Diabolik Lovers

Genre: Horror 
Age Appropriate: Older Teens+
Emotional Response: confused fascination? 
Notable Features: vampires, reverse harem, evil
Language: Japanese
Length: 12 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Pretty good (kinda)

"I wanted to punish you." - Kanato

Diabolik Lovers follow a young lady who has somehow been misled into a mansion full of vampires. Her understanding and reality are very far apart. Despite the varied levels of attractiveness and fascination with each of the male characters, each has one thing in common. These are not the nice vampires that are popular today. Yui spends some part of each episode attempting to learn each of the vampire brothers but it seems as though all of her efforts end in futility. Each of the vampires also have something specific to their personalities outside of their clearly different appearance. They all seems to have some sort of horrific personality twist that is often seen in reverse harem anime, but twisted in some way. The series works through Yui's attempted, scary relationships with each and discovering where she really fits into the scheme of things.

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I have no idea how I feel about this anime. On the one hand, I generally like reverse harem anime. On top of that, I've been a vampire freak for most of my life. One would think that between the anime geekiness, vampire geekiness and reverse harem geekiness, this would be perfect for me and yet I'm left somewhat confused and unsatisfied. It completely reminds me of Amnesia, in that way. Actually, it reminds me of Amnesia in a lot of ways. Both of them seem to have this quiet horrifying experience wrapped up in them, but also a weird fascinating quality that makes me want to finish them regardless. I think that's why I don't know what to feel here. I couldn't decide if I to kill them all, or hope they ended better than they began.

Of course, that also puts me in a conflicted position about how to rate this anime. I've put down "pretty good" because that's true. Whatever else I might be feeling, I have to admit that I certainly feel something, and that is usually a good mark of an effective story. So, it was certainly well done. I just don't know how to recommend this to someone. I guess, if you're into that kinda thing, this is a pretty good series. I know that I'm certainly interested. I also still retain my vampiric enjoyment (especially since none of these guys sparkle, ew). So, yeah I would recommend it - just to very specific people.

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What just happened?: So, I Can't Play H?

Black Butler (Season 2 + extras)

Genre: Drama/Action/BlackButler
Age Appropriate: Older Teens
Emotional Response: really? and LOL
Notable Features: Victorian England, butlers, reapers, demons
Language: English
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes; extra episodes
Overall Recommendation: Pretty Good

"You surprised me." - Ciel

Black Butler's second season follows a strange turn of events. Alois and Claude are the new lord/demon duo of the story. Alois is a strange, twisted young man who made a contract with Claude and it includes kidnapping Ciel Phantomhive and causing Sebastian excruciating pain. Shockingly, the original pair return to the story with a few extra twists and turns. Apparently, Sebastian has lost Ciel's soul due to a mishap and now must find a way to retrieve it. Ciel returns without his memory intact, due to his lost soul, and finds himself in a twisted battle with Alois, whose jealousy over the demons' desire for Ciel know no bounds. There are duels between the butlers, and the masters, over misunderstandings and deceit between everyone that end in a very interesting manner. As the season is much shorter, and preceded by enough back story, there isn't much to add to the synopsis.

There were a few extras available to me for the series. In the first series, there was an extra that was commentary-style, starring the three servants. There is a filler episode which included the cast doing a play for children. After the second season, there were new extras which included a version of Alice in Wonderland, but with Ciel as Alice.

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The second season doesn't much do the first justice, but that is the way of most sequels. I actually found moments where I wished that they had originally ended it with the first, but I did enjoy the extra time with Sebastian quite a bit. I have no love for either Claude or Alois, and also wanted to punch either of them in the face on multiple occasions. An additional twist in the emotional feel was my complete sympathy for Sebastian. In the first season, I felt more connection to Ciel, but Sebastian really dominated the second for me. It had nothing to do with my love for him in general, but more about how he got screwed.

The extras were definitely worth a look. For the first season, there were more of a diversion after a few intense episodes. They certainly weren't necessary to the story, but why not? After the second season, I really enjoyed the adaptation of Alice in Wonderland with Ciel as Alice. After the second season, which really was quite good, the Alice episodes tickled me enough to forget any real complaints I might have had about the continuation of the series. On the hilarious side of things, there is nothing better than watching the ever popular Black Butler running around as the White Rabbit. Don't miss it. Still, there is no better extra then The Making of Black Butler 2. Seriously. Druitt is such a drama queen.

