We saw how it intertwined with ideas of isolation, rebirth (a "second chance" for those that society left behind), repression, self-sacrifice, and loneliness.
Its a theme all too common if you're familiar with queerness, in reality and in media.
Now, in the current arc, Sayo has moved on from his first love. He saw how love between vampires drove both of them mad because they still couldn't win over the hunger their overwhelming power brought them even when they had each other.
In this manga, a vampire's power seems to be proportional to the hunger they feel. Or more accurately, their power dictates how hungry they would be. That's why the two most powerful vampires eventually became insane due to hunger that just grew over time and eventually couldn't fulfill.
After inheriting Mei's power, Sayo is now powerful. But he feels more anxious towards Yamadera as 1) he's become a true blood while Yamadera stayed human and 2) the curse that bound him and Yamadera is together is now gone. But Yamadera forces him to confronts these fears head on when he slit his throat and forced Sayo to turn him into a vampire with his new powers.
Now, Sayo feels guilt AND anxiety AHSJDHDJ. Yamadera is now a vampire, he's fulfilled his goal since chapter 2 and now there's no need for Sayo (or so he thinks). He also feels guilt as now Yamadera has to also shoulder the weight of being a vampire, a path they know won't be easy as they've seen how it's affected the other vampires before them. Sayo thinks that staying together will only harm Yamadera but Yamadera squashes that worry.
In chapter 58, Yamadera assures Sayo that he can be "greedy", that he shouldn't repress himself, that like Yamadera if he wants something there's nothing wrong with claiming it as yours. And we see Sayo awaken his feelings for Sayo. He realizes that he wants Yamadera, that he needs him and he never wants to let go. That he wants to make Yamadera "his". Remember how in part 1 of this comment, I established that hunger isn't just surface level physical hunger?
This thought scares him and he physically runs away from the feeling. He doesn't want to feed on Yamadera anymore because his hunger isn't just physiological anymore. It's no longer about satiating his physical hunger, it's now more about Yamadera himself. It's not just blood he wants, its Yamadera as a whole. And this urge, this greed he has for him that only grows stronger by the day scares him and he wants to separate himself from Yamadera because he thinks this will only cause him harm.
But Yamadera accepts this with open arms and lets Sayo feast on him to show him that Sayo can ravage him all he wants, Yamadera will be just fine lol.
This works as the next morning Sayo wakes up refreshed. Having feasted on Yamadera, his instense hunger is no longer present.
While Sayo isn't in total denial of his vampirism, he still wants to perform his socially acceptable human facade but that's slowly crumbling as his powers only get stronger, his hunger getting stronger and his instinct harder to control. To the point that in the morning after having feasted on Yamadera he gets overwhelmed when he sees him and accidentally unleashes his powers in public, in front of their coworkers none the less and Yamadera had to step in and hypnotize so they'll forget what happened.
During that incident, we see Sayo despair for the normal human life he has that he clings to and so is extremely thankful for Yamadera hypnotizing their coworkers to hide what happened.
Theres this expectation from Sayo and those around them that the normal, peaceful life they have will go on. And Yamadera buys that idea for a second and for a split moment considers the idea of turning Sayo back into a human so that he doesn't despair over his hunger anymore. But he doesn't want that. He doesn't want Sayo to turn back into a "human", the opposite of the social outcast deviant that being a "monster" entails. Do you get what I'm putting down?
Yamadera has fully embraced his "monster" qualities and thinks of life as better than ever after awakening as one but after seeing Sayo's struggle with controlling his "monster" qualities , saying that he can't take it anymore, he wavers and questions whether Sayo's happiness can really exist with him. That's where were at right now in terms of their relationship.
Very, very straight and platonic of them. No queer themes whatsoever yup yup. It can't be gay and romantic if it's not categorized as BL!!!
As of now, I really do think they're heading towards a path where Yamadera will help Sayo with accepting his powers/feelings and I'm really looking forward to how the author will develop their relationship with each other through their vampirism going forward.
