Deadly monsters who stalked innocents in the night and preyed upon them in secret, versus the select few who used mysterious powers honed by intense training and determination to battle their foes... This was the world of bloodshed that Ginka Shijunana knew and lived for—an endless clash between vampires and vampire hunters—until one final victory ended their war.

Ginka decides to become a normal high school student now that her vampire hunting days are over, but her combat skills are no match for the challenges of everyday interactions with other teenagers. Still, she hits it off with the flashy and fashionable gyaru Ruka Moriki. When remnants of Ginka's old life start to mysteriously reappear, however, will she pull Ruka into the darkness with her? Or will Ruka help her remain in the light?

This Gyaru's Got a Thing for...Vampire Hunters?! is written by Wasan Kurata and illustrated by Kewi Hayashi. English translation by Gwendolyn Warner . Published by J-Novel Club. (September 22, 2025).

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

As I was reading this book, I found myself thinking about the fact that there's no female friendship equivalent of “bromance.” That very likely implies that close female friendships are written about and accepted far more often than close male friendships (and there's an entire literary debate there), but it also leaves me without an easy way to classify this in terms of genre. There's nothing overtly romantic between Ruka and Ginka in this volume, although the possibility is there, but they're also clearly more than “just” best friends. I guess it's sort of “Boston Marriage: The Light Novel (With Vampires).”

Be that as it may, Ginka is a retired vampire hunter about to finally embark on her dream of attending high school. The reason she's “retired” is because the war against the vampires has been won: she and the other hunters have wiped all of the bloodsuckers out. They didn't do that without some forethought; long years of vampire fighting and attempts to reconcile the two species mean that they realized that there was no other solution. As far as worldbuilding lore goes, I appreciate this – there's no “hot monster” angle or tortured teens. In fact, Ginka's new friend Ruka is anything but tortured. She's the gyaru of the title, a bouncy, enthusiastic teen who stumbles into Ginka's world and immediately sets it on fire. Because she's an ordinary girl she sees things in a way Ginka's never been able to; Ruka's not a stickler for rules and she's always willing to try something new, which opens Ginka's eyes to lots of new possibilities…which, admittedly, are sometimes things like “don't say everything you think” and “meet people where they live.” But even Ruka's seemingly frivolous habits, like her firm belief that all girls should wear makeup, have a point when she mixes them with some of Ginka's vampire-fighting techniques. “Makeup is freedom,” first used in a context that made me spit nails, turns out not to be internalized misogyny after all…

The translation is also doing its absolute best in this context. While some of Ruka's gyaru-isms veer into “hello fellow kids” territory, it feels for the most part much more like the work of someone who talks regularly to actual teenagers than one relying on how kids talked when they were in high school. The plot isn't all that tight, unfortunately, and it feels like it's not entirely sure if it wants to be a goofy high school story or a darker vampire one, but that works surprisingly well for most of the volume. While I hope that it does lean more into a romantic angle later on, this volume is still a delight.

Erica Friedman
Rating:

This story was…a lot of fun. I mean that. As much as I am a huge downer on all things vampire, I enjoyed the heck out of this book and, quel shock!...will read the next volume if I can, because this was genuinely charming and entertaining.

The charm is largely due to two things. Protagonist Ruka is a really nice person. She loves her friends, she's kind and generous to a fault, and she really wants people—especially people she cares about— to be happy. This is important, because once she decides she cares about this mysterious and powerful Vampire Hunter, Ruka really works hard at giving Ginka back the humanity she's lost by being the best at the worst job ever.

Because Ruka is such a good person, her friends are, too. As Ruka becomes closer to Ginka, her friends immediately accept the new girl into their circle, in a way that was deeply emotionally satisfying. No jealousy here, just friendship. The second element that really contributes to this series being a winner is the translation by Gwendolyn Warner. She absolutely nails the goofiness with which Ruka speaks, from excruciatingly nonsense accents to random idioms. Ruka's general good-naturedness, she and her friends casually caring about one another and her determination to save everyone is communicated brilliantly. The use and mutations of slang give Ruka and her friends a depth they might not otherwise have had.

The primary plot isn't complicated and was well-telegraphed, but the humanity of the characters carry both the main plot and the side quests, making even an extended discussion of makeup not just tolerable (I have a short limit for tolerating hair, makeup and clothes scenes) but actually enjoyable.

Now that the obvious story is out of the way, I look forward to more Ruka and Ginka vs the world in Volume 2.