While the romance was intriguing. I did not enjoy the illustrations and was the biggest fan of the characters.

Unfortunately wasn't the biggest fan of this one but as I've liked other books they've published in the past. I felt the story was making some overall

Thank you to Kodansha and Netgalley for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A fast-paced rollercoaster of a book with amazing artwork. This is definitely aimed at the order market, with some humour and gore that would be unsuitable for a younger teen.

The story follows Amelie, a young girl navigating high school, all while having to keep the fact that she is a vampire a secret. Add in a crush on the school delinquent, Pako.

With a spree of local murders being blamed on the vampires Amelie's life already complicated, but it soon becomes more difficult as she and Packo find themselves in the middle of the action.

Dra- Q does not set out to be a great work of literature, treading over familiar ground and popular tropes, but it is fast, funny, and entertaining, with relatable characters. I enjoyed every minute of reading this and I am eagerly awaiting the next volume to see where the story is going.

A fun, romantic, and gory read. The art is cool, and the story was engaging. While it does fall into typical tropes, it presents them in fun ways, and it is a nice twist to see the woman being the "older monster" in the relationship rather than the man. The lore of vampires was cool and presented well and felt refreshing to read.

vampires! Amelie Kurosaki is a vampire and her trouble starts at school when she falls in with a trouble maker known as Pako. Throw in a murdering werewolf, a disapproving vampire family, school, rules and homework and you have a dark but engaging first novel in what looks like will be engaging series.

Copy provided via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Dra-Q by Chiyo is a vampire paranormal romance school story, definitely meant for mature audiences. It follows Amelie Kurosaki, a vampire girl masquerading as a Japanese high school girl as she explores the human world, where she falls for a human teen delinquent, Pako. There are laws in place to prevent revealing one's vampiric identity to outsiders, but chaos ensues, and whoops--all laws are broken.

A Japanese twist on Western supernatural horror and Addams Family camp, this horror rom-com is an action-packed ride. (I would also recommend this to fans of Western comic art styles.) This story pokes fun at the Japanese delinquent/yanki trope, as well as the "princess of a wealthy family" trope. Though Amelie is no stranger to bloodshed, she is unexpectedly innocent in other areas of human interaction; this helps narrow the perceived age gap of 160 (vampire) to roughly 16-18 (human) years old. This series has its charms, and would look great as an anime, though there are sections that are a bit too ecchi for me, personally. While the love story plot works well enough, based on how Volume 1 ended, I predict a love triangle in Volume 2, a trope that is hard to pull off well. Fans of paranormal romance/horror who don't mind gore will probably like this series.

Fans of Dra-Q may also enjoy: Noblesse by Jeho Son and Kwangsu Lee, Lisa Frankenstein (2024), The Addams Family (1991) and Wednesday (2022), #DRCL midnight children by Shin'ichi Sakamoto, FLCL (2000), What We Do in the Shadows (2014), The Night of Baba Yaga by Akira Otani, and most works by Junji Ito, among many others.

Thank you to Netgalley and Kodansha Comics for the opportunity to read and review this manga. Honestly, I think this is an interesting premise and start to the series, but I'll admit, it's a slap in the face when it comes to the art especially with the gore. I think it's one that if you like a twist on Werewolves and Vampires, that you should give it a try, however I think for me personally, it's one I will need to take volume by volume to see if it's one I will be able to handle it. Because of these points, I have to give this a 4 out of 5 stars

I picked this up on a whim, and ended up really liking it!

Full review in norwegian:
𝘋𝘳𝘢-𝘘 1 er første volum i en skrekkelig kjærlighetshistorie om en vampyr som forelsker seg i et menneske, selv om dette er strengt forbudt for en vampyr…

Denne plukka jeg opp litt i et whim, noe jeg er veldig glad for at jeg gjorde! Jeg har lest mye vampyrbøker i det siste, men lite av det har lent seg mot romansesjangeren. Og dette har vært veldig bevist, jeg liker vanligvis ikke de typiske romantiske vampyrhistoriene, for meg er det de skremmende Stoker-esque vampyrene all the way!

Men denne endte jeg opp med å like veldig godt, og jeg kommer definitivt til å plukke opp neste bok i serien også. Kunststilen til Chiyo passer godt til handlingen, og karakterene er gode, jeg gleder meg til å bli bedre kjent med dem fremover.

Derimot er det er veldig mye som skjer her på kort tid, og handlingen går litt fort frem. Jeg skjønner godt at forfatteren kanskje ønsket å få med alt i første volum, det er ingenting her jeg ikke tenker burde være med. Men samtidig ble det til tider litt vanskelig å følge med på hva som skjedde…

Jeg likte godt cliffhangeren på slutten, og gleder meg til å fortsette videre på denne serien. 𝘋𝘳𝘢-𝘘 1 får av meg 𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐊𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝟓!🎲

A big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a proof in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fun and fast-paced read—I was completely hooked from the start. I made the mistake of picking it up right before dinner, thinking I’d just sneak a quick peek… next thing I knew, dinner was cold and I’d devoured the whole volume instead. No regrets.

