TW: Mentions and illusions to suicide

4.5 Stars (I received an e-arc from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review)

This manga was a great mix of comedy, supernatural, and romance and I am eagerly anticipating the next volume. I am so bad with names the main character is homeless, struggling to get by and just got fired from their job. Due to the main character being homeless she has to disguise herself as a boy and gets at lot of attention for being so attractive as a boy. An accident leads to her meeting a vampire who saves her, thinking as well that she is a guy. Apparently though due to her not being loved enough her blood tastes disgusting and bitter (which is an interesting concept). So he takes her under his wing enrolling her in his all boys academy and working in the all male cafe. We also have an antagonist enter the story who has a dislike for the male interest. There is also some vampire lore talked about which is really interesting.

Thank you to Netgalley and Kodansha for the arc.

I think it could be fleshed out more but overall I liked Volume 1 and could see myself reading volume 2. I do wonder if it's going to be just a straight romance or if our main character would be trans or enby as at the end of the volume the author says they wanted to write a vampire in a gay romance. One thing that slightly bothered more was how heteronormative things felt with things like the fated partner which were females. And the main character not being cis could be something that would ease it for me. Though it doesn't seem like they have any issue with being a girl. Either way the vampire guy Ruka is for sure fruity. Even if the main character is just a crossdressing female, Ruka doesn't know that and still gets butterflies. Oh and I don't know how I didn't realize Ruka was gonna be an Otaku. Says in the synopsis but I guess I forget so when it was brought up it felt like a twist.

I love the art style of this manga, though I do find the instantaneous aspect of the love story a little too quick. I would have liked more build up, but that aside, the translations seem spot on and the action is beautifully drawn. I'm looking forward to seeing how the story progresses in future volumes.

Overall: 3.66/5
I read through this in a breeze. I was very entertained felt like this was a great introduction to the story and characters.
It felt like maybe a little more time was needed to flesh out some of the ideas, but that's fairly common with mangas in my experience. It did a good job of introducing all of the pieces I think we need going forward which is really the most important thing.
It still feels like the world is a bit of a blank slate for me but when there were specific settings I wasn't lost. I knew exactly what was going on and where the characters were. I think there was just enough world-building done to ground the reader but not detract from other important aspects of the story.
I enjoyed our introduction to these characters a lot. I felt like I understood some motivations more than others and am looking forward to getting to know the characters better in future books.
I liked that there was a bit of internal conflict in addition to the external. I felt they related to each other well.
I love/hate a good cliffhanger. I definitely need to know what happens next. I just hope there if future resolution and that not every volume ends with a cliffhanger.
I enjoyed the pacing. It might have been a touch slow for me, but I find I like faster than average pacing.
I enjoy Ema Toyama's style and have read several other of their works.
Beautiful manga illustration.
CW: Blood, classism/homelessness, pornographic or sexually explicit content (light female outlines), self-harm and suicide

So I usually don’t go for a manga with a fantasy creature in the human world, but this one is actually intriguing! I really like the concept of the “fated partner” and how the male love interest doesn’t like women.I also love the gender bender aspect to this! I was SO excited at the end of chapter one when it was revealed!

As always, Toyama has stunning artwork. I seriously can never get over how beautiful it is. And the translation for this manga was very well done too!

I think I’ll be picking up more of this series!

Rating: 3.75 🌟
First and foremost, I'd like to express my gratitude to Netgalley and Kodansha Comics for providing me with an e-ARC of this manga.
This manga had a lot of surprises, which is why I like it even more.
• Vampires in a modern world
• Love triangle (2 male leads & 1 female lead)❤️🙈
• Struggling female mc
• Protective male leads 😚

ARC Copy...Hmm sensing this could get better later on + too early to say but still don't what to make of a forceful vampire (hunter) and human (food) relationship yet.

I am a huge sucker for vampire romance and this was no exception. I love the character Ren, since his character seems to be filled with mystery. The female protagonist is ok, but I do love seeing her innocent nature. Overall, great book if you are into the genres of supernatural or romance.

I wasn't sure how I would feel about this one, but I am hooked.
The characters are likeable, and just a hint of a love triangle. (Although the end game seems clear.)
Highly recommended.
I need to find the next one, stat.

The manga is very fast paced, so much so that sometimes it felt like I had missed reading a scene. But the plot was different, the idea that the taste of your blood depends upon how much you are loved is interesting. Also, the artwork is so beautiful, I mean the girl is so good-looking as a guy that even I would have fallen for her.😅

Will definitely be reading the other volumes. 😍

A cute story about a girl in disguise looking to find a home. Perfect for lovers of romance and silly situations.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this manga in exchange for a review!

Overall...this one wasn't that bad. It was a bit too cheesey, but it also had all the basics you could want. So if you're looking for vampires, two cute boys as competing love interests, girls secretly dressed as boys, and lots of close proximity scenarios, this one may be for you.

(This review has also been posted on goodreads)

Thank you to NetGalley, Kodansha Comics, and Ema Toyama for the opportunity to read this manga in exchange for an honest review.