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Sadly, we must move on: Gravitation

Black Butler (Season 1)

Genre: Drama/Action/BlackButler
Age Appropriate: Older Teens
Emotional Response: laugher, tears, moving
Notable Features: Victorian England, butlers, reapers, demons
Language: English
Length: 1 season, 25 episodes
Overall Recommendation: TOP 1

"I'm simply on hell of a butler." - Sebastian Michaelis

Two years ago, the Phantomhive manor burned to the ground, taking the lord and lady of the estate with them, and leaving behind their young son, Ciel. Ciel suddenly reappears after those two years with a new butler in tow and no smiles to be had. This is the beginning of Black Butler. Ciel's mysterious butler, Sebastian, has an uncanny ability to breeze through any obstacles, magically fix any problems, and act as an ideal butler. These curious abilities come from the fact that Sebastian is Ciel's demon servant, held by a contract that is visible in Ciel's eye, and on Sebastian's hand. The other staff in the mansion seem to have no actual abilities other than screwing things up, leaving Sebastian to clean up after them, and providing comic relief in each episode.

Ciel's duties as the Earl of Phantomhive include running the family business of Funtom Toys, along with other ventures, and acting as the "Queen's Guard Dog." These duties include maintaining a relationship within the London underground, and looking into strange happenings that, in the end, are only solvable with the hidden help of Sebastian. Other allies appear with The Undertaker, a reaper named Grell, and a dog. The series progresses through many trials and tribulations with these players by Ciel's side in his quest for vengeance against those who caused his parents' deaths. Sebastian's only goal is to meet this need for Ciel in exchange for his soul - and his methods are often a mix of creepy and/or humorous.

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Can you tell that this is my most favorite series? I was actually going to wait on doing this review. I wanted to save a little bit for myself to savor re-watching Black Butler, but I was having a bad day and so it began. I even have a little Sebastian plushy doll toy, now. We watched it together. I am splitting the two seasons, again. I know it didn't really work with Vampire Knight, but these two seasons are long enough, and different enough, that there is no way to get around it. I'm not even sure that I will be doing Season 2 right away. We'll see how far I get.

Sebastian is awesome. If it weren't for that whole losing your soul into endless darkness and torment bit, I might be willing to get myself a sexy demon butler. Part of me is saddened for Ciel throughout the series, especially when I remember that he's around 12 years old. Despite the stupidity of the goofy three staff members with no skills, I don't think I ever wanted to punch them - which is amazing. Tanaka is a big favorite, ho ho ho. I don't know how to describe the series. It's dark but funny, shocking but moving, and full of "Yeah! Kick his ass! Go demon, go! Those jerks!" It was the end, though, that tore at my heart a little. It wasn't a surprise ending, so to speak, but the emotion it rbought up in me was startling - both the first time and the second. I wasn't surprised that I was moved watching it a second time, but more the level of emotion that I still had being equal to the first. I mean, I already knew what was going to happen, right?

I didn't really rate this as Older Teens because of any impropriety, as much as it's dark enough that I wouldn't sit a middle schooler in front of it and just go about my business. I was a little bit dark in my teen years, and this would've been right up my alley then. Clearly, I've changed a lot in the past 10 years or so. It's my favorite so I have to recommend it. I wouldn't be offended if it's not really someone's cup of tea, although I can't see an anime fan running away. So, I recommend. Really. You should see it. If you don't like it, lie to me, because it's amazing.

Um, yeah. Sorry.

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As you wish: Black Butler 2, plus extras

The Wallflower

Genre: Comedy
Age Appropriate: Pre-teens
Emotional Response: Ha!, ::swoon::
Notable Features: Cute guys, creepy girl, becoming a lady (or not), kidnapping
Language: English
Length: 1 season, 25 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Yay!

"What would you do for a popsicle?" -Yuki (singing)

The Wallflower in this case is Sunako, a young weird girl with a love for all things creepy and gory. There is a bevy of good-looking guys living in her aunt's mansion with her. Those guys have been charged with making her a respectable young lady, and in return they can live there rent free! However, if they fail then the rent will be tripled. Needless to say, these handsome guys are desperate to avoid the terrible money situation. Each episode includes a segment titled, "The Road to Womanhood," that shares tips about different little things to make a girl into a young lady - or at least, that's the idea.

