Vampire Dormitory: Chapter 44
May. 20th, 2024 07:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrMasterlist.
No, that's not a typo in the title. I got paranoid the show was going to take a sudden swerve into Let's Be Normal Heterosexuals, and read the latest chapter of the manga to see where things are going.
And, well. "Normal" and "heterosexual" are not the FIRST words that come to mind...
After that I felt unable to react to the new anime episodes without mention of some manga stuff. So, here's a reaction to that first.
This post theoretically contains spoilers for the whole story, but by chapter 44 the manga has gone so far down a weird rabbit hole of new plot that the only current anime plotline that really gets spoiled is whether the main couple is together, and, in that respect it is very enjoyably conventional ;) Also some secondary characters don't show up in this chapter, which implies they may leave the story, but it's also possible they just happened not to be around.
Content note: SO MUCH DUBCON. No actual sex, but there are Vibes. Also the manga has some weirdly sexualised child-like characters which I will mention briefly.
So!
There are a couple of main ways I was worried this manga could go off the rails: First would be the typical het crossdressing romance thing where it's a Phase She Outgrew and she becomes aggressively cisnormative. The second was simply being bad as a romance, either drawing things out too long or having lots of breakups, a tragic separation, etc.
The cover seemed to bode well: it's Mito as a boy, Ruka, and some unfamiliar pretty young men (one of whom has wolf ears) in waiter uniforms in a bar. Title: "The Boy Falls Into A Trap".
"Cool," I thought. "I guess this is set post highschool and they become waiters at a bar, and also a werewolf is there. Sounds a little bland but unobjectionable, I like that we have Mito and Ruka being shippy while Mito is still dressed like a boy, hopefully their relationship has progressed a bit. I hope the other boys are still around, though. And I wonder what this 'trap' is."
And then! The chapter started! With Mito trapped in a GIANT SPIDER WEB by an ELF in a TRACKSUIT.
Noah the Elf: Won't you give me your devotion? I've always wanted true love.
And then a... tendril??? slithers into Mito's torn shirt, which is just barely covering his boobs. There's a lot of twitching and gasping.
Me: Uh.
Sexy women: IF YOU WANT LOVE WHAT ABOUT US?? We'll be much better than this flat chested love interest :)
Mito: That's just because I'm male right now >:(
Noah: BEGONE!! *attacks women with magic*
Women: *Turning into giant angry trees* HOW DARE YOU SPURN THE BEAUTIES OF THE WOOD!!
Mito: Oh right, the seductive trees I was warned about.
Me: Uh?
Noah saves Mito and then, to his surprise, she saves him too, and they escape the Evil Forest Of Seductive Trees. Mito's heart necklace (sang sucre) glows.
I am going to transcribe every line of dialogue for the next three pages to get across how much is Happening:
Ruka: Thank goodness! You and your sang sucre are safe!
Mito: My sang sucre?
Wolf guy: Tch! So even a fall from that height isn't enough to do you in... you vampire scum are as stubborn as roaches! If only you were gone, the darkness of my people's plight would would be that much brighter!
me: AH YES WEREWOLVES VERSUS VAMPIRES. Also wait does that mean Mito is a vampire too now, like Ren said would happen? :D
Mito: Zara!
Ruka: So you were the one responsible!
Giant red panda, with a love heart on it's chest, blowing a whistle and holding up a coloured card: Zara! That's your second assault on a fellow student! You're being expelled from Demi Academy!
Zara the wolfman: Expelled?! Anything but that!
Panda: Then you have some serious reforming to do! Come with me!
Me: Wait, they're ALL wearing matching tracksuits. ARE THEY AT A SCHOOL FOR MAGIC CREATURES. IS THIS ALL HAPPENING DURING PE CLASS. WHICH IS RUN BY A PANDA.
(In Japanese, "Demi" refers to demi-humans, eg humanoid mythical creatures)
A bat: The very leader of the werewolves. His race desires the orb more than any other.
Mito: Komori?!
Komori: Mito, there's something you should know.
Mito: My sang sucre contains the tremendously powerful vampire orb... which is needed to preserve the land of vampires?!
