Li’l Miss Vampire Can’t Suck Right Volume 1 Review
Luna Ishikawa is a vampire: cool, mysterious and drinks blood. She’s also in high school, short and a bit awkward…not your typical vampire then! She also has a very serious problem, she doesn’t know how to suck blood properly and hasn’t even eaten from a human! Luckily her classmate, Tatsuta Ootori, is happy to help her out and lend his blood so Luna can practise drinking from humans.
This comedy vampire series is the first manga of Kyosuke Nishiki, and they’re doing pretty well for themselves. Not only is this manga series still ongoing, despite starting off as a one-off (as confirmed by the author’s notes at the back) but also it’s been adapted into an anime, which is due to air later this year (under the title ‘Vampire-chan Can’t Suck Properly’).
The manga series is set in high school, with many of the chapters being self-contained. There is an overarching story, like the introduction of students who grow close to Luna across the book, but each chapter has a similar premise and set-up: introduce the cool vampire Luna, she gets hungry at some point and her awkwardness comes out, Ootori agrees to help and the conflict of the chapter is solved. If you’re a big consumer of vampire media, you’ll know that the act of vampires biting humans can be represented as different things; sometimes as an act of violence (like in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) or a more intimate act (e.g. Vampire Knight). Here it’s neither of those things, instead it’s seen as a mother teaching a child how to eat, and they even use that language, with Ootori calling himself a ‘mom’ and visual language with Luna going all chibi and small like a baby when she begins to eat from him. It’s a unique spin on the act that I’ve not seen before, and works well with the comedy set-up in a high school, where things like helping clean the classroom, studying and playing basketball games can bring someone to having the munchies, so plenty of opportunities for Luna to practise on Ootori. This means that the series is low stakes (pun intended) overall, and the book kinda breezes by you, but it’s still a fun read overall.
The mythology around vampires in this series is not really explored in this volume, Luna obviously goes to school in the day time, so sunlight doesn’t bother her, and all her classmates know she’s a creature of the night, so there’s no secrecy about it either. If you’re heavily into knowing your vampire lore of any particular series, or need the vampires to be a particular way to enjoy it, you might be dissatisfied here. But there’s a few nice details here and there, such as Luna’s elf-like ears, the wings that sprout on her back at one point, and the cute fangs too. Kyosuke Nishike is very good at balancing the ‘cool’ sides of being a vampire, with Luna’s long nails and half-concealed face to make her look mysterious and alluring, only to immediately have her shrink down like a cute bat, or her stomach growl loudly; it’s a nice juxtaposition.
Ootori calls himself a ‘background character’ more than once across the book, so even though he’s a protagonist of the series, he doesn’t get much to do outside of lending his blood to Luna. However, there are a few cute moments such as him lending Luna a chicken-shaped chocolate and making funny noises to ease the tension. I was glad when they introduced another student to bounce off the pair: Eiko Sakuma, who’s more of a hyperfan of Luna’s, but also straightforward with Ootori and takes action when needed.
As mentioned, the design of the vampire lead is very good, and overall the series is nice to look at. The high school setting is fairly standard and nothing to write home about, but Kyosuke Nishiki is good at comedic visuals and shading, giving each student their own distinctive look. Translation by Christine Dashiell is also good, but I did wonder why they put the translation notes just before the second-to-last chapter of the book? It’s normally at the end of the book, so it was a weird placing to me.
Li’l Miss Vampire Can’t Suck Right is a comedic look at the act of vampires sucking blood, with a unique take on the ‘vampire in high school’ trope as well. If the book looks appealing to you, don’t be afraid to take a bite. Volume 2 is due out in February 2026.
Our review copy was supplied by Yen Press.
