I liked this anime so much I had to write a review for it.
I haven't written a review before, so I'll just start with getting my biases aside. A lot of people who know of Dance with Devil's creator, Rejet, may recognize the name as the original creator of Diabolik Lovers. If you're going to start comparing DwD with DL, stop. I generally dislike harems/reverse harems and especially anime adaptations of otome games, but DwD is originally an anime that will get an otome game soon. I actually only decided to watch DwD when it was announced because I'm a fan of Rejet (not the
...
DL anime, though) and an avid otome gamer. When I finally listened to the character song samples a month before it aired, I finally got into it. It was something I didn't expect I would like so much at all in the beginning, but here I am now.
Dance with Devils is a musical anime. Think Uta no Prince-sama or High School Star Musical. Now take away the music-related plot. There's absolutely no reason they had to sing, but they did. And it's either glorious or cringe-worthy, or both. You can decide.
As a 12-episode anime, I think to enjoy this sort of thing you would need to relax a bit... Not be too uptight about it. Just chill and sit back. It's hella cliche, whatever cliches possible they'll throw at you. Like most anime, some suspension of belief might be necessary.
Story: 7
If I were a bit more lenient, about 7.5 or so. The plot isn't a masterpiece. Like I said, cliches are common. It's a fight between Devils, Vampires, and Exorcists for the Forbidden Grimoire, with our heroine, Tachibana Ritsuka, as the key to it. There's an episode focusing on every main guy, and it takes a while to get the plot moving. Typical for a reverse harem. But for a reverse harem, DwD has a serious plot (despite the singing). Some of the more important plot developments are shoved together with silly moments in some episodes, making them a bit of a mess sometimes. However, most of the plot points do tie together in the end, although I definitely would have liked more episodes so it wouldn't have been as rushed. Were it longer, with the ending that it got I would bump it up to an 8.
Art: 8
Ranges from 8-8.5. Like most anime, the art and animation can be a bit inconsistent. There's a lot of inconsistency in DwD to be honest, but if you average it out it's fairly good. I'm a bit familiar with the original character designer (Maeda Hirotaka)'s work, even though I've yet to actually play any of the games with his art. Honestly, there's something about his art that I'm not too fond of, but I could still recognize his distinct style in the characters despite the designs being adapted by Takashina Yuka. Depending on the cut, the art is very appealing to me at times. To the point I really want to shake the hand of whoever worked on it for depicting the characters (and in particular, my favourite character) so beautifully.
Sound: 8
Elements Garden does the music. I'm not too familiar with music, to be honest, so the first title that comes up is Uta no Prince-sama (well whaddaya know). I pretty much like all the music in this, even the ones I don't like that much. I'm more familiar with insert songs than bgm, so I'll go by that. Every episode has at least one song, and some I'm not too fond of but I end up singing along with them, unfortunately.
I like most of the main guys' character songs. There are the musical anime versions sung in the anime, and the original character songs, too. They all suit the characters very, very much. The lyrics might be a bit embarrassing in the anime, though. For some of the other songs, I feel like they sound a bit awkward (in particular EMOLIAR, although it's catchy and I do like the theme, it felt all over the place to me), although if I had to choose then I'd say I like them in the end (like KETTO~Yuzurenai Semegiai~ and Crazy about you). The music might be the make-or-break point for someone's enjoyment in the anime... particularly because it's a musical anime and some of it is downright embarrassing.
Also, the voice acting is great. Naturally. I became a huge Saitou Souma fan because of Rem, snowballing from ever since I heard his character song sample before the anime aired. It's ridiculous, as I wasn't interested in any of the cast (which was why I wasn't too interested when it was announced). He uses a lower voice for Rem, and it really speaks volumes about his range. Hatano Wataru gets an unusually kind and caring big brother character, Lindo; Kondou Takashi pulls off Urie way too well. Kimura Subaru might have been the only choice for Mage, especially with his songs and the English in them. I'm not a fan of Hirakawa Daisuke, though, and some people had the same opinion that they wanted a bit of a younger voice for Shiki; however, we've all gotten used to Hirakawa now, and he really shows how disgusting Shiki is. Also, sometimes I forget Suzuki Tatsuhisa is part of the main cast, but he also does the Mysterious Young Man role well. The subcast is also good, like Jek and Nesta and whatnot.
Character: 7
7.5 maybe. As a reverse harem-themed anime, the characters are pretty important. The entire student council are Devils, while Ritsuka's brother is an Exorcist... which was revealed when DwD was announced, but doesn't become apparent to her until later. Until then, she's caught up with most of the guys' schemes in their respective episodes. If this were longer, we might have learned a bit more about the characters. Unfortunately, only 2 of the guys get the most exposure, while the Devil Trio as I like to call them are more support, and then we have the ??? character.
