Fortune Arterial: Akai Yakusoku

There are few trends in anime that are as fallible as the visual novel adaptation, yet they continue to be made in the hope of finding the next Air, Kanon or Clannad. Unfortunately this means that the industry is littered with forgettable titles that have no other purpose than to serve as no brain entertainment for an audience that simply doesn't care anymore.

There is hope though, as every so often a series will appear that defies all expectations. Sadly, Fortune Arterial: Akai Yakusoku (Red Promise) isn't one of them.

Based on the adult visual novel of almost the same name that was released in 2008 by ... developer August, the series lays out a fairly stereotypical harem plot of boy transferring into prestigious school and girls immediately falling head over heels for his kind personality and slightly bumbling mannerisms. Oh, and the main heroine just happens to be a vampire.

Now where have I heard that before?

Fortune Arterial does have a plot, but unsurprisingly it's about as predictable as the sunrise for anyone who's ever watched a harem based show. The storyline is laid out in the typrical fashion of boy meets girl (or in this case, vampire), upon entering the school, then meets his long lost childhood friend(s) (also girls), then some other girl(s), etc. All the while some mysterious force keeps pushing the boy and the first female (let's call her Girl A since I can't be bothered remembering her name), together.

The problem with Fortune Arterial is actually twofold where the story is concerned, the primary one being that the show follows the harem format almost to the letter, with little in the way of innovation or deviation. There is never any assumption that the viewer is intelligent enough for deductive reasoning, and the only thing expected of them is to sit there, look at the pretty anime girls, and buy the merchandise afterwards.

The second problem is the fact the series is based on an adult visual novel, and they're not really the best choice when it comes to deep, well written storylines or nicely developed characters. In fact, they're so far down on the list of possibilities that one has to wonder how the hell they get chosen in the first place.

They're also as generic as they come where design is concerned.

Fortune Arterial is, if nothing else, a faithful representation of the visual novel, (at least in terms of how it looks), but that's not really saying much as the series would only be laudable if the show was at least decent in other areas (storyline, for example). The other downside to staying true to the original (at least in this case), is that there is an inherent lack of creativity, and it shows itself here in several visual ways.

Like so many other eroge, Fortune Arterial has some pretty decent animation, and while there are some issues with body position and timing, it's probably on a par with many other shows of this type. The downside though, is that the anime is awash with big eyed characters of just about every "moe" stereotype you'd care to name, and that includes the hapless lead male. The scenery is nice enough, but lacks any real flair that would set it apart from just about every other posh, western styled school in anime (there are a few after all).

Which, strangely enough, leads me on to the acting.

The seiyuu generally work well throughout the series, but the main issue with their performances is that they lack passion. The delivery of their lines can be wooden, and there are several occasions where it sounds like the actors and actresses would much rather be doing something else.

The rest of the aural department isn't really any better. The OP is a cheesy, boppy J-Pop track that is typical for this type of show. The ED is, as you've probably already guessed, a ballad that is meant to sound somewhat bittersweet, but instead comes off as cloying and unoriginal. The incidental music has some issues with timing and choreography, and there are some odd pieces that doesn't seem to match the mood of the scene.

As for the characters, if you've seen one harem show of this type then you pretty much know what to expect. The lead male isn't as bad as some I could name, but the girls are as stereotypical as they come, and to make matters worse their character types include a vampire and an amnesiac childhood friend (let's call her Girl B).

Hooray for genericism!

The story is driven by events rather than characters, mainly because the nature of the visual novel defines the plot format. Unfortunately this means that there is little in the way of actual character development as while events do occur over the course of the show, the characters basically remain the same from beginning to end.

That said, there were some mildly diverting moments dotted here and there, but not enough to warrant watching the show a second time.

Fortune Arterial is a strange anime that doesn't really feel comfortable with itself, never mind the viewing public. A major problem with the series, aside from all that inherent genericism, is that several aspects of the storyline have already been realised far better in other shows. Because of this, much of the plot seems derived rather than original, and there is little in the way of content to persuade the viewer that they wouldn't be better off watching something like Karin or Rosario + Vampire.

To its credit, the series does present some interesting situations, but like so many other titles it never fully realises or utilises them to their full potential.

The biggest problem with Fortune Arterial though, is that it represents just about everything that is wrong with the anime industry today. Studios like Zexcs seem more focused on catering to an almost non-existent market than they are on giving the majority of fans what they want, and the main reason for this is habit - historically their money has mainly come from selling merchandise to hardcore Japanese fans.

The sad part is that the repercussions of making a series like this are far more widespread than people may initially believe, and the shortfall in finances resolves itself through increased license fees and mark ups on the price of merchandise and DVDs.

Fortune Arterial isn't the worst show of its type, but it's a long, long way from being the best. Then again, in a genre that's littered with the failed attempts at cracking the harem format, what else would you expect?