Mito doesn't have a home. She dresses as a boy to avoid attention as she is living on the streets. When she catches the attention of a vampire, Ruka, he asks her to be his thrall (or blood slave, as it were). The catch? He has no clue Mito is a girl! Ruka, believing Mito to be a boy, finds her blood distasteful, as she seems to be unloved (that affects the blood taste).

The two seem to start to like each other, not knowing why. Bad boy Ren enters the scene, a possible romantic rival. He finds out about Mito's secret right away. Some aspect of his past drives his need to protect her. Somehow Ren knows Ruka is a vampire, but none of Ruka's other classmates know. What part might Ren play in the grand scheme of vampires and thralls?

I absolutely loved this manga. Beautiful art. I love the girl-dressed-as-boy-but-boy-doesn't-know-he's-actually-a-girl trope. Love it. The characters and relationships are interesting. This is a must read for vampire fans and shoujo readers.

Very cheesy vampire romance with a lot of "fwa fwa~" and "doki doki *blush*" moments that are cringey cheesy even for a shoujo manga. It's not bad though and fans of vampire romance would definitely enjoy it!

I am obsessed!!! So good and adorable and absolutely up my alley!!
I would say towards the end it does get a little more adult, but we'll have to see what the next installment is like to know for sure! I hope it stays more innocent because I really wanna try this for my library!!

I LOVE this manga. The art style is beautiful and the story is my catnip. I love a good woman-disguised-as-a-man trope, especially when there's a bit of a love triangle involved. This has slight Ouran High School Host Club and also Hana-Kimi vibes in that Mito is a very cute "boy" at an all boys school. I love the added vampire element, and the reasons Mito needs to keep pretending to be a boy. There's a bit of a comedy/rom-com element in this, as well as some really hot scenes where the leads' hearts go ba-dump. Just love it entirely.

Did I read this first one and then immediately buy the next six volumes in this seven volume series? You bet I did. And that's about the highest recommendation there is!

Vampire Dormitory is about a teenager, Mito, who has been abandoned by family after the death of their parents and has no support system. Living rough on the streets, Mito encounters a young vampire, Ruka, who will enroll them in school and let them live with him if Mito agrees to be his thrall.

Ruka tells Mito their blood will be sweeter if they are loved, so Ruka tries to sweeten Miko's blood by bestowing his love and affection. The pair navigate their growing feelings for one another as they try to create this mutually beneficial relationship. It's hard to say much more and remain spoiler-free.

The illustrations are lovely and all the characters are gorgeous, but I'm interested to see if the final version will be in color. I can't wait to read the next installment.

Okay, so it started off a bit weird. The character is being treated like the sexiest man on earth, women can't stay away... But it's a female dressed like a man. And when the vampire tells her he can't drink female blood, but he's going to make her feel loved so her (his) blood tastes better, she continues to hide her gender from him. It's... It's just weird. A little non-sensical.

Vampire Dormitory is a shojo about a young girl, Mito, who is not loved. Left alone after her parent's tragic death and abandoned by her aunt after she finishes high school, Mito struggles in life and tries to make her way into adulthood by having multiple jobs and camping on rooftops. Until the day she rushed into a café and bumped into Ruka, a vampire who loves manga and fictional women. When he asks Mito to become his thrall and at the same time to enter his dormitory, she can hardly refuse. Between staying with a handsome man and living in the streets, the choice is easily made. The problem is that Ruka believes Mito is a boy and he enrols her into a boy school, where everything becomes complicated. Here start the adventures of Mito and Ruka, and perhaps of a love story between a vampire and a human girl...

I am not going to lie: I was really disappointed in this shojo. And I have to say that I am not difficult at all when it comes to reading them. Apart from the beautiful drawings, I wasn't fond of the plot. It wasn't particularly original and, even though it wouldn't be what bothers me normally, this time I thought that Ema Toyama missed an opportunity to write a good story. It was way too fast-paced, and the relationship between the two protagonists felt flat and cringe. Sometimes, I even thought that it was on the borderline of sexual harassment. Ruka does ask Mito if she consents to be his thrall, but he doesn't explicitly mention that it comes with other things like... well, sleeping together. I mean, they don't have sex, but the proximity between the two is a bit too much. He even comes to almost taking her clothes off.

So, as you might understand, it wasn't a bop for me. Perhaps it's also because this book was directed toward a younger audience—teenagers. For this reason, I think I'd only recommend this manga to teenagers. I believe that young adults won't love this story as much as Toyama intended it to be.

Thank you Netgalley and Kodansha for letting me read this eArc!

A cute romance between a vampire and a human!

Vampire Dormitory vol.1 is the first volume of the story with four chapters that revolves around Mito, a young orphan who was kicked out by relatives and had nowhere to go, who stumbles upon a café where Ruka, a vampire, works. Ruka, fascinated by the smell of Mito’s blood, rescues and decides to make Mito his thrall, thinking she’s a boy! Mito decided for her safety to keep it a secret with much difficulty!

This volume is an excellent start to the story and introduces us to many characters that seem to have more focus later. The art is beautiful; it reminds me of the late 90s-early 2000’s style of manga. The characters are all very gorgeous. There are formulaic shoujo scenes in this volume, but a vampire lead makes it a bit more interesting. I do like the secret hobby of Ruka; it makes him more humane and relatable for Mito.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha for the eARC in exchange for honest feedback.