Blood+, Volume 02 by Atsuka Katsura

Saya, the only weapon the world has against the inhuman Chiropterans, had been in a coma for a year, and when she arose, she found that her memory was gone, wiped almost completely clean, Placed in a foster family, she soon came to love and care for them, but the threat of the Chiropterans still exists, and now they are being directed, seemingly, by a one-armed boy named Charles, who hates Saya, but for what reason, he won't say.

Saya does have a close associate named Hagi, a cello-playing man who is bound and determined to look after her. But Saya's adoptive brother Kai is also determined to keep his new sister safe. When Saya's adoptive sister Riku is kidnapped by Charles's minions, the only clues left behind are a note mentioning Vietnam and a bunch of blue roses left by the body of her adoptive mother.

Saya decides to go after her sister, and Kai decides to go with her, against the advice of her handlers, who think he is a needless complication. Once in vietnam, however, Kai also disappears, and Saya finds that there is a village, deep in the jungle, where the blue roses grow. The Villagers are given special medicine by the corporation, Cinofleghe, and while none of them know what is in the medicine, it makes them all feel stronger.

But the Village is built near the site of a massacre that Saya once witnessed, and she relives her memory of it when she sees it, then passes out. When she finally comes around, she makes friends with Mui, the girl from the village who guided her to it. Little does she know that the corporation has plans for the village, and she will learn in no uncertain terms where Chiropterans come from.

And meanwhile, Riku and Charles meet, and he feeds from her. But, he's not the one in charge of the Corporation or of how the Chiropterans are made, and while he takes Riku as his servant, she's certainly not afraid of him, not after learning that he's deathly afraid of moths. But who is the Amstel-oniisama who gives the orders, and who or what is his servant, Solomon?

This manga takes the story of the "Blood" movie and runs with it. But those who read this manga expecting the same character are going to be rather bitterly disappointed by Saya in this volume. Even if she looks the same (and her hair apparently didn't grow at all in two years... what?!) she certainly seems awfully weak.

Yes, you heard that right. Weak. Confronted by opponents threatening to kill her or make her drink human blood, Saya cries like a bloody fountain. I mean, I can only be grateful that she doesn't wail and cry and kick her heels like a baby. I mean, let's face it... Saya was pretty kickass in the movie, and I get that she couldn't remember any of her life, but I'd expect her to be a little more emotionally stable than *that*! She's still had her life experiences, even if she can't remember them. Can't she deal better? It didn't seem right to me.

Even her adoptive sister Riku dealt with the whole being kidnapped and fed on by a vampire better than Saya did at learning about how Chiropterans were made and from who and what. To say I was disappointed with the story was milder than I actually feel about it, and I'll end with "Avoid like the plague if you want to remember the movie at all fondly".