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?

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)

Dance in the Vampire Bund (Halloween 5)

Genre: Drama
Age Appropriate: Teen
Emotional Response: Confused, Irritated
Notable Features: vampires, high school, werewolves
Language: English
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Not so much

The series opens with a news broadcast, followed by a reality-type TV show based on a Fact or Fiction premise. The topic is whether the existence of vampires is true or false. In the end, the show has been used as a ruse to smoke out a rogue vampire and the truth about vampires is revealed. At the same time, Vampire Princess Mina Tepes comes on the scene to introduce the world to the reality of vampires and make known her plan to use a landfill as her new "vampire bund." This place is supposed to be a stronghold/home for vampires in the country, and the new ruling seat for Mina.

Akira is a 17-year-old high school student who lost his memories a year before. He's somewhat apathetic about life, generally happy with things the way they are. He has a good friend, Yuki, who seems to have more memories and more feelings toward him. After an episode or two, it's obvious that Yuki is the opening narrator. She uses storytelling to equate the series storyline with a fairytale.

Mina recognizes Akira from the TV broadcast and it's revealed that Mina is somehow part of Akira's missing memories. Akira is actually a sworn protector of the princess, both by family obligation and a promise he made to her when he was a child. Mina has the appearance of a young girl, and is frequently underestimated because of it. She manipulates things behind the scenes (in order to get her way with the special dispensation for the bund) but seems childlike and carefree when it comes to her interactions with Akira. The story becomes more and more complicated between the two as things progress, adding in a behind-the-scenes enemy near the end.

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Shockingly, for a vampire fan, I didn't actually like this anime much. It was very hard for me to sit through the whole thing. I was pretty into the beginning of the series, maybe about halfway, and then the story just started to annoy me. It's not that it was particularly poorly done, but more that I had no emotional connection with the characters, except to pity Akira and want to punch Mira and her devious bratty ways. The whole relationship is kind of creepy actually. It's hard to reconcile Mira's actual age with her appearance, but some of the creepiness implied at the beginning is actually on Mina's part. Ha. Well, there is some other creepycreep, but you have to get to the second part. It also seems that they throw in random characters that probably could've had some more development (and thus add something more to the story) but they fail to use them in any productive way.

I suppose I shouldn't be so negative. There are some poignant moments. The last part of the last episode is good. It seems like the season should've ended with episode 7, which might have been better. Episodes 8-12 are more of a separate season or storyline - new bad guy too! - probably because the focus is taken almost entirely off the difficult relationship between Akira and Mina. Moving away from the relationship storyline is fine, but it all seems somewhat disjointed as a result. The budding relationship between Mina and Yuki is kind of cute, though. With the removal of some of the angst relationship issues, though, Mina is better represented as a tragic hero/leader type (rather than a snotty, overindulgent, evil, manipulating, creepy, biatch - yes, I said biatch). Ok. The Dance with the Vampire Maids endings are pretty amusing.

I guess, I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone, but I wouldn't stop someone from seeing it either.

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Let's Try This: Demon King Daimo

Trinity Blood (Halloween 3)

Genre: Action
Age Appropriate: Older Teen
Emotional Response: Sad
Notable Features: vampires, priests, nanomachines, supervampire
Language: English
Length: 24 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Wonderful

"Avert not thine eyes." -Narrator

Abel Nightroad: Traveling priest, Lt. Col., AX member, Crusnik (supervamp) and our protagonist.
The first interaction with Abel shows him to be food hungry (he really does love his food) and goofy. A bit of a moron, actually. It takes a little bit to understand that he's actually an intelligent, compassionate priest. Also, the series is pretty quick to show his superhuman/supervampire superpowers as a Crusnik. A Crusnik is a supernatural being one step up on the food chain from the vampires - as a Crusnik actually feeds on vampire blood rather than human blood. Vampires, or Methuselah, are a result  of the post-apocolyptic reality in the series. All current technology is considered "lost." Abel is, surprisingly, amazing with lost technology. There is a scene here or there where he saves the day by excellent hacking skills.

Abel is the savior/martyr type. He is frequently put in situations where he has to save someone in distress - the most important character being Sister Esther. Sister Esther is a young nun from a Istvan (read: Istanbul) who is taken by Abel and a huge debacle orchestrated by the Marquis of the region, who was in turn manipulated by the Contra Mundi, or Order of Rosenkreuz (the villains). The Order wants a New World Order, run by them of course.

Then, there is the Vatican, lead by Alessandro - a childlike Pope, his sister Cardinal Caterina (AX leader) and his brother, Brother Francesco (Inquisitorial division leader). The Vatican is the opposing force for humans against vampires, although the general goal is to find a peaceful exitance. The Empire, for vampires, is run by the Empress, who is the end-all-be-all authority. There is a lot of politics in there.

THEN there is....I'm going to stop now. This just gets more complicated.

