason to their actions in the manga. Although most of the story focuses on Cain. Cain's relationship with the other characters like Mary Weather, Riff & his own fathers Alexis were well portrayed.
In terms of the characters design & personality wise. The main character casts like example Jizabel was interesting. Mary Weather doesn't serve a purpose as a whiny girl but as someone Cain loves & wants to protect. The characters were not annoying & somehow twisted in a way I actually I like. Though I do wish that some characters had a better background info. I was very interested in 1 of the female characters due to her unique looks but sadly not much was revealed about her even in the end.

Art:

Yuki Kaori's famous image for drawing beautiful bishounens is still very evident in GodChild. The lolita dresses she draws are really adorable. If there is one thing I didn't quite like about the art was the excessive use of curls in Mikaila's hair. Its most likely a personal preference but the curls didn't go well with me. Another thing in which the art is great is gore. GodChild can be bloody & blood is frequently spilled in this goth manga. So get ready for the faces of horror & murder drawn. Its great but it doesn't make u feel like puking or freaking out. Then again it depends on how much gore one can take :3

You may like this if:

• You enjoyed Kuroshitsuji. Both are very similar.
• A fan of all thing Victorian era
  
• Liked Yuki Kaori's works like Ludwig Revolution
• Up for something gothic & not too sickening

Beware:

• GodChild contains mature themes
• E.g. Incest & Strong Violence