Even at first glance, Fortune Arterial seems... shakey... generic. Whoever said "don't judge a book by its covers" probably didn't look in the right book section because, indeed, Fortune Arterial is shakey and very generic. The experience of watching Fortune Arterial is comparable to eating rotten food (not that you would ever do it voluntarily)- the experience is horrible for the first half, then after eating it for a while your taste buds already dead so you feel that it's passable. After you finish eating all the rotten food, you look back and ask yourself "what the hell just happened?" Not all of the episodes ... were bad, just a majority of them - pointless episodes that you wonder "why the hell are they showing me these things". In addition, the lolwtfBBQ ending really didn't do much to improve the standing of this anime in my eyes.

Story (5/10)
The story is my biggest problem with this anime. Simply put, the plot doesn't make sense. The story follows Kouhei after he transfers to a private academy. On the first day, he meets the Vice-president Erika, who strangely alienates him by suddenly stepping away from him. Later he learns that the both the prez and vp are vampires. I think, at this point, ok a generic vampire school one, I'll just put my hopes at that. Yet, surprisingly it fell even short of what low expectations I put onto it. For seriously the first half of the season, nothing happens. Take my word, absolutely nothing happened. They went shopping, talking, tea blah blah blah. Then for the second half of the season, it seems like the producers were smoking crack, trying to fit in everything into the remaining measly 6 episodes. This shows very faulty planning and poor organization. Certainly it would be wise to introduce the plot through the season, maybe even hinting at it for the first few seasons if they don't want to jump right into it, but none of that happened in the beginning. The characters kinda just shopped their asses away and then worked their asses off for the remaining episodes trying to do everything that was written. Truth be told, I skipped parts through the episodes in first half of the season because it bored me to the point where I'd write English essay sometimes instead of watching it. And I didn't feel bad about it. The second major let down was when I become very interested in it starting at the 7th episode and it began to build suspense. I expected a stunning ending.. and all I got was a cheap generic one leaving myself to wonder "wait.. what the fok happened in these 12 episodes?". Grr. the horrible plot makes me angry just by thinking about it. After 12 episodes, almost nothing happened and the things that did happen were relatively insignificant and beyond my care.

Art (8/10)
Art was probably the only thing that matters that significantly raised the score. The art is good, nothing exceptional, but pretty to look at and doesn't interfere with enjoyment of the story (albeit the meagerness of enjoyment). Besides, one of the characters in the end looked so much like Yami, so I found that pretty awesome.

Character (5/10)
ugh... characters. What can I say? Kouhei's dense, retarded and probably a fallible species of those generic harem type males. It comes to the point where you're almost yelling at the screen asking how he could be any more oblivious. Oops she's screaming in pain and falls down, knocking over and breaking stuff... BUT she says she's ok with a pained expression... so SHE MUST BE OK :D. yeah that's how "smart" Kouhei is. Nevertheless, the producers had no problem portraying him to the level of goody2shoe that even Mary Sue would get annoyed at his actions. You'd hear the word "Gomen" about 5 times for every time you see something enjoyable. Besides Kouhei's pathetic personality, I find that the majority of the characters weren't too likable or significant. The manipulative and arrogant president, the overprotective secretary, the loud obnoxious loli... perhaps the other quiet loli was the only character that I didn't dislike. What's more is that over 80% of the anime was simply the lazy president forcing Kouhei to join the student council and forcing him to plan events. After 7 episodes of Kouhei with papers around, typing and bowing to the store owners for their support in the next whatever event, one tends to get bored. Very bored.Meanwhile the prez is trying to get Kouhei and Erika together all the time for some unknown reason revealed later. Nevertheless, nothing happens between those two. If you were hoping for a nice summer romance, well look for somewhere else. The lack of actual love in the plot sticks out like a sore thumb in the pile of "we believe you" "you're important" and "not only I, the school needs you!" cheesy crap.

Overall (6/10)
After reading all these vehement criticism of Fortune Arterial that I wrote up until now, I'd feel bad to simply leave it at that without explanations for improvements. There were some very good things about this anime: stirring scenes that incites emotion, suspense keeping the viewer watching, deep character developments, however, animes hardly ever succeed with just that. What let me down the most was the ending. I was so hooked on the series from episode 7-11 that I thought a good ending would amend for the crap first half of the season; yet, I was very disappointing by the ending and it's inability to introduce something innovative. Not even at the standard of just generic, the ending reverted it so absolutely nothing important happened at all. If the producers ever make a second season, these are some aspects they should consider.

1) Better organization and connection of plot and events so they make sense
2) Cut the useless school scenes and focus on the actual plot. Many anime attempts to combine school and ulterior plot, but unfortunately few succeed at that ordeal.
3) Reduce the episodes spent on developing the history of characters that didn't play a single role in the actual plot.

I really hope that if another season comes out, it would be a season where the characters in it could actually feel proud being in it. Call me weird but I sometimes feel sorry for the anime characters being in an anime that was just skimmed through and thrown away. They unfairly carry the failure of the producers who made it.

Your enjoyment of Fortune Arterial will no doubt be dictated by what exactly your expecting, This sort of Harem, comedy drama hybrid show isn't my preferred genre, but i do tend to pick one up every so often as an easy watch after completing a deeper show.

I'd been led towards this show in particular because I'd read the cast was somewhat popular among the current season's offerings, so went in with high hopes towards the cast being above average.

