Blood Lad

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Otaku vampire and ruler of the East district of Hell, Staz B. Vlad, falls in love (and bloodlust) at first sight with Fuyumi Yanagi, a Japanese schoolgirl who accidentally enters hell. Unfortunately for the smitten Staz, she is killed while he is fighting an intruder on his territory. Her ghost remains in hell and Staz embarks on a quest to resurrect her by implanting her spirit and bones in new flesh.

To do this they leave hell for the mortal world through a rare Hell Gate that isn't supposed to be there. See, the only person who can open and use the Black Curtains is Dimensional Traveler Haidora Beru, or someone with greater magical power than her. Beru says she feels "embarrassed but pretty murderous at the same time!" about someone using her gate, and that she wants to make such a powerful person her husband. She says she can help Staz get the Book of Resurrection, but that he has to fight his old friend and Rival Wolf, ruler of the Western district. They make a bet on the fight where if Staz wins, he gets Wolf to help him find the book, and if Wolf wins, Wolf get Fuyumi, whom he has fallen in love with. Fuyumi starts disappearing while in the mortal world so Staz feeds her some of his blood to give her enough power to stay tangible.

After winning the fight against Wolf using some rather dirty tricks, Staz and Wolf find out that they can't understand the book so they must ask the author, Vampire Lord and Staz's Aloof Big Brother Braz, for help. Turns out there's a reason Staz doesn't visit home often, and why he doesn't live up to the traditional vampire stereotype. Braz used to do cruel experiments on him as a child which he claimed were to amplify Braz's huge powers but which were actually to seal them. Meanwhile, Wolf and Fuyumi go to see Dr Franken Stein after Fuyumi starts disappearing, and he tells them of the demonic hybrid Papladon Akimu that he made. Turns out that Fuyumi drinking Staz's blood will soon turn her into a hybrid demon, an uncontrollable abomination like Papladon! The key to curing her is to get Staz to turn her back, but before that, they must kill Papladon before he takes over hell. At the same time in Braz's domain, Braz asks Staz to kill Papladon if he wants his help with the book, and removes the bullet that he shot into Staz's heart when he was a child that seals his power.

The manga tends to subvert or parody some action/battle manga tropes, and various characters are Genre Savvy.

Not to be confused with Aqua Lad.


