Kaze No Stigma

Genre: Action
Age Appropriate: Teen
Emotional Response: exciting and hilarious - maybe a little confused
Notable Features: magic, demons, elemental spirits, family issues, cops
Language: English
Length: 2 seasons, 24 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Heck Yeah


"Ka! Zu! Ma!" - Angry Ayano

Kazuma Yagami, formerly Kazuma Kannagi, is a wind magic user. He's a 20-something upstart with a cocky attitude but hidden depths. He was kicked out of his family for his inability to use fire magic. The series opens with his return to his home, and the events that follow his arrival. At first the family believes that he is killing members as revenge, but in the end it's discovered that there is someone else behind things. He has a terrible relationship with his father, but a reasonable relationship with his uncle, the head of the Kannagi family. On top of that, his younger brother, Ren, is excited about Kazuma's return! Most of the family looks upon him with disdain, but Ren is just happy he's around. Kazuma's driving force to help the family is money, as a mercenary he works for anyone who makes enough, but his uncle makes the observation that by charging money, Kazuma can help without losing face.

 His cousin, Ayano, follows his around with a mix of irritation at his being a traitor and a potential crush that she's in denial about. Ayano adds an element of coming of age story. Kazuma and Ayano often end up in battles together where her impetuousness gets her in trouble, but Kazuma uses some of those battles to teach her lessons about her magic. As the heir of the Kannagi family, she has the family fire sword and a wealth of power for her age. She just needs a little growing up until she's really ready for responsibility. Whenever there isn't a serious situation/episode, there is a decent about of shenanigans from Ayano and her friends. Somehow, Kazuma also picks up a pixie friend. On top of it all is a hilarious plot to get Ayano and Kazuma together by Juga - the head of the family.

Most of the evil villains are different versions of yoma demons or elemental beasts. Kazuma uses his magic, given to him by a contract with the Spirits of the Wind, to defeat the enemies. There is some hidden reason behind Kazuma's return and many of his actions throughout the series. There are flashbacks and foreshadowing around his reasons and the progression of events. In the end, it's this part of the story that provides the climax and reasons behind everything that happens.

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Kaze No Stigma is so ridiculously emotional, but in a good way. There is a decent amount of comedy mixed in between the serious episodes and storyline. Kazuma is kind of arrogant, but since he's got so much power he seems to deserve some of it. Ayano is a sassy brat girl constantly getting into trouble. They're pretty much a match made in heaven. That seems to be a driving force of the series, too. With Juga's persistent plotting to get them together, in order to Kazuma back in the family, there are a good number of episodes pretty much dedicated to how things can get messed up pretty easily when the both of them involved. The weirdest part is how the beginning of the series starts seriously, with magic and set ups and family tragedy, but then there is a huge chunk that is just stupid-funny, and embarrassing.

The ending is kind of disjointed, and maybe a little extreme. Almost like the writers thought to themselves "Oh, yeah. We're supposed to have a point."It's probably the reason it didn't get some better rating. It was sudden. The end story isn't bad, though. In general, I liked this one. The occasional, complicated technology integrated with magic is kind of cool. Kazuma, in theory, is crush worthy, although not my type personally. There are certainly some good action magical fight scenes for your viewing pleasure. At the very least, it was a nice follow up to Dance in the Vampire Bund. Demon King Daimao and this are making it all better. So, yeah, go ahead and watch it.

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What's up?: Miracle  Train

Demon King Daimao

Genre: Comedy
Age Appropriate: Older Teen
Emotional Response: Hilarious
Notable Features: magic, demon king, a dragon, youthful misunderstandings
Language: English/Japanese
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes
Overall Recommendation: YAY!

