By 
Manga about vampires often explore different elements about their lore, with some recent ones like Dracula’s on the Night Shift dealing with one handling modern life and Lil’ Miss Vampire Can’t Suck Rightdealing with feeding habits. Kaho Ozaki’s My Beloved Supper deals with a bit of both of those topics. We’re presented with a vampire who needs blood to survive and is living in modern times, but also has some more humanistic desires that he’s attempting to satiate.
Editor’s Note: There will be some mild spoilers for the My Beloved Supper vampire manga below.
My Beloved Supper follows Yoru Hioka, a vampire staying at a boarding house run by Sonoe Hatomura. He’s the only “adult” there, as most of the other tenants are college-aged students. As the owner, Sonoe regularly makes up home-cooked meals for everyone. Which… is the one thing Yoru wants more than anything. He wants to eat ordinary food and savor meals with people.
This leads into an interesting conundrum. While many of the elements of vampires aren’t valid here, as Yoru’s kind overcame some of the things that held them back or exposed them like sunlight, mirrors, and crosses, he still needs to drink humans’ blood to survive. As the first chapter even shows, he needed to engage in lots of experimentation and research to even determine how he could even try ordinary food. The main bit of lore here is that he needs to first drink his fill of blood, then he could immediately follow that up with real food like Sonoe’s oyakodon or beef stew as a chaser.
This leads to fascinating looks at what Yoru’s life is like to pursue that dream. Sonoe is clearly fond of him, and he cares for the elderly lady and adores her food too. While he does go to a regular office job, the way he gets by is by taking on tasks for Chief Detective Kagami Saneatsu. The officer is aware of who and what Yoru is. When he needs to feed as usual or is tempted by one of Sonoe’s meals, he’ll get in touch. Saneatsu will then send him to “take care of” a criminal that is 100% guilty and a murderer, but the department can’t properly get enough evidence to get. Yoru gets his blood, then gets to enjoy a proper meal.
The execution is fascinating, and Kaho Ozaki does a fantastic job of telling the tale. The art is wonderful when it comes to both major character designs and the (not-actually-human-being) meals Yoru gets to eat. The concept also hints at his backstory and relationships with people at the boarding house in fascinating ways.
In fact, the only downside is that My Beloved Supper is such a short vampire manga. I would have loved more chapters exploring Yoru and Sonoe’s relationship. As-is, it’s only teased. Likewise, I’d have appreciated more insights into his interactions with certain other residents of the boarding house and Saneatsu. It’s like the surface is just being scratched, then it’s over. It’s a very slim meal with no dessert.
Still, what is here in My Beloved Supper is very interesting, and I appreciate the direction this vampire manga takes. I loved watching Yoru savor food, and the hints at why the idea and certain meals meant to much to him. Seeing bits of his personality come through as he does what’s necessary to get to have some cake or spend time with people is really tasty. I just wish there was more of it.
The My Beloved Supper manga is available via Yen Press now.