It's plausible this Orb has come up before but I wouldn't be entirely surprised if it hasn't. And that's all the explanation we get!
Ruka says he was trying to protect her and when she can't take it off Komori says it is attached to her and she must protect it by the power of her unwavering love for Ruka.
Mito smiles and says it's perfectly safe then, so I guess they're together, aw.
BUT OH NO NOAH HEARS THIS!! AND PLOTS TO STEAL MITO'S HEART, AND THUS THE ORB!!
Later, Ruka and Mito are in what look like fancy highschool uniforms. Just as Mito tries to discuss what's up with the werewolves, a knockoff Ciel-looking boy comes up and says they are needed at the bar. The... school bar? Sure.
It's their welcoming party to Demi Academy!! Featuring a siren, a merman, and many other pretty young men, all cheerfully welcoming Mito and offering her tasty food.
Mito flashes back to Komori telling her she CANNOT TRUST OTHER DEMIS because they will TRY TO STEAL HER ORB but everyone is so nice she smiles and sparklingly tells them she's really happy to be at this school.
Demi boys: Why is my heart beating so fast... for a guy? Maybe it was that field trip to the forest of deadly temptresses...
That was a DELIBERATE trip?? To teach these boys to... resist and murder hot girls???
Me: MITO IS STILL LIVING AS A GUY :D WHILE DATING RUKA :D :D
The manga:
Me: MITO IS STILL LIVING AS A GUY WHILE MARRIED TO RUKA :D :D :D
I assume Ruka knows she's a girl by now, but he's still cool being seen as being in an m/m relationship which is way more than I expected.
Also it's not totally clear in this image but she has little fangs :D
Demi boys: It's not like you newlyweds can be touchy feely with us watching.
Ruka: >:D *nibbles Mito's ear, much to her turned on embarrassment*
He whispers "This will prove to them the orb is safe, so you'll have to bear with it for now."
This goes on for 3 pages. I can only assume the last 44 chapters have just been a sequence of excuses to Ruka and other men to dubcon touch Mito, sandwiched between short patches of highly condensed exposition, because Ema TÅyama knows what she's here for.
Noah apologises for being overcome by the FOREST OF DEADLY DUBCON that they were sent to by their PE TEACHER the PANDA, and gives Mito a box of fancy chocolates. Naturally, she immediately forgives him.
Noah: We can eat them alone in our room tonight, because Zara has been sent to solitary confinement :)
Mito: Solitary confinement??
Noah: Yes, repeat offenders have to spend the night with no dinner in the Tower of Penitence, which is guarded by gargoyles :)
Mito: D:
This school is hard core. Also the newlyweds don't get their own room?
Noah inwardly gloats that Mito will be OVERCOME WITH LUST thanks to the DRUGGED CHOCOLATES. DUN DUN!!
Turns out the "gargoyle" guard is the child-like twins Gar and Goyle who are wearing uncomfortably revealing goth BDSM outfits which is not the sort of weird I was expecting from this manga but I guess after 40+ chapters she felt like branching out.
(not that I was EXPECTING an elf with sex pollen chocolates per se, but it's more on brand)
As Zara angrily tries to escape, Gar and Goyle gloat that the bars of this prison are powered by the wickedness in your heart, so Zara will never escape, and so NEVER GRADUATE AND BECOME WEREWOLF KING!!
Zara angsts that none of the other werewolves like him because he's so angry.
Zara: Why won't they see me for who I really am? ;_;
Mito: *arrives to visit the wolf in a shower of sparkles, in a (I'm assuming) red hood carrying a woven basket full of goodies because WHAT IS SUBTLY WHO NEEDS IT*
Ahh, Zara pushed Mito INTO the sexy trees off a cliff last chapter. But of course she forgives him.
Zara: A vampire has overcome our generations of conflict... can vampires and werewolves really be friends after all?
I mean, she's been a vampire for, like, a couple of months. That's not a lot of generational enmity to overcome.
He cheerfully takes a bite of the chocolate and then dramatically spits it out, warning her that it's been poisoned with MANDRAKE ROOT, the SEX POLLEN PLANT!!
