My Dear, Curse-Casting Vampiress Volume 2 Review

Back in May, Yen Press debuted new supernatural series My Dear, Curse-Casting Vampiress. In Volume 1 we met protagonist Isuzu Osaka and the legendary vampire Baroque, who teamed up with government approval as a new vampire-fighting unit.

When we reunite with the pair for Volume 2, we find ourselves in Shibuya, where Isuzu and Baroque have been planning to cast a huge curse. Unfortunately, while assessing the area, the vampire sister duo Tsukuyomi and Ruby attacked them. Now our heroes are split up from one another, they have to figure out how to defeat the pair before anyone innocent gets hurt. 

Having taken a liking to the taste of his blood, Tsukuyomi wants to keep Isuzu as a pet and believes that he should simply fall in love with her, instead of Baroque. She’s shocked that her charm isn’t working even when she threatens to drop him off a building if he doesn’t submit to her! 

Ruby meanwhile is fighting and arguing with Baroque about her choice to work with Isuzu and other humans. Having had a bad experience with her original human family, Ruby strongly believes in the concept of chosen family which is why she calls Tsukuyomi her little sister (they aren’t actually related) and wishes to bring Baroque into the fold. After all, Ruby believes that surely once Baroque is done slaying vampires, Isuzu will only betray her leaving her with nothing and no happily ever after. So in that case, trying to wipe out the humans and living with her and Tsukuyomi would be much better. 

The majority of this volume revolves around our duo fighting off the vampires in chapters that are part- action, part-backstory (for the vampires), and solid character development. Once again, mangaka Chisaki Kanai manages to deliver a set of chapters that are highly entertaining to read. The action is still very detailed and easy to follow, while interlaced with the cast bickering among themselves in exchanges that are comical and endearing. 

And I think that’s one of the major plus points of Volume 2. We spend a lot of time with the sisters and while they’re always presented as the enemy, they’re still characters we come to care about as readers. It’s a bit like Bungo Stray Dogs where the Port Mafia are pitted against the Armed Detective Agency, but their relationship is more complex than that and you come to appreciate those members of the cast for what they bring to the story. Tsukuyomi in particular seems likely to stick around for the long-term, so I’m looking forward to seeing more of her in the content to come. 

I think because of Kanai choosing to separate Isuzu and Baroque for a large portion of the book, it also alleviated some of the issues I was having with Baroque in Volume 1. My main criticism was that she was shown as an extremely powerful vampire who is in love with Isuzu with very little else to her personality, but through her interactions with Ruby we start to see glimpses of what makes her tick and that makes me more optimistic about her future. She’s not just a character who exists to work with Isuzu, but someone interesting in her own right. 

Some people may feel that the series isn’t serious enough or that [the combination of] the romance between our main duo takes away from other elements, given the amount of time spent on it. But I like how Kanai has handled this so far, especially as these are quite thick volumes so we’re getting a fairly equal amount of action and cutesy moments. Could it stand to tone down the comedy and romance a bit? Probably, but I think what we have right now is a lot of fun and that’s what’s most important. 

My Dear, Curse-Casting Vampiress Volume 2 comes to the West thanks to Yen Press and continues to be translated by Giuseppe di Martino with lettering by Anthony Quintessenza. Just like the previous volume. the translation reads well and I think di Martino does a fantastic job of keeping the dialogue snappy, especially in the more comedic scenes where the personalities of the cast must come through. As a bonus for this release, there’s also a colour page depicting Isuzu and Baroque together. 

Volume 3 of the series has already been released in English with #4 set to follow in June, so not too long to wait for more. 

Overall My Dear, Curse-Casting Vampiress Volume 2 keeps the series on the right track with an interesting blend of action, comedy and romantic moments. The newly introduced characters prove a good addition to the cast as well, which is always nice to see for a series that’s still establishing itself. One to continue with if you enjoyed its first outing!

Our review copy from Yen Press was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.