#Rosen blood: haitoku no meikan

[black-sapphire57]

🌹 Rosen Blood Final Vol.5 🌹

[readtilyoudie]

Rosen Blood Vol 5

[youngmastermalleus]

[shoujo-dump]

Rosen Blood

[silversoulsociety]

背徳の冥館 :Rosen blood by Ishizue kachiru

[aliceinmangaland]

First Impression: Rosen Blood

While making her way through a forest of thorns to get to her new job, Stella gets into a carriage accident. When she wakes up, she finds herself in a mysterious manor with the man who rescued her, named Levi-Ruin, along with three other men. With no money left to complete her original journey, she asks to work as a maid for the four men. Just what mysteries does her new workplace hold?

The main draw of Rosen Blood is its art, and to be honest, that’s about it. While the story certainly gives off gothic literature vibes (à la Dracula and such), it is very much a shoujo manga. Stella is your typical shoujo protagonist who is dense with absolutely no self-awareness (the end of volume one definitely leaves no doubts about it), while her harem the rest of the characters are walking red flags attractive and mysterious, yet highly questionable.

Other readers have compared this series to “Diabolik Lovers”, though I cannot personally attest to this. But if you are into vampire romances with a hint of mystery, perhaps Rosen Blood is worth a try.

Thank you for taking the time to read this review! I hope you will check out Alice in Mangaland for more manga reviews in the future! Arigato gozaimasu! Thank you!  

[putschki1969]

H-el-ical// LIVE Limited Production Album Song Commentary 〜「H-el-ical//」Edition 〜♪pulsation

Today at 20:00 (JST) the first video project on H-el-ical//’s Official YouTube Channe will start airingl! The title of the project is 『H-el-ical// LIVE Limited Production Album Song Commentary 〜「H-el-ical//」Edition 〜』!

In this series all songs from the limited albums (only available at the live venue and through mail order) will be discussed. Hikaru and the composer Hideyuki Gushimiyagi will talk about the song production and share some inside stories. There will also be comments from other creators that participated in the making of the individual songs. Please be sure to check out everyone’s thoughts.

The first video in the series will be a commentary on 「pulsation」!

Illustrator Kachiru Ishizue will be replying to questions Twitter Account Akita Shoten Gekkan Princess Series Rosen Blood ~ Haitoku no Meikan ~ Volume ③ will be released on 10/16

【H-el-ical//】pulsation MV【Official Video】

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Now that was a lovely little video, 13 minutes worth of insight. YAY for that.  Seems like both Hikaru and Hideyuki Gushimiyagi will talk a bit about their work and then another creater involved in the project will answer three questions on a questionnaire regarding the specific song. Fans are also invited to ask more questions and Hikaru will try to reply to them at a later point. Everyone be sure to LIKE Hikaru’s videos and SUBSCRIBE to her YouTube Channel!! Seems like every week there is going to be a new video in this series so please look forward to it!

Summary/Highlights below the cut 〈(•ˇ‿ˇ•)-→

Her two albums have had a limited release so she hasn’t really talked in depth about all of the songs on these albums. That’s why she thought a video series like this would be a good idea. Hikaru is joined by her composer Hideyuki Gushimiyagi (called Gushi-kun by Hikaru). Before the two met, Gushi had already written two songs and sent the demos to her (”pulsation” being one of them. He let himself be inspired by her work in Kalafina, the impression she left on him was used to write those first two songs). Gushi wanted the first song to be a sort of introduction to Hikaru as a solo artist and he was very nervous since he thought he had some big shoes to fill after Kalafina. They did end up discussing the sample and it gradually took shape.

As we all know, this was the first time Hikaru wrote lyrics. Transitioning into her solo activities was a big stept into a new world and a new mental state. For this occasion she wanted to write motivational lyrics full of life, power and positivity. She really wanted some momentum for her debut so it would leave a lasting impression not only on people who already knew her from Kalafina but also on people who discovered her for the first time. The song (especially the last verse) was meant to be like a flashback scene. Hikaru was very nervous during the recording since she had never worked together with anyone other than YK so to hear someone else’s thoughts was kinda strange.

Now they are talking about the PV illustrations and what kind of image they wanted to convey with it. Seems like for the first video the design was heavily inspired by Hikaru’s ideas/lyrics/singing. For later PV designs they didn’t really involve Hikaru too much in the process it seems. Hikaru brings up the questionnaire with three questions answered by the PV’s illustrator Kachiru Ishizue.