*blinks*
*remembers watching the cast of Dungeon Meshi snacking on candied mandrake roots*
But it's TOO LATE. Mito blushes and says she feels strange and her little vampire fangs are showing!!
She pushes Zara against the wall!
As Gar and Goyle lock the doors for the night, Zara thinks that Mito's cloying smell reminds him of a woman, and that the little taste he had of the chocolate is enough to overpower him. He and Mito embrace, fangs bared, touching each other's blushing, panting faces. We are reminded that if Mito cheats on Ruka there will be dire consequences involving the VAMPIRE ORB.
THE END
Well that was sure.... something!
I was disappointed none of the other guys from the anime showed up, I hope everyone is still friends even if they ended up at different schools. This level of varied supernatural nonsense is a bit much for me but would probably be not QUITE as overwhelming in context. In general I get the vibe that all the original plots got neatly tied up and then the author went ok what's next... NEW SCHOOL NEW DRAMA NEW SPECIES OF HOT BOYS. Which is better than dragging everything out, but is usually about the point where I drop a series.
All that aside, the vibe was more thinly written excuses for dubcon and less romantically fluffy than the anime. I checked out the first chapter or so of the manga and sure enough, even though most of it was identical to the first few episodes the vibe was subtly different in the same way. I like the anime vibe more so I will stick with the anime from now on rather than reading ahead in the manga, though if the season ends before they get together I may be Tempted.
There sure is some Gender Stuff going on here, huh? The fantasy of being treated exactly like a man, even romantically, but also having that Unique Feminine Allure. Other women are attracted to you and all the men into you, but the men only have eyes for you. New for this chapter: all other women are literally evil ugly monsters underneath. OK THEN.
In the first chapter of the manga, the author has a little aside: "I had long gotten it into my head that women should have long hair, but these days short hair is popular too!" and I'm just... yes, but not normally in the context of DISGUISING AS A BOY WITH A WIG. And then says she tried to give Mito androgynous eyelashes but got distracted by making her cute haha.
I'm still not sure if this is a highschool with a bar and married students, or university with uniforms and PE classes. I guess demi humans not conforming to human educational standards would not be the WEIRDEST thing in this story.
No, that's not a typo in the title. I got paranoid the show was going to take a sudden swerve into Let's Be Normal Heterosexuals, and read the latest chapter of the manga to see where things are going.
And, well. "Normal" and "heterosexual" are not the FIRST words that come to mind...
After that I felt unable to react to the new anime episodes without mention of some manga stuff. So, here's a reaction to that first.
This post theoretically contains spoilers for the whole story, but by chapter 44 the manga has gone so far down a weird rabbit hole of new plot that the only current anime plotline that really gets spoiled is whether the main couple is together, and, in that respect it is very enjoyably conventional ;) Also some secondary characters don't show up in this chapter, which implies they may leave the story, but it's also possible they just happened not to be around.
Content note: SO MUCH DUBCON. No actual sex, but there are Vibes. Also the manga has some weirdly sexualised child-like characters which I will mention briefly.
So!
There are a couple of main ways I was worried this manga could go off the rails: First would be the typical het crossdressing romance thing where it's a Phase She Outgrew and she becomes aggressively cisnormative. The second was simply being bad as a romance, either drawing things out too long or having lots of breakups, a tragic separation, etc.
The cover seemed to bode well: it's Mito as a boy, Ruka, and some unfamiliar pretty young men (one of whom has wolf ears) in waiter uniforms in a bar. Title: "The Boy Falls Into A Trap".
"Cool," I thought. "I guess this is set post highschool and they become waiters at a bar, and also a werewolf is there. Sounds a little bland but unobjectionable, I like that we have Mito and Ruka being shippy while Mito is still dressed like a boy, hopefully their relationship has progressed a bit. I hope the other boys are still around, though. And I wonder what this 'trap' is."
And then! The chapter started! With Mito trapped in a GIANT SPIDER WEB by an ELF in a TRACKSUIT.
Noah the Elf: Won't you give me your devotion? I've always wanted true love.
And then a... tendril??? slithers into Mito's torn shirt, which is just barely covering his boobs. There's a lot of twitching and gasping.
Me: Uh.