Story

The shows story is still yet to convince me, it's leaning towards a supernatural mystery of some sort, the vampire element cements the supernatural status, while ... Kiriha and Iori seem to each respectively have something unknown going on behind the scenes, which just about constitutes a mystery.
The comedy element is non existent, the show takes itself fairly seriously, and has yet to find anything amusing in the character interactions.

Art

I've been fairly impressed with the art, the production values seem well above average, the character models are good, as is the back ground animation and general movement of the show, while not at the level of big name shows, the animation is definitely this shows main selling point, putting it ahead of similar shows in my view.

Sound

Nothing distinctive episode to episode, but a pretty good opening track keeps the sound above average. The voice acting is solid, Kohei's voice now actually annoys me, but that's almost certainly more down to the dialogue than the voice acting,

Character

Disappointing, i can't fault the supporting cast, they fill a variety of over used roles to a satisfactory standard, in particular Kanada regularly injects a high spirited atmosphere to the show, and Iori fills his role well with a subtle menacing tone.
Unfortunately the main characters are not allot of fun to watch, Kouhei genuinely irritates me with some of the nice guy lines he comes out with, while Erika is perhaps the least interesting vampire imaginable, Kiriha is yet to be fully fleshed out but it's a lot to ask of one main at this stage.

Enjoyment

From the second episode i've had no great desire to watch on with this show, there might yet be some substantial twists and turns with the plot, but i'm doubtful as to if the cast are capable of holding my interest through the rest of this show, oblivious as to if the writing improves.

Yes, of course I watched this because it's bad. One must watch bad shows from time to time, otherwise good shows lose their worth. Of course I watched it so that I could bash on it afterwards, it is simply entertaining to me. You would be surprised to know that I almost dropped it around five times though, I had to battle myself every time to ensure that I could finish it!

I want to start out by saying that I feel sorry for Ono Daisuke, I know a job is a job and that everyone's got to eat, but I'd live off of porridge as ... my three meals a day for a month rather than involve myself with something like this.

By no means is this anime in any way original. Fanboys of harem have seen it numerous times before. Since the vampire theme, unfortunately, is all the rage at the present time they've decided to incorporate it in this schoolbook harem that I'd frankly hoped they would stop producing for the sake of the anime industry. The vampire theme has become something so common that we don't really think it's strange anymore, neither do the characters in the anime when they find out about the existence of vampires so it's all good really. Therefore the vampire theme in this anime became a gimmick, it could just as well have been left out and the show would probably have been better for it (not really).

Characters, character interaction, script, screenplay, storyboard, art and animation were all sub par in this production. Being a harem characters especially were abominable, but really, noone should ever expect good characters in a harem. This anime could never have become good, the concept would never allow it, nor would the stellar production company Zexcs, which probably is the worst production company in the industry.

It has been a misfortune to have watched Fortune Arterial: Akai Yakusoku.

Fortune Arterial: Akai Yakusoku is a good anime. This anime is one that i enjoyed because it has a good hook onto the viewer and doesnt get boring too easily. It presents unanswered questions early on so far and keeps my attention. The story doesnt move too slowly nor too fast.

The art is good and i enjoyed it.

The enjoyment was pretty good so far, because i enjoyed watching the ups and downs and a few romantic scenes. (Not going to say more still airing No Spoilers)

Music was good it sort of set the mood beter than some other music from other animes.

Characters in Fortune Arterial: ... Akai Yakusoku are pretty good. They set it up very well. It keeps you interested in each character because it seems like they have something to hide.

Overall i enjoyed the first bunch of episodes and i expect to see greatness from this anime

Fortune Arterial: Akai Yakusoku is a visual novel adaption that I thought really should have done better. The problem with this series is that it lacked uniqueness in anyway and it seems very generic

There actually is a plot is very lackluster and seems very generic. Our main protagonist Kouhei Hasekura has just transferred to a new school where he meets our heroine Erika Sendou, who falls for him immediately. He also gets reunited with his childhood friends and he soon finds out that Erika along with her brother are vampires. The problem with a plot like this is that it's very generic and predictable. If ... you watched so much as one harem in your life you would know what to expect. There's really very little that's unique about it, sure they have the whole vampire plot but it really have much depth. It's a shame really because the part of the plot seemed interesting and overall would have made the series much better. Now I understand that the series is based off a visual novel and they are following the events but the producers could have tried to deviate a bit. The ending is also too good either it looks like something that they pulled out of their ass last minute because they couldn't think of anything.

I don't really pay attention to technical aspects but the art didn't really seem too special. It seems up to par with most anime today so I guess it's not bad but nothing special either.

The sound is alright too. The opening sounds really good but I think that's because Lia is singing it. The ending is performed by Veil, who I actually never heard of but I would say they did a good job. The VAs all seemed to fit their roles well too.

The characters are generic too. They seem like the characters that you would find in any typical harem anime. The main protagonist, Kouhei Hasekura seems like the typical warmhearted lead. There's hardly anything unique about him that separates him from other protagonists. The other characters are also very bland, we got our female lead who seems perfect but has a problem that she wants to deal with herself (well at least she's a vampire). Then we got the childhood friend who had amnesia and is responsible and helpful. We also got her lively and active sister. We also got a character who is really quiet and doesn't really have friends. These are typical personalities for characters from the typical harem. Also there is very little character development too. I wouldn't have really had a problem with the character's personalities if they had significant development, but they didn't. There are a few romantic interests that fly around but nothing ever comes of it.

