I meant to talk about this one earlier, but didn't get around to it. Anyways, this is Rosario + Vampire. I don't know what "+" is all about, but I guess it means "and" from the way they use it in each episode title.
It's not the most original anime, but it's pretty damn unique. So this guy, Aono Tsukune, is regular old boy who sucks at life. Recently, he failed his last year in middle school and could not continue to high school. However, his dad finds an admission to Youkai Academy (Youkai means monster, I think. Hint, hint) and Tsukune can now continue to high school at this Youkai Academy. However, just like the title of the school, the people at this school are not normal. Every single one of them is some kind of monster, whether it be werewolf, mermaid, humanoid bugs and spiders, etc. Regular human beings are not admitted into this school, or rather, it is impossible for a human to enter Youkai, due to some protective barrier. Tsukune is able to get in though. And nobody suspects him of being a human...yet.
He thinks that he won't be able to fit in, but most importantly, he is scared to shit of all these monsters surrounding him. however, along the way Tsukune meets other students that help him cope with life in Youkai. What's weird about the people he meets (with the exception of Akashiya Moka) is that each one first appears to him as an enemy and attacks him, but after Moka defeats them, they become nice to Tsukune and start to fall in love with him. Kinda like Pokemon. Catching friends in Pokeballs...WHATEVER
ROLL CALL:
Akashiya Moka - This is the first person that Tsukune meets and is the pink haired girl on the photo above. She will be Tsukune's closest friend at Youkai, always tagging along with him and protecting him from other monsters (I'll get to that later). She has a crush on Tsukune almost instantly and is obsessed with his blood. Why? Because she is actually a vampire. Going to Youkai. No surprise there. Vampires love human blood the most and almost every day she sucks his blood. Even though that might seem mean, she supports him and helps him get around the fact that he's surrounded by other monsters.
Kurono Kurumu - This is the second person that Tsukune meets and is the light blue haired girl on the far left in the photo. She is a succubus. For those of you who don't know what a succubus is, it's a monster that seduces men to become their love slaves. Yeah. Oh, she can also fly with her huge bat wings, grab things with her tail, and extend her nails to slice things. She is probably the most sexual thing on the show. LOL. She also falls in love with Tsukune and wants him to be her "chosen one."
Sendo Yukari - The 3rd person that Tsukune meets is a witch. You can guess which one she is in the photo. She is a genius so she skipped several grades to get to Youkai. She gets around mostly by using spells, as witches do and usually causes trouble for people. She initially falls in love with Moka (YURI ALERT), but then later goes after Tsukune. She and Kurumu become rivals for Tsukune's love. I mean, there are other people who like Tsukune, but they have the biggest rivalry.
Shirayuki Mizore - My personal favorite and the 4th person that Tsukune meets to join the Newspaper Club. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, all the people above are in the Newspaper Club. Including Tsukune. Anyways, on to Mizore. She is a very shy, and quiet person that never attended class. Until she met Tsukune. Her monster identity is a snow lady. That is, she has the power of ice at her fingertips. She befriends Tsukune thinking that he is a loner like she is, but later discovers that he cannot understand her feelings. Tsukune comforts her and invites her to the Newspaper Club. And she falls in love with Tsukune, too. Of course.
Toujo Ruby - She is the last main girl character that Tsukune meets and is not pictured in the photo above. She is the same species as Yukari, which is a witch. The Newspaper Club meets her in a field of sunflowers and after a big fight, she befriends them later in the anime. She is rarely seen in the series, however, and makes only 2 or 3 appearances.
Away from the characters now and more about the anime. It's classified as an ecchi genre. If you don't know what ecchi is, imagine hentai (if you don't know what hentai is, you're the cleanest person ever). Ecchi is the midpoint of normal anime and hentai. Which means there's fanservice up the ass. Frequent upskirts, cleavage shots, swimsuits, changing rooms...yeah. Watch this if you're a perv. Just kidding, there are other reasons to watch.
For example, the storyline, although picaresque, is pretty decent. The characters are either really likeable or annoying to you. For the most part I liked most of the main characters. This anime is only 13 episodes long, so you won't spend that much time on it. Which is probably a good thing, because if it was any longer I think I would crack.
Which brings me to the bad points. There were some things that I didn't like about Rosario + Vampire. One of the things is that the episodes usually followed a pattern. Like House. But this is anime. This made the series really predictable and sometimes not fun to watch. Every episode, Moka makes the super transformation into the mega vampire (or, almost every episode) which was cool and all, but I wish it was more suspenseful and kept for other times. Also, there was this one scene that really annoyed me. In nearly every episode, Moka and Tsukune's eyes would meet, the screen would go all flashy, and they would say each other's names until Moka couldn't resist it and then she would suck Tsukune's blood. It was funny the first few times, but then after the 4th episode, man, fuck that. I thought the last episodes were kind of rushed, but yeah, you gotta fit this in 13 episodes, so I guess they tried their best.
The good side greatly outweighs the bad side. I mean, I just found out that a second series from Rosario + Vampire is out, called Rosario + Vampire Capu2. Just the fact that I want to see the second series, pretty much proves to me that this was a good enough anime. I really liked the variety of each show, seeing different kinds of monsters and a new story in pretty much every episode. From what I've heard, the manga is better than the anime. Since this anime was good, I'd really like to see the manga. But then again, I haven't read manga in a while so probably not now. I also like the opening and ending songs.
It was a great series.
Storyline: 8/10
Characters: 9/10
Mood: 5/10
Uniqueness: 8/10
Overall: 7.5/10
Charlie Chen requested reviews on Code Geass (for anime) and Battletoads (for VG). Which reminds me to tell all you readers: if you want something reviewed - a video game, an anime, a movie, whatever - request it, and if I find it reasonable, or possible, I will attempt to.
Here's what you can expect later this summer:
ANIME - Air, and maybe Death Note
VG - I'm looking around. Nothing so far.
By the way, I've been looking into some GameCube stuff, so if you're willing to let me borrow some games, let me know =]
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