BLOOD+: ADAGIO Vol.1
Story and art: Kumiko Suekane
Publisher: Dark Horse; 194 pages
(ISBN: 978-1595822765)
For ages 16+
ACCORDING to this manga’s afterword, adagio means “a slow and steady tempo”, and is said to reflect Blood+: Adagio’s pacing, but I beg to disagree. This manga is a hard-hitting thriller packed with highs and lows though it can get very confusing at times.
Adagio is a prequel to the Blood+ manga and anime series, which were originally inspired by Blood: The Last Vampire, the anime movie about a vampire named Saya who disguises herself as a Japanese student to hunt Chiropterans (a type of vampire).
Adagio is set in 1916 Russia right before the fall of Czar Nicolas II and the rise of the Soviet Union, and thus contains historical figures like the priest Grigori Rasputin.
Saya and her helper Hagi go undercover as musicians in the Russian capital of Pertograd. Their mission: find out if the rumours about Chiropteran activity in the Romanov royal family are true.
If you’ve never seen the Blood+ anime or read the manga, this book will leave you lost and confused; it’s like starting a book from the middle. It is disappointing that Adagio doesn’t bother to build a foundation for the characters and the world they inhabit.
Those who’ve seen the series will find Adagio to be more of the same. The crux of the story remains the struggle between the twin Chiropteran queens. With their blood as the catalyst, they can turn humans into Chiropterans or destroy the Chiropterans the other creates.
It retains the original Blood+’s blend of horror, comedy, romance, teenage angst, humour, action and violence. So much so that some of the characters in Adagio mirror the ones in Blood+. Still, this is not necessarily a bad thing.
Overall, those fond of the Blood+ series will enjoy this manga. However, the protagonist’s use of their original Japanese names and the use of Japanese terms like neesama in the middle of Russia feel jarring, and Rasputin never looked this good.
