Well, Kamitsuki Gakuen, Volume 1 (かみつき学園) was a thing I read. And while I read it, I had feelings. Primarily confusion and bewilderment, but hey, those are feelings, too. ^_^;

You might reasonably wonder, looking at the cover of Kamitsuki Gakuen, Volume 1 why I would have picked it up in the first place. I can see you looking at the cover, then turning to me and gently saying, “Erica, this is *clearly* a vampire story. You don’t like vampire stories. I remember you saying you don’t like vampire stories many times over the years.” And you’d be right.

I will, equally as gently insist that I knew perfectly well that it was a vampire story when I picked it up and no, I didn’t expect to like it, but there were extenuating circumstances. Because I didn’t just pick it up any old where, I picked this (and another quite-probably-vampire-Yuri story, along with at least two other that look horrible and a thing I have never heard of before) at the Yurimate display on the ground floor of the Ikebukuro Animate. It was my last morning in Tokyo and I decided to buy all the stuff I hadn’t yet bought, regardless if looked good or not. And that is how I ended up with Kamitsuki Gakuen, Volume 1 .

Shizuka is a “Epicurean” which is to say she is a vampire. (The kanji for vampire is clearly written, 吸血鬼, with furigana that read “Epicurean.” In case, inexplicably from just looking at the cover, you might not understand that this is a vampire story.) Shizuka is the little girl on the right of the cover. As she comes to Kamitsuki Gakuen for her first day in high school, we are told by almost everyone she encounters that she looks much younger. The tall girl on the left is Shizuka’s roommate and meal plan. She doesn’t have a name, just “Number 1,” Ichi-gou.

The story is Shizuka’s awakening to life as a vampire, while she befriends classmates and fellow Epicureans, and tries to befriend Ichi-gou. Shizuka, on account of never feeding directly from a person is runty, and her bat wings are little, but with help she learns to find the idea of sucking Ichi-gou’s blood alluring. And, after she enjoys the taste of Ichi-gou after she had eaten a strawberry parfait, Shizuka renames Ichi-gou….

Go ahead, guess what name she gives her. Think really hard. Strawberry. Ichi-gou. Why, yes, Shizuka does name her meal plan Ichigo. Amazingly clever, what?

Anyway, about then, I stopped reading and just stared at the last few pages. I’m sure a cliffhangery thing happened and who knows, maybe there will be a next volume.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 4 Shizuka’s awakening failed to be compelling
Characters – 4
Yuri – Vampires
Service – Vampires

Overall – 4

Hunger/lust/friendship is magic!

If this is a thing that you too would like to have read, you can take a look at the sample chapter (in Japanese) on the Shonen Sirius‘s website.