Tropes used in Blood Lad include:
  • Aloof Big Brother - Braz. A Megane Bishonen whose motivations are unclear. Does he want to kill Staz for his great power, or did he seal him to save him from power overload? Expect fangirls to turn him into a Bespectacled Bastard Boyfriend any day now.
  • Berserk Button - I'M NOT A PIG!!! I'M A BOAR!!
  • Bishonen - Braz D. Vlad
  • Blood Knight - Wolf. He just wants a Worthy Opponent you guys!
  • Charm Person - Staz can control the minds of mortals with his saliva. Originally it was to subdue those he bit but he figured it had other uses and collects it in a spray bottle to instantly mind-control without biting.
  • Clothing Damage - Beru during a fight with Staz gets the bottom half of her outfit pulled off.
  • Cock Fight - Staz and Wolf fight, with the winner getting Fuyumi.
  • Cool Gate - Beru can create Black Curtains between any two places, not just between earth and Hell. Papladon Akimu can also create these with his magic rings
    • Later it is revealed that Beru's brother Neru can also do this.
  • Cute Ghost Girl - Fuyumi
  • Dimensional Traveler - Beru and Neru
  • Dumb Blonde: A rare male version in Neru
  • Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette - Staz and Braz
  • Emergency Transformation - Staz has to give Fuyumi some of his blood when she starts disappearing in the mortal world. This doesn't turn her into a vampire, but does give her the strength to stay tangible and "access to the first level of [his] vampire powers".
  • Fan Service - Fuyumi's and Beru's huge bazongas and their frequent outfit changes, and lots of ShirtlessScenes from Staz.
  • Finger-Suck Healing - Inverted: When Fuyumi sucks Staz's finger, it's her who heals.
  • Frankenstein's Monster - Papladon Akimu, both figuratively and literally.
  • Genre Savvy - Staz at one point asks why he should let Braz unlock his powers so he can fight Papladon Akimu because it will just pointlessly delay him. Beans assumes that Wolf's motivations for conquering all of the territory of Hell are because he wants to regain his place as an aristocrat and fangirls over how "heartwarming" it is, which Wolf promptly subverts by thinking that it isn't.
  • Gas Mask Long Dress - Liz
  • Half-Human Hybrid - Wolf is half werewolf, surprise surprise.
  • Hell Gate
  • I Just Want to Be You - Shapeshifting Yoshida gets to impersonate his idol Staz while Staz is out of town, so that a territory war doesn't ensue. Yoshida is a little too happy about this, though it's Played for Laughs.
  • I Own This Town - Staz and Wolf are Lords of the East and West districts of hell respectively. They collect rent from their tenants and must fight challengers to their power.
  • Long-Range Fighter- Staz
  • Love Triangle- Both Staz and Wolf like Fuyumi.
    • Another with Staz, Fuyumi and Beru a type 5 with Fuyumi being C, Staz B, and Beru A.
  • Mad Scientist - Two! Braz and the lazily-named Franken Stein.
  • Man-Eating Plant - Fuyumi gets eaten by one
  • Megane - Braz
  • Monster Lord - Staz, Wolf and Braz
  • Ms. Fanservice - Fuyumi. She quite literally changes from one Fetish Fuel outfit to another, as well as getting naked. She usually ends up sucking on something, be it Staz's fingers, baby bottles when sick, etc.
  • New Powers as the Plot Demands - Come on, it's a battle manga.
  • Occidental Otaku - Staz loves Japanese pop culture, but it's slow to filter down to Hell, and he's never been to Japan. In attempt to impress Fuyumi, he dons his hilarious idea of what an average Japanese person wears.[1][2] The first thing he does when he meets Fuyumi is ask her about manga and games.
  • Our Demons Are Different - Because some of them are vampires, apparently.
  • Our Vampires Are Different - They all live in hell as a species of demon, and their powers vary wildly. Staz, for example, can crush a person's heart by clenching his fist, and suck out their demonic energy - "miasma" - to heal himself after he has bitten them, through implanting one of his teeth in the bite. He doesn't have to drink blood and can withstand sunlight and garlic.
  • Pipe Pain - Wolf's weapon of choice
  • Power Limiter - The bullet that Braz shot Staz in the heart with
  • Puni Plush Only the girls' designs, interestingly- the guys are drawn a lot more sharp-edged.
  • Punny Name - In Japanese, the katakana for "blood" and "Vlad" sound the same, hence the surnames of all the vampires being "Vlad" despite Vladimir being a first name. The title is somewhat punny too, translating as "buraddoraddo".
  • Sailor Fuku - Fuyumi wears one.
  • Seinen - Is serialized in Young Ace, a Seinen magazine.
  • Shout-Out: Done here and there. At one point Staz dives out of a floating continent in a Astro Boy pose and then fights like Akira from Virtua Fighter while quoting him.
  • Sibling Rivalry - Liz and Staz, not to mention Staz and Braz.
  • Shapeshifter- Yoshida
  • Shirtless Scene - Pretty much the entire boxing match between Staz and Wolf, as well as in Beru's room.
  • Shonen Upgrade - When Braz removes the bullet he has implanted in Staz's heart to seal his powers.
  • Spell Book - The Book of Resurrection
  • Talking Is a Free Action: Averted when Staz is kicked before he can finish charging his Kamehameha.
  • Team Pet - Jirou Beans, a 3-eyed minature panda. Yes, really.
  • Third Eye - Satie and Beans.
  • The Legions of Hell
  • Trapped in Another World - Fuyumi is stuck in hell.
  • Underboobs - Beru shows these when fighting.
  • Vegetarian Vampire - Staz doesn't like to drink blood, though the only reason he gives is "BECAUSE I'M ME!!!". Fuyumi is the first person he wants to drink the blood of, so perhaps he only wants to drink the blood of those he is attracted to. He also wants to rebel from the traditional vampirism of his family, because he hates them, so perhaps that is why.