This is a series I really wanted to enjoy but I couldn't because of it's blandness. If it did go more in depth with it's whole vampire thing maybe the series would have been good. But that was a big "if" that never happened. At this day and age, playing it safe doesn't cut it anymore. Thanks for Reading =)

Well another vampire anime (tells you straight away so not a spoiler). This is different though not much to do with vampire lore (hope isn't similar to twilight). first episode leaves you with grabing sensation asking for more, great start hope though it doesn't get all weird and over the top. Only thing i dislike is the use of galic church used in the anime not my pick but yeah. 8/10 very interesting

Story & Characters (2/10)
Another season, another eroge transformed into an anime. Eroge adaptations are now ubiquitous enough that they have to be treated like shonen action series: you have to start ignoring the obvious and start enjoying the variation in details. Taken that way, Fortune Aerial isn't just bad enough, but even if there's a level of Hell for anime, it wouldn't be allowed in.

Ah, school transferring. No youthful memories, no lasting friendship and no meaningful romance. That's the kind of lifestyle Kouhei has been suffered from until he finally gets a choice of his own he opts for Shuchikan Academy, a boarding school out ... on a peripheral Japanese island that he had once briefly stayed at several years ago. There he reunites with his childhood friends and quickly gets associated with several classmates, but when comes in contact with the eccentric vice-student council president Sendou Erika, something annoys her so bad that would forever leave mark. Much to his dismay, is the discovery of a vampire on campus, and it's someone he's already met.

Yeah, this is yet another old-fashioned premise of visual novel, spends its first episode introducing the key players. Awfully familiar, yes? Some guy transfers to a new town to frolic amongst the walking female set up; he encounters "Girl #1" then childhood friends and some new girls. Why does this have to be strikingly cliche when there was another eroge adapted-series in its season, Yosuga no Sora. My goodness, if it isn't bad enough that this was filled with the worst kind of school-romance drivel and unacceptable introduction, it's got VAMPIRES. Whenever you hear the word "vampire," the first thing comes to your mind is blood-sucking monster walking around at night and get burnt when interacted with sunlight, doesn't it? Don't expect any of that kind of treatment in Fortune Aerial because it simply is what it is, school romance.

The regular episodes have nothing that could be called an ongoing plot, as they mostly just amount to the main characters busily preparing for school events, enjoying school activities, or (in Erika's case) try to subdue her vampiric nature. The personalities of the characters are a cross-section of archetypes common to fan service shows, and most are executed in a simple, straightforward way. To begin with, Kouhei's lamely nice guy attitude and his "picking-up-girls" comrade soon prove to be boring. While other characters don't show up much, including standards like the childhood friends, the mysterious and quite one, the cute younger sister you want to protect, the focus remains on the central character Erika. However, the latter turns out to be the most awfully written of all. Heard this before? A vampire tries to integrate herself into man's society by subduing her thirst for blood ends up being more pathetic than she already is. Even if you're not a big fan of Twilight, you would not want to see how much damage vampires receive in this show, stick to Hellsing or Tsukihime if you want to see a vampire babe in action.

Art (5/10)
Feel, a support-focused animation studio whose only other significant lead efforts are the recently-released Mayo Chiki! and the unlicensed Yosuga no Sora, here produces a showy and colorful effort which is hardly a paragon of vampire element but loads itself up so effectively on the cute factor that the lackluster animation may not matter. The same applies for background art and character design too, which seem to look good but also absolute typical for this type of series; while the girls' look can be replaced, the blandness of background art is a complete waste of this unusual setting (a boarding school built on a small forested island). Perhaps the way vampirism is going to fit into the picture could be a bit intriguing and serve as an initial hook, as these vampires can walk in broad daylight, but this offering comes from Feel didn't show why viewers should keep watching.


Sound (5/10)
The problems don't end there; production wise, this thing is an epic fail. The score is acceptable with nice violin mix and soothing music, but its graphic spends too much to show the bright side of schooling despite all this vampire problem here. The same could be said to ED, which captures the enthusiastic fan-service of the show, something they didn't allow to bring on campus.

Japanese seiyuu performances conform to the expected mix of cutesy interpretations. The voices is a loud, shrill assemblage of cheesy and cute accent; whenever something "funny" is supposed to be happening, a "THIS IS FUNNY" honk-beep cacophony starts blaring, nearly at the same volume as the dialogue.

Overall (4/10)
Now Fortune Arterial is a terrible show, but not because of the idea - its current season also aired one of the most censored eroge anime, a guy traveled to his place from childhood and got stuck up in one of the worst harem, so let's not pretend that somehow this particular idea is any more or less boring than anything else in its genre. No, this show is awful because it's unbelievably poorly constructed and executed – this is one of the worst vampire element of any fiction ever come in existence. At least Yosuga no Sora has the benefit of pretty landscape and soothing music; this series can't even manage that much or perhaps, it aimed to become even more than what a school romance could be, which often fails.

