Review of Trinity Blood by Sunao Yoshida

Title: Trinity Blood.


Author/Illustrator: Sunao Yoshida/THORES Shibamoto.


Genre: Science Fiction, Supernatural, Action/Adventure.


Rating: PG-13 (contains blood, violence, and religiously offensive contents).


Synopsis:

         The year is 3060. The world is pretty much destroyed after an incident called “Armageddon” - which only left the continent of Europe. Therefore, the remaining people domicile there. The population is divided into 2 groups, the humans (Terrans) whose power are concentrated in Vatican (Rome), and the vampires (Methuselahs) who have their own kingdom called “The True Human Empire” in Byzantium (Istanbul).

         The relationship between the humans and the vampires has never been good, and so one of the cardinals in Vatican attempted many ways to make peace with them. But just when The Empire has a positive response and sends its imperial messenger to discuss about peace agreement between the two races, a terrorist group called “Rosencreutz Orden” (RCO) tries to interfere by attempting murders to both the imperial messenger and The Pope. This act can trigger a full-scale war between Terrans and Methuselahs. Fortunately, there’s a special department in Vatican called “Ax” which members have unique abilities to dispose of the problems outside Vatican.

         This is a story of 2 members of Ax, Father Abel Nightlord and Sister Esther Blanchett, in their quest to battle with Vatican outlaws, especially Rosencreutz Orden, while at the same time attempt peace with the vampires. When the story progresses, we can find that the novel is full of political issues and the question of humanity itself that actually resembles our own world today.


World Building:

         The world of Trinity Blood is similar to our world, except that the names of some countries and places have been altered. For example, “London” is called “Londinium” and “German” is called “Germanicus”. Furthermore, “Byzantium” still hasn’t changed its name there. As what has been mentioned above, the world itself has 2 major powers that become quite the center of the novel - The Vatican (humans), which is located in Rome, and The True Human Empire (vampires) in Byzantium (Istanbul).

~*My Opinion: I think the world building is quite good. Though it might sound not creative for the author is only slightly changing the names, it actually makes the worlds more believable and convincing. There *are* changes in some countries’ names in our real world too, right?

~*My Rating:


Main Characters:

         These are the characters that have important roles as the story progresses:

         Abel Nightlord

         A member of Vatican’s secret department, Ax. He normally acts rather clumsy and stupid, but is actually a man with a terrible past. He concealed his real characters and feelings by acting like a fool. He also hides a secret, which we later find rather shocking…

         Esther Blanchett

         A girly-looking yet tomboy-ish orphan raised by a nun. She herself is a nun in a small city of Istvan. Esther later joins Father Abel to Vatican and becomes a member of Ax. Her whole family is killed by vampires, so she hates them dearly. However, after traveling with Father Abel, she finds that the Methuselahs aren’t all that bad. She later meets her destiny in the country of Albion.

         Ion Fortuna

         A pretty, hotheaded Methuselah (vampire) from The True Human Empire. He is a noble with the title Count of Memphis. Ion is an imperial messenger sent by The Empire, along with his partner, to negotiate peace with The Vatican. Unfortunately, he is attacked and betrayed by his partner. However, with Abel and Esther’s help, he can safely return to The Empire – only to find more problems that he has to solve with the help of those two. Ironically, though he hates humans at first, he secretly falls in love with Esther.

~*My Opinion: I think the author creates great characters! I like how each character is portrayed and characterized and how it represents many of today’s people in general where people aren’t as they seem. I know that some of the characters aren’t really original, but it really doesn’t change my opinion of how great these characters are!

~*My Rating:


Plot-Lines:

         Even though the opening scene might be rather weak and common, the story turns out to be really amusing and complicated. Sometimes, there are some parts that need deep thinking and philosophy. But other times, it can be light and humorous. The plot-lines will, however, get darker; and there will be more and more characters’ deaths.

~*My Opinion: You won’t get bored while reading this. There are humors, romances, horrors, dramas, politics, histories, philosophies, sci-fi, etc, all in one novel. The author’s also not afraid of, for lack of a better word, ‘killing’ the major characters in the series. That’s what makes this story interesting!

~*My Rating:


Logic in Story:

         There are some illogical things in this novel. First, about the Catholic Church system. In order to be eligible for being chosen to be The Pope or a cardinal, one have to be at least 60-70 years old (if my memory serves me correct). In the series, however, The Pope is a 20-year-old boy. The cardinals are also of a young age, probably 30-40 years old. One of the cardinals is even a female, and they are all somehow ’somewhat’ related by blood. Second, the clothes and violence the nuns and fathers use in this series, which are rather… inappropriate. There are actually more illogical things, but I have to make this short.

~*My Opinion: Well… no matter how I love this story, I must admit that the story can be very illogical in terms of some said things above… But surely imagination can make them happen? n_n;

~*My Rating:


Writing Style:

          The author uses a very descriptive and clear writing style. It can be seen by the quote by the author here: “Silver light streamed through the stained glass, darkening the shadows of a winter night.” Of course, since the novel is written in foreign language, the translation might not be that precise.

~*My Opinion: Although the translation might not be too precise, it’s already made clear that the author has a good choice of vocabulary and great description skills. Marvelous!

~*My Rating:


Illustration:

         The illustrations drawn by Shibamoto are very detailed and of high quality. She uses a dark and Gothic style of drawing the pictures. Probably colored using Copic or paint.

~*My Opinion: It’s-very-beautiful. The first time you see the illustrations, it’s like, WHOA! Very detailed artworks and grim atmosphere. Truly a plus to the already wonderful novel!

~*My Rating:


Morals in Story:

         The story might sound just like today’s violence-packed, moral-less story. But we can actually learn a lot from the novel. First, we can learn not to be prejudiced against other races/clans (Methuselahs and Terrans). Second, we can learn to set aside said differences and unite to fight against our ‘real enemies’ (like how Terrans and Methuselahs fight against the RCO). What ‘real enemies’, you ask? Famine, crimes, diseases, child-abuses, you name it. Third, we can learn to promote peace (like the peace between Terrans and Methuselahs). There are probably more morals you can dig while reading it. n_~*

~*My Opinion: *Read above statements* Have nothing to add to that.

~*My Rating:


Overall:

         In overall, I daresay this is a must-read. I think this is a really good reading material for those who like the genres mentioned above. But even so, I think it won’t hurt to try reading it even if you’re not really into such genres, for this is a truly entertaining book with some philosophies of life.

         So, adding up the rating and dividing it, “Trinity Blood” has an overall rating of:

         Truly a great read! If you can read Japanese (or Korean or Chinese since it’s translated into those languages as well), you should really consider reading this! #^o^#