What was your impression when you first heard the song?: A quiet sense of fluttering, the strong flap of wings, something that seemed suitable for a debut song: And yeah, that’s pretty much the image of the song as intended by Gushi, a jump start into a wide world

Any difficulties in the making of the illustrations? Apparently Hikaru had asked for a vast scenery that was very nostalgic and classical with little to no colour. That proved a bit difficult since the illustrator didn’t really know how to do the plants with her colours.

Anything you want the viewers to pay attention to while watching the video? The strings, Hikaru’s strong vocals and the stylish video design

[beneaththetangles]

Vampires, Mysteries, & Dangers, Oh My!: A Manga Review of Rosen Blood

Often times in the otaku community, you hear a lot of diverse thoughts on certain manga. Some positive, some negative, and some a mix of both.

Maybe it’s because fall is here or because of seeing vampire reads popping up on my social media feeds, but I decided to step outside my comfort zone (I’ve been doing  a lot of that lately as my review of Prince Freya showed) and try an upcoming manga from Shoujo Beat called Rosen Blood.

I confess that I am not a huge vampire fan nor have I read a vampire manga up to this point, but I had seen some talk about this manga over on Goodreads and decided I wanted to read it to form my own opinion.

Rosen Blood is about a young woman named Stella who is in a horrible carriage accident and the only remaining living person from the accident. Unsure of what happened, as well as what she will do to fulfill the loss position of work (and income), Stella instead finds herself in a home with four handsome men who she isn’t quite sure what to make of.

However, grateful to be alive, she asks for a position as a maid, but while these men may have readily accepted her offer, Stella begins to wonder about the odd comments these men make and certain strange occurrences in their home. Is telling Stella “I want a taste of you” simply a flirtatious statement? Or does something more sinister lurk under these men’s words (and in their home)?

I was not fond of Stella being a potential “boy toy” for the men around her. While there is definitely no sex or anything that physically hints at that, the suggestive themes were much stronger then I prefer to read. I desperately wanted Stella to stand up for herself and lay down some boundaries. Because of wanting those boundaries, I realized as the story progressed I was inadvertently starting to place them upon her and “judged” some of the men harsher than others as a result.

I do very much ship Stella and Levi, one of the men in this household who seems to be more on the respectful side of Stella’s “boundaries.” (Though I could also be bias because I like Levi the most.) While there isn’t a huge foundation to their “relationship,” I’m definitely hoping there will be at some point. Levi seems to care for Stella on a deeper level and I hope that continues and strengthens.

While it is hard for me to overlook what I mentioned above concerning Stella as a “play thing” of sorts, I was pretty intrigued by the plot of this story. I found it to be very engaging and at times quite intense! There are some interesting dynamics that come in to play and though some parts sort of freaked me out when it comes to the man named Gilbert (see the screenshot below); it was again engaging and had me turning pages because I was genuinely curious to learn more about the men in this home.

I think the mangaka did an excellent job of writing an overlying mystery and appreciated that Stella isn’t completely naive to some of those mystery elements for the whole volume. The vampire aspect plays a major role in that and seems very forward to the reader (not so much to Stella) as there is no denying the open hints that these men need blood to survive.

On a different note, the art in this manga was incredible! It is very much some of the most beautiful shoujo manga I’ve read! I caught myself more than once admiring certain panels or pages because the artwork is so stunning! The mangaka has a very unique art style where it’s shoujo-like in nature, but has this underlying “darker” style and vibe to it. Rosen Blood may not be a genre I typically read and has content that I’m not personally fond of, but the story itself was intriguing and featured fantastic artwork. There are good mystery undertones with a main character who may start out naive, but soon realizes things are amiss and uses her abilities to take matters into her own hands by making a positive difference (even if I am concerned about her well being and her “boundaries” being crossed even more than what took place in this volume).

I am cautiously optimistic as to how Stella’s realizations and decisions in the conclusion will impact more than just herself (and these men) in the volume that follows.

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Rosen Blood, Vol. 1, published by Viz, is now available digitally and for pre-order in paperback.

[black-sapphire57]

Rosen blood volume 3 cover and chapter 12, 13 and 15 chapter covers.

[readtilyoudie]

Rosen Blood Vol 3

[youngmastermalleus]

[shoujo-dump]

Rosen Blood

[readtilyoudie]

ROSEN BLOOD VOLUME 4

[readtilyoudie]

Rosen Blood Vol 2