Sunako is battling her feelings of being ugly and worthless because of something thoughtless a guy said when she was young and confessed her love to him. He said, "I hate ugly girls," and her fate - along with her roommates' - was sealed. To top off her difficulties, she sees her new friends as "radiant!" and can't handle looking at them without sprouting a nosebleed. As the series progresses, she actually forms worthwhile relationships with the other characters, despite her strange quirks of watching zombie movies and having an empty medical mannequin, named Hiroshi, as her bff. Every other episode has something to do with kidnapping, and requires everyone to work as a team to save whichever member is in trouble. Despite all of their efforts, the friends struggle with changing Sunako but also learn to accept her weirdness as a good thing.

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I didn't want to watch it. Then, I totally did. Oh the pretty boys, and the funny girls - so much fun. I adored it. I could definitely put this in my watch-it-again list for those days when I really need a pick me up. Truth be told, I was sick all week and this really kept my spirits up. I also admit that the pretty boys had something to do with it. They totally tickled that teenager part in me that giggles with girl-crushing. Heehee. Shockingly, I had a mini-crush on Kyohei. I also feel a little lame for being so predictable about it.

It's not a complicated anime. I appreciated it, not only for the funnies, but also because Sunako reminded me of myself. I didn't have any sexy roommates but I was a total outcast geek. I didn't like horror movies, but I did wear a lot of black. I can only hope that I wasn't as scary as some of the bit playing girls that chased around the guys (like the GothGothLoliLoli girls). I do remember feeling the way Sunako felt a lot. I think it made the whole comedy even better for me. I would definitely recommend it for the geeky-gothy girls in the world. It was totally awesome.

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And action!: Black Butler

Vampire Knight: Guilty (Season 2)

Genre: Vampires (Vampires really need to have their own genre. amiright?)
Age Appropriate: Teens
Emotional Response: sad and desperate (not in a bad way)
Notable Features: vampires, high school, vampires
Language: English
Length: 1 season, 13 episodes (Season 2)
Overall Recommendation: Good (especially if you like vampires)


"I know you'll never betray her." - Kaname

Zero has returned, better and badder than before. Due to some assistance form Kaname, Zero had more control and more power. This should keep the monster at bay for awhile. Kaname makes it clear that he's only helped Zero for Yuki's sake. The story continues from there, exploring the complicated love triangle between Yuki, Zero and Kaname. Yuki begins to fight for the memories that she's missing and starts hallucinating scary images of blood, which takes a toll on her mental stability. While, Zero does what he can to help her along, including cautioning her to take her time, Kaname seems to be adopting a weirder attitude toward her and the situation. The second season brings the story from the first season full circle, with a significant number of surprises, twists and turns.

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Season 2 really was everything a second season should be. A continuation of the first season without tampering with the overall feel of the story. I've seen plenty of second seasons where the story continues, but the plot has changed so dramatically, in a way that makes it seem like a forced sequel of a novel. I'll continue to admit that this series hits a certain guilty pleasure level for me. I have no illusions about how wonderful it is, but it was done really well considering.

There are a few things that I'm not super sure about. For example, why is the subtitle of Season 2 "Guilty?" I don't think it's particularly necessary. The shocker near the end is a bit shocking - not in content but the way they revealed it. It feels like it made sense at the time, but now looking back on it, it's wierd to me. Well, I guess as long as it made sense at the time, right? Also, I started to think that Kaname was a bit of a prick. Well, I should say that Kaname is a prick, but it started to actually bother me in the end. I started to hate him a little, and it bothered me because it seemed so at odds with how I felt I should feel. Every story has it's fairy tale ending, and this one isn't that different, mostly. There is a little bit of a nod toward there possibly being a third season, or at least they made room for it without making it necessary to make it a good series. No word yet on if that's going to happen, but it's been awhile so I'm not holding out on that. Probably would've happened by now.

