There is dumb fun, and then there is just plain asinine. Rosario + Vampire tries hard to convince us that it is the former, it tries very hard. The show is openly aware of how stupid it can get, and happily points out how dumb it is being as its main source of comedy. Unfortunately, this is not only a flimsy source of comedy that only occasionally works, it also makes it irritatingly evident that the plotting is shoddy and the characters are one-dimensional and poorly developed; plus that the show was made to blatantly exhibition girls' cleavage. This results in a fan-service comedy thatis more obnoxious than it ever is funny.
The poor idiot in the middle of this mess is Tsukune, a human who ends up going to a school for monsters through ridiculous circumstances; namely being sent there by his parents that know nothing about the school (well, aren't they responsible) after he failed the high school entrance exam. Luckily for him, Yokai Academy is a school which is meant to teach monsters to co-exist with humans; all students are required to take human form and stay that way. Here he meets the obvious main love interest, a vampire named Moka. Moka is a nice girl with a bad habit of drinking Tsukune's blood, and has a separate personality that emerges when the rosary on her neck is removed. He also meets other girls that eventually try gaining his love, like the big boobed succubus girl, and the loli witch gir... you know what, none of this really matters. It is basically the same set up as any harem anime, with a bunch of extraneous details that either don't add much to the story, or are used to incredibly stupid effect.
Most of the show has a monster-of-the-week format, with silly school yard shenanigans and fan-service thrown in, of course. Most episodes go like this: Tsukune attends class and hangs out with Moka and other members of his growing harem; one of the monsters attending the school starts causing troubles for their group; when a confrontation finally flairs up, Tsukune removes Moka's rosary and she kicks the monster's ass; rinse and repeat. Needless to say, this formula gets boring quickly, but the show keeps at it with about three-fourths of the episodes more or less going like this.
The show also implements every trite trope found in any anime with a school setting, like the harem of friendly love-rivals, the pool and beach episodes, and so on. This is something that the show is fully aware of. There is this token animal mascot talking bat that appears often, and spouts wise-cracks about the characters' ridiculous behavior, how cliche a certain event is, or just says something during scene changes. This bat has to be one of the most annoying and obnoxious of mascot characters; he isn't the least bit funny because he comments on the most pointless of things, and he never says anything that is remotely witty. It is obvious what the show was going for with this, but it just completely fails. All it really does is make more apparent how poor the writing in the show is, and that the writers are aware how bad it is; this comes across as if they just didn't care.
As lackluster as the comedy is, the show's attempt drama in the show is even worse. Most of the show's dramatics revolve around things getting in the way of Tskune and Moka's developing relationship... if it can even be called that. All there is between them is Tskune fawning over how pretty and nice Moka is, and Moka drinks his blood as if he was a drinking fountain but still wanting to be his friend/ love interest. There really isn't any depth or dynamic between the two even the show tries to convince us there is. Any other attempt at drama similarly fails because the characters are barely developed to be anymore than trite stereotypes found in this kind of show, so it is hard to care about any of them. Even the stuff about Yokai Academy being a school which teaches monsters to fit into human society goes out the window when Tskune is revealed to be a human, sending the entire student body to form a mob calling for his blood, while the faculty deciding to do nothing for no other reason than to make things needlessly dramatic.
On the technical side of things, Rosario + Vampire is the definition of laziness. It isn't that it is terrible, it is just so damn generic looking. Girls with boobs that rival watermelons, flat chested lolis, really dumb looking hooligans, squirmy nerd losers, and a rainbow assortment of hair colors; every stereotype associated with anime character designs can be found in this show. The backgrounds are similarly bland, although admittedly the haunted looking woods surrounding the school are done pretty well. There are a lot of short cuts taken in the animation, in fact almost everything that is animated is a short cut. The use of music is unremarkable as is the soundtrack itself; mostly filled with bubbly pop compositions that accentuate silly moments, or slightly more aggressive compositions during tenser moments, so it is fitting but nothing sticks long after the scene passes.