"It's just a big misunderstanding!" - Akuto Sai

Oh, Akuto Sai. The poor kid starts as a transfer student at Constant Magic Academy. He meets his first friend, Hattori, on the train there, and she goes through a solemn ceremony to pledge their friendship. Constant Academy is very Hogwarts-like. There is a mix of magic and technology, magic classes, and the most important - a career sorting crow. This crow predicts the career the student will have in the future, and because this is an anime: Akuto Sai is determined to be the future Demon King (much different from the priest he wanted to be). After hearing this Hatori takes back her pledge and begins attaching him (after said youthful misunderstandings), and Hiroshi (friend #2) declares that Akuto is now his big brother.

Then there is a young redhead (Kena) who may, or may not, be an old friend from the past, a evil witchgirl (Eto) who wants to be by Akuto's side as he theoretically takes over the world and has a spirit ghost brother inhabiting a severed head, and a student council with strange connections. To top it all off, Horone is an android secret surveillance agent who follows her orders very seriously (including an episode of attempted seduction) and moves into Akuto's life, stalker style. When Akuto's powers begin to surface and the gang goes on an interesting treasure hunt, Peter Hausen arrives - a dragon who is the servant of the Demon King.

All of these characters, and more, lead to the supposed destruction of the world and domination of the Demon King. While Akuto's ideas are occasionally misconstrued as Demon King-like, it is often either a misunderstanding or something societally rebellious which is also misunderstood. He seems to have no desire to be the Demon King or act in a way that people feel he should as a Demon King. While demon beasts start cropping up after his powers start to awaken, he's often not the catalyst to an attack - AND Brave, a mysterious hero, makes the news with his demon beast battles. All of this leads to the endgame of Demon King destruction.

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If you haven't figured it out, I love this anime. It's short and sweet and hilarious. There are a lot of inappropriate goings on - mostly accidental but wow - and a lot of awkward moments. I feel bad for Akuto pretty much the whole time, and the female shenanigans are quite amusing. I don't really have a lot to share about the anime because it is relatively short, and it seems like the whole plot is really just a vehicle for the hilarity (rather than the other way around). I cared a lot less about what would happen with world destruction than what Korone was going to do next - and how Akuto would survive it.
Korone's creepy obsession with Akuto, and her living in his closet paired with her robotic speech and lack of understanding regarding bluntness, are some of the best parts.

There was a whole lot of head smacking going on, and some actual lol'ing. Don't expect anything important or deep out of this anime, but watch it. The end does get exciting! It's all a little weird and somewhat hard to follow, but I did find myself cheering the Demon King on! There is even a surprise twist (that's actually a surprise)! Seriously. It's awesome - not enough for a Top 5 but highly recommended.

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Now back to our regular programming: Kaze No Stigma

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

Fortune Arterial (Halloween 4)

Genre: Romance
Age Appropriate: Preteen/Teen
Emotional Response: Awww
Notable Features: vampires, high school, young love
Language: Japanese
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Pretty Good

"I expect great things from him." - Iori

Ah, young love. Hasekura Kohei has been school hoping since he was younger. His father's job required a lot of moving around. Now that he's growing up a little, he's moved into Shuchika Academy in Shiomi City. He had previously lived there for 7 years ago, and has chose this as the place to come back to himself.
When he arrives he's greated by the VP of the student council, who seems to freak out as soon as they shake hands, and she runs off leaving Tsukasa (who happened to be walking by) in charge of Kohei.
Upon entering the dorm he's accidentally fallen on by Kanade, followed by her sister, Hina. They were childhood friends with Kohei when he was there last, so there are instant friends for him - happily forcing him into tea parties in his room.Erika is the VP, and avoids Kohei, somewhat. Her brother, Iori, is the President of the council and pulls pranks to get Kohei together with Erika - including switching the signs of the bath rooms, thus allowing Kohei to enter the bath while Erika is in there. (Oh No!) The first two episodes are really Kohei running around trying to apologized to Erika and managing to make things worse.

There rest of the supporting cast includes: Sei, the Treasurer, his little sister, Shiro, and Kuza Kiriha, a mysterious girl whom Kohei frequently attempts to include in activities. Also, Sister Amaike, who is in charge of the dorm and is notorious for meting out punishments with a frying pan. There is some sort of unspoken relationship with Iori there, but it's only ever hinted at. All together, under Iori's discerning eye, school events are the main stage for the story.