"A Migratory Bird" - episode one title
"Akai Yakusoku" - episode twelve title
"I want to make new memories here." - Hasekura Kouhei







...
"Fortune Arterial" is actually the title of a visual novel. It was adopted into a manga of the same name, and an anime called "Fortune Arterial: Akai Yakusoku (Red Promise)." Some people were disappointed with the anime because of a lack of action scenes, which they assumed would be there de facto as the series had vampires. In case you have not seen Twilight, I have got some news for you: vampires do not equal action anymore. You just have to live with it. This show is basically slice of life, with friendship elements thrown to it. However, there is an overall plot, and it is heavily related to vampires, which is apparent from the very first scene of the very first episode, continuing to slowly progress, with mysteries being revealed at a steady pace.

The story follows Hasekura Kouhei, a boy who frequently changes schools, feeling like a migratory bird. He is finally about to settle in Shakugan Gakuen (Academy), a six-year English-style school on Tamatsu island. The first person he meets is a pretty blonde girl that welcomes him warmly as the vice-president of the student council. However, just as they are about to shake hands, she, Sendou Erika, suddenly backs off and falls, acting strangely. When he asks her what is wrong, she says it is nothing, and promptly delegates the task of showing Kouhei the dorm to fellow student Hachimandaira Tsukasa, who had just walked by. Over there, he meets two sisters, Yuuki Hinata and Kanade, that remember Kouhei from childhood, as they used to play together on the island. Since he is a new student, Kouhei has to take pictures of various locations around school grounds. When he gets to the church, he helps a little girl find her pet rabbit, called Yuukimaru ("yuuki" means snow, referring to the rabbit being white). The girl's name is Tougi Shiro, and she is a member of the "Royal Ring," which is never actually explained as to what it is, just that it apparently has something to do with the church. He also encounters "sister" Amaike, who, as he heard from Tsukasa, hits misbehaving students with a fry pan. Kouhei spills this out to her, causing Amaike to be angry. He wisely decides to leave to look for the student council building to take pictures of it. Shiro goes with him to show Hasekura the location. However, her older brother, Tougi Seiichiro, sees them together when they arrive there. Seiichiro, with an angry expression, sends his sister away, and warns Kouhei to leave. Just then, another student interrupts. He is Sendou Iori, the cunning student council president, and it turns out that Tougi was actually warning Hasekura about Sendou. After Iori invites Kouhei in, the former causes a problem between the latter and Erika. She becomes upset with Kouhei, but later, she overhears him defending her. Then, Erika tells Kouhei to meet her under the zelkova tree, a place where people usually confess their feelings. He goes to the church first, where Kouhei sees something shocking, a boy biting a girl in the neck . . .

I like the progression of the story in general, as it focuses on Kouhei trying to do his best with the duties entrusted to him. Also, he helps Erika whenever he can, causing their feelings for each other to grow in time. Others play a role as the show goes on, but not on the same level.

You can see what I meant by slow development, but the characters are so likeable, you will want to get to know them. Hasekura Kouhei is a boy looking for something he has yet to find. A diligent girl who is the vice-president of the student council, Sendou Erika has to both keep a secret and struggle with her new, strange feelings around Kouhei; some fans wished for her to become Kouhei's girlfriend by the end, but there is no real conclusion to that aspect. Yuuki Hinata is a nice girl who is constantly by her sister's side and seems to have feelings for her childhood friend, Kouhei; I was rather disappointed that their relationship does not really develop throughout the show, and she instead befriends Erika, her rival. Becoming a good friend of Hasekura's and copying his homework, Hachimandaira Tsukasa is a nice guy that sometimes gets bullied by Kanade. A very energetic, outspoken, and childish girl, Yuuki Kanade is highly fond of her little sister, and is responsible for the dorm. In the sixth year of school, Sendou Iori is the sly, seemingly light-hearted president of the student council. A member of the student council, Tougi Seiichiro is calm, collective, serious, and very protective of his little sister; as their families have been friends for a long time, he is on good terms with Iori; it bothered me that he appears weak at a later episode, despite his usually-strong disposition. Tougi Shiro is a cute fourth-year girl who is a part of the Royal Ring; it is traditional for her family to perform a dance during a certain time of the year. Not very social, Kuze Kiriha is a calm and mysterious student at the school.

The anime certainly lives up to its visual novel counterpart, with colorful, astonishing animation and character designs. I cannot recall a single mistake in that department. There is a lot of detail given even to the background characters, making them seem like they could be main ones, and the scenery is just spectacular.

The opening and ending sequences are beautiful as well, with the former showing scenes of the main characters accompanied by an uplifting song, and the latter displaying the main females (save for the heroine, who appears in the last part, moving) wet in still pictures with calm music. The seiyuu generally fit their respective characters, with one in particular, Yuuki Hinata, a quiet and collective girl, being voiced by the same woman that did one of the heroines of Ef - a Tale Memories. (which happens to be my all-time favorite show), Miyamura Miyako, who is hyper and energetic in comparison.

To be honest, in my opinion, this is the best story depicting vampires (and I have seen Twilight and Buffy: The Vampire Slayer); it does not change actors nor drag on for too long. The show is episodic for the most part, but it does have a powerful finale, though one might want more (action- and romance-wise). Fortune Arterial: Akai Yakusoku is an anime that is worth the watch for those intelligent people who wish to learn about life.

