Crimson Cross

Boo! Did I scare ya?



Crimson Cross art by Kyoko Negishi and story by Sakae Maeda

Genre: Shojo, Supernatural
Length: One Volume - 3 Chapters


            The art is nice to look at, pretty faces, though a little generic or maybe plain is a find the era of the clothing to match the setting. I'm not really a stickler for that sort of thing but it did muddle the overall feel of the story. Plus, I don't think I'm imagining it when I say the main character dressed exactly like Constantine from Hellblazer, and that is far from the style of clothes every other characters wearing. It's dark and shadowed, and adds good ambiance to the story.

closer description. It's not really attention grabbing that's for sure. The eyes are a little blank at times, too. The hair and clothing have nice movement and detail, though I didn't
            Found near death in the woods, a vampire is saved by a woman who lives in a cabin alone there. She realizes he is running away from someone and, due to her compassion, she gets caught up in the man's struggle with another of his kind. A struggle that seems destined to last forever.
            As I was reading this manga, I thought it was an interesting twist on the Dracula and Helsing story. The conflict gaining new faucets because the vampire hunter had been forced into being the same creature as what he is hunting but it just doesn't pan out into a complete plot. Each chapter is just another meeting that Helsing has with a different woman who he tragically cannot save. Efforts wasted on both his and my own part. Then I got to the last chapter, and I realized what I was in for, what horrors I would be left with and the rage began to rise. Because this manga is one of those where there is no actual ending to speak of. Big epic blah blah blah fest and another claim of revenge and in the final frame, way at the bottom the final "End."

Just because you write it doesn't make it satisfying! Now, past that major fault, it's still kind of interesting, but like the art there's not a lot depth to it. As I said the narrative just wanders aimlessly when a chapter starts and jumps when it's over to the next seemingly random encounter. It's got some appeal but it ruins itself with a protagonist who never accomplishes anything.



2/5 Initial interest only gets a story so far.

Still better than THIS Helsing, though.