The shocking complication in the story is the presence of vampires! It turns out that Erika and Iori are vampires, and Sei and Shiro's family are servants to them. It's because of this that Kohei is on the student council, and part of the devious Iori's plan to throw Erika and Kohei together. The drama for the second half of the series is all about Erika's rebellion against her vampirism and her desire to be a normal girl - contrary to her mother's ideas.

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First, let me say, Shiro is ADORABLE. Her love for her rabbit, the swim tag game, and her little tea serving ways and just adorable. Sei, the incredibly over protective brother, is such a softie about her, despite his typical stuck up behavior. Iori frequently shows him self to be a prankster but as the show goes on you realize that it's all and act, and he's quite the manipulator. Kanade frequently says headsmacking things, and Hina is sweet and indulgent toward her. Tsukasa, though, seems to be pretty irrelevant past the first episode.

I liked it, but it wasn't that compelling. The love story was sweet, and very high school. It's one of the few times that I've seen an anime where the characters in high school seem to really be characters in high school, rather than mature characters in a high school setting. The whole vampire thing fits is weirdly, though it could probably be any reason to rebel and that's just the method the writers have chosen.

The minor positives: the school cook is an Iron Chef! Yukimaru is an escape artist rabbit pet that opens the way for Kohei and Erika a few times, Kanada obsessively smacks people with discipline stickers, and the end of each episode has a pretty poem. I would definitely watch it for free, but I might be interested in renting it if I were in the mood for watching cute vampire anime (like I just was). It was Pretty Good.

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Up Next: Dance in the Vampire Bund (Halloween 5)

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

Rosario + Vampire (Halloween 2)

Genre: Comedy
Age Appropriate: Teen
Emotional Response: Amusement + Excitement
Notable Features: Vampires + Succubi + Witches + Humans + Boobs
Language: English
Length: 2 seasons, 26 episodes
Overall Recommendation: YAY

"Know. Your. Place!" - Moka

Rosario+Vampire doesn't actually have anyone named Rosario in it. It references a main character's rosary, which keeps her superpower self contained. The true main character is Tsukune Aono, an unassuming incoming (human) freshman who somehow -and by somehow, I mean his father stole the acceptance letter- gets enrolled into a high school for monsters. Within the first few minutes of the first episode he's hit by a girl on a bike, who then sucks his blood! Enter Moka, another freshman, who happens to be a vampire girl. The budding romance between the two is the vehicle which drives the series.

Within the first season, the other friends in this ragtag monster group are added. There is a succubus, a witch, a snow woman, another witch, a werewolf and the ever important Adult Moka. Adult Moka is the S-class supermonster vampire hidden within Moka. Adult Moka is bustier, bootier, and has an attitude. She comes out almost every episode when Tsukune removes Moka's rosary to save the day. All four of the females in their friendly bunch are obsessed with loving Tsukune - the snow woman takes the cake, though. She's a nice, shy, misfit stalker. No matter how much the girls fight over Tsukune, they all band together to fight the evil villain (sometimes faculty!) of each episode - frequently typical bullies with atypical powers.

Other important things to note: A narrating bat, that tells you the time that it takes to the end battle of each episode, explains all of the mythical creatures that come up and ends up as a minion for Moka's younger sister, Kokoa. Also, a bus driver with creepy eyes who transports Tsukune back and forth from the human world. Last, but not least, multiple references to b-movie culture and random uses of figures of speech.

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I loved it. Can you tell? Aside from the whole vampire thing, this series is hilarious. I think the bat is my favorite. There are also so many quotables in this show that it took me awhile to pick one for the top. There are a lot of boob and panty shots though. The stalking and peeping is pretty amusing, too. There is an overabundance of head-smacking humor involved, both the kind where you laughing at how dumb people are and laughing because of how inappropriate they can be. It's really the lighthearted sexuality that got it a Teen rating.