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Sad. That's really what this series is, a lot of episodes of sad. Still, it's sad in a more poignant way. Abel's dorky personality is often the only lightness in any episodes, often tempered by his own serious moments. It's not the kind of sad that makes you cry or anything, but maybe hurt a little. At least, depending on how easily you get sucked into character emotions.

The political intrigues aren't as interesting as the personal interactions. I think they were an attempt to shadow historical figures, but only in the sense where you have to care enough about those particular historical figures in order to care. I only know about them from watching that terrible The Borgias show. The individual satellite characters are pretty interesting, actually. My personal favorite is Fr. Hugue (shocking, I know). There is one scene in an episode where the priests have to band together for a few moments in order to stop a big bad from happening and their special abilities (because priests need special abilities :P) are displayed in an excellent group effort. These priests kinda kick ass.

Abel's special 80% Crusnik form is pretty epic. You don't really see it until later in the series, and then it shows up frequently. If I thought the 40% was cool, man, 80% is wicked - both in awesomeness and darkness. He's complicated and in a good way. It wouldn't be right if he was a one-dimensional character.

There is a twist here and there, and they aren't always completely obvious - which I appreciate. Abel is actually pretty when he's not a superfreak vampire or wearing his glasses (such a heartbreaker,too). He's a tragic hero and I was rooting for him the whole way. The blood isn't too bad, there is no sexuality really, but the storyline is a little advanced for someone under a certain age.  So, yeah, go watch it. It's better than great, but it doesn't seem right to call it "YAY," so it gets a "Wonderful."

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Moving On: Fortune Arterial

Negima!?: Master Negi Magi

Genre: Comedy/Romance
Age Appropriate: Pre-teens/Teens
Emotional Response: Awww. How cute! Go get 'em, team!
Notable Features: cute girls, mages, vampire, 10 year old teacher
Language: English
Length: 2 seasons, 26 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Pretty Good :)

"...in a good way." - Matsu

Negi Springfield is an apprentice wizard sent to Mahora Academy to teach a class full of pre-teen girls (31, actually). He is working on his magic apprenticeship with the goal of finding his father, The Thousand Master! The twist? Negi Springfield is 10 years old. However, he IS a wizard. There is a prohibition on him showing his magic at school, but the series basically follows how much he doesn't succeed at this. In order to avoid the wrath of the Academy of Magic, Negi goes into "probationary contracts" with the students who discover that he's a wizard. Each contract comes with "Pactio cards," which determine the form that each girl will take when called upon. The drama twists more because the only way for the girls to enter into a probationary contract is by kissing Negi! It helps that most of his class think he's adorable.

The Academy of Magic keeps their eye on him with the help of two funny looking characters: Shichimi and Motsu. While they look like a cartoon cat and a badly drawn frog, they're surprisingly adept at popping up at just the wrong moment for Negi. As Negi doesn't willy-nilly show off his magic, his magic failures only really happen in emergency situations while fighting/saving girls from whatever villian is around. This leads to the unending line of girls that end up on Team Negi - who masquerade as the Chupa(cabra) Club.

The villains range from a vampire stuck on the island to and evil fairy who takes over minds. There is a desperate search for the pieces of a magical crystal, a mysterious baron and a shady professor friend who is obsessed with ramen. There is even a ferret-looking "fairy" companion with a dirty mind.
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First, two words: HARRY POTTER

Moving on:
I actually re-watched this one to write the review. That wasn't the best idea. There are some things you can watch over and over again and enjoy and some that just feel redundant. That aside, I really do like Negima!? It's sweet and innocent - certainly more innocent that Ouran High School Host Club! A lot of this series involved head-smacking situations and comments by the girls - who show a great range of stupidity to keen intelligence and compassion. If you can think of a "typical" stereotype tween - geek to popular girl - they are likely represented...in a good way. Seriously. There are so many little things for each girl that are entirely amusing that I can't actually write them all down and have this end up being a pointless review.

It starts a little slow. Usually, I'm wishing for more episodes, but this one is a little too drawn out. Or, maybe, this is just one not meant for immediate consumption. There is a certain amount of light dirty humor, but a lot of it would probably fly over a younger person's head - frequently either the overly dramatic narrator or the dirty little ermine. Key Note: The are hilarious references to pop culture that should be watched for (e.g. Rocky Horror Picture Show), if you can find them. The music is fun, though. The opening theme starts out sounding like an old school video game. I would say this is a great follow up to a serious drama anime. The best though? The writing on the wall. Literally. There is writing on walls, chalk boards, signs, floating in the air...etc, and it's always hilarious and bizarre. I enjoy watching Negima!? just for that! It's all just a bunch of cute. Not my favorite anime ever, but a nice diversion nonetheless.

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And now....: Neo Angelique Abyss

*SPECIAL NOTE: In an effort to be less crazy, I'm going to be more consistent. Reality being that I really can't watch that much anime at once with limited overlap. SO, I'll only be posting reviews Monday and Thursdays.