If you're a vampire fan girl (or guy!), then you'll probably like this. If you're a Twilight fan, you'll very likely like this. I really hope you would like this. I mean, the guys are pretty hot. I enjoyed it, and I guess I figure that if I care about Kaname being a prick, then something must have been done right, since I care in the first place. I'm not giving either season super high marks, but I would watch it again if I was in the mood.
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A new dream: Fruits Basket


I have tickets to go see the Zelda orchestra coming to town. Well, kind of in town. In the state. So, I'm going to be traveling this weekend and there's no way I'll be able to watch an entire series by Monday. Y'all will just have to wait. Sorry! :D

Vampire Knight - Season 1

Genre: Vampires (Vampires really need to have their own genre. amiright?)
Age Appropriate: Teens
Emotional Response: confused and angsty
Notable Features: vampires, high school, vampires
Language: English
Length: 1 season, 13 episodes (this time around)
Overall Recommendation: Good (especially if you like vampires)

"That girl is the only thing I really care about." - Lord Kaname

When Yuki was a little girl, she was saved from a bad vampire by a "good" vampire. Kaname, said good vampire, developed a certain attachment to Yuki, and their complicated relationship factors hugely in the storyline. The plot is set at Cross Academy, a school both for Day Class and Night Class students. Yuki's job, along with her partner Zero, is too help the transition between Day and Night classes with as little fuss as possible. There is a curfew that is supposed to be held for the Day Class students. The Night Class is actually made up of aristocratic vampires, led by Lord Kaname, one of the last "true blood" vampires. During these transitions, Yuki works to keep the girly girls from swooning too much over the Night Class boys, but at the same time has to contain herself from her swooning over Kaname. Her past with him has led her to fall madly in love with him.

Her relationship with her partner-in-crime Zero is actually more complicated than her relationship with Kaname. When she was saved by Kaname, she was brought to the headmaster and was adopted by him. A few years later, Zero was brought to him as well, and he was adopted into the household - though not really as a "son." Zero's family was slaughtered by bad vampires, and his experience completely colors he feelings about vampires. He hates them all, and wants to kill them. He restrains himself, however, out of respect for the headmaster and only works with Yuki patrolling the grounds to keep everyone in check. There are frequent moments where he has to restrain himself, or be retrained by Yuki, from violence. Growing up together has actually made Yuki and Zero rather close - well, close considering Zero's emotional capacity. This makes Yuki's feeling for both him, and Lord Kaname, a huge area of angst for her. The first season is primarily back story explanations and delving into the complicated emotions that Yuki has to deal with as different situations arise.

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I think I hate Twilight now. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I thought it was awesome or anything. I have better vampire taste than that. It was really hard, though, to get into Vampire Knight at first because I keep comparing the two. After all, Yuki is in high school and has a vampire crush, and Bella is an idiot. I mean...yeah. There are so many important differences, though. I'm most upset because the comparison highlighted things I might have ignored before. I did get past it eventually. Hopefully, I can keep it up for Season 2.

This series is so full of teenage angst that it's a bit overdone. Fortunately, this is anime, and one can get away with a lot in anime. Perhaps without the vampire-esque music, it would be closer to all high school-based anime. Unlike Mystic Archives, while the end credits are dark and haunting I don't feel the need to kill things to move on with my life. The vampires are super sexy, and this goes a long way when it comes to flaws. Of course, it wouldn't be much of a vampire series, much less an anime vampires series, if the vampires weren't sexy. There are unsexy bad vampires, of course, but who cares about them?

I liked it. I'm not delusional enough to call it great, or rate it as Top 5, despite my willingness to see it again. It's like a trashy romance novel. Every girl reads them (even if they don't admit it), but we'd never call it literature. If I went further with the book analogy, I would call it "paranormal romance."
For all that there is a huge complicated love triangle thing going on between the main characters, there's no real sexuality going on. Only the high school relationship soap opera version. There is blood but not bright red spurting blood, no swearing, no nudity...all in all it's pretty tame in that respect. If you're as much of a vampire freak as I can be, I definitely recommend it. I don't know how it would work for someone who isn't, but goth-y/emo kids would probably like it, too.

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Captain Obvious: Vampire Knight: Guilty (Season 2)

The Mystic Archives of Dantalian

Genre: Horror/Gothic
Age Appropriate: old enough
Emotional Response: uhhhhh
Notable Features: demons, magic, books, dark
Language: Japanese
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Sure, why not?

"...are you humanity?" - Huey / "No, I am the world." - Dalian

Huey received a letter from his grandfather that he's inherited his estate. This estate includes his very extensive library, with the condition that he take care of Dalian. He's actually under the impression that Dalian must be his grandfather's dog. It's not a dog. It's a girl! Dalian is one of Wes's (grandpa's) friends, who often enjoyed his library and seems to now be under the care of Huey. She has a haughty attitude, which likely comes for her real age and wealth of knowledge. While he seems a little weirded out by the whole situation, he takes on the role with a certain amount of grace.