Sexy women: IF YOU WANT LOVE WHAT ABOUT US?? We'll be much better than this flat chested love interest :)
Mito: That's just because I'm male right now >:(
Noah: BEGONE!! *attacks women with magic*
Women: *Turning into giant angry trees* HOW DARE YOU SPURN THE BEAUTIES OF THE WOOD!!
Mito: Oh right, the seductive trees I was warned about.
Me: Uh?
Noah saves Mito and then, to his surprise, she saves him too, and they escape the Evil Forest Of Seductive Trees. Mito's heart necklace (sang sucre) glows.
I am going to transcribe every line of dialogue for the next three pages to get across how much is Happening:
Ruka: Thank goodness! You and your sang sucre are safe!
Mito: My sang sucre?
Wolf guy: Tch! So even a fall from that height isn't enough to do you in... you vampire scum are as stubborn as roaches! If only you were gone, the darkness of my people's plight would would be that much brighter!
me: AH YES WEREWOLVES VERSUS VAMPIRES. Also wait does that mean Mito is a vampire too now, like Ren said would happen? :D
Mito: Zara!
Ruka: So you were the one responsible!
Giant red panda, with a love heart on it's chest, blowing a whistle and holding up a coloured card: Zara! That's your second assault on a fellow student! You're being expelled from Demi Academy!
Zara the wolfman: Expelled?! Anything but that!
Panda: Then you have some serious reforming to do! Come with me!
Me: Wait, they're ALL wearing matching tracksuits. ARE THEY AT A SCHOOL FOR MAGIC CREATURES. IS THIS ALL HAPPENING DURING PE CLASS. WHICH IS RUN BY A PANDA.
(In Japanese, "Demi" refers to demi-humans, eg humanoid mythical creatures)
A bat: The very leader of the werewolves. His race desires the orb more than any other.
Mito: Komori?!
Komori: Mito, there's something you should know.
Mito: My sang sucre contains the tremendously powerful vampire orb... which is needed to preserve the land of vampires?!
It's plausible this Orb has come up before but I wouldn't be entirely surprised if it hasn't. And that's all the explanation we get!
Ruka says he was trying to protect her and when she can't take it off Komori says it is attached to her and she must protect it by the power of her unwavering love for Ruka.
Mito smiles and says it's perfectly safe then, so I guess they're together, aw.
BUT OH NO NOAH HEARS THIS!! AND PLOTS TO STEAL MITO'S HEART, AND THUS THE ORB!!
Later, Ruka and Mito are in what look like fancy highschool uniforms. Just as Mito tries to discuss what's up with the werewolves, a knockoff Ciel-looking boy comes up and says they are needed at the bar. The... school bar? Sure.
It's their welcoming party to Demi Academy!! Featuring a siren, a merman, and many other pretty young men, all cheerfully welcoming Mito and offering her tasty food.
Mito flashes back to Komori telling her she CANNOT TRUST OTHER DEMIS because they will TRY TO STEAL HER ORB but everyone is so nice she smiles and sparklingly tells them she's really happy to be at this school.
Demi boys: Why is my heart beating so fast... for a guy? Maybe it was that field trip to the forest of deadly temptresses...
That was a DELIBERATE trip?? To teach these boys to... resist and murder hot girls???
Me: MITO IS STILL LIVING AS A GUY :D WHILE DATING RUKA :D :D
The manga:
Me: MITO IS STILL LIVING AS A GUY WHILE MARRIED TO RUKA :D :D :D
I assume Ruka knows she's a girl by now, but he's still cool being seen as being in an m/m relationship which is way more than I expected.
Also it's not totally clear in this image but she has little fangs :D
Demi boys: It's not like you newlyweds can be touchy feely with us watching.
Ruka: >:D *nibbles Mito's ear, much to her turned on embarrassment*
He whispers "This will prove to them the orb is safe, so you'll have to bear with it for now."
This goes on for 3 pages. I can only assume the last 44 chapters have just been a sequence of excuses to Ruka and other men to dubcon touch Mito, sandwiched between short patches of highly condensed exposition, because Ema TÅyama knows what she's here for.