The story surprised me in the best way. It made me gasp out loud, chuckle, and smile more than once. The chemistry between Amelie and Pako is oddly sweet (and a little unhinged—in the best way), and the pacing kept things moving with just the right blend of dark comedy, blood, and romance.

That ending, though—what do you mean it’s over? I need volume two immediately!

Fair warning: it’s bloody—but that’s part of the fun.

Loved the characters and story. Very cool illustration and I can’t wait for the second one! Thanks NetGallery!

This comic was so unhinged. It is filled with gorgeous and unique art. The imagery things that you never really thought you would see, but once you see it you can’t unsee it. It’s violent, but also beautiful.

The story is pretty simple. Boy and girl meet and fall in love, but girls family are very not happy about it. Ultimately, this story is meant to be over the top and isn’t something to be taken seriously. Most of it I was reading smiling in shock wondering if I was really seeing what I was seeing.

This is a comic to be read for a fun time. I loved it!

I was given this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This manga is def not for children and def not for everyone. I enjoyed it even though it was significantly more gory than I expected from the little blurb about it. The art is good and the story is cute (despite the gore and violence). I'll definitely pick up the second volume when it comes out.

i really enjoyed this manga! i only wish it was longer because i cannot wait for the next installment already! thank you so much for giving me an e-arc of this <3

This book was so fun and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series. I loved following the main character and learning about her history of a vampire and her vampire family. It was cool that she wasn’t made into a vampire but that she was born as one. It’s an interesting element that I feel like isn’t explored as much. I really enjoyed this.

This manga was very interesting. First I thought the art was very beautiful and the detail of the graphics were extremely well done. Second, the pacing of the story moved quickly and I was able to follow along well At first, I thought this would like an insta love story but there were A few twists I was not expecting that definitely have me excited for volume 2. For those who love a good vampire human, were.wolf story, this manga may just be for you.

Unhinged and a little horny is how I would describe this book and the main characters, but I'm not mad about it.

This is a rapid-fire manga that doesn't break any ground but is just a fun read. Don't take it too seriously and read it to enjoy the insanity.

This manga is like a mix of Twilight and The Addams Family. It's gruesome but also campy. I enjoyed the story a lot. And for the most part I liked the art, but the action scenes were drawn so close-up and blurred that most of the time it was hard to tell what was going on in them and I really had to rely on the dialogue to explain the scene.

The one thing I disliked was how the main character, a 160-year old vampire, falls in love with a human child. In the present time they attend high school together, but she actually met him a decade ago, so at the most he was 8 years old when she first declared she was "in love" with him.

The vampire is sent off to experience the human world, but I'm not sure why her family thought the best way for a vampire who has lived well over a century to do that is to go to high school... You would think she would be well-acquainted with reading, writing, arithmetic, science, and world history after so many, many years on Earth. Especially when she has to hide her fangs and protect her sensitive skin from the sun. It just didn't make any sense to me. So that's why this felt like Twilight: she's an adult (and then some) but goes to high school, and falls in a love with a little boy. At least they both look like teens at the current time but it was creepy she set her sights on him when he was so young.

The whole manga is about their improbable romance. And while the vampire has a reason for having feelings for the human boy, the close-up shots of his open fly tell you all you need to know about his feelings towards her.

I think this book is very weird but I also liked it. I want to read more but at the same time I'm a little grossed out. Read with caution, is my suggestion.

As a fan of everything vampire related I was excited to give this a read! Sadly, there wasn’t a whole lot to enjoy for me. The plot and romance was extremely fast paced, so much so it became forgettable. I think I was hoping for a more cutesy shoujo-esque art style, so I didn’t connect with the illustrations. I feel that this story would do better as an anime of shorts than a manga volume.

This is so different from what my normal genre is it took me a second to get used to but I was pleasantly surprised that I was very interested, and that cliff hanger was so rude! Thank you so much for this unique experience I had a great time reading this!

I'm quite new to the work of graphic novels but the cover and description really caught my eye. I have to admit, it started out a bit slow and I couldn't really understand why Pako and Amelie fell in love....but once they were together - WOW! The story really kicked off and I couldn't stop reading until I'd finished the whole thing. The art style in this novel is stunning, I found myself just spending extra time on some pages admiring the art. Whilst this story is short, there are multiple plot twists that had me turning the pages for more. I just love a good vampire versus werewolf storyline - also Amelie's family is so cool - the individual styles they all had were very impressive.

Overall a short but punchy story accompanied by incredible illustrations. There are some graphic parts that include sexual/violent images - but it's sooo darn cool!! Very gothic and very cool. I would read another from this series!