Manga Review: Trinity Blood 1

It is a time of light and darkness, where mankind fear vampires who treat them like cattle and feed nightly upon our species. Only the churches, controlled by The Vatican offer sanctuary, and even then protection is not guaranteed. In a bid to end the vampire scourge, the Vatican dispatches Father Abel Nightroad, a clumsy man with little to offer - except the ability to instil fear into vampires, as he is... Well, I'll save that surprise for the book.

I'm not a gothic-horror fan by any means, and unfortunately Trinity Blood is going to do little to change my mind. The book features plenty of violence and bloodshed, even for its first volume, but my problems with Trinity Blood aren't in the genre, but the execution.

Firstly, the art is hard to follow. I've read a lot of manga, but I really struggled to understand what was going on at times. Even the death of an important character was so badly presented it took me 2 more page to figure out what had happened, and even then it was confusing. I don't mind having to think about what's happening, but it's nice to be given a sporting chance.

Secondly, the pacing is uneven. Like Trigun, the central character is both a skilled fighter and, seemingly, a total dork. The problem is that gothic horror doesn't lend itself well to humour, and to this end I found the book's pace and style to be uneven.

By the time I reached the end of the book, I wasn't really too bothered about finding the next volume. Action fans who like a gothic spin may find more to get excited about, but as a newbie to the Trinity Blood universe I was underwhelmed.

- Ross Liversidge