{Anime Review} Rosario + Vampire
Rosario + Vampire Season 1
Overview:
Rosario + Vampire is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akihisa Ikeda. The anime debuted in North America in December of 2011.Running time: 25 minutes per episode
Number of episodes: 13
Opening Theme:
“COSMIC LOVE” by Nana Mizuki
Ending Theme:
#1: “COSMIC LOVE” by Nana Mizuki
#2: “Dancing in the velvet moon” by Nana Mizuki
Quick Plot Summary:
Tsukune Aono is a normal high school teenager who, because of his poor grades, is not able to attend high school. One day out of sheer coincidence his father finds a paper that allows him to enroll into a private school, Yokai Academy, which does not consider grades when accepting students. Of course Tuskune is reluctant but nevertheless boards a strange bus that takes him to the academy in the middle of nowhere. Once there he soon discovers that Yokai Academy is a secret school for supernatural monsters and mythological creatures disguised as humans. And to his dismay, humans should not even be allowed to cross into their secret world and any human who does…is eventually killed.
With reason, Tsukune fears for his life knowing that his admission into Yokai Academy is a colossal mistake. However, once Tsukune befriends a beautiful vampire, Moka Akashiya, one who is addicted to the sweet smell of his blood, his luck changes and he becomes a magnate for other friendly, yet beautiful monsters: Over the course of the show, Tsukune befriends: Kurumu Kurono, a succubus; Ginei Morioka, a perverted werewolf, Yukari Sendo, an eleven-year-old witch; Ruby Tojo, a witch who is from the human world (yet hates them), and Mizore Shirayuki, a yuki-onna.
And for some unknown reason, each female clings to him believing Tsukune to be their soul mate, which leaves our reluctant hero in the midst of all kinds of trouble.
Season 1 Anime Review:
This anime gets a lot of flack for being so provocative. Granted there are at least 10 to 20 panty/boob shots in each episode. However, I find the show to be quite humorous, with delightful characters and weird, yet intriguing monsters. Each episode we are introduced to a new monster and their powers. Whether the creatures are after the affections of Moka or Tsukune, or interested in killing one or the other, I loved every moment of it. I was laughing out loud at the mischief the characters caused for our protagonists, and I enjoyed watching Moka transform into a seductive vampire to save Tsukune’s life, time and time again.
At first our heroine Moka is angry with Tuskune when she learns that he is a human. However, the two begin to develop a strong friendship and connection which ultimately becomes the main reason Tuskune decides to stay at the academy. Both characters are secretly enamored with each other and are often fantasizing about the other. Though they have yet to act upon their feelings, this infatuation leads many funny moments between Moka and the other female characters as they constantly fight for his attention (yes even the little girl is in love with our main character). Since Tuskune decided to stay at the academy, he has to be very careful because he is human and does not possess any powers or hidden abilities. Thus, the women become his protectors, with his main guardian being Moka, who can only turn into an a$$ kicking vampire when her rosary is removed from around her neck. And yup, you guessed it; the rosary is always removed. Coincidence, I think not.
My favorite part about the entire show are the fight scene that takes place towards the end of each episode. This is where we are introduced to the abilities of whatever the antagonist/creature is for that episode. Though they are mostly over sexual, and have peculiar abilities, the fight scenes make for a comical good time. And each scene is concluded with a flying bat that tells exactly how long the fight lasted. These fights can last anywhere from 8 to a few minutes. They are short, sweet, and oh so fantastic. And to add chaos to the fire, our loveable characters battle and solve weird mysteries all while maintaining the schools newspaper. I should also point out that I enjoyed the music throughout the series, and the intro and outro are also pretty well composed. I found myself humming along to the upbeat and catchy tune.
Overall, if you are looking for a fun anime and don’t mind HEAVY sexual over and undertones, then I highly recommend Rosario + Vampire. It’s a whole lot of fun packed into short, entertaining episodes.
My Rating
4 out of 5 Controllers
Recommendation: For Anime Fans Over 18, Mild Violence, Strong Sexual Content, Strong Language
Being a hardcore fan of the R+V manga, I hate what the anime did to the story. Scratch that, there was not even a story to the anime. The first season was butchered pieces of the story that were scrambled and then thrown in together at random places.
The second season was nothing but fan-service with no real plot to it that just had a few leftover butchered pieces thrown in so that it could have at least some resemblance to the manga.
Thankfully though, there is now a petition for a reboot (do over) of the anime at:
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/rosario-vampire-anime-series-reboot.html
Thanks for commenting! I’ve never read the actual manga, I stumbled upon this series on NetFlix while looking for new ones to watch. I guess looking from the outside in, I thought it was pretty funny myself. But I could see how it would turn some people off if they didn’t follow the manga or at least provide a decent story line.
I feel the same way anytime I watch one of the Harry Potter movies. 🙂