Fun and silly manga about the antics of a vampire helping out at a bathhouse and helping to look after the owners little brother

A Vampire in the Bathhouse was a charming and heartwarming story of two brothers and a mischievous but earnest vampire. The younger brother was absolutely adorable and the older brother was hardworking and honest.

Reading this story gave me such a warm feeling, and it was very very cute! I can’t wait for the next volume!

The Vampire Bathhouse is a cozy, lighthearted read. I enjoyed the beautiful illustrations, the funny jokes, and Luka’s ridiculousness.

Luka and Sakura’s relationship is sweet and cute but didn’t feel too romantic other than Sakura blushing every now and then at Luka’s strength and handsomeness. It left me wanting more.

Cons: not much vampire scenes

I recommend it for anyone who wants a cozy read.

Thank You NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for this eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this adorable manga, however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was such a cute, apparently standalone, volume! It had a pretty vampire lord going to a bath house for a little rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation. He gets all that and a bit of a found family in the family that runs the bath house. He bonds with the older son, Sakura, but also helps take care of the younger brother Umenosuke. Umenosuke is adorable. So cute! Together with them he experiences all the normal events in a manga such as a summer festival and a sports day. And it's just generally cute.

However, I do feel like there should have been more than one volume of this. I feel like it was really gearing up and then it was all wrapped up with the bonus chapter at the end. I don't know if it wasn't popular enough so it got cancelled or something else happened, but I feel like it ended too abruptly. I wanted to see Luka and Sakura's relationship develop a bit more. I can see where this would be one that wouldn't need tons of volumes because it's cozy fantasy, but I still think a duology would have rounded everything out nicely.

Anyways, it's cute and I recommend it for people who like a dash of fantasy in their cozy contemporary manga.

This was fun and lighthearted. The characters were cute and the art was beautiful. This manga had a great found family vibe between all of the characters. It’s more slice of life without much of an overall plot. Since it’s a standalone, I was expecting a little more story. Also, I’m not sure why I thought this was a romance, but it wasn't. Overall, this was a fun read with beautiful art and cute characters.

This book is a fun quick read.

The titular Vampire is a flamboyant mess is the long tradition of a beautiful blonde brats so in love with his not quite boyfriend that it makes him look stupid.

It’s funny and light

No real romance but plenty of hints.

Cute

A demon goes to the human realm for some fun slice of life shenanigans!

ART (12/10)
The art in this is absolutely stunning. The line art is detailed and consistently well done without being too visually crowded. The pretty men in the story are all incredibly hot. I’ve read plenty of pretty boy manga but some of these panels actually made me gasp with how pretty they were.

HUMOR (10/10)
The humor is where this manga really shines. I shrieked with laughter and kept getting shocked by even more fun and silly things. The satirical humor was well done, subverting the usual tropes of sexy demons coming to the human realm and forming a bond with a human.

WRITING CLARITY (7/10)
Some of the dialogue didn’t quite make sense, and I’m not sure if the logic of some responses were just off or if it was a translation issue. However, overall the dialogue was entertaining and flowed fine.

EMOTIONAL APPEAL (4/10) and FLOW (5/10)
The part that really disappointed me was that many wholesome moments came too soon or suddenly. There was a lot of potential for very sweet bonds to form between the characters, but instead it felt very cringe and out of place. That made some of the optimistic life lesson moments feel off. I think that instead there should’ve been more sweet low-key slice of life moments for a while to build the relationships and more world building about the demon world and the demons’ powers (which was super interesting when it did appear) before going into the emotional pay off of the character relationships. The last chapter ended on a point that seemed like it would continue in the future (hopefully). From the mangaka’s note, it seems like this is an ongoing series that got collected into a book, so that explains why the flow was off. I still think the editors could have made more suggestions, maybe about re-ordering some of the episodic stories to read better in a different order.

REPRESENTATION (3/10)
I’m not sure why it was categorized as an LGBT manga in the early access version on NetGalley. There’s some of your typical queer baiting and one sided flirting responded to with disgust, but no hints of romance. There was one character who I think might have been a trans woman or a drag queen, but that character appeared for only a few pages and very much fit into the usual 2D caricature of trans people in manga. One of the demons’ clothing also looked like it might’ve been inspired from indigenous tribal clothing, which seems pretty common for the depiction of dark demons. It’s unfortunate and exoticizing in my opinion, but also wasn’t too crazy of a red flag because the kingdom of darkness didn’t seem to be depicted as evil or “uncivilized” or anything.

ENJOYMENT (8/10)
Overall, I think it was a very enjoyable read, and I might come back to look at some of the stories again. The art alone is so gorgeous that I’m really glad I found this manga. I would probably recommend it to people for the art and the humor, but tell them to not expect too much from the story. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for a second book release if it comes!

Just as funny and adorable as I was expecting! Sakura is a hoot, and I love how he bullies Luca. Would love to delve deeper into who Luca is as a person as I see him being someone who has a lot of layers. This was definitely a slower read for me, but that's okay. Not everything needs to be super fast paced, and action packed.