Rem is the student council president and the "leader" of the Devils... or should be, if only they listened. He's rather cold and expressionless. Some people say he has the emotional capacity of a rock because how little you see on his face, since he's put emotions aside and only "uses those around him as pawns" to obtain the grimoire.
Urie is Rem's childhood friend. The flirty playboy guy. He's an incubus apparently, and he loves calling all girls and the heroine "butterfly." He has some sort of obsession with capturing them and "holding them until they break."
Mage is the ore-sama who hates complicated stuff like scheming. The most important thing is his own strength, and he likes to show it off. Surprisingly, he ended up having a lot of fans since his episode.
Shiki is the creepy fallen angel. He's disgusting. Gross. I'm not even insulting him because that's just his personality. A sadomasochistic fallen angel who loves destruction. Fairly popular among Western fans...
Lindo is Ritsuka's big brother, and an exorcist. To him, protecting Ritsuka is the most important thing. I think he's supposed to seem cool but all I can think is he's a siscon along with the fact he's the only main guy who doesn't have ulterior motives when it comes to Ritsuka and the grimoire.
??? or the Mysterious Young Man. His identity is revealed later on, but he speaks rather politely but also has reasons to go after Ritsuka. Might know a lot more than the other characters. Let's just say he's extremely loyal.
There's quite a bit of the subcast, like Maria, Ritsuka's mother, whom Ritsuka goes to look for after the vampires take her away, so she gets involved with the Devils/student council. Azuna is Ritsuka's best friend who I think deserved much better. And Jek is a vampire who seemed to received short-lived popularity later on.
Depending on who you are, you might be fed up with Ritsuka. Personally, I'm defensive of heroines. The somewhat forced main point of her character is that she stands up to the student council and asserts her own opinion equally, which is why they develop an interest in her aside from the fact she's the key to the grimoire. I like that part about her, although I don't like the cliche ("Oh, you talked back to me... You're interesting." sort of thing). She's supposed to be just a normal high school girl, though, and I think her actions are within reason. Judge as you will. I'm also trying not to be too biased here but Rem is my favourite character and I've half a mind to bump it up to 8 just for him.
Enjoyment: 9
Oh, boy. I enjoyed it. Hell I enjoyed it. It was one of the things I had no interest in for months until right before it aired, and honestly it's been such a long time since I've felt the excitement and restlessness that comes with waiting for every Wednesday for the next episode. In the first place I just got into it because I was interested in the character songs, and my bias Rem. But I can honestly say that I enjoyed it as it is. I hate reverse harems and anime adaptations of otome games, but as this was an original one I didn't have much bias to go on. And for a reverse harem, there's actually a main guy. I just feel so strongly about this anime and its ending. It's possible since Rejet is an otome game creator that they made this anime to somewhat advertise the game, but for those into otome games and stuff, I think it worked. I'm hyped up for the game I preordered it halfway into watching the anime. For some people, this might not be their thing, definitely. You might feel like you have to pull yourself through it. Thankfully for me, this was the thing I needed. I always spent at least an hour or two re-watching the newest episode when it came out.
Overall: 8
Like most anime, whether or not you enjoy it depends on your tastes. Make sure you're okay with the genres. It might sound weird for an otome gamer to hate reverse harems, but that's how it is for me, but I still enjoyed this so much. If I put my biases aside, I might give it 7 or 7.5. Those who don't like this sort of thing just won't like it. I know people who are into Dance with Devils just because they like the songs. Others scream about the songs because they're so cheesy and unnecessary, but it's a musical anime. Can't help it. But overall I'm satisfied with most of it. Some parts I'd have liked more development and elaboration on, but you can only do so much with 12 episodes. I'm also pretty much satisfied with the ending, no matter how salty I am about it. I respect Ritsuka's decision.
I have so much to say about this anime, but I've been trying to keep this to a minimum. I didn't even go that into the characters and individual songs, as much as I would love to. This anime was a lot of firsts for me, honestly, and I'm not ready to let go of it yet. But the game is still to come, and I'm very excited. I hope others come to appreciate this anime and the characters, particularly Ritsuka, as well.
Dec 24, 2015
Dance with Devils
(Anime)
add
I liked this anime so much I had to write a review for it.
I haven't written a review before, so I'll just start with getting my biases aside. A lot of people who know of Dance with Devil's creator, Rejet, may recognize the name as the original creator of Diabolik Lovers. If you're going to start comparing DwD with DL, stop. I generally dislike harems/reverse harems and especially anime adaptations of otome games, but DwD is originally an anime that will get an otome game soon. I actually only decided to watch DwD when it was announced because I'm a fan of Rejet (not the ... |
