Tokyo is plagued by a string of murders where the victims are drained of blood. While the city whispers about vampires, detective Mikogami Keigo seeks to avenge his murdered lover. As he stalks "The Man With Two Faces," Mikogami catches the attention of a mysterious silver-haired girl.
Even though, to borrow and paraphrase a quote from Dr. Fallada (Frank Finlay) in Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce, "that [silver-haired] girl is no girl," Momo nonetheless stumbles across the thin line it desires to dance upon. Which is too bad, because there is a lot about Momo that I really, really like. Maybe could even love.
There is just one gigantic obstacle to my being able to enjoy to the utmost all the bloodletting and monsters splashing across the black and white pages of Momo The Blood Taker. That would be Momo Persephone Dracula her-own-damn-self.
Momo appears to have become a vampire when she was a child. Although her soul, or her consciousness, has aged some 200 years, her body has not. Physically she is still just a kid. Mentally she is an adult.
Off the top of my head, while I type these words, I can name at least four examples of the 'ancient soul in a child's body' trope. Claudia in Interview with the Vampire, Homer in Near Dark, The Anointed One in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and Eli in Let the Right One In.
And that is just four. There are a lot more than those, I am sure.
What differentiates Momo from the above titles is just how sexualized she is. It was so over the top in its fetishistic approach to showcasing her in, um, well, very sexy lingerie and the not at all unsubtle implication that she, uh, did some vampiric 'cuddling' with an unconscious and mortally wounded Mikogami was just off-putting.
Part of me wants to think it was intentional, but I doubt it.
Which is disappointing, because I really, really liked the nightmarish and dapper Man With Two Faces and the escalating vampire menace.
But I will be doing a little research, as well as a some soul searching, before I decide whether or not to read the next volume of Momo The Blood Taker.
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