I honestly haven’t read much new manga lately. I’ve spent most of my time reading non-graphic novels and non-fiction books, so my manga reading list has grown steadily longer, causing much anxiety. Also, because I tend to read series when I buy them, it’s taken me ages to get through manga these days. That’s been the main reason behind the delay in Dorohedoro updates, and why I haven’t written a review of Witch Hat Atelier even though I really love it. I’m just following everything very slowly and buying volumes when I can.

These spending habits led me to start a shorter series that I know I can get through in good time to at least write something about it, and thankfully I found my fix in Midnight Secretary. At seven volumes, the story is far from “deep” but it’s certainly entertaining, fun, and an overall great addition to paranormal romance. I didn’t realise how starved I was of the genre after mistakenly buying Midnight Sun as a failed attempt to rekindle my pre-Eclipse vampire euphoria, but after the first two chapters I was only reminded of what turned me off the Twilight series in the first place (especially after Breaking Dawn), and why I found the books kind of creepy. Also, the never-ending descriptions of just about everything made it clear that Edward’s perspective wouldn’t be as interesting as Bella’s, so I had to retire the book. Thank god for Midnight Secretary.

Written by Tomu Ohmi, the story follows prudent Kaya, an executive secretary for a major Japanese company, who is tasked with tending to the difficult president of the firm, Kyohei. He is an arrogant womaniser who cannot keep a secretary due to his hostile behaviour, but not to be bested, Kaya manages his schedule impeccably, and he is unable to fire her. He also calls her plain and ugly, chiding her for having no style. Kyohei is a vampire, the child of a vampire mother and human father, and his kinder older brother is a human. This is a point of contention for the family, because Kyohei’s mother turned her back on the powerful vampire clan to stay with her husband, and as such, Kyohei is an outcast, both adored and shunned, among his kind.

In this story, vampires can only feed from the opposite sex, and when they do, they tend to bed their meals because sexual arousal makes the blood sweeter. This is the reason for Kyohei’s womanising, as well as his packed dating schedule. But obviously, Kaya finds out about Kyohei, and a convenient incident means that Kyohei has to drink Kaya’s blood to keep himself stable. After he drinks Kaya’s blood, our vampire begins to dislike the taste of everyone else’s, and becomes obsessed with her. It takes our duo way too long to admit that they are fully in love with one another, but not in an annoying way, more like “ugh these dorks stop being dumb” way. The eventual love confessions and subsequent kiss are a suitable payoff.

I like Kyohei’s arrogance. He’s rude to everyone, but I wouldn’t say disrespectful, especially because as the series progresses, we really get to see Kaya come out of her shell and challenge him, asserting her own demands not only to Kyohei, but the vampire clan, who appears later on in the story to put a stop to their relationship. She is extremely cute and innocent, and there are so many funny moments with her, especially when she has an outburst and surprises herself.

And the sex scenes! So fucking hot. Because the series was written a while ago, I didn’t expect to get an uncensored scene, but we got plenty, at least three per volume. What I love about these scenes is how they are often used to show the growth of Kyohei’s love for Kaya. You can tell this has been a massive moment for him: actually falling in love with anyone, let alone a human, and being prepared to turn against his clan for her. It’s very sexy and very sweet.

Ohmi gives us several twists and turns: love rivals, pregnancy scares, kidnappings, job losses, business collapses, chapel-based murder attempts…the list goes on. By the time I got to the final volume I was really sad to see it all end, especially because it concludes during a major storyline that I would have loved to see more of (not a cliff-hanger, just a particular development in their relationship), but at least we got a wedding. Also, a bonus chapter in volume seven features sassy female vampire Marika and her own “midnight butler”. Seeing the roles reversed like this made me yearn for a whole series of Marika and her man. It’s makes a nice change to see a dominant female. Hopefully we get to see more of Marika, one day.

I definitely need to read more of Tomu Ohmi’s works, because Midnight Secretary was a real treat. A perfect series to read over the holidays. I just wish it was longer, and that the last volume was developed a bit more, as certain lose ends got tied up a bit too conveniently.

8/10