Then the real action begins. They go to visit the rival of his grandfather, hoping to find clues that this rival actually had his grandfather murdered (rather than just a burglary gone wrong). In the process, they discover the household virtually slaughtered and under attack by a strange demonic-looking creature. It is the result of a Phantom Book.

There are a number of Phantom books, that if read by something "not worthy," create havoc and death around them. With the help of some acknowledgement and magic, Huey and Dalian are able to work out his role as keymaster and open the Mystic Archives of Dantalian, the magical library of everything that is hiding within Dalian, to pull out new books to defeat whichever book is causing problems. Their contact and subsequent defeat of these Phantom books is the driving force behind the series.
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Before I say anything else, I need to warn you. However weird and dark the series can get, nothing can match the end credits. They're creepy and nightmare-inducing. The music stays in your head. I played Devil May Cry (bought after the series because I wanted to get the story), as a way to get the music out. That's right. I played a game with creepy marianettes and sin scissors to wipe out the end credits....followed by a musical. Stay away. Far, far away. Unless you like that kinda thing, then more power to ya.

Mystic Archives is just plain weird. It wasn't weird in a can't watch it kind of way. It didn't completely turn me off, but I think I kept watching it out of a compelled need to see what was next. It was a bit like watching a car wreck. Or pringles. I just couldn't stop. I think that actually might have been the creators' goal, and if it was they succeeded. I didn't really get involved with the characters, but I did want to know what the relationship between the little boy and girl was going to turn out to be. It took awhile for there to be a reason for the story, a plot to appear. ION, the music is quite pretty (minus the creepycreep at the end).  I found myself watching the opening credits purely to hear the theme song alone.

I would actually recommend it for someone specifically looking for something of this type. Definitely not for girly-girls who run away from wierdo-magic-pseudo-bloody stuff. It might actually be better to watch in the fall. Yeah.

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More fun to come!: Vampire Knight (season 1)

Devil May Cry

Genre: Horror
Age Appropriate: Teen
Emotional Response: Barely any
Notable Features: demons and guns
Language: English
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Okay, I guess

"Next time you open up shop, don't forget to add strawberry sundaes to the menu." - Dante

Dante is a demon/human half-breed private dick/bounty hunter type of character. Set in an alternate 1920's era, he takes odd jobs that always end up being some sort of battle against evil demons. He has a sword and two guns which he uses to take on any type of demon. In the first episode, the series introduces Patty Lowell, a young girl who is his first job in the series. She ends up sticking around after the job is over, and she becomes a mini-sidekick in the series. Dante has a series of friends/co-workers that he works with and often gets jobs from - both human and demon. Unfortunately, his huge debts per person often mean that he can't get the paycheck he has earned. The little money that he does retain from jobs goes to paying for pizzas (sometimes) and buying himself an endless stream of strawberry sundaes. Each episode adds a small part to the story, or to the character's character.

The series is actually a companion to the Devil May Cry video game series. According to my internet research, the storyline is set sometime between two of the games chronologically. It is important to note that without the game, there are some gaps in the story.


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Dante has this sort of private dick attitude. It really works when it works, but it definitely didn't work for him. Essentially, I just got the impression that he's a tool (for lack of a better adjective). He has redeeming qualities, like his seeming inability to not help people, and his desire to rid the world of demons (per job, of course), but the series casts him mostly as a cold-hearted jerk who takes financially worthless jobs, and wracks up debt from everyone - including the local pizza place. In one episode, he gets screwed out of his paycheck because the other person takes his share toward the huge debt he owes. Sucks to be him.

Yeah, so, I'm not a fan. It's not the worst anime I've ever seen, but it was a pretty hard struggle to get through it. It's only 12 episodes, but I had to adhere to a strict regiment of mandatory shows per day in order to make sure I got it done. Unfortunately, not in a fun way. I definitely recognize that the series would probably make a lot more sense if I had played any of the video games. I spent a lot of time confused about the plot, and ended up frustrated that there was no underlying story until episode 10. The last episode was okay, though. It could've used a little more oopmh. I can see a certain amount of guys liking this, though.

 As much as I'd like to think I'm not that girly, this is a total guy anime. If you liked the games, I assume you'll like the series? It just wasn't for me.
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Bang!: Spice and Wolf