The only real negative that I see whole "Friendship fixes everything!" theme, but that's the moral of the story in almost every episode. Don't be a bully, friendship fixes everything, be yourself...etc. It's very shmoopy that way. I did find myself cheering the other girls on, versus Moka, though. It doesn't make sense since it's obvious that they are the couple of the story, but I thought she was a little one-dimensional. It's possibly because I see myself a little bit in the other girls, where I don 't feel much in common with Moka, at all. Adult Moka is pretty awesome, though. That said, I really recommend it for girls. The only part I can see a guy enjoying is the boobs. Lots of boobs. I wanted to stay away from writing things about that since they're so prevalent in so much anime, but I can't get away from it in this one. Watch it, if you dare. YAY!

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Coming Up: Trinity Blood (Halloween 3)

Black Blood Brothers (Halloween 1)

Genre: Drama
Age Appropriate: Pre-teen/Teen
Emotional Response: Interesting
Notable Features: vampires, "seperate but equal" society, loyalty issues, swords
Language: English
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes
verall Recommendation: Good

"Cassa..." - Jiro

Black Blood Brothers refers to Jiro and Kotaro Mochizuki. The brothers are both vampires, although Kotaro is too young to be susceptible to the typical vampire weaknesses: sunlight, water, garlic..etc. Jiro, the older brother, is very protective of Kotaro. The series follows them into the "Special Zone," an island off of the main city that is home to the complicated vampire society. After an incident on a boat, and attempted killing, and a terrible fight with seemlingly crazy vampires, Jiro and Kotaro make it to the Special Zone with their helpful guide, Mimiko. Mimiko works for the OCC, an organization meant to help humans - now called Red Bloods - and vampires - Black Bloods - live together peacefully. Mimiko herself is called a Compromiser, one of the lighter side of the organization meant to work with humans and vampires in a helpful way. After the first episode with the boat incident the Suppression Team in introduces as a trigger happy bunch meant to take down hostile vampires; most especially killing off Kowloon children.

The Kowloon children are the main villains of the series. They are a contagious bunch that seem to be like zombies with vampire strength and uncontrolled violence. An old friend of Jiro, the mastermind behind it all, Cassa (Cassandra) is working to take over the world! Well, at least the Special Zone, as she hopes to find out some undisclosed secret about the mysterious, non-existent 11th Yard. Somehow, Cassa, Jiro and a pretty girl Alice are the center of the conflict. The series often has flashbacks of Jiro and Alice, and/or Cassa. It's not until the very last episode that all becomes clear.

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 I actually like Black Blood Brothers, although I admit part of it is probably my personal partiality to vampires. However, with all of the anime I've been watching, it's been dropped down further on my list of good ones to watch. It has some interesting points, but it's not edge-of-your-seat fantastic, or messed up, or hilarious. This is why I've rated is as "Good." It is good, but I wouldn't have wanted to wait each week to see a new episode.

The drama between Jiro and Casa, and company, is very soap opera. There are a few twists and turns, but not exactly mind-boggling. The best part of the show is Kotaro and his precociousness. He's adorable, and funny. Mimiko is pretty naive, but in a good way. She sees the good in everyone, but isn't willing to just ignore the bad - except when it comes to Jiro, of course. ;) Personally, I'd watch it just for Kotaro. He certainly has an interesting appeal, and in the end the series wouldn't make any sense without him.

I gave it a Pre-teen/Teen rating because while there is a little bit of adult here or there, there are no boobs, boob jokes, grotesque scenes or profanities. There is one or two scenes that are sexy, but they may or may not go over someone's head. I'd check it out first, if I were considering showing it to someone under a certain age, I suppose. The sexiness is very on par to contemporary sexy vampire stuff.

So, I would recommend it for us vampire freaks as a little bit of fun. It's not bad to watch if you're bored.  Side note: The end theme is actually really pretty. I frequently listened all the way through.


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Keep Watching: Rosario + Vampire  (Halloween 2)