Dabbling in Manga

By now I'm sure anyone who read my first, and only post, can tell I'm quite literally dabbling in blogging. However recently I have been reading ... a lot and I find that once I've read a book I usually have questions, almost always have comments and sometimes the feeling the I've just read something that has changed  me forever. So I got to thinking why not blog about what I've read? which made me think about all the blogs I read that other people write about books they've read, and I enjoy them all.  So now I'm thinking I want to add a little more to mine, not just blog about what I'm reading but anything that catches my fancy, not only will I have lot to write about but I'll be able to display for you all just how frequently my attention wanders.

Take the past couple of weeks for example, I was in chapters (where your likely to find me anytime I'm not at work or at home reading) and I decided to give Manga a try. I searched through the volumes of colourful spines and read the back (or was it the front?) of several that caught my eye. I ended up choosing one that featured one of my favorite beasties, Vampires.

The Manga I chose is called Vampire Knight by Matsuri Hino. Having read through the first book rather quickly I jumped onto the internet to find out more about the series, what I found amazed me not only were there 13 books in the series, but also a two season anime. In the space of a weekend I caught up on both seasons, ordered the first season on DVD (second season isn't out until 20 September, 2011 or I'd have ordered that too) and purchased books 2, 3, and 4. I absolutely fell in love with this series, although there was one element that was slightly disturbing and probably pushed me to be team Zero vs team Kaname I find it a beautiful blend of serious and funny. The constant need for Yuki and Zero to keep all the day class girls from walking right into the Vampires dorm and finding out that there is more to these gorgeous night class guys than charm provides the humorous and light side to some of the dark themes and angst.

I haven't finished the book series as yet and so I can't provide much more on it than I have, the rest remains to be seen. From what I have read and from the anime I can say this, if you've been looking for something different, something fun mixed with a little dark this series is for you.

Before I send you on your way, if your like me and have never read a manga before here are some helpful hints:

1. Manag are read from back to front, you'll notice the cover is on what we would usually think of as the back of the book.
2. The flow of the book is from right to left. The first caption will start at the top right of the right hand page.
3. If all else fails there are instructions printed in the back of the book to give a visual reference for reading the book.

I noted step three because as this was my first time reading a Manga and I knew I had to read it backwards it wasn't apparent to me that I would be reading from right to left, so a lot of the first few chanpters were a little garbled. Seeing my difficulties my Dad offered "Why don't you read the instructions in the back of the book?", I'm certain if you knew my Dad you would have thought the same as me, he's having me on, and so I did what I always do when he passes on a gem like that. I gave him a friendly punch in the arm followed by "ha ha your sooo funny". It wasn't until later that day when I finished the book, and had already figured out through trial and error which way I was supposed to be reading it, that while browsing through the advertising in the back I actually found instructions ... I didn't tell him XD

Yuki Cross's earliest memory is of being attacked by a vampire and saved by Kaname Kuran, also a vampire. Ten years later, Yuki and a vampire hunter, Zero Kiryu attend Cross Academy as school guardians protecting the "Day Class" and the "Night Class" from each other to keep vampires secret.
Synopsis and picture from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_Knight