Karin (manga)
is a
manga by
Yuna Kagesaki, which has also been adapted into an
anime. The series is a romantic horror-comedy.
The manga is serialized in
Japan in
Dragon Age magazine, and has been licensed by
TOKYOPOP under the name
Chibi Vampire 1. The
anime series began airing in November 2005 on
WOWOW. Despite the
fanservice-style nature of the opening credits,
Karin should not be confused with the
OVA adult-only title
Karen. It should also not be confused with the
Kamichama Karin manga (also released by TOKYOPOP, and the reason that manga has been renamed for their translation).
The story revolves around the main character, Karin, the middle child in a family of
vampires who emigrated to Japan two centuries earlier. However, Karin is different from the rest of the family in that she produces blood instead of feeding on it. Because of her unusual condition, Karin lives her life just as an ordinary teenage girl would, despite being considered something of a freak by her family. She is able to venture outside during the day and attend high school, and follows the sleep pattern of normal humans. However, the general peacefulness of her life is disrupted with the arrival of a new transfer student.
Karin is something of an anomaly in vampire literature, in that it depicts vampires as positive forces rather than evil beings. In the series, each vampire has his or her own blood preference based on the prevailing trait of the human beings on whom they feed. For example, Karin's preference is unhappiness, so she is attracted to unhappy people. If a vampire feeds on a person with depression, that person will temporarily develop an optimistic personality, although the effect wears off over time.
Karin also refers to countermeasures against vampires as mentioned in classic vampire mythology, attempting to explain their efficacy.
; Karin Maaka:
: The protagonist of the show. Karin is a 'blood-producing' vampire; her blood levels increase dramatically whenever she senses unhappiness in those around her, or if she gets embarrassed about something. This results in frequent nosebleeds. She doesn't suck blood from her 'victims'; rather, she
injects her surplus into them instead. This has the effect of making her victims very lively and positive. Unlike the rest of her family, Karin is a
daywalker who can stand under the warm sun without getting scorched. She attends the local high school and works part-time at Julian's Restaurant.
; Kenta Usui :
: Kenta Usui is a student that transferred to Karin's school. Kenta is the only human that knows she's a vampire, and not a "true vampire", a "blood-making" vampire. He found out when he saw Karin sucking a young lady's blood. After that he promised to keept her true form a secret, in exchange she would make him a lunch box everyday (since he couldn't afford it). Karin's parents didn't approve of this at the beginning but they learned that they could use him as an ally. A person to watch over karin during the daytime. He ends up falling in love with Karin and he doesn't show it until episodes 19+ (or when he confesses). He lives only with his mom because his father left them and later died. He tries hard to take care of his mom in his dad's place. Early on in the story, his school colleagues commented upon his strange appearence, but they accepted him in later episodes.
; Winner Sinclair :
: A vampire hunter from a long line of hunters. Winner's character appears only in the anime, not in the manga. He transfers to Karin's school and falls in love with her at first sight, constantly making romantic overtures toward her. Despite being a vampire hunter, he hasn't the slightest clue about Karin's true nature as he is blinded by love. There is a reason for this: while Winner wasn't much of a hunter as a child, he met a girl with whom he shared his first kiss. As a hunter rejuvenated by the first flush of love, he redoubled his efforts. However, the girl he "kissed" was (unbeknownst to him) actually a young Karin, who bit him and injected her blood into him. The effect of her blood seems to have been permanent in Winner's case; in keeping with the series premise, instead of a vampire siring another vampire, an
anti-vampire has sired a vampire
hunterâ€"albeit an overly-enthusiastic and largely ineffectual one.
Winner is very melodramatic, and his hunting garb is flamboyant: a black, flowing
Neo-style long overcoat, with a white chest and a gold 'W' plastered across the front, and a huge wide-brimmed hat with a feather sticking out of it. There is one massive stumbling block to Winner's progress as a vampire hunter â€" he has a fear of blood (
hemophobia), even going so far as feeling queasy when seeing spilt red paint. However, he did manage to overcome this dread in one episode when Karin suffered a blood attack, and carried her to safety - so he does have his good points.
; Anju Maaka
: Karin's little sister, very much in the
Gothic Lolita mold. She is often seen carrying Boogie, or "Boogie-kun" as she refers to him, a talking, cleaver-wielding blue-haired doll. Anju is very soft-spoken, and her vampiric nature has not yet been fully awakened. She controls a horde of bats, which watch over Karin during the day, and she also has the power to erase the memories of humans, a power which Karin herself does not have. Based on her behavior, she appears to be the most mature member of the Marker family. Anju is very attached to her sister and occasionally becomes jealous of those who are close to Karin.
