Guest Review: Vassalord Volume1 by Nanae Chrono

Nanae Chrono
Vassalord Volume1
Tokyo Pop, 2008

Vassalord is a shojo manga series written and illustrated by Nanae Chrono. It is currently serialized in Comic Blade Avarus since March 30, 2006. It is licensed for an English language release in North America by Tokyopop

Genre: Action, Supernatural, Yaoi Manga
Written by: Nanae Chrono
Published by: Mag Garden
English publisher: Tokyopop
Demographic: Shōjo
Magazine: Comic Blade Avarus
Original run: March 30, 2006 – ongoing
Volumes: 5

Series Plot:
Vampires Charles J. Chrishunds (Charley) and Johnny Rayflo have a strange relationship. Charley is a cyborg vampire mix, and a vampire hunter for the Vatican, while his master Johnny enjoys a playboy lifestyle. While fighting crimes involving vampires, Charley struggles to control his lust for blood and for Johnny, while Johnny (previously known as Addie before becoming a vampire) delights in seducing his servant and attempts to deal with issues from his own past. Johnny cares about Charley (also known as Cherry and Chris), and the feelings don't seem to be one-sided.

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Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 1 out of 3 flames
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Guest review by SharonS.:


Blurb on Volume #1 (chapters 1-3):

Charley, a cyborg vampire who does the Vatican's dirty work, is the thrall of the local vampire playboy Johnny Rayflo. As the two of them fight crime--and each other--hilarity, violence and sacrilege ensue! But can Charley resist his own desperate cravings for blood? Find out as the devilish duo go up against a childlike vampire princess, a mysterious branch of the Unitarian Church...and each other.

This is a typical Yaoi manga; sexy, silly and confusing as hell! Part of the reason is the translation isn’t the best. I couldn’t tell who was talking most of the time and the action scene illustrations had me thinking “WTF” and turning the book around trying to figure out what was going on. Like I said, pretty typical for manga

That being said, I loved it! Even though I couldn’t figure out what was going on in the action scenes, I could figure out what was going on when Charley and Johnny were together. There isn’t any sex in this volume (I have the first 4 volumes), but there is lots of flirting and teasing and “awww” moments.

Charley is the serious “oh, woe is me” type. He somehow became a cyborg vampire hunter for the Vatican (he has wires coming out of the back of his head and sometimes has wings), but he is also a vampire (don’t know why). His dream was to become a Priest, but his relationship with Rayflo fills him with so much guilt. He refuses to drink from humans and only drinks from Rayflo, and he is addicted to him. These are very sexy scenes ;) There is no sex going on because I think Charley is a virgin and that is the reason Rayflo teases him by calling him Cherry all the time.

Rayflo is the complete opposite of Charley. He is drop dead gorgeous and very feminine looking sometimes (typical Yaoi). He doesn’t seem to take anything serious except keeping Charley safe and happy. He supplies the humor to the story.

The first chapter deals with Rayflo and Charley fighting Rayflo’s master (I think) we get to see what lengths both will go to save the other . The second chapter has the duo hunting a vampire that is killing women at a church. Then out of nowhere an identical twin of Rayflo shows up, and I am really not sure why or how . The third chapter is the best. We find out how Charley and Rayflo met and why Charley has that awful hair cut .

So, do you spend $10 on it? Manga is an expensive habit! If you like Yaoi and know what you are getting into then it might be worth it. I would certainly try to find deals on it. I got my 4 copies at the 90% off sale at Borders (I know, right?) otherwise I wouldn’t have bought it. You might want to Google it and see what you can find.

A funny and a sexy page:

Happy Gay Friday & My Next Step Into M/M smut?

Yep, that’s right. There are even more steps for me to take when it comes to M/M reading! It probably hasn’t remained unnoticed that I’m reading mainly M/M romances these days. I still squeeze the occasional regular romance in to remind me that I’m female, but those can be counted on one hand.

And now there’s yaoi! OMG, I’m like Bambi on the ice here, but I’m really going to try this. I can’t believe that a certain Aussie blogger that I do not dare to call a friend *cough*Kris*cough* has talked me into this. She forced my snail addy out of me and introduced me to some background information that was – I gotta admit – intriguing! I’m waiting for a yaoi paperback to arrive from Italy that she arranged to be send to me via her Great Yaoi Swap.

Meanwhile my American friend KC was sucked into it as well and last Friday she blogged about her very colorful introduction to Black Wade. Go check out her hilarious post here.

Because of this, a lively chat sprouted at Twitter and Goodreads Friday night with some other yaoi lovers. And my Dutch friend Leontine tweeted me that she’d bought Black Wade at the Book Depository and would send it to me after she received and read it. Woohoo!

So, that brought me to check out the Book Depo myself and wow, they have a lot of yaoi! And before I knew it, I had two first volumes of highly recommended series thrown in my basket. If it wasn’t for those peeps over at Goodreads and tweeps like @Ferishia I probably wouldn’t have know what to buy. It all looks the same to me. LOL!

And then my Canadian friend Tam (see how worldwide this yaoi love spreads?) had this wonderful, explanatory post over at Jessewave’s blog with the basic ins and outs about yaoi.

I guess, yaoi was in the air! And quite literally - after the volcanic ashes stopped being a pain in the ass again - so finally today my first yaoi novel arrived!! It’s called Love Mode and I’ve been told that it’s a sweet, not too explicit one. Good to start with. The other one I ordered has been dispatched as well and should arrive soon. That one’s called Junjo Romantica.

Short Description Love Mode: v.1

Sakashita Izumi, a typical straight high school student, gets into a sticky situation with a gay translator, Takamiya Katsura, when he gets mistaken for an escort. The two go on a date, Izumi goes all the way, and the older man's in love with him and possibly converting this initial homophobe into that which he fears.

Short Description Junjo Romantica: v.1

Misaki is struggling to pass his college entrance exams, and has taken up a tutor: the cool and sexy Akihiko Usami, who also happens to be a famous boys' love novelist. At first, Misaki is disgusted by Akihiko, but slowly, Misaki realizes he may be developing feelings for the older man.

I think it will take me some time to get used to the reading from back to front cover and from right to left. But we’ll see.
All I know now is that I’m most likely to become the victim of another addiction. *sigh*

And I’m cracking my brain where to put these books in my house. Especially the more explicit ones that will probably follow. I wouldn’t want them to be found by some innocent bystanders, now do I? I’m afraid this time the graphics will give me away to my non-English speaking cleaning lady. And what if my FIL stumbles upon them, and he’s predestined to… There will be no hiding anymore that I’m a perve… *another sigh* What have I gotten myself into?

What would you do? Do you have special storage places for your smut?
Or does anyone know how to avoid addictions like this?

Anywayz…
Have a Happy Gay Friday!