** spoiler alert ** 
 It's never a good sign for ANY series when the male lead reminds me of Edward Cullen. 
 Actually, a lot about Kanoko Sakurakoji's "Black Bird" reminds me of "Twilight," both in theme and in attitude. Like "Twilight," this shojo manga series has a passive heroine, a creepy jerk of a love interest, a completely generic setting, and a romantic subplot that makes you squirm with discomfort at the idea that anyone finds this romantic. The art is good, but not much else. 
 For her entire life, Misao has been haunted by two things -- memories of her first love Kyo, and lots of nasty little demons that try to hurt her. But on her sixteenth birthday, Kyo returns to tell her that she is a "demon bride," and demons will all be trying to eat her (for eternal youth) or marry her (for good luck to their clan). And oh coincidence! He happens to be a tengu, and the leader of his clan. 
 Oh, and her blood smells irresistible to demons, making them either want to eat her or have sex with her. Wow, that doesn't sound familiar. 
 Despite Misao's protests, Kyo insists that she's going to be his bride, and starts forcing her to have dinner with him, fends off various demons that try to eat Misao, and even feuds with a charming kitsune who ALSO wants to marry Kyo. And Misao has to consider the possibility that her first love is using her for his own ends. Does Kyo even really love her? 
 The answer: no. No, he doesn't. He sexually assaults her (reaches up her skirt, grabs her breasts), insults her ("Any human who approached you would have to be possessed or REALLY stupid"), and even tortures her by dangling her above buildings just to force her to cling to him. For crying out loud, this guy bullies a SMALL CHILD to tears just to guilt Misao into coming to dinner with him. 
 And here's some of Kyo's more contemptible lines: 
 "You can't live without me. I have to teach your body that." 
 "... because you're going to be my bride." (What girl could resist THAT?) 
 "I'll never let anyone else have you!" (Free will? What's that?) 
 And to make it worse, most of the comedy AND drama comes from Kyo acting like a controlling, chauvinistic pig ("Just remember to save your virginity. I'm the one who's going to take it!"). There's not much of a plot just yet, except for "Misao gets attacked by a demon, Kyo dives in to save her, but she's injured just enough that he has to slurp erotically on her bleeding injuries." That gets repeated over and over. 
 So unsurprisingly Misao isn't that great a heroine. She does show some spunk by popping Kyo in the nose when he gets too out of line, but she's otherwise quite wimpy, and gets all mushy and adoring when he treats her badly (like the whole sky-torture thing). 
 The most interesting character is a charming kitsune who (perish the thought) actually ASKS Misao to marry him, and seems to be an interesting third wheel... until Sakurakoji apparently realizes that he's more likable than Kyo, and turns him into a murdering rapist. The most likable character is, honestly, Taro -- he's an adorable little tengu who deserves to be in a better series. 
 There are a lot of contemptible men in shojo manga, but "Black Bird 1's" Kyo is definitely one of the worse ones I've seen. This is the Japanese "Twilight" -- avoid it!