This anime ... isn't like ones you've watched before. I can't compare this with any animes since it's my own tastes. but watching this animes really makes you want to scream out loud! The story, I have no idea why, but this anime is suppose to be Romance. The desire that a person has for another, fighting through deadly pain just to keep that person safe knowing that you have to sacrifice your own life to keep the other one alive, ready to do anything for their happiness. That's what I call "Love"


I love this anime because it's not a perverted Romance/Drama anime. it's ... more Romance/Drama then ecchiness. I like the male character in this anime, mature/caring/loving.

I was expecting this show to be at least a decent anime, but alas it wasn't even close to comming anywhere near that.

Story - In a way i think the plot development could of been better, but the execution of it and the pace of the story as a whole was too close even though this only a 12 episode. its only after 3/4th of the entire series did it start to get interesting, though very mildly interesting because of the slow pace.

Art - nothing really to mention other than its the usual generic anime look which looks nice.

Sound - nothing ... to mention here. not that there was anything that sounded exciting.

Characters - Majority of the characters lack of development. Main guy character really annoyed me for some reason i just wanted to punch him. Main female was alright. Only real development of some sort was with the the main female and her longing for blood. The president guy was very annoying. Tried to be funny but failed badly, but also dialouge also contributed. He was more tolerable when he was serrious. All other characters just existed and never were given any time for development of any sort.

Enjoyment - I came to this anime expecting comedy/romance. what i got during the entire series was "fap/romance". didn't stick with its genre except for the romance and slice of life. show also says "comedy" but that is not even existant in this show. only "comedy" it attempts to do is during the president's dialogue, but he didn't even have impact. Didnt' even express a small "heh" during those scenes. Although only time i laughed hard was somewhere in the middle of episode 6. (pool scene) Other than that, for the genre the anime that it was representing it didn't deliver well.

Overall - Pretty slow and boring anime.

To wrap up,
Only thing i can say that was enjoyable was the OP (the music, not the animation). Which i want to say that the OP music is very misleading. What i mean by that is it doesn't match to the OP animation. Music sounds pretty epic but animation is not anywhere near that. I say that if you decide to watch this anime i highly suggest that you watch a different one.

First Impression & Bias:
So you click the play button on the first episode of your new romance visual novel adaption. You hear Lia, the singer of well known KEY titles, singing another good song that gives you the feel and illusion that this will be a promising show that will brighten your mood whenever you turn it on.
Yes, this was my very first impression. How foolishly naïve I was at that time.
Expectation: 8-9
Episodes: -,-,-,5,7,5,7,8,8,9,7,4
Actual: 6 (fine)

Anlysis:
Yes, this is a show about a boy who has luckily had no friends since he has traveled with his family constantly, who sets off, on his own of course, ... to find himself. Something like that. So our male lead lands himself in the Academy with vampires. The first few episodes were rather impressive actually, as the lead slowly got involved with a substantial cast of characters. However, the plots ambition is larger than its episode capacity and realizes this after wasting much of its time on leisurely episodes with little purpose. While the ending does make good use of the what it has, it makes all the wrong choices. In the end we are left with another drama about vampires who want to really be human but really can't. Yet, the producers wanted to keep that type of ending so they threw logic out the window.
While the story was a rollercoaster ride the male lead is not actually horrible. He is aggressive at the right times, a good human being, and a hard worker. He essentially makes all the right choices which is surprisingly very rare for his kind. Yet, almost all the characters in the show are perfect almost, and not very flawed. While the characters are pleasing they did not strike me as being distinct and noteworthy. You have your mandatory male friend who has no signifigance, the loli-ish sister who is also the motivater of the bunch, the intelligent person who doesn't try, two shy types, and our perfect vice-president vampire.

Conclusion:
While enjoyable at times this really was not long enough. Slightly average it would of still been really enjoyable nonetheless if they had not ruined the ending. Sort and simple this turned out to be the exact show one would expect it to be; predictable and average. Sadly I am giving this a little above average, out of a bit of dwindling expectations perhaps, a Fine out of 10.

Fortune Arterial looks to be a vampire anime at first glance, but is in fact a romantic drama. Kohei and Sendo are the two main characters, and there blooming romance is cute and amusing to watch. Sendo is a vampire that is trying to find a new way to live without sucking human blood. The first part of the show is basically just setting up normal school life, while the second part is about sendo struggling with her urge to draw human blood.

This is essentially what you are going to get out of watching this show. A few amusing charecter ... interactions and some good back story episodes. You will also get the first taste of a fairly interesting story between sendo and Kohei, the problem is its cut short. They have the framework hear for a truly excellent anime with great character setup and a possible unique story about a vampire choosing humanity rather than darker urges to feed. The anime promptly ends just when it gets interesting.

This is why I wait to review an anime until its over. 12 episodes is just to short for this kind of thing. I recommend to watch this if a second season comes out, otherwise its fairly pointless.