To sum things up, don't watch Rosario + Vampire. It is a show that encapsulates almost everything bad about modern anime. Characters are plastic stereotypes; Tsukune is a thoroughly uninteresting male lead, and all the girls are little more than walking fan-service. Ecchi anime are usually dumb fun best not taken seriously, but that is hardly an excuse for a show to be so poorly written and so lazily executed. What's worse is that the show actually takes a stab at drama that is so hackney that it drags the show even lower than the decidedly low standards it set for itself. It doesn't even qualify as dumb fun, it is just embarrassing.
frfroglover420
July 31, 2015
Not Recommended
I don’t even know where to begin to talk about this mess of an anime. Why this is such a popular anime is completely mind boggling to me. Is it because it’s trash? Is it because it’s just so much of a mess, it’s completely confusing everyone? Essentially, this is a story revolving around a gary stu. The main character is less than mediocre, and as to why an apparently amazing vampire is in love with his ugly perverted, absolutely useless self is absolutely beyond me. The other main character is of course a mary sue. She is loved by all, immensely powerful, confident, etc. As towhy a supposedly “beautiful” and “wonderful” character would somehow hang around some sack of shit that isn’t even supposed to go to that school is bizarre. And this little girl witch is supposed to make him fall in love with her too? (Okay, are we even going to address how that little girl is catering to the literal pedophiles of the audience? She’s supposed to be seen as this innocent little girl that he’s going to love. What the fuck? Get that loli stuff out of my face. Not to mention, they body shame her for having the smallest breasts in the show. WHY ARE YOU SEXUAIZING A LITTLE GIRL?)
Why are people involved with him? He is not even remotely attractive in any way possible. I could see how a vampire would be attracted, as she needs blood. (The way she bites him is very annoying and cutesy, by the way.) Why is he the main character when a toothpick would be more relevant to the plot? Why does this anime exist?
The art is mediocre. It’s your typical anime series type of art, and every once in a while you’ll see the style improve. (Of course, it’s when the mary sue gets all powerful..) Also I would like to understand why on Earth it was necessary to ever add in a panty shot. Did we really need to see this? Is that necessary? Did seeing her “oh so sexy” underwear further the plot? Did it help the audience really understand the struggles these characters go through? Not at all. These are high school girls. They aren’t adults. Save the ecchi for a show with older characters.
The logic in this series is an absolute mess, and it goes against the very (weak) fabric of the meaning of these characters. The main girl character is this amazing and all powerful vampire that can only really be that powerful once in a while? Okay, bye. Where are her REAL weaknesses? I’d love to know, and I’m sure the rest of the audience would like to as well.
Furthermore, a succubus that attacked the gary stu once and then realized she was “in love” and wanted to “manually make him fall in love with her”? What the hell is this? The job of a succubus is to use men for sex, not to be romantically attracted to them. Even her mom points this out and she decides to ignore the obvious.
ALSO the gary stu sometimes looks at other girls, unsurprisingly. And the mary sue gets upset EVEN THOUGH his crush on her is extremely obvious and she isn’t requiting it? There is literally no reason for you to be jealous, you two aren’t dating. There was no communication of this at all.
Every second of this anime made me suffer, every “kyu~” and “mochaaaa!” made my ears bleed. Whoever edited this anime has my respect, I can barely watch this sack of shit once, god forbid several times. Don’t watch this anime, for the love of god. I don’t care if you want to watch it ironically or for a joke. Not even then would this anime be enjoyable. Don’t waste your time. Take up literally almost anything but this trash. Love yourself.
Not Recommended
Rosario + Vampire the anime is the adaptation of a manga of the same name, or at least, thats what it was supposed to be. Story: I'm trying to best not to rip this show apart but bear with me, Tsukune is your unfortunate high-school male who has just been enrolled in a school he doesnt even know when his parents found an admission pass on the ground by accident. Little does he know is that the school is for monsters than hate humans and would prob kill any on sight. It is when he meets Moka, a beautiful girl who in reality is a powerfulvampire. What I just wrote was basically what you would get introduced with on the first episode, everything was cool then. As the "story" moved on, I slowly started to get irritated at the EXCESSIVE amount of panty shots this anime had. Now I enjoy fanservice every now and then like any other guy but in this show the fanservice was given to you in large and unnecessary quantities, a girl could be standing doing nothing WITHOUT EVEN WIND BLOWING, but they would still show you her panties for no real reason. I thought this was just another one of those fanservice shows so I didnt really wanted to hate this show for that reason. Around ep 5 I decided to pick up the manga as well since I heard good things about it, it was then when I realized what a mess this anime had become. They turned a good manga with interesting plot and good action, into a fanservice driven anime that had tunned down the action and REALLY changed the storyline just to turn it into an ecchi comedy. Also EVERY episode follows the same old formula, If I could describe a R+V episode it would be as follows:
Tsukune meets Moka
Tsukune meets an antagonist
Tsukune gets in trouble
Moka tries to help
Tsukune accidentally removes Moka's rosary
Vampire Moka beats everyone up
Everything is happy again
This same formula is applies for every episode of this show with exception of the last 2 episodes, which were good on its own right but still managed to butcher the goodness of the manga. If you watch animes to get a good story you wont find it here.
