Rosario + Vampire Review
By: John Farhat, Tkntv.com Crew
Rosario + Vampire is an anime I discovered while I was just searching around for a new anime to watch. I was a bit skeptical at first because it was only thirteen episodes but I decided to give it a shot. So the plot follows as so:
“from wikipedia”
Tsukune Aono is a painfully average high school freshman, who is unable to get into any private school, due to his disappointing test scores. The only school he is finally accepted into turns out to be a secret school for supernatural monsters (Y?kai), which are in disguise as humans. The first student he meets is the beautiful Moka Akashiya and wants him for an unusual reason; she is a vampire, and is attracted to the sweet taste of his human blood. Tsukune quickly realizes that his admission into a monster school must have been a mistake and fears for his life.
Despite Moka's vampiric nature, she is a kind girl and Tsukune quickly falls for her. He decides to stay and be near her, despite the various dangers. He must hide his human identity from the faculty and other students, while trying to keep his grades up and avoiding conflicts with the various not-so-mythological monsters lurking around campus. Tsukune soon discovers that when he removes the " Rosario" around Moka's neck, she transforms into her true form: an S-rank vampire, stronger and more powerful than almost any other creature at the school. However, in this state, she has an entirely different personality, often cold and merciless, so the rosary is only removed in dire emergencies. So far, Tsukune is the only person who can physically remove the rosary to transform Moka, and only in the case of an emergency (the rosary remains physically bound to Moka, while Tsukune attempts to willfully remove it in a moment immediately preceding, and sometimes interjecting - a malignant situation). Tsukune and Moka make new friends and enemies as their stay at Y?kai Academy progresses.
Rosario + Vampire is a situational comedy with action, drama, and oh yeah up skirts, lots and lots of up skirts. There is a good balance in characters you have your leading male Aono who for the lack of a better word is a wimp at first but grows a pair but still can not protect anyone. You also have your drop dead gorgeous leading super powered and well endowed female lead Moka. The secondary cast complements well with the typical rival female for Aono’s love (Kurumu an especially well endowed succubus) and affection which turns out to be a decent amount of humor. There is also Yukari she is a witch who is extremely smart and advanced four years in school. Mizore Shirayuki is a snow woman who gains affection for Aono after reading all of his articles in the school paper. She also is very shy with few words to say but gives off the stalked vibe in the way she appears in most scenes. Then there is Ruby Dojo a witch to round up the gang but you do not really get to know about her to well. She has a two part episode later in the season then appeared again in the last episode of the season.
The general premise for the show is good but sometimes I feel they rely on the girl’s sex appeal to much. They can be in a dead serious conversation then the next thing you know the camera angle changes and you see the conversation from under one of the girls skirts or the back of their skirts are a little to high and you get the panties. It does make good comic relief but after a while you might forget about what they are talking about and just laugh like I did more than once. Another thing to prepare for is the staring between Aono and Moka where they say each others names and the bubble clouds appear around them and ends up with Moka sucking blood from Aono’s neck. It is quite humorous then later on every time they are about to kiss it gets abruptly interrupted by the others.
Don’t get me wrong I don’t have a problem with it but if they were planning to show it in the US be prepared for it to be censored which does take away a lot of the appeal of the show. I found it on [AEN] which is a fan subbing site I came across watching Soul Eater but I am going to review that one another time. All and all it’s a good show that I would recommend you see. On a scale of one to five I give it a four because there were a few episodes I feel that drug on and some unanswered questions also it did get a little repetitive in the fight scenes but it still did not discourage me from eagerly awaiting the next season which airs in October I believe. Thanks to wikipedia for the plot outline. From TKNtv this is Farhat hoping you enjoyed my first attempt at a review and decide to watch Rosario + Vampire.