Okay....I kinda enjoyed this anime because the ending was obvious... I don't know why people hate obvious ending but i personally like it when the protagonist in the end falls in love with the heroine...The ending was a bit out of story but the romance was good in the anime. And the story line was pretty obvious but thats the good thing... If its not obvious, there is no point of the romance... The reason why i gave this anime a 7 is that the romance is very good and not like those harem anime that make you so pissed at the end when ... the protagonist don't choose one girl as his own... Those kind of anime just makes me so irritated although i know that is the feature of harem anime... Anyways, back to topic, this anime is a decent anime for people who are finding 1 on 1 romance anime and i kind of enjoyed it... There isn't a lot of comedy in this anime or eechi scenes don't expect too much... The purpose of this anime is clean romance not eechi so perverts who watch anime for nude scenes, this isn't the anime for you... ;) If you are looking for romance anime and don't know what to watch, this is the anime for you.

So i thought this anime was something you could sink your teeth into (No-pun intended) and watch for a week
Honestly it surprised me a bit.
I thoroughly enjoyed this show

So story wise i feel that the true plot never comes through until episode 8. The plot after episode 8 is rather good and i feel that it allows you to actually care for the characters. Now is it anything amazing? Not really. I just really enjoy this plot. Now before episode 8 it is honestly a stereotypical slice of life anime. So really the plot after episode 8 does pick up the show a bit. I ... can't say much more without spoiling it.

Visuals are like i said just good. Hell visuals and music are just good. This show has nothing bad in it but they also don't try for something unique. I think the best term is safe.

Character wise there are a few characters i don't like. Yet the other characters are rather good. The main two characters are rather good and i love Erika. I think that she is quite honorable in her desire to be normal. While the other characters kind of bring the rest of them together. These characters may not be good on their own but they are rather good together.

Enjoyment again i said at the beginning this anime came out of no where for me. I rather enjoyed it and would watch it again.

Overall this is a solid anime. It isn't anything to write home about but it something that you can use to pass the time and just relax

A unqiue mashup or a bland School Life/Romance with Vampires, following the success of films/books like Twilight and how usually any Rom/School Life shows usually do well you would expect this series to be good or maybe great, well its not.

The first episode was interesting starting to know the characters etc... but it felt like a bad Romance/SL series untill the vampire moment at the end of the episode which brought in a aspect of Horror, and in all fairness i enjoyed the first episode, i loved the blend of genres and putting across alot of information in the first ep from new characters,school etc... ... was good.

But one we knew the bland characters Fortune heavilly relyed on the Vampire aspect to get it through the next 11 episodes, which just didnt happen the story dragged on and in the end it was rather pointless.

And i mean really pointless all that happens in a nutshell is that Erika needs blood from a human neck to survive she trys going Straight Edge but in the end this makes her health deteriate, she kinda gives up the Straight Edge as Kouhei allowes her to get his blood. thats it.

This didnt feel like a Romance just a story about a vampire and getting blood and thats it a poor series and felt way too long at 12 episodes maybe a 4 OVA would of been better they just didnt have enough story, interesting characters or anything to last 12 episodes and just jammed in events that happen over and over (Erika feeling her chest) etc..

Overall a poor series nothing good to really say about it (After the 1st ep)

Fortune Arterial is a Visual Novel adaptation that on the surface should be a failure with a bad story and cliched characters. but does include a decent protagonist who knows how to get things done as well as a nice touch of drama.

The story is actually rather overused now-a-days, Hasakura our protagonist moves to an island and transfers to a prestegious school where he meets a bunch of people he quickly befriends as well as re aquanting with a couple of childhood friends, and there are vampires. The show however does have a plot and does not just include a bunch of unconnected episodes. It ... uses its time to deepen and show us its characters and develops them nicely.

The art is pretty nice, the characters are drawn well with some detail gone into them but for the most part are generic looking. It does suffer partly in the animation, some scenes are nicely animated but will occasionally get it wrong, it uses still shots of a character that should be moving and doesn't even bother animating people in the background and just have them there stuck which is a little off putting and is a little lazy. Backgrounds use a simple painting style and generally look ok.

The opening song is a nice tune, it gits with the dark side of the show while not ignoring its lighter elements. Ending is a slow piano ballard. Voice actors did ok for this type of show, because of the type of characters this show has the over the top voices are expected and can be a little annoying and background music doesn't always fit but doesn't stand out too much.

Hasekura Kyohei is the shows protagonist and is a some what decent lead, he knows what to do and isn't your typical shy boy, he is immiedietly appointed into the student council and ends up having to put together a sports event which he manages to do with little difficulty, he finds out aboutb the existance of vampires and sets out to help his friend. Erika the vice president is a vampire and really popular among the students, she has some history with a couple of characters and is the main focus for the drama. Kanade is an overley hyper person who is very close with her sister Haruna who is a lot softer and always has a smile on her face, they are both childhood friends of the main protagonist. The rest of the side characters are a little mysterious but thats because non of them get any development, the two white haired siblings are never looked too much into, Kyoheis male friend seems rather relaxed but barely gets any screentime, this seems to be one of Fortune Arterials biggest downfalls.

Overall its a generic Visual Novel adaptation, it has comedy but towards to end of the show it focuses on the drama and even throws a little romance but there isn't a lot, the script and leaving a few things hanging is the biggest problem and could have been a lot better had these been addressed.

