Vampeerz Vol. 04

Vampeerz, Volume 04: My Peer Vampires

Vampire Love is Timeless It’s time for the field trip arc and Ichika is ecstatic! But when she finds out that her best friend and her new love may have secrets, a sense of awkwardness begins to loom over the Japanese wilderness.

Series Overview: Although 14-year-old Ichika Asagiri’s beloved grandmother has passed away, Ichika still cherishes her advice to always let her heart decide freely and without constraints when it comes to love. While returning to her room from the funeral, Ichika spots a strange but beautiful girl in the yard. The girl, Aria, appears to be no older than Ichika and claims to be a friend of Ichika’s late grandmother. Despite having a lot of questions, Ichika quickly joins Aria in searching for an unspoken item, only for the girl to inexplicably disappear when Ichika’s mother walks in.

Ichika is left bewildered, but Aria soon reappears to request her help once again. Aria’s actions grow stranger—from hypnotizing Ichika’s mother to brutalizing a home invader—until her secret is finally revealed. As Aria leans in to bite her neck, Ichika realizes not only that this mysterious girl is a vampire but also that, for the first time in her life, Ichika is in love.

Biographical Notes:

Akili (1985-) was born in the far-western Japanese prefecture of Shimane. A member of the Japanese Cartoonist Association, they are best known for the young-adult yoga manga STRETCH (Shogakukan). Heavily influenced by jazz, sci-fi literature and comics from the Year 24 Group, Akili’s works tend to focus on the day-to-day lives of Japanese women.

Author Akili, an adult comics artist, is also a part-time musician, and he made a small EP to complement the worldview of the piece.

Title Notes:

English Language Debut Popular up-and-coming artist.

Highly-demanded title from a growing genre within manga.

Series has sold more than 300,000 units in Japan since its debut.

10,000 unit print run Excerpts in OtakuUSA Magazine.

More details on AKILI:

Akili’s Twitter account

Akili’s Instagram account

Publisher’s Twitter account