Read on Renta!:
SMOKY NECTAR
by Akira Minazuki
Japanese:
Smoky Nectar
スモーキーネクター
Links:
Akira Minazuki’s Twitter
Akira Minazuki’s Instagram
Around the time the team first started this BLog, Ames and I headed to a BL café event showcasing Harada, Mitsuaki Asou and the subject of today’s post, Akira Minazuki, and their work, “SMOKY NECTAR”. Already hooked by the gorgeous art adorning the café walls, imagine my elated surprise when, one July day, I found myself assigned to the translation check of that very same manga. ‘Motivation boost’ doesn’t begin to describe it. It’s not just me either; everyone on the team worked painstakingly hard to bring this masterpiece to English-speaking readers in the perfect form it’s worthy of.
Give a girl with a hidden gothic heart a vampire-themed BL and you might as well win her over for life—and well, I’ll follow Akira Minazuki forever, because “SMOKY NECTAR” is one of the greatest manga I’ve had the pleasure of checking at Renta!.
Our story follows Mitsuru Hasegawa, an online news site reporter, investigating the recent murder of a woman named Chika, whose body was found with puncture wounds and her blood completely congealed—giving rise to the legend of the murderous “Biter” vampire.
Since the murder occurred in a lot managed by Annaka Housing, the real-estate company run by the family of his childhood friend, Yusei Annaka (lovingly nicknamed Anna), Mitsuru is determined to look further into the case and clear his friend’s name (even if he annoyingly puffs cigarette smoke in his face every time they meet… for reasons he’ll uncover later).
Anna, for his part, instantly looks shady to any reader with a basic understanding of sus behavior—but, warnings to not stick his nose where it doesn’t belong or Anna conveniently appearing at the scene of the crime, demanding to delete any property data Mitsuru has gathered, are all signs of love and care to the ever-trusting Mitsuru instead of red flags.
When the first lucky break in the case brings Mitsuru face to face, potentially, with the Biter himself, Anna appears just in time to save him from the same fate as Chika—and to reveal that, he, too, is a Biter. This revelation thrusts Mitsuru into this vampiric world, coexisting with humanity, with its own regulations and structures—even its own biology. During a breeding season every six months, Biters need to drink blood, or else they die; their victims don’t die, because they don’t consume more than a cup of blood a day, and their saliva has the power to erase a victim’s memory; even their teeth marks are supposed to vanish right away. But, in that case—how did Chika die?
Anna hints to the reason why—one that he cannot reveal to Mitsuru (or the reader) because Biter laws forbid him from doing so. And, despite claiming that he doesn’t thirst for blood out of breeding season, the mere sight of a few drops of Mitsuru’s blood is enough to daze him—pointing to the most important secret hidden in every page of “SMOKY NECTAR”.
What he does reveal is that, conveniently, Biter saliva makes the victim horny enough to be willing to get bitten. And there’s only one direction this can go…
~an art rant interlude~
Now that the objective synopsis is over, before I start ranting about the manga itself, let me first rant about the art—because it’s FANTASTIC. “SMOKY NECTAR” had my “Favorite Art” vote for the Renta! Staff BL Awards, for good reason. Employing a variety of angles with natural ease, smooth line-art, detailed, immersive backgrounds, smart and effective panel arrangement, an understanding of anatomy so honed that all figures seem three-dimensional, the white-space, beta and screentone usage of an absolute manga GOD—what is there not to love?
The thick, white outlines surrounding the characters in the midst of a dark or complex backgrounds have stolen my soul right out of my body; even such a small detail can give a manga its own unique voice. Also, may I point out how excellent the hands are? I can’t help but stare at them in every panel, in every page. Also, the blood? It should be obvious for a vampire manga to have effective depictions of blood, but—just look at the scene where Anna gets his nose broken. You can almost feel the viscosity of the blood through the page. And speaking of his broken nose, the action scenes are so well-done, I could place them next to the shonen manga greats without inhibition.
Bonus points: Anna’s blankly bewildered stares at Mitsuru’s antics always earn a chuckle.
Vampires, murder and romance
“SMOKY NECTAR” is definitely a must-read for any fellow vampire fiction fans. Keep in mind though, it’s a unique take on the lore, considering that its vampires are likened to mosquitoes—which makes sense in a country that’s plagued by the blood-sucking insects every summer. It’s a fresh spin, far from the Roma legends of ghoulish mullos or the vrykolakes of the Balkan peninsula, vampire bats, Victorian expressions of repressed sexuality and Anne Rice-ian depictions of dangerously erotic allure, and a certain sparkly type that’s been sanitized of vampirism more than a surgery room.
Perhaps if you like romance stories that are focused, well, on the romance, you might not be left fully satisfied—but “SMOKY NECTAR” hit the perfect spot for me, considering that I like romance-centric stories only when the couple involved is indubitably messed up, and prefer healthy romance as a side-dish to an overall unromantic main course. And, as someone who got into BL through shonen manga doujinshi, Mitsuru and Anna almost seem like the ideal scenario that every shonen BL shipper yearns for: the two male protagonists realize that their feelings for each other hide a layer other than friendship and they pursue those feelings to their natural conclusion.
Mitsuru doesn’t fit the typical romance protagonist mold, either. He’s a go-getter that moves the plot forward by his own power rather than waiting for the plot (a.k.a. his significant other) to come to him. He sincerely wants to solve the case, not just for Anna’s sake, but for Chika and justice itself too. He’s also not a damsel in distress; whenever he gets in trouble, it’s because of his own daring yet reckless actions causing natural consequences, in the form of forces stronger than he had expected—therefore leaving the narrative no option but to have a force of equal strength (a.k.a. Anna) come get him out of that mess.
In a sense, just as they help each other out (when Mitsuru’s curiosity gets him into trouble or when Anna… well, no spoilers), they complement each other perfectly. Even after finding out the truth and Mitsuru’s naive worldview clashes with Anna’s vampiric cynicism, they still make things work. While their first experience is driven by Mitsuru’s curiosity for the unknown and the effect of the Biter saliva, it doesn’t alter their bond, but rather, it uplifts it to greater heights and establishes that these two are, by every definition—platonically, romantically, sexually—soulmates. Their relationship development isn’t forced for the sake of a romantic plot in the midst of a grave murder mystery; it’s simply the natural next step for our two protagonists and it’s all thanks to the masterful writing of Akira Minazuki.
By the end of the story, most questions about Biter society, at least as far as Anna and Mitsuru’s role is concerned, are answered. The sole question left for me is… “when will I get to check the translation of the next volume???” Well, for now, for any keen readers, you can find it right here in Japanese. But, are there any questions left for you? Anything you wanted the story climax to answer, anything you wanted to see more of? Please share below!❤️
rentaBLog 