Noah apologises for being overcome by the FOREST OF DEADLY DUBCON that they were sent to by their PE TEACHER the PANDA, and gives Mito a box of fancy chocolates. Naturally, she immediately forgives him.
Noah: We can eat them alone in our room tonight, because Zara has been sent to solitary confinement :)
Mito: Solitary confinement??
Noah: Yes, repeat offenders have to spend the night with no dinner in the Tower of Penitence, which is guarded by gargoyles :)
Mito: D:
This school is hard core. Also the newlyweds don't get their own room?
Noah inwardly gloats that Mito will be OVERCOME WITH LUST thanks to the DRUGGED CHOCOLATES. DUN DUN!!
Turns out the "gargoyle" guard is the child-like twins Gar and Goyle who are wearing uncomfortably revealing goth BDSM outfits which is not the sort of weird I was expecting from this manga but I guess after 40+ chapters she felt like branching out.
(not that I was EXPECTING an elf with sex pollen chocolates per se, but it's more on brand)
As Zara angrily tries to escape, Gar and Goyle gloat that the bars of this prison are powered by the wickedness in your heart, so Zara will never escape, and so NEVER GRADUATE AND BECOME WEREWOLF KING!!
Zara angsts that none of the other werewolves like him because he's so angry.
Zara: Why won't they see me for who I really am? ;_;
Mito: *arrives to visit the wolf in a shower of sparkles, in a (I'm assuming) red hood carrying a woven basket full of goodies because WHAT IS SUBTLY WHO NEEDS IT*
Ahh, Zara pushed Mito INTO the sexy trees off a cliff last chapter. But of course she forgives him.
Zara: A vampire has overcome our generations of conflict... can vampires and werewolves really be friends after all?
I mean, she's been a vampire for, like, a couple of months. That's not a lot of generational enmity to overcome.
He cheerfully takes a bite of the chocolate and then dramatically spits it out, warning her that it's been poisoned with MANDRAKE ROOT, the SEX POLLEN PLANT!!
*blinks*
*remembers watching the cast of Dungeon Meshi snacking on candied mandrake roots*
But it's TOO LATE. Mito blushes and says she feels strange and her little vampire fangs are showing!!
She pushes Zara against the wall!
As Gar and Goyle lock the doors for the night, Zara thinks that Mito's cloying smell reminds him of a woman, and that the little taste he had of the chocolate is enough to overpower him. He and Mito embrace, fangs bared, touching each other's blushing, panting faces. We are reminded that if Mito cheats on Ruka there will be dire consequences involving the VAMPIRE ORB.
THE END
Well that was sure.... something!
I was disappointed none of the other guys from the anime showed up, I hope everyone is still friends even if they ended up at different schools. This level of varied supernatural nonsense is a bit much for me but would probably be not QUITE as overwhelming in context. In general I get the vibe that all the original plots got neatly tied up and then the author went ok what's next... NEW SCHOOL NEW DRAMA NEW SPECIES OF HOT BOYS. Which is better than dragging everything out, but is usually about the point where I drop a series.
All that aside, the vibe was more thinly written excuses for dubcon and less romantically fluffy than the anime. I checked out the first chapter or so of the manga and sure enough, even though most of it was identical to the first few episodes the vibe was subtly different in the same way. I like the anime vibe more so I will stick with the anime from now on rather than reading ahead in the manga, though if the season ends before they get together I may be Tempted.
There sure is some Gender Stuff going on here, huh? The fantasy of being treated exactly like a man, even romantically, but also having that Unique Feminine Allure. Other women are attracted to you and all the men into you, but the men only have eyes for you. New for this chapter: all other women are literally evil ugly monsters underneath. OK THEN.
In the first chapter of the manga, the author has a little aside: "I had long gotten it into my head that women should have long hair, but these days short hair is popular too!" and I'm just... yes, but not normally in the context of DISGUISING AS A BOY WITH A WIG. And then says she tried to give Mito androgynous eyelashes but got distracted by making her cute haha.
I'm still not sure if this is a highschool with a bar and married students, or university with uniforms and PE classes. I guess demi humans not conforming to human educational standards would not be the WEIRDEST thing in this story.
