Vienna. 1906. The young tenor singer Dimitri miraculously escaped with his life after a severe accident. But soon after that, strange cases of group-suicides started to happen all around him. All comes to an explanation: after the incident in which he almost perished, he actually was turned into a vampire — and he's the cause of these group suicides. Not to mention the people who made him a vampire seem to think he's the successor of their leader, Lord Bradley. And then, it gets much worse... especially when this involves Agnieszka von Rosenfelt, the girl that Dimitri loves, and tragedy strikes.
Tokyo. 2008. Azusa Kikukawa is an uptight but beautiful music teacher, and young Kouya Ikushima (the son of her coworker) is the only student that doesn't think she's a buzzkill; he is very much in love with her, and tends to hang out with her outside of class in less formal situations and although she very much loves him too she has serious doubts and misgivings about their relationship. But right before she dumps him... they get involved in a horrible accident, and Kouya takes the worst part of it. Azusa doesn't want him to die, of course, and when the poor woman is despairing about it, she is given a Deal with the Devil: in exchange for Kouya's life, she'll become a vampire. Who is giving her said option? None other than Dimitri, who tells her that to save Kouya... she'll have to become Alice.
Kuro Bara Alice (Black Rose Alice or Alice of the Black Roses) is a Shoujo manga by Setona Mizushiro, dealing with the supernatural and romance. It is licensed in French from Kaze, and Viz Media brought it to North America in summer 2014 as Black Rose Alice.
Tropes found in Kurobara Alice:
- Baby Factory: What Dimitri and the others want from Alice aka revived!Azusa. She can pick who will become her babydaddy, though.
- Big Fancy House: Sorta. The home where Dimitri, Alice and the vampirea live in Tokyo isn't THAT big... but it's in a district where everything else is buildings and skyscrapers, so it's huge compared to them.
- Body Horror: These spiders
- Break the Cutie:
- Agnieszka! So much that, right after vampire!Dimitri kills Theo and rapes her, she stabs herself to death.
- Dimitri himself, as his vampirism kicks in. Which is what kicks the Rape as Drama incident, in an attempt to kill himself.
- Brown Note: Dimitri, after he gets vampirised. That's what actually killed his audience. Sorta..
- Deal with the Devil: To save Kouya, Azusa sells her soul to Dimitri and Co. Said soul is placed inside Agnieszka's preserved body, and she becomes "Alice".
- Driven to Suicide:
- Horribly played with. With his compelling voice, Dimitri can drive people to kill themselves for him. He does it by accident at first, then deliberately to Theo.
- Also Agnieszka. It's botched, sort-of.
- Elegant Classical Musician: Dimitri is an opera singer and very Tall, Dark, and Handsome. Azusa and Agnieszka are talented pianists.
- Empty Shell: After Maximilian "saves" Agnieszka's life via stabbing her with a mythical blade, she's rendered as this. More metaphorically, the formerly bright and cheerful Kouya also becomes one after Azusa "dies" and he survives.
- Flower Motifs: Roses, of course.
- Hidden Weapons: The pendant that Theo gave to Agnieszka has a hidden knife. She uses it to kill herself after Dimitri kills Teo and rapes her.
- Hot Teacher: Played with. Azusa is pretty but not a super beauty, and her students regard her as an uptight Old Maid. Except for Kouya... but this is Kouya we're talking about.
- Hot for Teacher: Obviously, Kouya and Azusa
- Ladykiller in Love: Dimitri has gotten around a LOT in Vienna, but he likes Agnieszka the most. Cruelly subverted later.
- Life Drinker: Vampires can drink each other's blood to extend their lifespan, but it will shorten the blood-source's life by the same amount.
- Love Hurts
- Love Triangle: Dimitri likes Agnieszka. Agnieszka likes him back. Dimitri's friend Theo is Agnieszka's arranged fiancé.
- Meaningful Rename: From Azusa, to Alice
- The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body:
- Once someone becomes a vampire, he/she retains the old memories — but the mindset starts changing. In Dimitri's case, he becomes less emotional and more regal as the "heir" of the deceased vampire leader, Lord Bradley.
- In Alice's, by chapter 26 she has a dream about things that happened when she was still Asuza, making her wonder what the heck's going on now.
- My Girl Is Not a Slut: Dimitri gets PISSED when Theo tells him that he had sex with Agnieszka (who was a virgin according to him), and even more so when he thinks he's doing so in a dismissive tone. The fatal accident happens right afterwards. Then, when Agnieszka visits him in the hospital, Dimitri mentally kicks himself for having thought this way.
- Our Vampires Are Different: The concept of vampires in this manga can be compared to the Chinese Vampire archetype, rather than the Western one. No vampire dies from garlic, lacks a reflection, hates crosses, etc. The main differences are the spiders they use to possess people, and how they sleep in the day and roam through in the night (though they can get out under daylight, they just don't like it). Lampshaded at the beginning, when the recently turned Dimitri recites all of the vampire traits while in denial and Maximilian sarcastically rebukes him by saying "we're not that uncultured."
- Out with a Bang: A male vampire is supposed to die once he finishes breeding. Dimitri tries to prove it via raping Agnieszka. It backfires horribly.
- Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Dimitri can use his powers to cause this.
- Precocious Crush: Agnieszka started crushing on Dimitri when she was at most 8 years old and he was a teenager.
- Rape as Drama: Dimitri rapes Agnieszka, and then she kills herself.
- Refusal of the Call: Dimitri adamantly refuses to believe that he's been vampirised at the beginning. Little did he know...
- Scholarship Student: Dimitri, sort of.
- Self-Made Man: Dimitri.
- Shoujo
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Dimitri and Agnieska, due to social class differences and because Dimitri is half-Romani.
- Supreme Chef: Reiji, who also seems to have quite the Sweet Tooth.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Dimitri, and how.
- Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Dimitri, too. He doesn't start as such, tho.
- That Came Out Wrong: Azusa, inside Agnieska's body, ask Dimitri about her part of the deal for saving Kouya; next scene, Azusa screaming that she has to have sex with the guys and even asking who's first. Everybody gets shocked at this and Dimitri then explains she didn't give him time to explain everything through.
- Unwanted Harem: Alice has four guys after her: Dimitri, the twins Reiji and Kai, and Leo. Kouya later joins in.
- What Have I Become?: Dimitri says this word by word when it finally sinks in that he's a vampire.
