Koishite Akuma Vampire Boy Review

There's something wonderfully appealing about stories that feature forbidden love as a main theme. They're timeless. They're stories we can all relate to in some way. Who among us hasn't felt pangings of longing for somebody we can't have?

This is one of the big themes in Koishite Akuma, a Japanese drama that I just finished watching. That and vampires. I'm a sucker for vampires. (No pun intended, I swear!)

The story revolved around Kuromiya Ruka, a fledgling vampire who must drink the blood of his destined woman before the next full moon in order to become a full vampire. Sent to earth to fulfill this requirement, he assumes the identity of a high school student and is sent to live with a family who has been brainwashed to believe that Ruka is one of their own.

Ruka causes a good deal of trouble for people, being unfamiliar with human habits and behaviour, and struggling to find what he needs. He gets close to one of his teachers, Natsukawa Makoto, and then the trouble really begins...

Ruka's teacher, Natsukawa, is at first shocked by Ruka because he looks exactly like the first love of her life, Ayumu, who died at sea trying to save some children from drowning. This naturally causes her a lot of problems while trying to separate her memories and feelings for Ayumu from her student who bears his face.

But as the show goes on, more and more pieces of evidence come to light, and finally it's revealed that Ruka was Ayumu. The vampire that made him, Kaito, found him near death, and turned him into a vampire so that he would have somebody to share eternity with. Ayumu's memories were repressed in the incident, and he became Kuromiya Ruka. As time went on and Natsukawa spoke to him more, his memories of being Ayumu began to resurface, and with them came his love for the woman who was now his teacher.

Kaito constantly reminds Ruka that he must drink Natsukawa's blood before the next full moon rises, or else he will turn to dust and all knowledge and memory of him will fade from the world. Ruka resists. At first it's became he claims to hate humans, but as more of his memory comes back to him, his resistance starts to stem from the fact that if he bites and drinks from Natsukawa, she will in turn become a vampire, and he doesn't want to subject her to that.

The ending is one of bittersweet sacrifice. In the end, Ruka keeps to his word about not biting Natsukawa, and fades to dust before her eyes. While she is sad that she has to lose him once more, he tells her to be happy because they got to be together twice. The painful bittersweet moment is made even moreso by the following scene, where everything has gone back to the way it was before Ruka came to earth. Nobody remembers him, not even Natsukawa. But a few interactions between characters still make it clear that he has left his influence on them, despite the fact that he no longer exists.

The theme for forbidden love runs strongly through this entire series, as Natsukawa and Ruka struggle with their feelings for each other. With opposition and temptation at every turn, it's interesting to see how they react to the next tricky situation they're put in, often arising from their mutual desire to be with each other.

The last episode was an upsetting one, with more than a few scenes to tug at heartstrings. I admit it, tears were shed. And that just goes to show you how much this show can pull the audience in. When you're crying for fictional characters, you're feeling something about them, which means they're enough like real people to play with your emotions.

A lot of the actors for this show were quite young (youunger than me, and seeing as how I'm only 25, that says something), and quite talented. A lot of North American shows will cast 20-somethings in roles as high school students. This show cast actual high school students as high school students, which added a bit more realism to it. I'm frankly tired of seeing "high school students" on TV who look older than me!

If you want to watch this show for yourself, subtitled episodes are available through TimeLesSubs, a fansubbing group. (Please don't download the episodes if laws in your country forbid you to do so. In most countries, a lack of licensing agreements makes this a sort of grey area where acquisition is concerned, so if you're in North America you're probably safe to download this.) It's a must see for those who like j-drama and shows about vampires.