Later in episode 20 (near the ending of the series) Anju's vampire instincts awaken, and her preference of blood is identified as Jealousy. Karin is horrified when she finds out who her first victim is...
; Ren Maaka:
: Karin's older brother, a bit of a lounge lizard with an eye for the ladies (especially those who are stressed, as stress is his blood preference). He is scornful of Karin's condition and considers her to be almost a non-vampire, despite this he is the one who takes her out and realises that Karin's blood increases are due to the unhappiness of others. Ren's only fear is Elda Marker, who nearly killed him when he was four.
; Henry Maaka:
: Karin's, Anju's, and Ren's father, also the husband of Carrera. He is very protective of Karin, especially with her relationship with Kenta. Every time he sees there friendship turn into love he gets all protective and tries to stop them, which lead to very embarrassing moments for the couple, (Kenta & Karin) but that's what any other normal protective father would do. Despite being protective she knows that he loves her dearly. in the past he risked his life to save her and she has been very grateful ever since. His taste in blood is blood of pride (or sucks blood from conceited people).
; Carrera Maaka:: The family matriarch. She is quite domineering and usually keeps her husband under her thumb. Her preference is the blood of liars, which she drinks like a fine wine. Carrera's only known enemy in the anime is Elda Marker, as discovered in episode 15.
; Boogie-kun: Anju's sarcastic talking doll. He often tells Karin how useless she is, which usually leads to Anju punishing him. The other dolls in Anju's room also talk and have their own personalities, but "Boogie-kun" seems to be her favorite. He seems to lose his ability to talk after Anju awakens as a full vampire. (ep 21 so far)
; Elda Marker :
: Karin's grandmother. Karin bears a remarkable resemblance to her; the only difference any of the characters seem to notice is Elda's smaller breast size, but she can also be told apart from Karin by her much longer pink hair and her red eyes. Her first appearance in the anime is in episode 15, when she breaks free from her sealed coffin in the Marker family mansion. Ren is scared stiff of her; he first met her when he was four, before Karin and Anju were born, and she almost killed him with affection. She seems determined to interfere with the normal flow of the Marker family's life, and goes to Karin's school at night while all the students are working on their culture festival projects. Her affliction is love; she once loved a human being, and the results were disastrous. Elda is unaware of Karin's affliction until events come to a head at the school festival, and Karin suffers a blood surge. Following this, Elda goes in search of a 'cure' for the condition - and as of the end of episode 20, she may have found it.
; Maki Tokitou :
: Karin's best friend at school. She often wears her long hair in a ponytail. Her family owns a book store. She is a cheerful girl who supports Karin through all her troubles, but it doesn't stop her from ribbing Karin mercilessly about Kenta. Maki does not know Karin is a vampire. She was the only girl who didn't swoon over Winner when he first arrived at school, but she is slowly starting to fall for him, despite the fact that he's always trying to romance Karin. Winner always refers to Maki as "Karin's friend", much to Maki's annoyance, and the hunter's blindness to all but Karin led to Maki being shot down in flames when she tried to give him a Christmas present (and confess at the same time). This brought forth feelings of jealousy in her, meaning she was to become Anju's first victim, to Karin's utter horror.
; Fumio Usui :
: Kenta's mother. She is often very depressed since she has trouble holding a job. Every job she has her boss or employer fall in love with her. When she refuses them they start to harass her which leads to her getting fired. In one of the first episodes, Karin bites and transfuses blood into Fumio, causing her to be happy and energetic all the time, Kenta sees this and does not know what to think, but he wasn't that mad cause he was happy that he could see her smile instead of being all depressed.
: The Marker family is obviously not Japanese, but they have adapted well to living in Japan after having been chased off the main land decades ago. Even though their family name is not Japanese, it, as well as many of the family members' given names, appear in Kanji characters(not kana). Some fansubbers, such as AFK, use the romaji spelling of the Marker name, 'Maaka', particularly when native Japanese speakers are calling their name in the subtitles. But foreigners speaking the name would have it spelled out in its original form. In the main, the only member of the family that seems to always have the name spelled as Marker in subtitles is Elda, the grandmother.
*
TOKYOPOP English language publisher