Art: As terrible as the story is, this anime's best feature was its animation. The colours were all great and the animation was fluent everytime. I failed to notice any sign of quality drop throughout the show. I will give this show props for that.
Sound: It wasnt bad, nothing really out of the ordinary. The ED song was really good though....IMO the best part of every episode was the end credits XD
Character: The characters of this anime are likeable, well Tsukune is the typicial guy who tries to help but ends up being helped instead because of its uselessness. Moka's normal form is a contrast to her vampire form as one is sweet and friendly and the other is rough and swift to act. To be honest my only motivation to finish this show was Shirayuki Mizore aka Ice Girl. Voiced by Kugimiya Rie it was nice to see her use a non loli voice and well the character itself IMO is awesome. She could've been the main character :)
Enjoyment: I'll keep this simple, I didnt like this anime. It was hard to finish some episodes and then try my best not to drop it right after. Its safe to say I will not be watching the second season if they havent learned their lesson on this one.
Overall Rosario + Vampire was a rather disappointing show considering how Gonzo had a really good source to work with but decided to ruin it in order to bring ecchi comedy and pointless plot. If you are the type of person who likes this kind of ecchi comedy and mindless fanservice then R+V will be a good show for you to watch and I recommend it for you (also rejoice as a season 2 will be coming). For someone who likes a good story, dont bother, this anime is not worth it.
KaKaminaKai
December 14, 2008
Recommended
"Side tracked from its original story and ended up being a half-baked series." Before we begin, let me drill this into your mind. Fan service; Fan service; Fan service; Fan service; Fan service! That's the theme for this anime so don't start having high hopes for an amazing story or what not (at least nothing in comparison to the manga original). Rosario + Vampire, like many manga-to-anime adaptation series, made fans screamed with joy at first, but only to have their hopes and dreams shattered bit by bit as the anime progresses. It is true that the anime's story plot deviates from its origin, but itis also true that the artwork is astounding (the animation version of the characters look more attractive to me). So let us get into a deeper analysis of Rosario + Vampire.
Story:
The anime is considered pretty episodic (ie. standalone episodes) with a few exceptions near the end of the series. This goes parallel with its manga originals so it is nothing new to the readers. However, what is new is the extremely formulaic sequence in all episodes with an introduction to the "monster of the episode" (these monsters tend to get defeated and then become friends with the protagonists). Not only that, but the actual story coverage is also very minimal in the anime (only covered up to chapter 10 of the manga out of 40 chapters). But that is not to say it is all bad. In fact, certain portions of the story that were remade into anime were better planned (events flow smoother/made more logical sense) than the manga version. Overall, the story serve its purpose as an introduction to the Rosario + Vampire series.
Animation:
Consistent animation quality throughout, beautifully animated characters, plus smooth transition from scene to scene, what more can you ask for? Gonzo, while not exactly known for extremely high quality animation (at least not at the level of KyotoAnimation), does indeed proved itself a worthy opponent to other studios in the industry.
Sound:
OP and ED are both very enjoyable for me (I didn't skip them like I did for a lot of other anime). It should not be an annoyance to you either (I hope). As for seiyu, there are many talented and well known professionals to voice for our pretty girls (and boys). For instance, there is the cute Rie Kugimiya voicing for the "icy cold" Mizore, and Saeko Chiba voicing for the "very funny" Ruby.
I would like to bring the attention to Nana Mizuki who is the CV for our super hot/cute/pretty/gorgeous Moka and also the singer for the OP and ED of the series (and the singer for Capu2 as well). Nana is not only famous in the seiyu community, but is admired by all. She has an amazing ability to sing (even rivals those so-called "professional" singers) thanks to her powerful singing voice despite being a pretty tiny girl. She was also the winner of the “Best Musical Performance” award in the first Seiyu Awards. For those who have not yet experienced her excellent character voicing ability (and as a singer), I strongly suggest you give this series a try.
Character:
Aside from the fact that most character's hidden abilities were not included in the anime, the show did a pretty good job with the characters. Plenty of character developments and showing their inner feelings toward each other (especially near the end when certain secrets were discovered). In addition, the interaction between the many different types of monsters can be quite refreshing from the traditional harem-oriented anime.
Enjoyment + Final Thought:
Judging Rosario + Vampire solely as an anime, it has plenty of ups and downs. Judging it as an adaptation from a manga, it was pretty disappointing except for the animation and sound department. I recommend this to all people who have not yet read the manga (got some nice fan service), but for those who know the story already, you might want to skip this and move on.
