Ranked #1227

Rosario + Vampire

"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 it is 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. read more

R+V is an ecchi anime that has been received surprisingly good in my eyes. I mean, the only thing that makes it different are the elements of action which have found their way into each episode. It starts out with Tsukune Aono, the typical ecchi wimp main. He is starting high school, and due to some strange circumstances he ends up getting admitted into a youkai academy. On his way there he bumps into gets bumped into by a beauty, who's actually a vampire. She's supposedly one of the beauties in school, so you know what's coming... yeah, she ends up befriending the wimp, and hangs out with him all the time. But of course, she isn't the only one; soon there comes a girl who wants to steal him away, and on top of that, a tiny brat, tags along with the group, and there you have it! Standard ecchi setting deluxe!

The story fails to impress in any way aside the inital setting as well. Each episode brings about a new (mis)adventure for the group, which basically goes like this: Tsukune gets into bad company -> Hangs out with the girls -> The bad company comes to them -> The three girls kick ass + Moka transforms -> Tsukune whines -> Everyone gets happy after kicking ass -> End. And that's about it. The only refreshing thing is that it's actual action here, and that there's new youkai taking the role of bad guys every episode. But aside those, nothing worth mentioning.

The characters are just about what you'd expect: The moe girl, her rival, a small girl (loli?), and the wimp they all stalk to death. Unoriginal, boring and non-developing, that's pretty much what there's to say about the characters. Both the recurring side characters and the ones who get renewed each episode brings out nothing specuial; they're just standard filler for their position, be it teacher or bad guy of the day. The only slightly refreshing thing was that Tsukune seemed like he wanted to actually help out in the fights, instead of being a wimp and passively receiving whatever assaults of love the girls threw at him. Props to him for that.

The art department was okay, but nothing bragworthy. The backgrounds were nice, yet a little artsy, and the character designs, whuile generic, were pleasing enough. The action scenes were animated nicely, and no slumping in the special effects department either. There was too much fanservice, however.

The sound was pretty okay, and fit the series, but it was by no means anything special, and none of the tunes really captured me or made the scenes better. The OP and ED themes were good enough, fitting the series' atmosphere and all, but nothing more.

All in all, R+V is a failed attempt at an ecchi series, with plain characters and a boring story, but with an action element that served as decently refreshing and allowed for some plus points scored by the pathetic wimp main. And there's lots of fanservice, be warned. read more