We saw how it intertwined with ideas of isolation, rebirth (a "second chance" for those that society left behind), repression, self-sacrifice, and loneliness.
Its a theme all too common if you're familiar with queerness, in reality and in media.
Now, in the current arc, Sayo has moved on from his first love. He saw how love between vampires drove both of them mad because they still couldn't win over the hunger their overwhelming power brought them even when they had each other.
In this manga, a vampire's power seems to be proportional to the hunger they feel. Or more accurately, their power dictates how hungry they would be. That's why the two most powerful vampires eventually became insane due to hunger that just grew over time and eventually couldn't fulfill.
After inheriting Mei's power, Sayo is now powerful. But he feels more anxious towards Yamadera as 1) he's become a true blood while Yamadera stayed human and 2) the curse that bound him and Yamadera is together is now gone. But Yamadera forces him to confronts these fears head on when he slit his throat and forced Sayo to turn him into a vampire with his new powers.
Now, Sayo feels guilt AND anxiety AHSJDHDJ. Yamadera is now a vampire, he's fulfilled his goal since chapter 2 and now there's no need for Sayo (or so he thinks). He also feels guilt as now Yamadera has to also shoulder the weight of being a vampire, a path they know won't be easy as they've seen how it's affected the other vampires before them. Sayo thinks that staying together will only harm Yamadera but Yamadera squashes that worry.
In chapter 58, Yamadera assures Sayo that he can be "greedy", that he shouldn't repress himself, that like Yamadera if he wants something there's nothing wrong with claiming it as yours. And we see Sayo awaken his feelings for Sayo. He realizes that he wants Yamadera, that he needs him and he never wants to let go. That he wants to make Yamadera "his". Remember how in part 1 of this comment, I established that hunger isn't just surface level physical hunger?
This thought scares him and he physically runs away from the feeling. He doesn't want to feed on Yamadera anymore because his hunger isn't just physiological anymore. It's no longer about satiating his physical hunger, it's now more about Yamadera himself. It's not just blood he wants, its Yamadera as a whole. And this urge, this greed he has for him that only grows stronger by the day scares him and he wants to separate himself from Yamadera because he thinks this will only cause him harm.
But Yamadera accepts this with open arms and lets Sayo feast on him to show him that Sayo can ravage him all he wants, Yamadera will be just fine lol.
This works as the next morning Sayo wakes up refreshed. Having feasted on Yamadera, his instense hunger is no longer present.
While Sayo isn't in total denial of his vampirism, he still wants to perform his socially acceptable human facade but that's slowly crumbling as his powers only get stronger, his hunger getting stronger and his instinct harder to control. To the point that in the morning after having feasted on Yamadera he gets overwhelmed when he sees him and accidentally unleashes his powers in public, in front of their coworkers none the less and Yamadera had to step in and hypnotize so they'll forget what happened.
During that incident, we see Sayo despair for the normal human life he has that he clings to and so is extremely thankful for Yamadera hypnotizing their coworkers to hide what happened.
Theres this expectation from Sayo and those around them that the normal, peaceful life they have will go on. And Yamadera buys that idea for a second and for a split moment considers the idea of turning Sayo back into a human so that he doesn't despair over his hunger anymore. But he doesn't want that. He doesn't want Sayo to turn back into a "human", the opposite of the social outcast deviant that being a "monster" entails. Do you get what I'm putting down?
Yamadera has fully embraced his "monster" qualities and thinks of life as better than ever after awakening as one but after seeing Sayo's struggle with controlling his "monster" qualities , saying that he can't take it anymore, he wavers and questions whether Sayo's happiness can really exist with him. That's where were at right now in terms of their relationship.
Very, very straight and platonic of them. No queer themes whatsoever yup yup. It can't be gay and romantic if it's not categorized as BL!!!
As of now, I really do think they're heading towards a path where Yamadera will help Sayo with accepting his powers/feelings and I'm really looking forward to how the author will develop their relationship with each other through their vampirism going forward.
That's all my thoughts for now, I'm going to bed.