A Vampire in the Bathhouse is a cute, slice-of-life manga set in the modern world with hints of fantasy. The art is beautifully drawn and the characters are each endearing in their own way. The story focuses on the day-to-day life of the family who runs the bathhouse and their unexpected demon vampire guest and co as well as their relationships and community connections. It is both not too short or too long but leaves you wanting more and on a personal note made me want things to be just a little more fleshed out. This is a great read if you want to feel healed and not think too much.

Thank you to Kodansha and NetGalley for this ARC.

A cute slice of life set in a bath house. A vampire is lured there by the relaxing atmosphere and curative abilities of the water. What ensues is a fluffy and sometimes funny adventure for our main characters. There’s meant to be an element of romance there but it mostly appears as some one-sided flirtation from vampire, Luka.

I think this was an absolutely, adorable, and funny manga. I loved the development of each story. The kids' emotions towards the vampire was so sweet.

I loved the freshness and freedom this book conveys. The characters aren't swayed by prejudices and accept each other as they are (although sometimes their family doesn't...)

FYI: "Otokonoko" (おとこのこ, "daughter" or "girl," also pronounced otoko no musume) is a Japanese term for men with a culturally feminine gender expression, including those with a feminine appearance or who dress as women.

I really liked it. I think it has some really cool developments that will allow our protagonist to express themselves and be who they want to be in every way. It won't be easy (or maybe it will, who knows!), but this story holds a lot of promise.

Thank you so much, Kodansha Comics, for the ARC I read through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was so cute and so so fun! I love the arts Tyler so much and it was such a darling story. The different relationships were lovely to see and it was honestly such a cozy read! I would definitely like to see more of these characters in the future or even something else from this author!

this was fun!! i went into it completely blind so the only thing i knew was the title! i really liked both the art style and the characters in this (especially luka & pequeño)!! it's very silly and cute but if you're looking for a lot of romance, this wouldn't be for you. there's hints of romance here and there but it was very minimal. it was left with an open ending that could leave the possibility of a continuation. but, then the bonus scene ties everything together and takes away any need for another volume but i didn't find it completely satisfying because it felt a bit rushed. i think it does well on its own, but if it were to have been a series i definitely would've continued reading..

thank you netgalley and kodansha comics for the arc! :)

I really loved the character development in this story. I also loved the art style and the way the expressions of the characters were depicted.

“A Vampire in the Bathhouse” is a cozy, low-stakes fantasy that blends the charm of a traditional Japanese bathhouse with a cast of irresistibly endearing characters. The gorgeous artwork brings warmth and atmosphere to every page, making it easy to get lost in its soothing slice-of-life vibes. While the relationships remain fairly light, their wholesome dynamic adds to the story’s overall charm. If this had been a longer series, I would have happily kept reading!

2 stars because I realized it’s not my type of manga but the art is really pretty! I’m sure it will do well with the right demographic.

So damn cute! Loved the characters and how they kept faithful to their personalities and relationships from beginning to end. The story in itself was very cute, funny as hell and lovely.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving out this ARC in return for an honest opinion.

I will start by saying that this is my first proper graphic novel/manga so it took me a little while to get to grips with how they're supposed to be read.
This book was honestly so charming, it felt a bit like a warm hug (or a soak at the Full Moon Baths after a long day) - all the characters were super likeable and I loved the friendships and chemistry between them all along the way. The addition of new characters was done in an easy to follow way and the story was equally easy to follow. This story genuinely had me laughing and smiling throughout at some of the situations and dialogue.

The artwork was really good and generally this was a pleasant read from start to finish - I would love a book focused on Luka'a back story but I'd also enjoy re-visiting the characters contained within this book and see what other adventures they get up to, maybe Sakura and Ume could visit the castle in the demon world!

The only reason I'm giving it 4 stars rather than 5 is because A: I can't give half stars here, and B: I felt the ending was a little abrupt.

I opted for this as my first dive into this genre as the reviews are very positive and I wanted to experience something a little more light-hearted before I progress onto some of the more better known graphic novel series.

Got my hands on another vampire manga thanks to the eARC provided by Netgalley and Kodansha.
I am always up for vampires mangas. This one, a silly vampire one, had very little vampirism activities than I expected honestly.
The story follow a very hungover vampire from the demon realm who heard about bathhouses in the human realm and decided to go to one.
Then here comes my issue, barely anything happens. Across the six chapters of the volume, two of them have problems which one of gets resolved off-screen and gets concluded very quickly. The way the issues are resolved made it way less engaging for me.
Don't get me wrong, it is a very light-hearted read as it promises in a nice way, that's fun, chill and short to settle down with when you want to relax. There are many funny interactions and I found myself laughing multiple times, it's humor is really to my taste. When it subtly points out the absurdity of the situations imposed.
In comparison to other one-volume mangas I read, however it does not explore it's promised tags much. Neither is being specifically a vampire of any significance to the plot, and hardly is there any LGBTQIA themes or discusses their relationship much. I definitely think it would've worked more if there was a chance to explore those more.