TL;DR
If a Key novel and Twilight had a child, it would be Fortune Arterial. However, this child takes more after Twilight. How unfortunate. Skip this one.

Story: 4
Starting out as a cheap rip-off of Key novels, the story seemed average at best. However, the more episodes I watched the more I hated myself for watching it. The overall plot is pretty stable, if mediocre. The dialogue is what really ruins the rest of the story. To be fair I watched it subbed, so the translator may be at fault. The general plot of the story is that the MC causes problems that he then fixes without ... really doing anything. Such is the fate of anime adapted harem VN.

Art: 4
To be perfectly honest the art itself is ok, if a bit average. The shot composition is awful. It wasn't noticeable at first, but the longer I watched the more something was bothered me about the art. The director really owes an apology to the artists for that.

Sound: 3
The opening and closing are legitimately annoying. The overall soundtrack has a total of two good songs that they use at any dramatic moment. The seiyu tried their best, but as mentioned before the dialogue is awful.

Character: 4
There isn't a single interesting character in the show and they all have cookie-cutter problems. You have seen or will see these types of problems and characters in other shows. In those show they will be most likely handled better. Normally average characters and such would be rated a 5 by me, but as mentioned multiple times the dialogue sucks.

Enjoyment: 3
I have watched this show twice now. The first because it was related to a a much better show. That time when I watched it my mind went numb. When I watched it the second time as a refresher for the review I grew increasingly irritated. Neither time could I call the feeling enjoyment.

Overall: 4
After such a negative review, it may seem odd to only rate this show a 4. I don't mind cliches if they are executed well. They are not executed well in this show. It is below average, with problems in every area of its making. But those problems are able to be ignored on an initial run through. Some people are just hungry for vampire romance. And sometimes people need a break for good anime. So this show wasn't broken enough to completely throw out. Just to ignore until there is nothing left.

Well, Fortune Arterial turned out rather decent in comparison to my initial expectations. Just knowing that this show is an adaptation of a standard harem-esque Visual novel immediately smelled like trouble, but surprisingly enough, the story did not degrade into a complete mess. That being said, this anime definitely had a lot of issues, mainly with pacing and a very generic plot. Even the vampire twist in this anime, which was done in a relatively untypical fashion, ended up not making much of a difference.

The one flaw to VN adaptations is that, because there are usually multiple heroines in the original source material, adopting all ... the storylines into a single coherent plot usually proves to be difficult. In that aspect, Fortune Arterial did a relatively good job of merging all the storylines together. The major issue here is that it did not do a good job with pacing each arc, and with only 12 episodes in the series, I’m not too surprised. For example, Haruna’s route felt way too rushed and, thus, the story and character development suffered tremendously.

In fact, I could probably argue that the entire first half of the series, up till around episodes 7-9, were poorly put together with some very cliche plot twists and rushed character development. Even so, as rushed as the development may have been, the characters’ motivation and hard-work ethic is very easy to see, and quite a charming aspect to them in a sense.

What the creators did right with this anime was it’s focus on the main relationship of the show; the story between our main protagonist Hasekura Kohei, and the Vice President Sendou Erika, who happens to be of vampire lineage. Their relationship got the most development in the last few episodes, and it was surprisingly well done, with a solid plot and a great atmosphere throughout most of the arc.

While the ending to the series felt very much lacking (I seriously think the creators half-assed the final episode, and played it too safe), overall Fortune Arterial turned out into a surprisingly decent show watch. This show most certainly has it’s issues, and although it’s production quality was solid, the art and character designs just screams “generic”. There was a lot of potential in this show, especially the main relationship between Kohei and Erika, but that never quite reaches it’s full potential in the end.

Instead we get a somewhat unremarkable slice of life, romance oriented anime. The romance aspect was probably the strongest part to this show, but even that also could have used some work. Nevertheless, I enjoyed watching this show for the most part, not to mention this show has a pretty decent OP theme, sung by Lia of Clannad fame.

Production Quality: 8.0/10

Characters: 7.5/10

Story: 7.0/10

Setting: 7.0/10

Overall Enjoyment: 7.3/10 (rounded down to a 7 on MAL)

Feedback and comments (and criticisms) are always welcome :)

Okay, this is a cliche vampire romance anime, but it's MY cliche vampire romance anime. I've treasured it for over a decade now.

I came across it randomly - quite literally, as when I was twelve I would regularly smash the Random Anime button on Anime Season (RIP) and watch anything that caught my eye, which is how I discovered Fortune Arterial. I pressed play purely because I loved the art style, and then immediatly fell in love. The art, the music, the characters, the relationships - it all pulled me in. It's a story I've seen a thousand times, but it was one I ... welcomed, which is odd considering I'm much of a cliche romance fan. Perhaps it's because it wasn't afraid to get dark and bloody?

To be blunt, I don't know how many times I've rewatched Fortune Arterial, but it definitely exceeds 20. I'm 24 now, but it's still a comfort anime I go back to every now and again. I've watched hundreds of animes and there are definitely some I've regretted watching, but this is not one of them. It's not to everyone's tastes, but I would still gladly recommend it again and again.